oh well,,, no QU for me :(

Qu Qu General Discussions
1

Forgive me for having such a negative first post here but…
I couldn’t believe it when I laid my eyes on this QU24 mixer.
After mixing quite a few shows on the GLD it was real nice, but way too expensive for me.

Because the QU24 is incapable of so many things that a cheap Mackie DL1608 does daily, the QU24 is just completely useless “for me”.

I have owned many A&H consoles but the following things blew my mind, “WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?”
I want this mixer so bad but I’m not buying one, I was so excited too.
I currently use a Mackie DL1608 for small jobs which has been tremendous. It too is a very inexpensive mixer but completely shames this otherwise wonderful QU24.

The Mackie DL1608 has one “major” flaw, it doesn’t store the pre-amp gain settings.
The QU24 does, but what good is a digital mixer that stores scenes/shows but has no provision for naming the inputs?
WHAT??? Come on Dan, it has to do that!
For crap sake, at least let us color code the inputs on the iPad. Five characters for names?..“LEAD GTR” can’t do it, Acoustic …forget it. White tape and a Sharpie… NO!

What good is a digital mixer that has the ability to store pre-amp gain if you load “such and such band” but KICK is now trumpet? How would I know that?.. I wouldn’t, unless my iPad was right there.

This version of Qu-Pad supports only one iPad connection.
Arrogant marketing to limit the number of i-devices to only one device so that band members can’t use their iPads or iPhones to mix their monitors. Budget mixer? yes, features? … GALORE! But I have no clue what channel is what.

There is really only one thing that killed it for me, and that is the lack of naming channels on the console.
When an engineer mixes a concert “musically” the console has to work with him, not against him. He has to make changes super- fast and fly from this knob to that in a single beat. I would use this QU24 at many different locations and with many different musical groups. I do lots of jobs with the same groups, so having a scene “or show” to load for that group is priceless. It’s at least a great staring point.

I was not going to get rid of the DL1608, but having a QU24 with 24 channels and all these wonderful A&H high quality features was going to make me a very happy man. It is beyond me that they missed the ability to name the channels and store those names in each show/scene. Ughhh!

It is so disappointing to have to say these things about a product from a company that I completely admire and have learned to trust over so many years.

:frowning:

Dan

2

Here we go again. Does the phrase ‘it is what it is’ mean anything?

3

please forgive me Gcumbee,

your response “here we go again” indicates to me that my observations of the QU24 have already been brought up somewhere here,

being new to the forum, I first researched the forum but found nothing about what I brought up.
Do you have a QU16 and if so, how do you know what channels are what when you load a different show?
Dan
I just looked at Soundcraft’s website and their expression mixers seem kinda yukky.

4

after looking at many of the other mixers available by other manufacturers, I noticed none of them have channel naming,

well, the Behringer X32 does, but I would’t take a Behringer product if you gave it to me.

I guess I would have to use board tape and a Sharpie like so many years, I would use the i-Pad to find out how the channels are labeled. I think I remember reading that the names are stored on the iPad for scenes, is that correct?

Dan

5

I also own the dl 1608 and in my opinion there is no comparison to the Qu series.The Qu 16 is a huge upgrade and the firmware upgrades have already made this machine even more awesome. I use tape on the board and simple stage plots with Chanel names,assignments,mic’s used etc. I think you are cutting off your nose to spite your face if you don’t purchase this mixer just because you can’t name the channels. I bet Chanel naming will be in a future firmware update. I mix for several different bands including my own and I really like the 1608 but I love my Qu 16.

What ever you do I wish you the best of luck…

6

Thanks gearhog, I know the quality of the Allen & Heath gear is superior to Mackie.
I have decided to buy a QU24 and get out the sharpie :slight_smile:

I have a question for you…
if I save a scene for Charlie’s band, and another scene for Girls Night Out, then load (recall) Charlie’s band,
will the iPad know that Charlie’s Band is loaded??? Couldn’t I just look at the iPad channels to get the channel names?

Was that confusing or what?

Thanks,
Dan

7

DANGIT!!!
From the manual…

CHANNEL NAMING
Input channels, mixes, FX and mute groups can be named with up to five characters.
These names are stored along with the Custom Layer settings on the iPad.
They do not appear on the Qu mixer and are not part of the Scene or Show memories.

CRAP!

8

Hang on.

Can someone actually try this out (I don’t have the desk with me right now), as I was about to say that names do show up on my iPad OK after recalling another show. I’m now thinking I may be going mad!

