Allen & Heath adds new Qu Chrome mixers

Allen & Heath has announced new Chrome editions of its Qu series compact digital mixers to mark the launch of its Qu v1.8 Chrome firmware in mid-October, which adds new features such as Automatic Mic Mixing, a Spectrogram and additional monitor mixes.

The Chrome Edition Qu-16, Qu-24 and Qu-32 mixers all feature the same high contrast metallic finish rotary controls and fader caps as the GLD Chrome series – launched at Prolight + Sound earlier this year – promising optimal visibility in low lighting scenarios and enhanced tactile control.

The new Automatic Microphone Mixer (AMM) coming in v1.8 firmware is designed to help the engineer manage the levels of multiple mic inputs, ensuring that each speaker’s contribution is heard, but with priority settings to establish an order of precedence. The new Spectrogram tool provides a visual means of hunting down and dealing with problem frequencies, helping to eliminate feedback and tame difficult room acoustics. 

The update also unlocks more monitor mixes by allowing Stereo Groups to be switched to Mix mode. This takes the maximum number of discrete monitor sends to nine on Qu-24 (four mono, five stereo) and 11 on Qu-32 and Qu-Pac (four mono, seven stereo), making them ideal for compact touring as dedicated monitor consoles.

The Qu-Pad app receives further enhancements with the inclusion of new controls, views and functions, such as remote control over AMM settings. Qu-Pad is one of a series of control apps which also includes Qu-You for personal monitoring.

“With features like the touchscreen, motorised faders, multitrack recording to USB and a choice of hardware and software for personal monitoring, Qu has been the pace setter in compact digital mixing,” commented Allen & Heath product manager Nicola Beretta. “The new updates make Qu Chrome an unrivalled solution for conferencing and monitor mixing. These add to a broad range of live sound and recording applications where Qu is already excelling, and of course existing Qu users will be able to update to v1.8 Chrome firmware to get even more flexibility from their mixers.”

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