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Qu-16 should I get one?


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So I'm completely fed up with my DL1608 and the constant connectivity issues. I also miss the multi-tracking of my SL, which I still own, but is clunky to hook up to record and remotely mix with. The Qu-16 appears to be an SL on steriods. It can multi-track record and do remote mixing without a computer, has the "fat channel" attribute of the SL, plus better EFX, more auxes, fully parametric EQ, small touch screen built in, and flying faders .... plus the Allen & Heath name. The only "stupid" I see in it is the 3 LED input indicators, but the remote app has full metering.

 

I refuse to even consider Behringer so that narrows the field considerably. The Soundcraft Expression is too spendy for the features. The QSC is still vaporware.

 

So any owners of the Qu-16 or 24 out there? Have you been happy with it? Considering the price has dropped to $1,600 on the street I'm seriously considering.

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abzurd -- a local fellow SE has one and I got to use it hands-on very briefly but watched him mix a show and I have to say I liked it very much. It's been a while so I can't comment on some of the nuances of workflow but I do remember I was able to work the console pretty much right away. I think it has the best touchscreen interface out there right now -- touch to select then one knob to adjust -- but that's just my personal preference. That said, being hard limited to 16 channels with no expansion option seems a serious limitation for the $$.

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Thanks. I hear you about the inputs, but I'll always want a 19" rack mount and don't see myself in a situation where I really need more than 16 channels. There are also 3 Stereo inputs so there's a bit of flexibility there to squeeze out a bit more functionality or hooking up a sub mixer. The biggest knock other than the lack of metering is the size of the mixer. I recently bought a rolling rack from Audiopile and this sucker will barely fit. It's 11U and a little over 7" deep in the back. I'd like to keep it pre-wired with a few patch snakes and the wireless mics, but I'm not sure it's going to work. I'll also be on the cusp of too deep as far as fitting gear under it.

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In a word "YES".

I love mine. I love everything about it. 19" rack mount was a must for me too and don't forget it is actually 22 channels if you include st1, st2 and st3. Also, I believe If you choose to get the D Snake (which I have not yet), those extra channels become XLR's.

BTW - I purchased mine when it was $2500 and it was worth every penny IMO.

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Abzurd,

 

I have fiddled with one a while, but no real world mixing.

 

I LOVED the built in multi-track recording to USB drive feature. The efx are top notch. I am not sure that you can get much better sound than this at any price. It feels very solid to the touch. It was very intuitive and didn't take me long at all to quickly navigate.

 

As you pointed out, the 3 LED channel strips are pitiful. No subgroups, no DCA's and no matrix mix buses.

 

You can't expand beyond 16 channels .... but as you point out, you don't need to.... and the 3 stereo returns can be used creatively for a few inputs as well.

 

The remote app has gotten better, but it still doesn't allow all features of the console to be controlled. I fiddled around with this at home on my iPad mini. It is OK. I liked the mini horizontal sliders for controls vs the round knob controls on my X32 Rack. The 2 custom layers were also really nice. I just can't get past the lack of DCA's or subgroups Sean. I have gotten so used to being able to control all vocals on a DCA and the drums on a DCA. The UI was pretty intuitive and without any instructions I was able to get around in just a few minutes of poking around. It DOES have remote recall-able gains which will be a nice addition over your DL1608.

 

I don't know about the connectivity with it though. It kind of seems like the people that purchase this mixer (and the Soundcraft SI as well) tend to be "hands on physical knobs" kinds of guys. I would do some searching around to see if anyone using this mixer has had any issues with their wifi connection.

 

It is going to be quite a bit bigger (and heavier) than your DL1608 ;) ..... but it sure is purdy!

 

I think it is a step up from the DL1608. The head amps and efx alone would make it a worthy upgrade IMHO.

 

Of course, I still prefer my X32 Rack, but I respect your disdain for Behringer.

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I'm used to my StudioLive and like the tactile part of that. Most of my adjustments at shows were walking back to the docked ipad anyway. The remote mixing is nice, but I'm the front man in the band so it's not like I'm out in the crowd mixing the whole show. This gives me the best of both worlds. I won't need to buy another backup for the ipad1 that was going to be obsolete with the next DL update. I don't feel the need for 2 ipads when there's a physical surface.

 

It just all kind of hit me yesterday. Prices have come down several hundred dollars on the Qu-16, my StudioLive hasn't been powered up for a year and the DL just isn't cutting it. Selling the other 2 mixers will pay for the other, or maybe I'll keep the DL as a backup.... they problem is I can't trust the backup. Currently I have a 12 channel 12 yr old Carvin mixer in a backup tote that goes with us to every show and for important gigs sits in it's briefcase next to the drummer. It won't be pretty if it has to be used, but it will be fast.

