Launched at Pro Light + Sound 2014, the newest addition to the Yamaha range of digital consoles, the QL-series, was showcased at the World of Yamaha headquarters on Friday, 25 July, 2014; presented by Andy Cooper, Manager of Professional Audio Products for Yamaha Europe.
Following on from their acclaimed LS9 and M7CL digital consoles, the QL-series, comprising the QL1 and QL5 in ascending order of size, is basically the smaller brother to the CL-series, which they can integrate with in more complex systems. It features the same core features and performance, yet more condensed, and has a very similar hardware and operating style but includes native mic preamps (32 for the QL5 and 16 for the QL1) and native Dante networking for connecting to the Rio-series of stage boxes and other Dante-compatible equipment. It is interesting to note that Dante connectivity is standard and is not only available only as an option card. However, there are still two MY-series slots for further expansion of the console’s i/o.
For system processing and crossovers, the new MY8-LAKE expansion card can be installed which brings Lake’s legendary industry-standard system processing to the engineer’s fingertips. The MY8-LAKE features twice the processing of the LAKE LM44 and LM26 processors and has 8 i/o via the slot and 8 i/o via AES/EBU along with network control and connection to other Lake devices over an RJ45 port.
In terms of the Yamaha live digital console family, the QL series technically fits in between the LS9 and M7CL consoles, yet in reality it is well above them in features. One could say that the QL fits in just under the CL-series in terms of its features and workflow, making it virtually the second most powerful console in the range if you omit the PM5D-RH. The most obvious features between the QL- and CL-series consoles that the CL features more mixer capacity and more physical knobs and encoders. The QL series also currently features the Dan Dugan automixer, which the CL-series currently does not. This, however, is set to change in the very near future.
The QL-series is aimed at corporate events and small to medium-size live sound reinforcement. It features 16 mix busses and eight matrix busses (or up to 24 mix busses) along with the standard stereo and mono busses. It also features eight graphic EQs and 16 on-board stereo effects. The CL-series, by contrast, features 16 graphic EQs (GEQs) and 16 on-board stereo effects, so the QL-series only forgoes eight GEQs. If more GEQs are required this can be worked around by assigning GEQs to the rack modules.
In relation to the CL-series, one could think of the QL-series how the LS9 related to the M7CL. However, it differs from the LS9 in that it has a smaller footprint (just 19-inch width for the QL1), has the same large touch screen you find on the CL-series, includes channel name and colour displays that also display dynamics processing gain reduction, higher quality mic preamps, integrated Dante networking, 24-busses (input to matrix) and more general processing such as GEQs, FX and the addition of the premium rack.
The FX racks now include classic analogue emulations of the Neve Portico 5033 and 5043 processors, Yamaha’s acclaimed VCM (Virtual Circuitry Modelling) emulations of classic analogue gear and the Rev-X series of Yamaha effects. The Dan Dugan automixer, which is a corporate and conference-orientated rack module, keeps speaker levels stable, increases intelligibility, reduces background noise and reduces feedback. This is a feature that rental companies whose work is conference and corporate-focussed will undoubtedly find useful.
Other notable features include a touch-and-turn knob that allows control of any selected parameter in the GUI. There are twelve user-defined keys and four fader layers. By pressing the first and last fader layer buttons, you can access the four custom layers that can be arranged into any channel combination you desire. Two track recording and playback can be accomplished via the on-board USB port and a multi-track recording via Dante through their Virtual Soundcard (included with the QL-series) on Mac or PC. If Steinberg’s Nuendo Live software is used, transport control and channel names can be linked to the QL-series’ GUI. Finally, using the QL StageMix mobile device app, remote mixing is a possibility.
In summary, the QL-series shares the following features with the CL-series:
• Ch EQ and 2x Dynamics
• 16 DCA and 8 Mute Groups
• 1000ms Input Ch & Output Port Delays
• 300 Scene Memories (with Preview, Focus, Copy & Paste etc)
• 4 Custom Fader Banks (recallable with scene memories)
• 12 User Defined Keys (16 for CL series)
• Multiple User Key Sets (with password protection)
• 5-in/5-out GPI Interface, MIDI, Console Cascade, etc…
New and unique features include:
• 2 inserts available for every channel/bus.
o The 2 inserts will be at the same insert point.
Pre-Eq/ Pre-Fade/ Post-Fade
o Each of the inserts can be internal or external
Eg. Neve comp + MY8-LAKE
Eg. M.Band Comp + GEQ
Eg. 2x Premium Rack items
• Also included in CL-v2
