Allen & Heath SQ RACK

Allen & Heath SQ Rack is the 4-unit digital mixer based on the powerful 96kHz FPGA XCVI motor. SQ RACK has 16 mono inputs with respective microphone preamps and 3 stereo inputs, which you can expand up to 48 input channels. It is equipped with 8 FX stereos with their respective returns, 12 XLR outputs, AES out and SLink port. SQ RACK is designed for professionals working in the field of live, recording and streaming and offers high-resolution audio with a latency of less than 0.7 ms. The same power and fidelity of the other models of the Allen & Heath SQ series.

SQ Rack Mixer Controls

In this fader-less version all mixer controls are available via the touch screen or via the SQ MixPad app (iOS, Android). As with the other models, the Allen & Heath SQ faders have 6 command layers, assignable through the dedicated buttons highlighted in the image in blue, through which we can access 96 channel strips making it possible to control channels, returns, master and DCA. In this model we find 2 new keys, highlighted in red in the image below:

SQ CONTROL: allows us to access a dedicated "SQ-Control" screen for simplified mixer control. This screen can be customised by inserting the parameter controls that we consider most useful including the levels of sends, mute and SoftKeys. This screen will correspond to the layout of an associated "SQ-Control" app, available for iOS and Android.

FADER: allows us to access the screen dedicated to virtual faders of our mixer.

To adjust the value of a selected parameter we can use the touch screen or, if we want a more precise control, the dedicated potentiometer circled in orange in the image. On the main panel we find 8 SoftKeys that can be assigned both to the internal functions of the mixer and via MIDI to a DAW, they are highlighted in yellow while the 4 SoftRotary, also with a user-assignable function, are on the right of the screen highlighted in green.

Physical Input and Output.

Entrances and exits

Allen & Heath SQ RACK has 16 XLR inputs with preamp for microphone or line signal, 2 stereo inputs on ¼” TRS connecters, a stereo line input on 3.5mm minijack connecter and an input for talkback on XLR. The 1 to 10 outputs for the Mix are on XLR connecters, the 11/12 outputs are intended for the Main Out and are also on XLR connecters. We find two exits on TRS for out A and out B and one out on XLR for AES out.

Multitrack Registration

The SQ-Drive makes it quick and easy to capture a 96kHz multitrack or stereo recording of the show directly on a flash drive or USB drive. Allen & Heath SQ Rack has a built-in 32x32 96kHz audio interface for multitrack recording, accompanying tracks or virtual soundcheck applications. The interface is compatible with both Mac and PC and is equipped with MIDI and DAW control features.

If 32 channels are not enough, it is possible to expand the inputs and outputs by installing a Dante or Waves audio network card, thus reaching 64x64 channels.

Powerful processing on all channels

Allen & Heath SQ Rack is equipped for each channel with all the signal processors necessary to create a perfect mix. Each of the inputs has HPF, a super fast gate with sidechain and filter, a 4-band parametric equaliser and Peak/RMS compressor for level and transient control and modelling. The mixes have both the 28-band graphic equaliser and a parametric one and a compressor ready to be activated when required. The XCVI core also allows Allen & Heath SQ Rack compressors to have their own channel in parallel, without phase or consistency issues.

Audio effects and RackExtra effects library

Allen & Heath SQ Rack is equipped with 8 stereo effects engines and comes complete with the acclaimed RackExtra library, with emulations of legendary classic reverbs, gated reverbs, delays, modulators and more. Each effect has its own dedicated stereo return, so it is not necessary to use any of the 48 input channels.

DEEP Plug-In

The DEEP processing architecture of the Allen & Heath SQ Rack allows users to carefully select compressors and preamps from the Boutique series, which offers high-performance emulations, suitable for different styles and needs. DEEP plug-ins can be incorporated directly into the mixer and mix channel inputs, all without adding latency to the system and without creating configuration problems. You can browse the various DEEP plugins on the website "shop.allen-heath.com".

AMM: Automatic Mic Mixer

The AMM is very functional in applications such as conferences and meetings where several microphones are open at the same time, AMM works by reducing background noise, minimising the risk of feedback and keeping all sound sources at the same level, ensuring that each speaker's contribution is clearly heard, thanks also to the D-Classic gain algorithm, inspired by industry standard automixers.

Remote control app

Allen & Heath SQ Rack is designed to integrate seamlessly with the SQ MixPad app complete with all the features needed to use the mixer, providing quick and easy access to all settings, including channel processing, metres and RTA, FX racks, scene management, USB audio control, menu configuration and much more.

Monitoring for musicians with SQ4You app

The SQ4You app allows you to manage mix monitors independently. You can connect up to a maximum of 7 devices (iPhone, iPad, or Android device) via WiFi. This allows musicians, singers, performers to adjust the monitoring at will and in real time without having to disturb the sound.

USB interface

An integrated 32x32 interface transmits 96kHz multitrack audio to and from the core of the Allen & Heath SQ Rack, so that it can be connected to DAW software for recording and use in the studio or for audio streaming purposes.