Yamaha QL5 Digital Mixing Console.
I've owned a handful of Yamaha digital mixers over a 20-year period, yet I still remember my first digital mixer experience like it was yesterday. I replaced a small analog studio mixer with Yamaha's original ProMix 01, and was amazed by the pristine clarity I heard. Every Yamaha digital mixer I've used since has only improved on this accuracy and openness of sound.
The QL1 and QL5 are Yamaha's latest entries in a long line of digital mixers designed for live sound and live recording. The QL1 (32 input channels on 16 faders, $8,500) and QL5 (64 input channels on 32 faders, $16,500) are designed to deliver the maximum mixing power and flexibility from the smallest footprint. Each runs circles around a large-format analog mixer and towering rack of outboard gear.
Features, outside and in
The QL mixer's feature set can't be adequately covered in a short review, but we'll at least hit the highlights from input to output. Each input has a full complement of processing, including high-pass filter (HPF), two dynamics processors, four-band EQ, delay, and effects insert point. You can create up to 16 digitally controlled amplifier (DCA) groups for matched gain changes, and eight mute groups.
Input channels get deluxe treatment in the hardware realm, as well, with each input fader sporting a small LCD panel that displays custom channel name and icon, level, even dynamics gain reduction. A lighted rectangle sits between LCD and fader, to which you can assign one of nine different colors. Color plays a large role in making the QL user interface more intuitive, quickly giving your eye valuable clues about channel assignments, knob functions and more. You can define up to four custom fader banks to mix-and-match your faders for a specific mixing chore. Once inside the QL5, signal processing options abound. At the heart of the QL5's processing is a full-featured virtual effects system with 24 “racks.” The first eight racks will hold a graphic EQ or Dugan automated speech mixing system. The second bank of eight racks holds traditional effects, including many from Yamaha's CL-series digital mixers and popular SPX processors.
The final eight racks are where things get really interesting. The premium effects available here include Neve Portico 5033 five-band EQ and 5043 compressor, U76 compressor, Opt-2A optical compressor, EQ-1A tube passive equalizer and new dynamic EQ. All but the dynamic EQ were modeled by Yamaha at the electrical component level from their actual analog counterparts. The results are stunning, and the QL5 user will only lament not having more premium racks available.
"It’s clear the QL5 offers enough interface options to sit at the heart of a very complex production system."
Internal signal routing is adequately flexible, with up to 16 auxiliary mixes and eight matrixes available. Monitor outputs, direct channel outputs, external effects sends, mains, delay line speakers—all can flow through the QL5's 16 XLR Omni outputs (eight on the QL1). Whereas the number of analog connectors on a mixer used to be a defining characteristic, analog I/O doesn't define or limit a digital mixer. Case in point: the QL5 has two Dante audio network connectors, each of which can route up to 64 channels of digital audio in any direction. Those channels could carry inputs from a digital snake, inputs from a digital recorder or computer, sends from another QL mixer, outputs to a multi-track digital recording rig.... There's virtually no limit to what you can do when your audio data is flowing on a digital network.
Yamaha digital mixers have offered expansion slots almost from day one, and the QL1 and QL5 are no different. Two Mini-YGDAI expansion slots accommodate more than 30 different types of cards, most of which offer additional analog or digital I/O or proprietary network interfaces (i.e., Waves SoundGrid, Lake speaker processing or Aviom A-Net). Add to this MIDI capabilities, Ethernet networking, five GPI trigger inputs and outputs (for controlling external hardware) and word clock I/O, and it's clear the QL5 offers enough interface options to sit at the heart of a very complex production system. If someone asks, “Can the QL5 handle ________?” the answer will most likely be “yes.”
Other noteworthy features include scene automation with numerous “safe” modes to protect channels or individual parameters from being overwritten. Similarly, you can perform a scene recall with only certain “focus” parameters loaded. User-defined keys make handling a variety of chores simple, from muting groups to tapping out a delay tempo. A USB flash drive port allows saving of mixer parameters, creation and loading of user accounts (with granular access privileges), and recording the stereo mix. Finally, Yamaha has an iPad app that allows control of most mixer features over Wi-Fi.
In use
I tested the QL5 on a live acoustic concert with seven instruments and as many vocal mics. I had spent some time the night before setting up channel assignments, labels, colors, and routings. At the gig, setup and sound check went quickly with no surprises. Even though I was new to the QL5, I found the mixer simple and intuitive to navigate.
For live sound, speed is paramount. Most functions of the QL5 are just one or two button clicks away, and the dedicated channel control knobs are a great touch. These include gain, threshold for both dynamics processors, pan, HPF frequency, and EQ controls. The judicious use of color throughout the QL5 makes for fewer of those “what mode are the faders in?” moments that can slow you down and cause stress (or mistakes). Folks familiar with Yamaha's CL series digital mixers will come up to speed quickly on the new QL mixers. Many of the features are identical—even the automation data is interchangeable. Those who have never used a Yamaha digital mixer will find the QL mixers easy to learn, as well—a testament to the care and attention that Yamaha has put into fine-tuning the QL's user interface.
f you want character or fatness or edge or whatever, the QL5 offers all the effects and control you need to achieve it.
Sonically, the QL5 is superb. The mixer's mic preamps sound very good, as do the converters. As you would expect, the QL5's processing and mixing engine is clear, open and clinically accurate. While some folks like a mixer to impart some color to the sound, I much prefer a white canvas and generous palette. If you want character or fatness or edge or whatever, the QL5 offers all the effects and control you need to achieve it. Glowing accolades aside, the QL5 is not perfect. I was surprised the stereo-to-USB recording feature offered mp3 encoding only. Why not an uncompressed format for better quality, especially if you need to do a bit of mastering on the stereo mix?
The QL user interface was mostly a study in efficiency, but a few things stumped me. As much time as a user will spend on the main input channel screen, you'd think getting back to it from other screens would be easy. It's not—sometimes you have to close a pop-up window by pressing its button again (i.e., “Set up”). Other times you have to tap an “X” in the upper-right corner of the window, while a third configuration puts a “close” button in the bottom center of the display. Nobody likes an Easter egg hunt in the middle of a gig. Why not use a double-tap on the channel select button to return to the main screen?
Several of the QL5's knobs have a push mode, as well, where the knob works like a button. This feature is largely unused, but it shouldn't be—a knob push should engage some spiffy timesaving feature. Finally, the QL5 manual and literature talk about a context-sensitive help file you can load from the USB drive. Only there isn't such a help file available from Yamaha (yet). It would sure come in handy at times. The beauty of a digital mixer is that any or all of these concerns could be addressed in the next firmware update.
Proud pedigree
When you've been in the game as long as Yamaha, you have lots of time to get things right. The QL5 clearly benefits from this experience, exhibiting at every turn more than two decades of refinement. The QL mixers feel like Yamaha took the bulk of their best ideas regarding live sound and bundled them into one tidy, affordable package.
For house of worship applications, the QL5 is a winner. Intuitive interface, stellar sound, granular user privileges, I/O galore, networking, fantastic effects, small footprint, low price, the Yamaha pedigree—churches will be hard-pressed to find a more capable mixer in this price range.
