With the Qu-16, Qu-24 and Qu-32, Allen & Heath found a way to pack the flexibility and power of a digital mixer behind a familiar analog-style interface with buttons, knobs and faders. With the new Qu-Pac, most of those analog conventions go by the wayside. Why? Because the Qu-Pac squeezes a powerhouse digital mixer into a scant four rackspaces. A digital mixer can be compact or loaded with physical controls—you can't have both.
Whereas some of the competition does away with all controls on the mixer itself (relying exclusively on software running on an external device), the Qu-Pac boasts a five-inch touchscreen display that allows control over every aspect of the mixer. Yes, the Qu-Pac is meant to be controlled wirelessly with an iPad app. Yes, complex technology can go haywire at the least opportune moments. Being able to control the mixer no matter what will be a huge comfort to most, especially those struggling with the thought of lobbing every mixing command through the wi-fi ether.
Having tested the Qu-32, I can confirm that the Qu-series touchscreen interface is a well-conceived, effective means to control the mixer. The Qu-32 has a seven-inch screen, which was actually a bit cramped for certain operations. The Qu-Pac's five-inch display will be even trickier to use, something worth noting for those with large fingers or aging eyes. We'll find out when we get our hands on a review unit in the coming months.
Beyond the touchscreen, a large portion of the Qu-Pac's front-panel holds 15 user-definable soft buttons and 16 bank select buttons. Sprinkled around the display are menu-select buttons, copy/paste buttons and a rotary encoder knob that's used extensively for making parameter changes. The only analog controls on the front panel are the headphone and “Alt out” level knobs. How well the Qu-Pac's hybrid touchscreen-minus-faders interface works in the real world is something we look forward to testing.
The littlest sibling of the Qu series has much to offer, especially in situations where space is at a premium.
Finally, the front panel of the Qu-Pac has a USB port that turns out to be a very significant 3/4 inch of real estate. Here a common USB drive connects to allow up to 18 tracks of real-time recording and playback. Record a stack of tracks or just the stereo mix, return multiple tracks for a “virtual sound check”, route a backing track to the stereo mix—all of these become possible with the front-mounted USB Qu-Drive.
Other digital interface options include a rear-mounted USB port for direct connection to a Mac or PC computer (for record or playback of all inputs and outputs), a LAN Ethernet port for connecting a wi-fi router or access point, and A&H's own dSnake interface for connecting a remote stage box. Only with dSnake can you access all 38 of the Qu-Pac's input channels.
Though some may need the extra analog inputs and outputs of a remote stage box, most users will find the Qu-Pac's complement of built-in I/O to be generous. The Qu-Pac's back panel sports 16 analog inputs on XLR and 1/4-inch jacks (with AnaLogiq recallable preamps), three stereo inputs, 12 mix outputs plus stereo main, two-track, alt and AES digital outputs. Once inside the mixer, you can route and mix audio channels across four stereo groups, four DCA groups and four mute groups.
Qu-Pac has the same complement of on-board digital processing as the rest of the Qu series, which includes trim, polarity, high-pass filter, gate, insert/ducker, four-band parametric EQ, compressor and delay on all inputs. All outputs have insert, four -band parametric EQ, 1/3 octave graphic EQ, compressor and delay. (Though “inserts” are listed, Qu-Pac has no dedicated analog inserts.)
Four stereo effects processors sit across dedicated effects send and return busses. These effects offer a complement of reverbs, delays and pitch-based effects from the A&H iLive touring mixer series. Other niceties include a real-time analyzer, signal generator and automatic ducking.
Giving musicians more control over their own monitor mixes can be a win-win, and this is an area where Qu-Pac is well-equipped. The dSnake system allows Qu-Pac to work with any number of ME-1 personal mixers. Connect a wi-fi router, and your iPad won't be the only device that can access the mixer. Musicians can also control their own mixes wirelessly with the A&H Qu-You iPhone app.
The Qu-Pac offers full recall of all parameters, with 100 scene memories available. Because the real world rarely behaves predictably, specific mixer parameters can be made safe from recall to avoid overwriting a desired change. Show configurations can be saved to a USB key. Channel and effects settings can be stored to a library, and settings can be copied and pasted between channels.
The littlest sibling of the Qu series has much to offer, especially in situations where space is at a premium. “Mix-it-yourself” groups who need to create a quality sound without the benefit of a sound person will love the Qu-Pac, thanks to its iPad control and easy track record/playback (for virtual sound checks). Though few churches will relegate their sound to a mixer with no analog-style controls, Qu-Pac will likely find a home in mobile rigs, youth group bands and other applications where power is needed but space is at a premium.
