[MbirameParticipant]

Yep. Same firmware. I have found my QU-16 to be a robust and reliable tool. The QU-Pac for me has given me lots of issues. It’s a real bummer because I’m totally reliant on the QU-Pac now-with the 24×12 breakout box and every channel used.

[MbirameParticipant]

I have a QU-16 and a QU-Pac. The Sandisk work great in the QU-16 with 0 errors. I put the same drive in a QU-Pac and format it there and then get tons of errors and dropouts.

[MbirameParticipant]

If you have a wood rack-why not just remove the rails and remount them further back in the rack?

[MbirameParticipant]

Indeed. In fact just this last weekend after a 7 hour session the unit shut down a couple times again. And to be clear-I have never tried to use the unit with the lids still on. I would definitely not recommend that! I positioned a large fan at the rear of the rack and it dropped the DAC temps down to around 58C (after hovering around 76C for most of the day). After this last week, I am now going to invest in one of these for the rack (I’m not sure which brand I will get yet):
https://www.amazon.com/AC-Infinity-CLOUDPLATE-cooling-Network/dp/B00ZQPDB7I/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_sims?ie=UTF8

[MbirameParticipant]

There is a routing screen for qu-drive where you can select what you want to record on those tracks. By default 1-16 would be on inputs 1-16, its possible that the selections for 1 and 2 were changed to a mix or something else.

Yes-but no matter what the routing, the channels still records a blank track-even if they are set to “X”. In my case, two of the 16 channels are simply not recording. In fact I have discovered that the two channels that don’t record is random. I checked a session from last week of the same show and in that case it didn’t record track 1 and 3.

[MbirameParticipant]

This is a multitrack, so there is not individual track arming (right??). Tracks 3-18 are recording fine.

[MbirameParticipant]

Would it have to be a stereo track that got split?

Yeah, it might work to do some rerouting. I could send my vox and modular synth to FOH through a splitter. If I did an a/b box splitter that let me send out of one output or both outputs at the push of a button then that could also give me the ability to talk to the band without going through FOH…hmm.

Another possibility (I’m holding my breath!) would be if A&H does an update and allows direct out for channels out of the expanders. I am eating up a few mix outs by having to send single channels to a mix just to get the the FOH. I wish they would offer a rack mount product that would let you access the direct outs. the ME-1 looks cool, but I don’t want to have to carry around a bunch of little boxes. I like to have everything racked.

[MbirameParticipant]

Could you use a couple of splitters, for something, and so send two things directly to FOH, as well as into your QU-Pack?

Gah…dangit I just realized that all the stereo tracks that we use are coming in from the USB…so no splitter is possible.

At this point I think my only option is to have two different groups of scenes: one for when we have a FOH and one for when we don’t. THat is going to make version control a pain.

I’d be happy to upload my full input list and routing if anyone felt adventurous and wanted to see if you can see a better solution than what I have come up with.

[MbirameParticipant]

Hey GCumbee-no ill intent perceived. I hear you! I had the qu-16 for a couple years and it worked fine for our needs. Then we needed a few more outputs, so I got the qu-pac and expander and within a couple months literally every input and output are spoken for! It’s never enough!

[MbirameParticipant]

Thanks guys-all good thoughts.

What if you would route those multi-mic instruments to a dedicated dca instead of a mix ?

Unfortunately you can’t set the DCA level on mixes the level is global.

Does you FOH mix (when doing it yourselves) need to be in stereo?

Ideally yes-we do a lot of stereo effects and when we are running our own sound it’s usually in our own small warehouse space where we are able to really push the boundaries of that stereo setup.

Goodness. These guys wouldn’t have been able to perform if they had in my band days of the 60’s 70’s.

