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. 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). Yamaha digital mixers have offered expansion slots almost from day one, and the QL1 and QL5 are no different. There's virtually no limit to what you can do when your audio data is flowing on a digital network.
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. 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. 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. 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). Internal signal routing is adequately flexible, with up to 16 auxiliary mixes and eight matrixes available. "It’s clear the QL5 offers enough interface options to sit at the heart of a very complex production system." The results are stunning, and the QL5 user will only lament not having more premium racks available. All but the dynamic EQ were modeled by Yamaha at the electrical component level from their actual analog counterparts. 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.
The final eight racks are where things get really interesting. The second bank of eight racks holds traditional effects, including many from Yamaha's CL-series digital mixers and popular SPX processors. 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. Once inside the QL5, signal processing options abound. You can define up to four custom fader banks to mix-and-match your faders for a specific mixing chore. 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. A lighted rectangle sits between LCD and fader, to which you can assign one of nine different colors. 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. You can create up to 16 digitally controlled amplifier (DCA) groups for matched gain changes, and eight mute groups.
Each input has a full complement of processing, including high-pass filter (HPF), two dynamics processors, four-band EQ, delay, and effects insert point.
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 runs circles around a large-format analog mixer and towering rack of outboard gear. 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. The QL1 and QL5 are Yamaha's latest entries in a long line of digital mixers designed for live sound and live recording. Every Yamaha digital mixer I've used since has only improved on this accuracy and openness of sound. I replaced a small analog studio mixer with Yamaha's original ProMix 01, and was amazed by the pristine clarity I heard. 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.