QLab 3 Audio Interface Recommendations (building a console)

[Phil Cimolai]

Hey All,

I am excited about the new mic cue features of QLab 3 and am working on a show where I'm considering doing EVERYTHING audio wise in QLab.  Previously my show was built on a Digico SD9 console and I triggered it with QLab, this was flawless and gave me a fantastic sounding show however now that it's about to go on the road we can't take the SD9 with us.  I'm investigating buying an Allen and Heath Qu-16 to rebuild the show on for touring however the console doesn't feature any crossfade options when recalling scenes (i.e. every scene is a snap to) this means I can't have fades with my mics or line inputs and it's essential for the show.  There may be some ways to accomplish fader automation of the Qu-16 with midi control changes but I'm not 100% sure on this.  I'm also wondering about mapping each of the 16 input channels of the Qu-16 to inputs on QLab as another angle.  A friend of mine has a Qu-16 and is going to do some tests for me but in the meantime I wanted to ask about some other things.

Let's say that I wanted to make use of all 24 inputs now available in QL3 and let's say up to 16 outputs.  Of these 24 inputs, for arguments sake let's say that a minimum of 12 are required to be mic pres.  What audio interfaces would you guys recommend that I look into for this type of setup?  QLab would be running on a Macbook Pro early 2011 so most likely FW800 or USB would be the way to connect said interface.  Basically I'm wondering what to use to build an audio "console" in a rack for touring purposes.

All your advice would be much appreciated.

Best,

Phil Cimolai

[Bennett Jensen]

You can use a Focusrite Saffire PRO 40 and a OctoPre MkII. That will give you 16 mic pres and 16 analog outs that fit in 2 rack spaces, also MixControl is a nice interface for mixing. Or you can do the Liquid Saffire 56 and 2 OctoPre Mklls for 24 in/out.

Another option is the behringer X32 RACK.

Bennett Jensen