[airickessParticipant]

Keith, just to clarify –
In a FOH/MON situation using the Tie Lines feature, once the gain has been set for an input, one can go to the ‘Preamp On Surface’ feature and turn off the control of the preamp level, thus making the Gain pot control simply a trim control?

[airickessParticipant]

Robb, you can use any of the Mix outs from the Qu to feed your TC unit (probably one of the stereo Mix outs like 5/6, 7/8 or 9/10). Simply assign any channel you like to your chosen Mix out. As was suggested you can then connect the TC unit’s output to any line-level input on the console (I’d recommend ST 1 or ST 2). The fader for that return channel of your choice can then be brought up to add any amount of the effect to the Main mix. NOTE – make sure that whichever channel you choose for your effects return channel is NOT assigned to the Mix output that is feeding the effects unit.

[airickessParticipant]

Using the faders on the Main fader layer to adjust the low-end is the wrong way to do that. Anything you adjust on that layer will affect the signal to the Yamahas as well. Any adjustments to the volume shouldn’t be done with the Master fader anyway. It would be easier to set up a DCA for the band rather than the LR and Mix 1 master faders. That way you never have to touch the Master or mix faders – you’d just have to push the band DCA up or down.
You should probably use SMAART to help match the level of your subwoofers to your tops, rather than just doing it by ear. That way you’ll end up with a more even frequency response to the entire system.
You really shouldn’t need to have a +9db boost for the subs. If you feel you need it then you don’t have enough subwoofers for your gig. I really doubt that those Cerwin Vega subs can keep up with the Yamaha DXR15 tops.
If don’t have a choice and must continue to use the CVA-118s then you should try to not use them as speaker stands for the tops. Instead, try to put them together at the front of the stage so they will couple. You will get a bit more SPL out of them (but not +9db worth).
If you are in this business for the long-haul I suggest you sell the Cerwin Vega subs at some point and save up for some Yamaha subwoofers to match your tops. DSP in powered speakers has come a long way and matching speaker brands really helps bring the P.A. system together.

[airickessParticipant]

It should be a total of 18, if I remember correctly. It defaults to the 16 mono channels and the L/R main output. I think you can change the patching of the channels on the QuDrive but you are limited to 18 with the Qu 16.

[airickessParticipant]

Telling the truck to sync the audio for you is pointless. After the satellite feed has hit the truck the delay between picture and sound can be due to a number of factors, including how many D/A conversions they go through. At some point the audio and video will be split from each other so that the audio can be split between the broadcast audio mixer and the live audio mixer, and the video can be sent through all of the digital video switching gear for the presentation. That usually causes some kind of sync issues in live feeds.
Since the Qu-16 has delays on each input you should definitely rely on each channel input delay first, especially since you are going to have 6 separate feeds. Then, instead of sending each of those channels to L/R, UNASSIGN them from L/R and only assign them, post-fader, to one of your FX sends. On that FX send, put the native Qu16 delay plugin on that. As GaryH suggested, make sure you set the delay times fully “wet” (no feedback) to get only one “echo”. Then set each side of the delay to the exact same delay time to avoid any ping-pong delay.
Use your Delay FX plug-in as the main delay and then use each individual channel delay to fine-tune the delays for each feed. Send the FX Return channel of your Delay FX to L/R (or whatever outputs you’ve chosen to drive your house speakers).

[airickessParticipant]

Thanks for the reply. I understand sending outputs to the mixes, so if I understand what you’re saying (and what I am looking for) is, for example, if I have Main punched up and change the mix on the mikes and have those channels sent post fader to, say, Mix2, that when I change the mix on Main, it’ll also change the mix on Mix2?

Yes, it will mirror the Main mix, so any fader changes you make on the Main mix will also change that other Mix.

[airickessParticipant]

Anything with an AMD processor and chipset should work just fine. Just avoid any of the really cheap laptops as their performance specs for multitrack audio playback and video playback are suspect.
In May I purchased a Dell laptop with an AMD processor, hooked it up to my Qu16 and it streams audio perfectly. I tested it using a 90-minute long multitrack recording I had. It played back to the Qu flawlessly via the USB-B port.

[airickessParticipant]

There is a fix for that USB issue – get a laptop with an AMD processor, hook it up via USB-B port and record through that to an external hard drive.
If recording via the console is important to your work then that is the solution.

[airickessParticipant]

On each channel you need to go to the Routing page, assign that channel POST FADER to an open Mix.
Then, on the right hand side of the board, press the button for that Mix to which you assigned the channels. That will bring up the Mix layer. On that Mix layer, bring up the faders of those channels. Connect that mix output from the Qu to line-level inputs on your smaller mixer.

[airickessParticipant]

Mike C, I think Allen & Heath has been really reliable in cross-compatibility of gear over different models of digital mixers. A user can take an AB168, AR2412 or AR84 and use it with GLD, Qu and SQ lines. (Not sure about dLive though. Hopefully someone can chime in and let us know.)

Having said that, I think Qu owners should look at their consoles as complete consoles that work, not as computers that need to be updated every year or so. Given the build quality of my Qu16, I can imagine it working easily for the next 15 years without anymore updates. In fact, there is a high-profile busy theater in my city that still has a Yamaha DM2000 at FOH and it still works just fine.
In this age of digital consoles it is amazing that a company can give out updates to a console to improve functionality. I think that fact alone ramps up expectations from users of perpetual improvements on their consoles. That’s obviously not going to be the case. I think expectations need to be tempered with the realization that it’s still a tool to be used, and if it’s not broken there’s nothing to fix. If the console doesn’t do what one needs it to do then one should purchase a different console.

[airickessParticipant]

Yet it still works.

[airickessParticipant]

Change the feed to your box from Mix 4 (mono mix), to a stereo mix output (Mix 5-6, 7-8 or 9-10). Then just use one side of that stereo mix output. The mono channels sent to that stereo mix will still be mono.

[airickessParticipant]

STP Cat5e cables are recommended. Make sure the cables are STP (Shielded Twisted Pair) Cat5e (not just Cat 5).

According to the Qu user manual, page 47, the ME system can be connected via the DSnake but the DS icon will not appear.
For patching (pag. 74), on the Qu go to Setup>I/O Patch>Monitor to see the patching for the ME system.
Page 37-38 of the manual will tell you how to set up the routing of channels for ME monitoring systems.

[airickessParticipant]

If your laptop has a USB 2.0 port use that to connect to the console. Certain USB 3.0 ports don’t play nice with the USB-B 2.0 ports on Qu consoles.

[airickessParticipant]

The Qu is finicky with playback sample rates only when using the QDrive as direct playback, when it wants to play back only at 48kHz 24-bit .wav files.
When connecting digital equipment it’s the two pieces of connected digital gear that need to be in sample rate sync.
Using a program on your laptop connected to the Qu should be fine for playback, regardless of the sample rates of the particular files.

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