Overview of the Allen and Heath Qu-32 Compact Digital Mixing Board:
- 800 x 480 color touchscreen interface
- 32 Mic/Line inputs
- High-spec/low-distortion AnaLOGIQ preamps
- Motorized faders for every input
- Integrated 18-channel multitrack recorder (48K/24-bit Wavs)
- Transfers recorded tracks to/from mixer with a USB hard drive
- Interfaces with most leading DAWs
- Save and load scenes via USB to store & recall mixing sessions
- iLive FX library provides emulations of classic reverbs, etc.
- Powered by 5 ARM-core processors + dual-core DSPs for effects
- Remote app lets you control the mixer wirelessly over Wi-Fi
- Connect to a remote rack with a single Cat5 ethernet cable
- Compatible with A&H ME monitoring system; allows musicians to control their own mixes
- 38 in / 28 out
- 18 guage steel frame
QU32 32 Mic/Line input Digital Mixer
Allen & Heath unveiled the Qu-32 compact touchscreen mixer for the first time at InfoComm 2014. This board is everything we loved about the Qu-16 & Qu-24 but with more ins & outs, more processing power, and a streamlined interface.
Every one of the 32 inputs on the Allen & Heath Qu-32 is still accessible via its own dedicated fader, all on a single layer. So even with the additional 8 mic/line inputs you won’t have to hunt through menus to adjust the preamp gain of that snare mic that’s clipping. And speaking of preamps: the AnaLOGIQ pres in this thing are identical to those in the Qu-16 & Qu-24, so rest assured A&H didn’t cut corners trying to cram more stuff into an already-tremendous board.
Each input has a dedicated motorized fader which can be controlled in real time at the desk, recalled from stored scenes, and adjusted over Wi-Fi using the free iPad app. You can even connect the Qu-32 to a remote box up to 400 feet away using a single CAT5 ethernet cable for wired remote mixing.
With 32 mic preamps, the Qu-32 shines at recording full bands and ensembles. The internal Qu-Drive multitrack recorder lets you record up to 18 tracks of 24/48 stereo .wav files. It also behaves as and Class-compliant USB audio interface for most leading DAWs (incl. Pro Tools, Logic, Cubase, and even Reaper), allowing you to mix music with real long-throw faders rather than dragging sliders one at a time. See below for more information.
Easy Mixing Experience
Borrowing from their years of rich analog and digital mixing console design, Allen & Heath has created an amazingly intuitive, powerful, yet easy to use mixing experience with the Qu-32. Every major function of the Qu-32 is within easy reach, and comfortable to operate by anyone wether you’re used to digital consoles, or the old-school analog boards. It’s SuperStrip design puts processing for each channel only a single button press away and the motorized faders and digital processing makes recalling entire mixing setups and scenes a breeze.
Flexible I/O
The Allen & Heath Qu-32 includes 32 inputs w/digitally controlled on-board microphone preamps or line-level TRS connections. A total of 28 outputs provide a total of 24 assignable outputs. In addition, the Qu-32 also includes 3 pairs of stereo TRS inputs, TRS 2Track out, TRS alt out, and AES output via XLR connector. The Qu-32 also has a dedicated talk-back microphone input with phantom power separate from the other inputs.
Tired of dealing with huge copper snakes, dealing with wiring issues, and want to make the jump to a digital snake? No problem! With the Allen & Heath Qu-32 and it’s built-in dSNAKE port, you can use Allen & Heath’s AR2412, AR84, or the new
AB168 digital Stageboxes. Now you can have all of your I/O up on the stage and run a single Cat5 cable back to the Qu-32. That’s awesome!
Motorized ALPS Faders
As digital consoles become more advanced, one feature that is sorely missing from some lower cost digital mixers are moving faders. The Qu-32 makes this an affordable option for smaller mixing needs. FINALLY! The Qu-32 has 33 high quality 100mm ALPS motorized faders making scene and mix recall an absolute breeze. When using a digital snake system, the Qu-32 has multiple mix layers for dealing with with the mix groups, DCAs, effects sends, etc.
Multi-Track Recording Made EASY!
Lot of digital consoles on the market today have multi-track capabilities in some capacity. Allen & Heath has taken this a step further with the Qu-32. No other manufacturer has made multi-track recording this easy. You don’t even need a computer. All you need is a USB hard drive. Plug in your USB hard drive to the USB port and the Qu-32 can record channels 1-16 plus one selectable stereo pair in high quality 24-bit, 48kHz. The Qu-32 can also record just simple stereo mixes if need be. When the recording is done, the Qu-24 can instantly stream the tracks right back into the console for immediate mix review. How sweet is that?
Want to still use a computer and record straight into your DAW? No problem! The Qu-32′s USB audio interface is class-compliant on Mac OS X with drivers available for Windows users. Just plug it in and the computer will see it as a USB multi-channel audio device. Not only that, the USB connection can send MIDI control back and forth so you can easily map the faders on the console to tracks in your DAW session. You also have the option of connecting the console via Ethernet for MIDI control as well.
Amazing High Quality iLive FX
The Allen & Heath iLive series has been a huge success in the larger format, professional sound industries. The Qu-32 uses the same FX algorithms that were developed for the iLive series. The Qu-32 has 4 stereo iLive FX engines featuring rich reverbs, delays, modulators, and much more. All of the FX returns also feature dedicated PEQs for fine tuning. Qu-32′s FX engine was built with expandability in mind so more FX can be added in the future with firmware releases.
Qu-Pad Wireless iPad Mixing
If you’ve ever run sound in a small bar or club, you know that most of the time, the FOH is not always in the ideal location for proper mixing. What if you could mix the show in the sweet spot, the audience. The Qu-32 now has wireless mixing capability with the free Qu-Pad app for Apple’s iPad.
Now you can mix the show from anywhere in the venue. Everything from monitor mixes, to EQ & compression settings, effects, to the 31-band graphic EQ on outputs. The Qu-Pad app gives you quick and easy access to all of these parameters and more. All you need is a wireless Wi-Fi router connected to the network port on the Qu-32 and an iPad. You’ll have the best sounding mix in town, and all of the other sound engineers will be jealous!
Easy Personal Mixing
The Qu-32 is fully compatible with Allen & Heath’s ME Personal Mixing System. The ME-1 personal mixers can be chained from the dSNAKE port on the back of the console, or from the AR2412 Stagebox if you’re using a digital snake.
