Ocmix

the right of which are a USB port, 12 user assignable
keys, and a set of Selected Channel controls
with dedicated knobs for Gain, Pan, Dynamics 1,
Dynamics 2, HPF, Q, Frequency and Gain, plus
pushbuttons for selecting Low, Low Mid, High
Mid or High EQ bands. Below these controls are
a “Touch and Turn” knob and four fader bank
buttons. To the left of the screen are 16 buttons
providing instant access to Sends On Faders. The
left half of the top section provides an area for an
iPad, with studs to hold it in place.
PRODUCT SUMMARY
UNDER THE HOOD
Processing capabilities on the QL5 leave little to be desired. Every input
has Gain, Polarity, Dynamics 1 (gate, ducker, expander or compressor) Dynamics
2 (compressor, compander or de-esser), HPF, 4-band parametric
EQ (the low and high bands switch between parametric or shelf curves),
two inserts, channel delay and direct output, plus access to 16 DCA and
eight Mute groups. Each output has 4-band parametric EQ, dynamics, insert,
delay, and polarity reverse. As is the fashion these days, the outputs
can be assigned to any Mix or Matrix bus; among Yamaha users, Omni
outs 15 and 16 have become default for the L/R master buses.
In addition to the channel processing, the QL5 incorporates a Virtual
Rack with three sections: GEQ, Effect, and Premium. Each section
provides eight slots. Any rack ‘device’ may be patched on any input, bus
or physical output, but there’s a method to the arrangement. The GEQs
(Graphic EQs) are intended for use on output buses such as L/R Master
or a Mix out for EQ’ing mains or monitors. Effect devices are normally
fed from the Mix buses and return to the stereo inputs. These eight processors
feature an extensive library of effects including Yamaha’s REV-X
reverbs, stereo and mono delays, modulation and pitch shift effects. Premium
effects include Portico 5033 EQ and 5043 compressors, as well as
emulations of 1176, LA2A, and Neve bus compressors. If you need more
DSP than what lives onboard the QL5, I’d say you have a serious problem.
OUT THE DOOR
I used the QL5 on a bunch of local gigs for house and monitor mixing.
Once I had the QL5 out of its shipping box, I was just able to manage
moving it by myself into the trunk of my car. Getting the QL5 up and
running was easy: plug in some mics, check the Output Port patch (L/R
buses to Omni Outs 15 /16) and fire away. The QL5’s touchscreen provided
easy access to most parameters, but I did miss the more comprehensive
Selected Channel section of the QL5’s brothers. For example there’s
only one physical knob dedicated to each Dynamics processor, which
defaults to threshold. Adjusting the other parameters such as attack
time requires tapping a parameter knob onscreen, then using the Touch
and Turn to make the adjustment. I found this a little bit on the slow
side. Ditto for the EQ controls, which toggle between the four bands
(though dedicated knobs are provided for Q, frequency and gain).
The sound of the EQ section was clean and clear even when applying a
high degree of boost. The high-mid band helped a male vocal cut through a
dense mix, and I could crank it quite a bit without it sounding harsh. I also
liked the fact that the High EQ band can be changed to a lowpass filter, which
was eminently useful for removing cymbal bleed from vocal microphones.
COMPANY: Yamaha
PRODUCT: QL5 Digital Mixing Console
WEBSITE: www.yamahaca.com
PRICE: $16,499
PROS: Compact footprint.
Comprehensive onboard processing.
Built-in Dante networking.
CONS: Limited selected channel controls.
Channel dynamics were equally useful, though I
found that—for drums—the attack time on the
gate has a sweet spot between 2 and 6 ms. Set it
too fast and the attack of a drum sounds weird; too
slow and the attack of the drum becomes mushy
(sorry that I can’t be more technically descriptive).
GEE THERE’S A LOT OF EQ HERE
The GEQ rack provides eight 31-band ‘graphs
typically for assignment to output buses. I linked
the first two GEQs and patched them on the L/R
outputs for use as my default system tuning EQ. In some cases I used the
third GEQ to sculpt a small front-fill monitor that couldn’t handle a lot of
low end—still leaving me with five GEQs for monitor wedges. The GEQ
rack can actually process 16 channels by “swapping” one GEQ for a pair of
Yamaha’s Flex15 EQs, in which you may use any 15 of 31 bands. You can
also swap a GEQ for an 8-band parametric (PEQ) that includes HPF, LPF
and three notch filters. This proved useful in a situation where I had difficulty
EQ’ing feedback out of a wedge mix where the offending frequency
was in the cracks of the standard 31-bands. Switching to the PEQ enabled
me to tune a parametric band precisely where I needed it. Feedback gone.
Using Yamaha’s StageMix app (free), the QL5 can be controlled via
iPad. The obvious advantage of using StageMix is that I could walk the
room during a show and adjust the mix. Not so obvious is the ability to
park StageMix on the DCA screen while still mixing at the QL5—allowing
me to have input channels across the console’s faders and the DCA
group faders on the iPad at the same time—very cool. An exceptional
feature of StageMix is that you can run RTA behind the EQ screen, making
it ridiculously easy to find and correct feedback frequencies in monitor
wedge mixes while standing in front of a wedge. Complex monitor
mixes were easily handled by using Sends On Fader. Pressing one of the
16 Sends On Faders buttons repurposes the faders to control send level,
enabling you to see and create the mix on faders instead of Touch and
Turn. Sends on Fader combined with the ability to link sends in stereo
made creating stereo mixes for in-ear monitors a snap.
I was a bit skeptical of the idea that QL and CL console data files are
compatible but in fact, my CL files loaded perfectly into the QL5, translating
all of my scene settings and the effects library. Yamaha has improved
their Save/Load page whereby you may now choose to load (or not) any of
the following: All, Scene, Input/Output, Effect/GEQ, Premium and Setup.
This is invaluable for festival use, where a guest engineer can load a
scene without screwing up the systems engineer’s output configuration.
As you’d expect, the QL5 also features creature comforts such as channel
linking, a built-in oscillator, the ability to name and color-code I/O channels
(no small frill in my book since it makes navigating large numbers of channels
much quicker), and access to a plethora of Yamaha MY expansion cards.
The real deal is that the QL5 hits the mark, providing excellent sound, a ton
of processing (I’ve always enjoyed using Yamaha’s delays and modulation effects),
routing options that could make your head spin, and Yamaha’s friendly
operating system—at a price that is very attractive. I even used a standard
Ethernet cable to connect the Dante interface to a Mac running Digital Performer,
where it performed like a champ. What more could you want?. n
Steve La Cerra is a New York-based live sound and audio engineer.
74
MIX | OCTOBER 2015 | mixonline.com