I remember my transition from analog to digital. Vaguely, since it was a long time ago, and I’m old now, but I remember it . . .
You are going to become very familiar with ALL the ways the SQ (or almost any digital mixer) can make this process both easier and harder at the same time. The main thing to keep in mind is that there are multiple ways to patch both inputs and outputs on the SQ and it’s easy to get tripped up. Each physical output port (A&H calls them sockets) can only have one source assigned to it. Usually this is a Mix of some kind (L/R, Aux, Matrix, etc.) but it can also be a single processing channel via Direct out or Insert out.
Assuming you only have 12 sources that need to go into the Aviom, there are a couple of ways to handle this.
The first is to use Direct Outs for those channels, and assign each one to an output socket. (Note that you do not have to use outputs 11&12 as the L/R, that’s just the A&H default because the SQ5 only has 12 sockets.) As you stated this will require a bunch of XLRF->TRS cables. By using a Direct out you have the choice of where in the signal path you want it to come from – this can be anywhere from immediately after the Pre-amp to right after the channel delay, and can be set up as either Pre or Post Fader, and Pre or Post Mute.
The second way is the way you were doing it on the analog desk and tapping the channel insert. I’m not at my SQ5 right not, and cannot see how to set this up using the MixPad app, so cannot give you a lot of detail. I will say that this method will ONLY work if you are using a digital stage box, because the desk has no dedicated insert points, unlike the ZED 428. You will need to assign the channel insert out to an output socket, then bring the signal back in via an input socket. Without knowing exactly what the Aviom analog I/O is, I can’t tell you what cabling you’ll need.
Either of the above methods will need a bunch of extra cabling.
If you need to get more than 12 individual channels into the Aviom, you’ll need to be a little more creative. You can still have the key channels that everyone wants to hear a little differently set up individually, while also grouping other channels. Creating a Drums group or a Keyboards group comes to mind. For this you can use either a Group, or an Aux and there are good and bad points to using either. I would use groups and NOT send those groups to your main L/R mix (I know you run in mono, more about that below). The desk ships with 8 Auxes and 4 Groups, but you can reconfigure it in any combination of 12 total buses. Unless you are running a variety of stage mixes in addition to the Avioms, you really won’t need that many.
Something to look at moving forward is the A&H ME system. It’s basically their answer to the Aviom, but the ME-1 can take up to 40 input “channels”, while the ME-500 can handle 16. Channel routing is built into the SQ I/O page, and there is no special hardware interface required. For larger systems you can use most off the shelf POE/POE+ data switches, unless you need the ability to access Dante or MADI audio sources.
Since you are running your PA in mono you might want to create a mono Matrix and send your L/R mix to it. That Matrix would then be send to the output socket currently getting your L channel. For your subs, use either a second mono Matrix (driven by the L/R mix) or a post-fade mono Aux with only those channels producing low frequencies assigned to it. This will clean up your signal flow and give you the ability to EQ each part separately.
Cheers.
