Yamaha released its top-of-the line CL Series consoles almost two years ago. The CL, most notably the CL5, has been well received and is set up for larger venues with networked audio and remote preamps. This spring, Yamaha has announced they will be releasing CL’s little brother, the QL Series. This seems like a smart release, bringing the power of the CL series to a medium-sized venue with a smaller budget and an all-in-one package.
What’s the main difference? In reality, the CL and QL series consoles act in a very similar way. They share the same system software, and you can load a CL saved show right onto the QL without any file converting. The main difference is that, on the QL series, like many consoles, the bulk of your inputs and outputs are on the back of the console, as opposed to the CL series, where you get little built-in I/O and use remote preamps to distribute your inputs and outputs. Keeping these inputs and outputs built into the sound console makes the QL series a more feasible solution for a smaller show, as well as more affordable.
There are two models in the QL series, the QL5 and the QL1. The QL1 sports 16 mic/line analog inputs and eight analog outputs. With its smaller size, it also has a limited number of faders, coming in at 18. It’s very similar to the size of the CL1, but the QL has, of course, the onboard I/O and the CL1 doesn’t. The QL1 can be rack-mounted using a rack kit. The QL5 has 32 mic/line analog inputs, 16 analog outputs, and 34 faders.
Dante Connectivity
Only 32 inputs, you ask? Well, lucky for us, Yamaha gives us these 32 onboard inputs but also supplies a Dante connection, just like the bigger CL brothers. So you can use any of the Dante-enabled Rio interfaces for remote preamps and increase your channel count. Using Dante to go above and beyond the built-in I/O, the QL1 will max out at 32 mono and eight stereo input channels, and the QL5 gets you to 64 mono and eight stereo input channels. Both desks go up to an output structure of 16 mix and eight matrix using Dante, plus stereo and mono outputs.
Including the Dante connectivity really makes the QL a player in the market as it opens the door to a lot of potential. All of a sudden, your 32 channel QL5 can be expanded to have 32 local inputs and another 32 remote inputs. You can double your console inputs with a simple purchase or rental down the road. You don’t typically find that truly usable scalability in budget-friendly systems.
Both consoles share other swell features, many of which were first found in the CL series. You get 16 DCAs on either console, which is more than many digital desks will give you. You get allocations for eight VCM Premium Rack processors, another eight effect processors and eight GEQ processors.
Yamaha went ahead and built in Dan Dugan’s acclaimed microphone mixer into the QL series. The company kept the "touch and turn” universal knob from the CL series and spent time on the feel of the faders and knobs. There’s a giant touch screen, as well as the familiar (for better or worse) Centra Logic layout, and the same large backlit panels for channel names. It has two MY card slots, and it can perform 2-track recording to an attached USB drive. It really looks and feels like a CL console, which is a good thing.
Other features include something Yamaha calls "port-to-port routing." Basically, this means that any input can be routed to any output. This took me a minute to figure out, but what that boils down to is the idea that you can use the console as a remote splitter or pre-amp and then send your signals elsewhere: to a recording system or to the FOH mix. For instance, use the QL5 as a monitor desk backstage, but instead of having a splitter, plug your mics right into the QL5. Then route every input of the QL5 up stream to a QL (or CL) series console at FOH, over Dante. You can mix monitors on the QL5 and have your own gain control, and FOH can see every input and have its own gain control (using gain compensation). It’s really pretty smart and shows both the power of Dante and that Yamaha has really embraced the realities of this technology.
You can also connect to the console with an iPad using the StageMix app, as well as perform offline or online editing using the QL Editor, which is available for both Mac and PC.
I see the QL as a really great and affordable console that could bring truly pro-audio technology to a market that is often left with lesser gear because of budgets.