[pt.Participant]

Hi, I’m using a Mac mini M1 with the Qu-Pac and it’s running great. The Qu-Pac is connected to a Twelve South StayGo USB-C hub that has three USB-B connections, Ethernet and HDMI. It’s running very stable and no glitches at all. Make sure to upgrade the firmware of the Qu to at least 1.95 – I initially had older firmware and this was glitching like crazy.

[pt.Participant]

I’ve been using the Qu-Pac a couple of years initially as mixer for all my synths and using the internal fx plus the stereo inputs as fx returns for a lexicon and tc-two.

Before I had a long string of digital mixers and interfaces; starting out with a (Yamaha) 01V, 03D and then going to Motu interfaces, a Soundcraft SI32 and now the Qu-Pac. What I really love about the Yamaha digital mixers is the possibility of use sysex to dump the mixer scene into the DAW and store it with the project – somehow all modern mixers don’t have this feature anymore.

For the Qu-Pac I’ve build a control panel in CTRLR (somewhere on this forum) – but it had it’s limitations. Then I used Mixing Station PC (also Mac) – a very nice control panel. It can be used to store and recall scenes. One thing it can’t do is automation.

So recently I’ve starting to use the Qu-Pac as an audio interface – you can basically use it as a 32 in/out interface.
– I’ve assigned al the inputs to a group.
– I’m using Logic and in Logic created “external instruments” for all the connected synths. External instruments in Logic allow you to combine audio and midi in one channel but I wasn’t totally happy with that so I’m using separate midi tracks. This gives more flexibility and control e.g. for equipment that is multi timbral or if I run multiple midi tracks to the same drum computer.
– The external instrument tracks then act as the audio mixer.
– The output of the mix is sent to the Qu-Pac to two channels (L/R) setup as USB channel in the Qu. Very important here is that these go to a separate group and to never select it as an input for the Logic mixer or you’ll get some very nasty digital feedback (not nice especially if you’re wearing headphones).
– By hitting the “bounce” button on the output channel of the mixer in Logic you’re getting the a mixdown of the project.

I’ve attached a screenshot of a project file that shows what it looks like; on Soundcloud you can hear the result here:
I’ve been using the Qu-Pac a couple of years initially as mixer for all my synths and using the internal fx plus the stereo inputs as fx returns for a lexicon and tc-two.

Before I had a long string of digital mixers and interfaces; starting out with a (Yamaha) 01V, 03D and then going to Motu interfaces, a Soundcraft SI32 and now the Qu-Pac. What I really love about the Yamaha digital mixers is the possibility of use sysex to dump the mixer scene into the DAW and store it with the project – somehow all modern mixers don’t have this feature anymore.

For the Qu-Pac I’ve build a control panel in CTRLR (somewhere on this forum) – but it had it’s limitations. Then I used Mixing Station PC (also Mac) – a very nice control panel. It can be used to store and recall scenes. One thing it can’t do is automation.

So recently I’ve starting to use the Qu-Pac as an audio interface – you can basically use it as a 32 in/out interface.
– I’ve assigned al the inputs to a group.
– I’m using Logic and in Logic created “external instruments” for all the connected synths. External instruments in Logic allow you to combine audio and midi in one channel but I wasn’t totally happy with that so I’m using separate midi tracks. This gives more flexibility and control e.g. for equipment that is multi timbral or if I run multiple midi tracks to the same drum computer.
– The external instrument tracks then act as the audio mixer.
– The output of the mix is sent to the Qu-Pac to two channels (L/R) setup as USB channel in the Qu. Very important here is that these go to a separate group and to never select it as an input for the Logic mixer or you’ll get some very nasty digital feedback (not nice especially if you’re wearing headphones).
– By hitting the “bounce” button on the output channel of the mixer in Logic you’re getting the a mixdown of the project.

I’ve attached a screenshot of a project file that shows what it looks like; on Soundcloud you can hear the result here:

So far I’m really happy with this setup; it has total-recall, allows for a lot of flexibility and sounds good to me.

