dickiefunk Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 Hi, I've been using a Presonus StudioLive 16:0:2 with my live system for nearly a year and have been very pleased with it's sound and ease of use. The Studiolive was quite a step up from the Yamaha 01v and MG desks I had. After spending some considerable time using the 16:0:2 there are a few features that I wish I had :- 1/ Remote iPad mixing without a laptop!2/ Digitally controllable preamps (gain)3/ 4 band parametric eq per channel instead of 3 band on 16:0:24/ 6 auxes would be nice but not essential I've been doing a little reading on options and I'm interested in :- I/ Allen & Heath QU-16ii/ Behringer X32 Producer (or maybe iX16)iii/ Line 6 StageScape M20d The budget would have to be £1600 as I am selling other stuff to fund it. I'm also aware of the Soundcraft Si Expression 1 but this cost's closer to £2000 so I'll have to rule this one out. Both the A&H are latest products with the QU16 just being released and the X32 Producer coming soon so I realize hands on experience of these may not be possible yet. However the QU16 is said to be based on the iLive and GLD mixers and the X32 Producer is said to sound exactly the same as the original X32. What would your thoughts be on these three desks and which would you recommend? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneEng Posted July 7, 2013 Share Posted July 7, 2013 Hi, I've been using a Presonus StudioLive 16:0:2 with my live system for nearly a year and have been very pleased with it's sound and ease of use. The Studiolive was quite a step up from the Yamaha 01v and MG desks I had. After spending some considerable time using the 16:0:2 there are a few features that I wish I had :- 1/ Remote iPad mixing without a laptop!2/ Digitally controllable preamps (gain)3/ 4 band parametric eq per channel instead of 3 band on 16:0:24/ 6 auxes would be nice but not essential I've been doing a little reading on options and I'm interested in :- I/ Allen & Heath QU-16ii/ Behringer X32 Producer (or maybe iX16)iii/ Line 6 StageScape M20d The budget would have to be £1600 as I am selling other stuff to fund it. I'm also aware of the Soundcraft Si Expression 1 but this cost's closer to £2000 so I'll have to rule this one out. Both the A&H are latest products with the QU16 just being released and the X32 Producer coming soon so I realize hands on experience of these may not be possible yet. However the QU16 is said to be based on the iLive and GLD mixers and the X32 Producer is said to sound exactly the same as the original X32. What would your thoughts be on these three desks and which would you recommend? I am in the same market and looking. I currently have an analog rig with an A&H MixWiz. First, the price of the Qu-16 is $2500.00 USD as is the Soundcraft Expression Si, but the difference to me is that the A&H can do multi-track recording and playback while the Soundcraft needs a $1000.00 USD MADI card to do so. The Behringer X32 Producer is a decent sounding product, but it really puts me off that they got rid of the scribble strips for this model :( I would add the X32 Rack to your short list. This mixer is $1500.00 USD ($500 less than the Producer). This is actually at the top of my short list right now. I also intend to mix with the iPad app as well as having a laptop hard cabled to the X32 Rack as a backup should something go wrong with the iPad. Additionally, the X32's have the ability to do MIDI scene changes so that would be a 3rd remote option (wired). I already have a MIDI foot switch so this is also appealing to me. The Line 6 StageScape M20d is a very different kind of mixer. First, the physical limitiations of 12 mic pre's and 4 auxes (the other mixers we are discussing have at 16 pre's and 6 auxes).Aside from that, this mixer is designed to be the anti-mixer. By that, I mean that it is designed for someone that doesn't necessarily have to understand how a mixer really works very well. I haven't been able to find any forum reviews of the mixer, and I am always suspect of commercials since someone has to be paying the bills and that makes the conclusions suspect.I will say that it has one feature that I think would be great for a "mix from stage" band. The auto pre-amp gain feature is very cool for that lead guitar player that turns up after sound check ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Adlam Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 We've just put a qu16 into our hire stock and I've been really impressed by it. The multitrack recording is excellent, it feels good to use, and the sound is a real step up from the studio live. I'm expecting that we'll be selling a lot of these over the next few months! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneEng Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 We've just put a qu16 into our hire stock and I've been really impressed by it. The multitrack recording is excellent, it feels good to use, and the sound is a real step up from the studio live. I'm expecting that we'll be selling a lot of these over the next few months!Very cool Phil. You are the first I have heard from that has the new mixer. Do you have anymore information you would like to share on it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dickiefunk Posted July 19, 2013 Author Share Posted July 19, 2013 I'm hoping to try the QU-16 next week http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Adlam Posted July 19, 2013 Share Posted July 19, 2013 Yeah, Obviously we sell them, so I may be a bit biased! But I've tried everything out there now and keep coming back to the A&H digitals as the best options for the money. We run free sound training course for churches and I find that when we've been doing the training, people are getting to grips with it really quickly, even if they've only used analogue before, so that has to be a good sign. The key things I like about the QU16 are: - price - very powerful processing on every channel and outputs - solid build quality - 18 track recording - analogue or digital multicore compatible (with the AR2412) - motorised faders and a straight forward user interface - links direct with the ME1 personal monitor mixers (so you can have as many auxes as you want!) - fits under your arm! Only issue is that it looks like delivery of next batch of stocks to the distributors will be in late October so there will be a short wait for our customers unfortunately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneEng Posted July 20, 2013 Share Posted July 20, 2013 Yeah, Obviously we sell them, so I may be a bit biased! But I've tried everything out there now and keep coming back to the A&H digitals as the best options for the money. We run free sound training course for churches and I find that when we've been doing the training, people are getting to grips with it really quickly, even if they've only used analogue before, so that has to be a good sign. The key things I like about the QU16 are: - price - very powerful processing on every channel and outputs - solid build quality - 18 track recording - analogue or digital multicore compatible (with the AR2412) - motorised faders and a straight forward user interface - links direct with the ME1 personal monitor mixers (so you can have as many auxes as you want!) - fits under your arm! Only issue is that it looks like delivery of next batch of stocks to the distributors will be in late October so there will be a short wait for our customers unfortunately. Cool Phil, Hey, I read that the remote control app doesn't work with the production released firmware. Can you confirm this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Adlam Posted July 20, 2013 Share Posted July 20, 2013 I haven't tried that so I can't confirm at the moment. As soon as it gets back from its current demo I'll try and let you know. I do know that a major firmware update, with many new features, is due in a months time or so. The A&H tech support is very good, and they are happy if you contact them direct if you've any specific detailed questions that I can't answer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneEng Posted July 20, 2013 Share Posted July 20, 2013 I haven't tried that so I can't confirm at the moment. As soon as it gets back from its current demo I'll try and let you know. I do know that a major firmware update, with many new features, is due in a months time or so. The A&H tech support is very good, and they are happy if you contact them direct if you've any specific detailed questions that I can't answer. Thanks Phil :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dickiefunk Posted September 23, 2013 Author Share Posted September 23, 2013 Ordered a QU-16 today. Should be here tomorrow or Wednesday! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob_P Posted September 24, 2013 Share Posted September 24, 2013 This looks like an interesting and tempting desk. The A&H website talks about the ability to plug your mac into the desk for recording (and, I assume, playback). Does anyone know if this also works with PCs? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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