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I forgot about no subgroups, ughhh -- the was my friend's biggest complaint about the unit. I use one each on the SL for drums and vocals so I can compress the vocal group if needed and that doesn't get sent to the monitors like channel compression does. I could/would use a DCA for drums if I had it available but a group works ok. I agree the QU-16 was easy to transition to and sounded great.

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Although I liked subgroups on my SL, I used it more as a novelty than anything else (EFX returns, and double tracking of the snare) so not really a big deal for me. It's possible it will be added one way or another down the road. Like they could route an aux to the mains and use it as a subgroup.

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You can hard-wire a subgroup Abzurd. Just take a stereo send out to the stereo input. You could get at least 2 subgroups that way on the Qu 16.

 

Also, I use my iPad Mini on a mic stand holder (clips onto my vocal mic stand). That puts the mixer right in front of me for quick adjustments at the gig without even turning around.

 

Have you had a recent rash of issues with your connection?

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You can hard-wire a subgroup Abzurd. Just take a stereo send out to the stereo input. You could get at least 2 subgroups that way on the Qu 16.

 

Also, I use my iPad Mini on a mic stand holder (clips onto my vocal mic stand). That puts the mixer right in front of me for quick adjustments at the gig without even turning around.

 

Have you had a recent rash of issues with your connection?

 

Thanks for the tip on the subgroup. I use an ipad on a mic stand but stopped doing it with it in front of me after seeing some video of myself on stage. It's actually less distracting to keep it to the side of the stage and give the appearance I'm giving room to the guitar or bass player during solos. It also keeps it out of reach so I'm not constantly screwing around with it, when most of the time the changes I'm making aren't really needed.

 

The connection problems aren't recent. They've plagued me for the year I've had the DL.

 

Oh, and this forum text box is just awful. It took 3 tries to type this as any going back and editing deletes whole paragraphs or moves them around randomly.... sheesh.

 

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I'll be looking forward to your pros vs cons product review if you buy one.

 

I purchased last night. They don't have it in stock and A&H won't drop ship so I won't have until the end of next week, but couldn't pass up the price and it's a place I buy from fairly regularly.

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I'll be following your progress and reviews. I use a Studiolive 16.4.2 and relatively happy with the unit. It's in it's 5th year of steady gigging and I do have one encoder that has stopped working. I'd love to have recallable preamp settings but don't want to trade the meter bridge. I don't really care too much about motorized faders but they'd be a nice to have as well. I'll be lurking in the wings to see how this goes. I too have a bunch of mixers I could sell-off to pay for something to take me the next 5 years.....

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I'll be following your progress and reviews. I use a Studiolive 16.4.2 and relatively happy with the unit. It's in it's 5th year of steady gigging and I do have one encoder that has stopped working. I'd love to have recallable preamp settings but don't want to trade the meter bridge. I don't really care too much about motorized faders but they'd be a nice to have as well. I'll be lurking in the wings to see how this goes. I too have a bunch of mixers I could sell-off to pay for something to take me the next 5 years.....

 

With things moving quickly in the digital world, value of "old gear" was a factor too. I'm fire selling my analog stuff because it's just not being used and it won't be worth any more later than it is now. My SL is a good board, and I used exclusively from Jan 2009 through March 2013. With "the next generation" here I want to sell it now while it has decent value. It has probably 200 shows on it plus some mix downs.

 

If I can get even $800 out of it that would net a cost to use it at $5 per show. I can live with that. Plus, although the band is "for profit", it's also a hobby and I'm a gear junkie with part of the enjoyment being to play with new toys!

 

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I've got about 300 shows on my SL mixer and it's definitely earned it's keep. We have a lot of parallels in that we run our band for profit, but (both my wife and I) have very solid day jobs that pay the bills. I don't want to be frivolous, but I am actively looking at the new generation of mixers. I was intrigued by the QU 16 and the new QSC Touchmix. I too run sound from the stage 90% of the time and I've become somewhat dependent on the meter bridge of the SL and the "real" faders (as opposed the QSC virtual faders); being about to reach over and move a fader very quickly without layers is important to me. So, I'm still hanging back hoping to see a contender with a full meter bridge and recallable preamps in the sub $2k range.....or I'll be convinced I can live without the meter bridge...decisions, decisions.....

 

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With things moving quickly in the digital world, value of "old gear" was a factor too. I'm fire selling my analog stuff because it's just not being used and it won't be worth any more later than it is now. My SL is a good board, and I used exclusively from Jan 2009 through March 2013. With "the next generation" here I want to sell it now while it has decent value. It has probably 200 shows on it plus some mix downs.

 

If I can get even $800 out of it that would net a cost to use it at $5 per show. I can live with that. Plus, although the band is "for profit", it's also a hobby and I'm a gear junkie with part of the enjoyment being to play with new toys!

