Allen & Heath QU-24 30-In/24-Out Digital Mixer

The Qu-24 is an excellent digital mixing console for both the novice and experienced sound technician. Having worked with several digital consoles in this price range over the past few years, I can say that overall the Qu-24 is at least as good or better on features and performance than the others I have worked with.Likes:* Workflow is easy and intuitive on the default 24-channel layer for FOH and auxiliary mixing* The "SuperStrip" is well laid out for adjusting the gains, PEQs, Pan etc.* The Gate and Compressor are very easy to work with. The threshold setting is easily adjusted by the dedicated encoders on the SuperStrip for quick and effective insertion of those processing functions into the audio pathway without having to use the touchscreen* The touchscreen is really well laid out and the color graphics for EQs, HPF, gate, compression, etc. are excellent. You can really see and fine tune where you want the gate threshold and depth to be set with true precision control.* The assignable soft keys are a nice feature for mute groups, PAFL canceling and recalling scenes easily.* The mic pre-amps are good quality and the overall sound quality from the board is very good* The four FX processors are very good and are easily added to the mix* Having three dedicated stereo channel inputs is really nice, especially with one being 1/8" mini-stereo compatible with MP3/phone/PC devices that are most often used for pre-recorded music input* The Qu-Drive is relatively easy to setup and use with some caveats (see below)* The Qu-Pad iOS app is relatively functional and lets you control/adjust most settings that you can by using the physical console, though some enhancements could be added here. Actually, there are a few things you can do on the Qu-Pad app that you can't do on the mixing console (additional custom layer, naming channel strips, inserting blanks between faders)* The Input meters and the RTA (real-time analyzer) available on the home screen are really nice for monitoring the mix graphically.* I haven't used the dSNAKE add-on, but it would be nice to add into the venue at some point in the future* 100% re-callable scenes/channel settingsThere are a few areas where this mixing console could be improved in comparison to the PreSonsus StudioLive or the Soundcraft Si Expression/Performer which I have also used:* More channels/pre-amps (32+) would be great on a future release of the Qu series* The motorized faders are nice, but they are not nearly as smooth to operate as the Soundcraft faders (PreSonus does not have motorized faders and is far from 100% re-callablel)* The Qu-Pad app can be difficult to make precise adjustments on in comparison to the Soundcraft ViSi app. The PreSonsus app can also be a challenge to make adjustments on, but at least they have the iPhone version for musicians to control their own mixes (Soundcraft and Allen & Heath need to catch up with this functionality asap!)* While the Qu-Drive is a nice feature for quick multi-channel recording from the console, it only goes up to 18 channels. That may have been fine for the Qu-16, but it seems like adding in the other 6-8 channels should not be that difficult if the board can do it with a regular USB connection to a PC/Mac for DAW recording.* I'm not sure why A&H added so many stereo auxiliary sends that can't be unpaired into separate mono channels. The back of the board has 10 XLR "Mix Outputs, but only the first four are mono. The remaining six are hard-configured as stereo pairs. So, you can use these for seven total mono outputs or four mono and three stereo, but you can't get to ten auxiliary mixes unless you also use the two group stereo pair outputs and also the Matrix stereo pair outputs (11 actually). All of these can be used as mono outputs by leaving the right output channel open, but you gain no additional channel mixes by using mono vs. stereo. The Soundcraft and Presonus allow for individual mono channels to be linked as needed, but it is up to the user to decide how best to assign them. Not so with the Qu-24.* The Qu-24 has an additional stereo "Alt Out" channel in dual 1/4" mono/stereo configuration and this output has it's own level control on the surface which is nice. However, there is also a 2-Track Out in the same configuration, but the output level on this channel is only controlled by the main LR output levels. So, if you are using the 2Track out for recording but need more gain out of the board, you can't do it without adjusting the FOH output levels, which is not an option for a live environment. Of course you can use a auxiliary mix out, a stereo group out or a matrix stereo out if control is needed, but assigning a fader or an additional level knob would have been preferred.In summary, the Qu-24 (and presumably the smaller Qu-16) is a very good mixing console. Great features, great workflow, easy for both a novice and an advanced user to get the most out of it. The Soundcraft Si Expression is very comparable with slightly better components (pre amps, faders, etc), but it is not a board for novice users. Everything on the Soundcraft is rather complicated to adjust to even for a more experienced user and the features available on the touchscreen are so numerous that a user will get lost in a hurry just trying to change a channel from Pre to Post fader processing. The Qu-24 keeps most functions more intuitive. The PreSonus SL still has a great workflow and a very good ipad and iPhone app option, but they really need to scap their whole board and start from scratch with their next generation of mixing consoles. Not having 100% recallable scenes means you really don't have re-callable scenes at all unless you abandon the mixing console altogether and only mix from the iPad or the PC/mac computer screen. Also, the pre-amps, gate, compressor and FX on the PreSonsus are all very noticeably inferior audio quality compared to Allen & Heath or Soundcraft.

I really like this mixer - it sounds great, it's easy to use, and the feature set is perfect IMO for live sound. But...there's a "feature" not mentioned in the description or in the other review I've seen here that I want to call to the attention of potential buyers who may be interested in using this mixer in the studio: the Qu-24 is locked at 24-bit/48 kHz.24 bit word length was fine by me, but I expect a digital product in this class to be able to interface at different sample rates (I don't think I've ever had a piece of digital audio gear that was locked like this, even going back to my Yamaha O1v purchased in the last century). At a minimum, I needed it to work at 44.1 kHz as the majority of my existing projects were at that rate. Be aware that if you connect this desk to your computer via USB, you can't play back audio at any sample rate other than 48 kHz without performing sample rate conversion. Unfortunately that wasn't practical for me, so, reluctantly, I had to return the unit. I'm surprised I missed this in my research, but it's not made very clear in the product literature. For instance on the Amazon page the description reads, "The mixer is capable of recording audio to either your Mac or a USB hard drive in up to 48kHz/24-bit resolution." Not quite accurate. (I should point out that the USB drive will at least play back audio files at different rates.)I am really sad to see it go. If you don't need to accommodate sample rates other than 48 kHz, I'd highly recommend this mixer.

amazing feature set, does take time to learn digital/ analog routing, 31 band eq so cool with faders, iPad app very useful, A & H could provide more detailed documentation however the info is there it just takes reading manual multiple times.... the best thing about this product is its ability to provide hands-on control of both hardware and software including routing soft synths in logic through the board while simultaneously controlling hardware live or through midi implementation....

Excelent digital mixer for the price! MADE IN ENGLAND