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[pt.Participant]

I’ve send you the Ctrlr panel file. Have a look to see if you can figure out how to modify it to your liking. With the Qu MIDI manual that’s available at the A&H website it should be fairly easy. I’m using it in Logic and it gives me sort of a total recall of the mix.

I’m really missing the syses dump feature that older digital mixers had (e.g. the A&H 428, Yamaha 01v, 02r, 01v96). That was a very good feature allowing full total recall. I’m surprised that – as far as I’m aware – no digital mixer has a AU/VST plugin that allows total recall/intergration from a DAW (just like e.g. Elektron Overbridge, Access Virus TI or the Moog Minitaur editor). That would really enhance workflow. I’ve tried mixing in the box using Motu interfaces but that doesn’t suit my way of working. I’m a hardware guy and run all my MIDI gear in real-time. The audio interface route is very flexible but can’t stand the latency of it ;).

[pt.Participant]

I’ve made a CTRLR panel that controls volume, sends, pan. This can be loaded as a VST plugin or AU plugin.
There’s another thread regarding this subject somewhere in this forum. For some reason the panel file can’t be uploaded. I can send it to you if you like.

[pt.Participant]

Take a look at the screendump; you’re able to control pretty much everything using NRPN. I’ve built my own control surface to have total recal from inside Logic Pro. The mix is stored within the project.

[pt.Participant]

Zipped the xml file and attached it…

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[pt.Participant]

It’s possible using NRPN calls – I’ve made an example using CTRLR as described in this thread.

Fader Recall from Logic

Attached are a screenshot and the example.

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[pt.Participant]

Updated version that only uses Ctrlr with NRPN calls as described in the Qu’s MIDI manual.

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[pt.Participant]

Did some more fiddling around with the combination of Bome MIDI translator and Ctrlr (ctrlr.org) and this enables me to control Qu’s volumes and sends from Logic and also have total recall of these settings for each project automatically.

The way it’s set up is that Ctrlr uses CC’s for all faders and pots. Each channel strip controls the volume and (top to bottom) send for ST1 – ST3 (PCM80, D-Two and spare) and the four FX’s of Qu itself. In Bome the CC’s are translated to the MIDI messages Qu requires. Probably this is all possible with Ctrlr without having to use Bome but I had didn’t look into the details of Ctrlr yet.

I’ve attached the required files for your reference.

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[pt.Participant]

Just tried it, I can get the custom layer to work – not the actual audio channels of the Qu itself…

[pt.Participant]

So this will also work the other way around? Control the Qu channels from the DAW? I’m going to try right away!

[pt.Participant]

I was able to pull it of using additional software (Bome Midi Translator Pro). In Logic I made 16 midi tracks going to a pseudo MIDI port of MTP. The MIDI volume of the channels in Logic are translated in MTP to the according strings and sent to the Qu. It’s only a one way street but allows you to recall the volumes.

It’s a pity that currently only one mixer (at least that I’m aware of) allows for total recall from within the DAW. The Yamaha 01V96 can dump scene settings using SysEx. When digital mixers just came out all of them could do this. Why would vendors want to abandon such a great feature? Qu has MIDI so it should be possible to implement this right?

The other route would be to have something like Elektron does with Overbridge. I’d pay for something like that because that would make it unique! You can already look at a Qu-Pac as a 32 channel interface, there isn’t a single audio interface with the same amount of I/O at this price point. There seems to be very little interaction with A&H on this forum though.

[pt.Participant]

I’d be willing to pay for updates that bring additional features.
One thing that I’m realy realy missing in all mixers out there is the ability to recall scenes from within a DAW. Years ago you where able to use sysex to dump a scene and then recall it from within a sequencer but all vendors have abandoned that.

Am I the only one who would love to have something like Elektron’s Overbridge to fully control and recall the Qu from within a DAW? I’d easily fork out €100 for a plugin that allows that! Within the Elektron community the Qu-Pac seems to be a favorite already; having an Overbridge like plugin – mainly for the control/recall part – would make it a killer combo.

[pt.Participant]

So where is the love?

[pt.Participant]

Ah, misread that. If you don’t use the Qu as a destination in Logic it won’t get anything sent too is my experience…

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