I felt the same way about my analog gear. I got decent money for my MixWiz ($450.00) and all the other outboard gear and like you felt that considering the nearly 2 decades I got out of it was well paid for. I was concerned that in another few years, I wouldn't be able to give away the MixWiz.

 

On the stage presence of an iPad used for mixing from stage ....

 

I use the iPad Mini in black. This was a pretty dark stage, but even on a brightly lit one, it doesn't really look very intrusive: http://www.mtomidnight.com/video_audio2.htm. You can see my X32 Rack behind us on the floor.

 

I also have a video of me working with my old MixWiz. Unlike you, I am tethered to my station both with wired IEM's and guitar gear (pedals and cords). It looked really bad when I had to physically turn around to tweak the mix. I have thought about using a MIDI foot controller with the new V2 firmware which allows continuous control over each fader, but haven't tried that since I don't yet have V2 on my mixer (the remote apps aren't updated yet rendering V2 useless for X32 Rack and Core users).

 

I can see where it would be better for you to simply walk off to the side and make tweaks. I can only tweak between songs or in small time windows when I am not either singing or playing .... which are few and far between.

 

I am eagerly awaiting your evaluation of the Qu-16. I gave it a very serious look. To be perfectly honest, if I had not decided to go completely virtual, I may well have went with it myself ..... of course, when I was purchasing, the price was still $2400.00 !!! Also, the original release did not include the iPad app which wasn't available until 6 months later. The combination took it out of the running for me. I do envy your Qu Drive capability though :(

 

I think you are going to absolutely LOVE the verbs on this thing Abzurd.... and motorized faders are just ...... too cool. You can't help yourself from grinning when you fiddle with your iPad and the console becomes possessed ;)

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OneEng -- quick threadjack here (as my question is not worth its own thread) -- I remember you've said before (many times?) that your band uses edrums and (I believe) you turn your guitar amps backward to reduce stage volume (hard to tell from the video). Do you then mic your amps or DI out? Use any shields/absorbers? What about the bass? The venue I work is fairly small and keeping overall volume down is always a challenge -- especially when I don't have control over certain sources on stage. Thanks in advance! (apologies Abzurd)

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OneEng -- quick threadjack here (as my question is not worth its own thread) -- I remember you've said before (many times?) that your band uses edrums and (I believe) you turn your guitar amps backward to reduce stage volume (hard to tell from the video). Do you then mic your amps or DI out? Use any shields/absorbers? What about the bass? The venue I work is fairly small and keeping overall volume down is always a challenge -- especially when I don't have control over certain sources on stage. Thanks in advance! (apologies Abzurd)

 

My band too uses edrums and no amps except a small 12" tilt back bass amp. Very low stage volume. When we did have amps they were small combo amps on tilt stands and were positioned to the front and side of the guitar player so they both aimed up and back instead of out into the audience. Here's a video from a bar a few months ago. OneEng, you'll see me screwing around with ipad periodically ;-)

 

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OneEng -- quick threadjack here (as my question is not worth its own thread) -- I remember you've said before (many times?) that your band uses edrums and (I believe) you turn your guitar amps backward to reduce stage volume (hard to tell from the video). Do you then mic your amps or DI out? Use any shields/absorbers? What about the bass? The venue I work is fairly small and keeping overall volume down is always a challenge -- especially when I don't have control over certain sources on stage. Thanks in advance! (apologies Abzurd)
Currently the lead player has an open back black star combo that we face at the back of the stage and cover the back with a plexiglass shield and mic with an e609. Bass is DI an my VHT 2 x 12 can has a closed back and is also miced with an e609. I am in the process of going to a Kemper and selling my VHT rig. I will go straight in then. Absurd, I had to watch carefully to see you fiddle.... And you guys are much more comfortable on stage than we are. Good stage presence!
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thanks, we're not much of a show, but the bass player and I move around a bit. After watching videos I also realized how much I look down at the harmonizer pedal. That prompted me to start using the wired TC-Helicon MP-75 mic with the switch on the body of the mic. Not a huge fan of the cord, but the mic sounds excellent and the performance is WAY better. One of the band wives actually noticed "something different" that she could only describe as "better" with my performance. When I told her about the mic she said "that's it".

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Abzurd,

 

Have you downloaded the iPad app yet "Qu Pad"? It is a nice looking app, but after using the DL1608 iPad app, I suspect you are going to notice some of the limitations of the interface, but it will get the job done.

 

I kind of like the way they have the VU in the center of the fader and the gain reduction on the side. Lots of info on the same screen. I also personally like the ability to swipe through the channels.

 

The X32 app has that nice mini full meter bridge for all inputs and buses along the top which is very helpful.

 

Now the waiting begins ;)

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