I take delivery of the QU24 tomorrow. I am coming from the QU16. I’m lookin for a way to max the amount of stereo mix sends to in ear monitor sets for the prioritized list of players below.
Short answer is…if those 8 people truly want/need stereo IEM mixes then no.
At most you would get would be 7 stereo mixes and that would be using the 4 mono mixes in pairs for stereo, setting up a stereo mix using the mono sends would be doable but cumbersome.
The QU 32 would get you 7 stereo mixes without getting into using the mono mixes.
Will the mixer also be used for the main mix? If not the the main LR mix could be used as a stereo IEM mix.
Using a couple the ME monitor mix units would get you some more stereo mixes.
Another option could be to have 1 “base mix”, shared by multiple members and then add f.i. Rolls units to to let them mix in themselves as they please.
Good luck !
Giga
Hi Giga:
Could you elaborate on what “add f.i. Rolls units” are.
Thank you
Rolls PM50se Personal Monitor Amp
It has an XLR pass-thru along with stereo monitor input, so your “base mix” would come in on the monitor input and the XLR pass-thru sends the signal from your mic or instrument to the board but also allows you to boost it’s level in your in-ear/headphones/etc. for a semi-custom “more me” mix.
Take a hard look at who really needs a stereo mix and see who could share the same mix.
Hello @Moe O,
I would strongly recommend for you to have a look at the ME Personal Mixing System.
Given your requirements, it seems to be a very well fitted solution for you.
By using either ME-500 or ME-1 units, the musicians would be mixing themselves and able to create a stereo mix. Added to that, you wouldn’t be using any of your Aux Mixes, which will allow you to have them free for any other feed that you need, such as broadcast or wedges.
For your reference: https://www.allen-heath.com/key-series/me/
If you have any further questions regarding the system, you may contact your local A&H distributor/supplier: https://www.allen-heath.com/where-to-buy/
Or feel free to reach out to our support team and we’ll be happy to assist with any doubt: Support@allen-heath.com
Thank you,
Rafa
I take delivery of the QU24 tomorrow. I am coming from the QU16. I’m lookin for a way to max the amount of stereo mix sends to in ear monitor sets for the prioritized list of players below.
You must be the drummer… ?
As already noted, the QU24 only has 5 stereo and 4 mono mixes available. It will be best if you stick to this scheme. As Rafael noted, the QU does support the ME system, so you could add ME units to increase the number of stereo mixes. The ME devices don’t count towards your available buss count on the console. This means you could have 5 stereo mixes using the console, and then add 3 ME devices to provide another 3 stereo mixes which would give you 8 unique and independent stereo monitor mixes.
Of course that solution is more expensive than simply purchasing a QU32 or SQ5 (if it is possible to change the order at this point or return the QU24). This is one of those situations where it sounds like someone picked a console based on input counts and price and skipping over important specs like buss count. (I’ve been there myself - which is why I am hyper sensitive to this issue and try to remind people considering a new console that buss counts are probably the biggest consideration and also where consoles really differ from one to another).
Hello
Could you please elaborate on how I could get the 7 stereo mixes with the QU-24? I see the 3 stereo mixes + 2 stereo (using 4 mono mixes) = 5 total stereo mixes.
How could I get 2 more stereo mixes?
Thanks!
On the QU series with the exception of the QU16 you can switch the audio groups (the QU24 has two) to operate as stereo mixes. Select the group master and then go to the routing menu.
That option was released in an earlier firmware update some years ago…so if you have an older mixer and the firmware has not been updated you would not see that option.
Hello everyone,
Can someone explain to me exactly how the ME personal mixers with the stage box work with the QU24 to create more stereo mixes than the board has? I am kind of fuzzy on how stage boxes work. If I understand correctly, the stage box extends the number of inputs and outputs that the board can work with, but does not increase the number of inputs/ outputs that can be processed at once?
I am looking at the best way to implement IEMs for our church’s worship team and I am curious, what is the max number of individual mixes that could exist with the QU24 and use of stage boxes and ME monitoring systems? We will be streaming USB B, so we will have all other mixes available on the QU24.
Thanks in advance!
Jacob
The ME system is a personal monitor system that works with various A&H consoles. There are two different hardware “mixers” - the ME500 and the ME1. The ME500 is limited to just 16 inputs which is usually to few for all but the smallest bands. The ME1 allow for 40 inputs. The ME1 also show you to assign “groups” of inputs to a single encoder. This was you can have a “drum” encoder that could the overall volume of all the drums at once, but also be able to dive in and change the volume of each individual drum channel as needed. The ME500 don’t do that. You can only assign a single input to each encoder.
You connect the ME system to the console via an ME port. The SLink port can “speak” ME, so you can use that port, but doing means you can’t use the port for anything else unless you disconnect the ME unit(s).
That being said, there are some A&H stage boxes that also happen to have a ME port on them. A couple of the older AR/AB (I don’t remember which ones off hand) and the GX4816. By connecting one of the stage boxes to the SLink port, you can get both stage box I/O and ME connections at the same time. But not every A&H stage box has an ME port on it (none of the DX boxes do for example).
There is an ME routing page in the consoles routing settings. You can route any input/buss to any of the 16 or 40 ME inputs (just like you might route them to a Dante card, etc). This routing is shared across all ME devices.
On the individual ME1 or ME500, you can customize the encoders for each musician. So even through they share the same 16/40 inputs, each musician can customize the interface to their liking.
The major benefit of the ME system is that you can get hardware personal monitors for each musician without “using up” any of the available buses in the console. Each musician can mix their own stereo monitor mix and those mixes are in addition to whatever buses the console has. You can easily add 5, 10, even 20 or more individual ME units (and therefore individual musician monitor mixes) to the system.
The one downside to the ME system is that the ONLY way to interact with a monitor mix is through the specific ME device creating that mix. There is no software control, or ability to adjust the mix from the console.
Stage boxes simply add to the number of analog inputs and outputs available in the system. It does not increase the processing power however, so you still have the same number of “mixable channels” available regardless of how many stage boxes you have connected.
It’s very common today for consoles to have very few analog inputs/outputs. The Avantis for example is a 64 channel mixer, yet it only has 12 built in analog inputs available. If you need to have more than twelve analog inputs, you will have to add a stage box(es). It’s possible to get well over128 analog inputs connected to the Avantis via stage boxes, but that will never change the fact that you can only mix a max of 64 of them at a time.