9

Hi Mark, I hope you’re right :slight_smile:

10

Hi Dan,
Currently the iPad keeps the same names for the named channels even when you recall a scene.They do not change unless you edit them on the iPad. The app on the ipad currently does not store the scenes or shows locally. The iPad is like a virtual screen and keyboard(dumb workstation)and the only information that it keeps In memory when you log out of the program is the Channel names which currently are not stored in the scenes. The Qu can run without an iPad so all the memory and recall need to be on the mixers hardware although you can store it on a flash drive or hard drive. I name the Channel’s for my typical setup and then change them as needed for each show. I typically set channel 16 for the kick 15-10 for drums 9 left blank 8 is the Bass 7,6,5 for guitars,horns,other inst.,or keyboards although we can use one of the stereo channels for keyboards leaving 4,3,2,and 1 for vocals or whatever. Ste 3 is used for break music. This works for my typical job with the Qu 16. You obviously will have more options with the Qu 24. It is not the best but it works for now. I still have to tape the board and use the sharpie. If you are mixing from the board it will always be needed. When I mix from the stage I only use the iPad for sound check and then mix from the board once the show starts. I hope they add Channel naming soon to the mixer. I agree with you that it is a needed feature. With the Qu series and the Mackie 1608 (or most digital mixers) it is like Christmas when there is a feature update. I think that is awesome.
This was a long winded reply, I hope it was helpful.
Good luck…

Gearhog. (Martin)

11

Hi Martin

Thanks for that.
I’ve just looked at demo mode on my iPad & it’s actually still showing names from the last gig.
Thinking about it, as I usually name the instruments rather than the people I probably have several shows in which channel names are exactly the same, which is why I thought they were being recalled.

12

Hey Dan,
My QU24 is scheduled for tomorrow but I’m keeping my DL as well. Channel naming is the only thing I will miss on the 24 but I’m hopeful it’ll be added - why shouldn’t it?
Unlike Mackie, A&H have hardware monitor controllers so I think multiple iPad or iPhone control might be a non starter:(
I have a file saved in Adobe Illustrator that I used for printing channel names onto magnetic paper which I’ll modify and upload when I get my 24. I used these on my Presonus desks and they looked nice and neat with no tape mess afterwards. I know it’s not ideal but I’ll use these and take a photo of the desk and name them like the scenes/shows.
I do have a usual setup numbering system I’ve been using for years so it’ll keep my mind active if nothing else!

13

I said what I did because another person on another thread had complained that the QU24 did not have 32 channels. There is a point where things are what they are. No company can be all things to all people. Every brand has its positives and negatives. The buyer just has to decide which brand and model suits their particular needs. Sure naming would be great. I think it needs to be implemented on the display. But till then I will label the board as I have on consoles for over 40 yrs.

14

I live in “Monitor World” during the summer doing three and four day festivals. Some bands play three or four sets. I always use tape and stage plots to keep track of channels. The hardest part is finding a clean flat surface to store all the tape between sets. By the end of the festival, it’s quite a “scene”. Just having total recall has made my life SO much easier! It took so much longer between acts to try to get everything reset before digital boards! Now, I recall a scene, slap on the tape and I’m ready to go!

I know everyone has different needs but this system suites me fine!

15

Yes, it is what it is in this regard. It seems to be slowly becoming what we were told it would be.

I bought a Qu-16 based in the A&H reputation for excellent sound, and also on some marketing promises that will hopefully be delivered on soon. I was pretty hesitant to get a mixer without naming on each channel, and I would gladly have paid a couple hundred more to have it actually appear on the channel…maybe even giving up the Custom Layer real estate to make room for it, especially if I could link or group faders.

So far, the gigs I’ve done have not been too complex, so this hasn’t been too much of an issue to use magnetic tape and shuffle things around. But channel naming is a convenience that I don’t think I would do without again if I could avoid it.

I bet Chanel naming will be in a future firmware update.

The only way I can think that a firmware update might make this work somewhat would be that

  • the QuPad app would also show per-scene channel names and recall them
  • there was a special display somewhere (scenes menu and iPad app both?) that would display all the channel names at once for the selected scene
  • part of the processing screen also displayed the channel name
  • we all learn how to abbreviate even complex things down to five characters
16

I really appreciate you guys not slamming me for my first post,
it is completely unlike me to be negative and hide behind a computer screen like so many on the internet.

Anyway, I am going to get one and just accept the fact that the iPad App features are way behind the Mackie DL1608 but so so far ahead in other areas… where it really matters.

Thanks everyone!
Dan

17

I will say this, dpdan: as I mentioned, I bought based on reputation and sound quality, and I was not disappointed as regards the sound quality. Very nice preamps and processing. Very good sound in spite of being “only” 48kHz sampling. Less stiff sounding to my ears than the Yamaha 01V.

Hopefully with our encouragement and “votes” here in this forum, they will make steady improvements to the firmware.

18

“with our encouragement and “votes” here in this forum, they will make steady improvements to the firmware”
Yes, let’s hope so

19

I’ve had my qu16 4 months. In that time there have been 2 major firmware updates, improving the desk each time.

It’s a great desk, and lives up to AH’s reputation for a quality product with a great sound.

Be patient - I’m sure there’s more to come…

20

Thanks Martin! :slight_smile: