sound quality of Mackie dl32r vs QU series

[robbocurryParticipant]

Out of curiosity John, what part of the world are you in?
(for price comparison sake between the units)

In the UK if you want to utilise all 38 QU-PAC channels you’ll need to buy at least an AB168.
Cost approx: £1300+£875=£2175 (QU-24 territory, if you have the space)
You’ll need to buy a Cat5 cable too, these vary in price. A cheap one may suffice if it’s not under attack! Router and iPad optional.

In comparison the DL32R will set you back £1599. You will definitely need an iPad & router, possibly £200-500 more depending on what you buy, if you haven’t got them already.
This obviously narrows the price difference by a good margin if you have to spend there.

Regarding the recording, the QU-PAC offers 32×32 DAW recording and 18 channels directly to a USB drive.
There have been requests to increase the QU-Drive channel count on the QU-24 and above. Not sure if the channel count is limited by hardware, software or both. Or neither!?

I’ve used the QU-PAC without an iPad on a few gigs and I have to say it’s very intuitive. Set up the custom buttons and tabs correctly and it’s very fast to use.
Coming from Mackie’s Master Fader software, I wasn’t overly impressed with the earlier versions of QU-Pad. However the new version of QU-Pad is really good to use. Maybe it’s the extra features or maybe it’s because I’ve been using it more, but now it has become second nature to me.

Anyway, sorry to fry your head again with more info!

[dpdanParticipant]

Mr. Curry 🙂
I am so happy that you like your QuPac, it does look like… as the brits say 🙂 (a great piece of kit)

Hi Bob, with the DL32R recording multi-track to a hard drive, the user would need to stop the recording in order to name a new track or start a new one and leave the naming to the DL. No way to continually record audio and create a new track/name.

The DL32R has no soft keys like the Qu which are very nice of course.

[[XAP]BobParticipant]

So it’s only on ‘overrun’ that it creates a new track – shame.

[robbocurryParticipant]

Sorry Dan, not meaning to be a salesman. 😉
My enthusiasm gets the better of me sometimes. I just want to spread the joy lol!

[dpdanParticipant]

no opology for enthusiasm,
I have joy for both 🙂

[dpdanParticipant]

Hi Bob, I do not care for the multi-channel wave file design

[johnParticipant]

All of this info is very very helpful – so thanks for all of the input from everyone! Much appreciated!

Robbocurry — I’m located in Madison, Wisconsin, USA. The price I’ve been quoted is $1900 for the Mackie, Qu-pac $1400 plus AB168 for $950. I’d put both in a rack and use an ipad for both. So a decent savings on the Mackie, except that I am very much interested in having “Some” control without an ipad, and the qu-pac does give me that with its front panel features. I plan to record to a hard drive at live shows, so the lower channel count for recording is a bummer on the qu-pac, but the individual track recordings over the Mackie is a positive to me. I had no idea the Mackie recorded a single file. That is helpful information for sure… I’ve played around with both Ipad apps, and they seem to work well and I feel pretty comfortable with both already.

Honestly, I’m torn at this point…

[robbocurryParticipant]

I wish I was paying your prices John!

[[XAP]BobParticipant]

Hi Bob, I do not care for the multi-channel wave file design

It’s part of the wav specification – it’s how stereo files are put together.

The biggest disadvantage is that the wav file is inherently limited in length – doing file per track is far more generous in
time, the reduced seek load/fragmentation on the disc is an advantage the other way though.

Either way I’d like to see “break file now” functionality…

[johnParticipant]

This has been such a useful thread, I have two additional questions for you guys using the QU mixers:

1) Is the IPad Air sufficiently fast/capable, or will I be better served spending the extra $$$ for the IPAD Air2?
2) With mute groups on the Qu-Pac — If I set a soft key to mute a specific channel, does hitting the softkey a 2nd time unmute the channel? That would be very very helpful when using the QU-Pac.

Thanks in advance!

[dpdanParticipant]

I don’t know about the iPad Air being fast, what I do know, is if you are buying a new iPad, get one with the fastest processor. In a year or two, you will be kicking yourself if you buy an older (slower) iPad.

You can not use a softkey to mute just one channel, but if you are using a softkey for muting purposes, then pressing it again will indeed unmute… mute, unmute, mute, unmute, etc.

[johnParticipant]

Thanks for the response! I was thinking that I could set up a mute group that is only one channel, thereby effectively only muting (and unmuting) that one. Is that not possible?

So I think I may know the answer to my next question… given your response, if I set up a mute group to mute all my inputs, except the stereo input for an mp3 player (for break music)… if I hit the softkey again, will it unmute everything and mute the stereo input?

[[XAP]BobParticipant]

It won’t touch the ST input, since that isn’t part of the mute group.

[ljefeParticipant]

“Oh, the Qu recording sample rate is locked in and not changeable at 48 Khz. with 16 Bit depth…”

From the Allen and Heath literature:
Qu-16 has an integrated multitrack USB recorder, providing 18 channels of 48kHz 24bit recording and playback straight to / from your USB hard drive.

So the Qu is locked in at 24bit.

[dpdanParticipant]

John, I was wrong when I stated… “you can not use a softkey to mute just one channel”

but you can…

hit the routing button located to the right of the touchscreen,
then the Mute/DCA Group Assign tab,
then the function button located just below the touchscreen,
then the Mute Group Assign tab,

finally, select the channel or channels that you want to be muted for each of the four assignable mute groups.

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