Well as you know times change. If we were a band in the 60’s our needs and sound would probably be a lot different than they are now. Most venues we play in have very large boards with minimum of 48 channels, so a regular venue can easily accommodate our needs these days-with or without our QU-pac setup. It’s just that the qu-pac actually greatly simplifies things for everyone because instead of having the sound person set up 29 boom stands with mics, we have a built in mic array system with all the low cuts and gates already dialed in and we can just hand the FOH person 12 XLR cables of the submix to work with. So even though this sounds really complicated, it’s really made life a lot easier on everyone!

Could you use a couple of splitters, for something, and so send two things directly to FOH, as well as into your QU-Pack?

That actually seems like the easiest way to solve the issue. Thanks! All I need to do if free up one stereo channel, so we’re only talking about a couple of splitters.

[MbirameParticipant]

We had a two hour rehearsal tonight. I monitored the QU-PAC throughout the night and the DAC temp slowly rose and got to 69C. For this rehearsal we did NOT have the Sennheisers turned on so they were not adding ambient heat, but they were still under the QU-PAC. After rehearsal I did go ahead and switch the orientation so the QU-PAC will be on the bottom of the rack. That should give another 1/4″ or so of space to that bottom vent. Also, I’m sure that not having the potentially hot sennheisers right by that vent will be helpful. I’ll continue to monitor, but I certainly hope this doesn’t become an issue because the conditions in the rehearsal room are about as good as they will ever be. It would be nice to not have to hack a hole in to this brand new Gator effects rack.

[MbirameParticipant]

95F?
are you kidding me? It poops out if it gets hotter than 95?

I don’t know if it will poop out, but the manual says operating range is 32F-95F. I’m pretty convinced that it didn’t overheat but it may have a fault-who knows maybe that IEC cable wasn’t plugged in all the way. It was in a shallow case with both sides open in an air conditioned studio. I will check the DAC temp at tonights rehearsal.

[MbirameParticipant]

There are vents on the bottom that are directly under the power supply.

I didn’t realize that. I saw the ones on the bottom of the rear but I didn’t know there are also vents on the underside. It’s going to be a tight fit. It’s important to be able to have the in-ear transmitters in the same case so they can stay hooked up to save some set-up time if possible. Maybe I can put the QU-pac on the bottom of the rack and that should leave more space for it. I am using a shallow Gator effects rack.

In the utility menu you can monitor the internal temperature.

Thanks for that info. I don’t see it in the literature though I did see in this thread that someone from A&H mentioned that once you get up to 80-85 you could be having problems. https://community.allen-heath.com/forums/topic/temp-of-the-dac-q24

I’m in Texas and seeing that the specs say to have a max ambient temp of 95F concerns me as we have played gigs when it is hotter than that on a number of occasions.

[MbirameParticipant]

Probably stupid question: Checked that the power plug is completely seated? Happened to me once on an AR2412, using the fixture since…

I’m pretty certain it was good. I emailed the dealer and I’m going to see if he has more info on this “B stock” situation. Maybe it was the one that Bear’s friend returned-ha!

I hope it didn’t overheat. It was in an air conditioned room-certainly cooler than a usual venue. Sure it was on for three hours and there was other gear below it in the rack, but it’s not like it was tube gear below it and I don’t see any mention in the literature about being careful about gear below it…This stuff should be built to handle full days at festivals, etc, so I can’t imagine we pushed the temp beyond it’s limits…

[MbirameParticipant]

You’ll need one DCA (or more) for each Mix…

As stated above DCAs won’t work for individual mixes.

Can you guess what routing/control options might let you deal with groups of channels?

I see that you didn’t actually read my question. I am not trying to reroute anything. Things are all routed as needed (including all the group channels all being spoken for). What I was wondering was if-like in the qu-you app-there is a way to link channel faders.

Maybe if you took an extra minute reading the questions instead of assuming people are stupid then your replies will be more relevant and helpful.

Sorry to drag this forum down to this level everyone else. I do what I can to try and figure things out on my own as best as possible and I hope that some of the things that I have figured out over the last couple years and posted has maybe helped others in some way. Take care.

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