Allen & Heath SQ Connectivity

Allen & Heath SQ for live sound, AV and installation

What is the FPGA XCVI core?

From DSP to FPGA: A signal processing revolution. Field Programmable Gate Arrays are a different sort of microprocessor and allow much more power per chip when used effectively. FPGAs are frequently used in computationally intensive applications such as AI accelerators, aerospace and defence avionics, high performance servers and super computers.

This bespoke FPGA processor brings about immediate audio processing benefits: more mixing power, enabling a 96kHz sampling rate, low latency (0.7ms) and easier management of phase coherency. The chip runs parallel internal virtual processing cores for channel processing and routing. These kernels basically appear as miniature DSPs, but with extra power and flexibility. Dedicated virtual cores are also provided for specialized advanced dynamic (Dyn8) engines within the chip. Since FPGA technology doesn’t set any bit-depth limitation, Allen & Heath engineers can pick the desired bit-depth for each processing block or algorithm (‘variable bit depth’), resulting in superior precision and noise performance.

Remote Audio for SQ

Allen & Heath DX168 – 96kHz | 16 Mic/ Line Ins | 8 Line Outs

Two units can be daisy chained and connected directly to an SQ SLink port, with the optional SLink card for SQ enabling more connections. For a more distributed system, a DX Hub can handle up to 8 DX168 units which can be freely patched to the SQ’s 48 input channels.

Allen & Heath DT168 – 96kHz | 16 Mic/ Line Ins | 8 Line Outs | Dante

Up to 16 units can be added to an AHM-64, SQ, Avantis or dLive system when equipped with an SQ Dante or dLive 96kHz Dante card.

Allen & Heath DX164-W/ DT164-W (Dante) – 96kHz | 16 Mic/ Line Ins | 4 Line Outs

Two units can be daisy chained and connected directly to an SQ SLink port, with the optional SLink card for SQ enabling more connections. For a more distributed system, a DX Hub can handle up to 8 DX164-W or DX168 units in any combination, which can be freely patched to the SQ’s 48 input channels.

Allen & Heath AR2412 – 48kHz | 24 Mic/ Line Ins | 12 Line Outs

One AR2412 can be connected to the SQ via the SQ SLink Port. You can then daisy chain one AB168 from the AR2412 giving you 40 remote inputs.

Allen & Heath AB168 – 48kHz | 16 Mic/ Line Ins | 8 Line Outs

The unit connects over a single Cat5 cable to the mixer or AR2412 AudioRack via a secure dSNAKE EtherCon port. A second EtherCon port is provided for daisy-chaining to another AB168 box or connection of a ME personal mixing system.

Allen & Heath AR84 – 48kHz | 8 Mic/ Line Ins | 4 Line Outs

Adding an AR84 to your system lets you position some of your I/O up to 75m from the mixer, connected over a single Cat5 cable running Allen & Heath’s dSNAKE protocol.

DANTE, WAVES, MADI & MORE

SQ is the centrepiece of a growing ecosystem of apps, expanders, audio networking, personal mixers and more, allowing you to connect, adapt and expand to your heart’s content. It’s compatible with leading audio networking standards too – add an audio networking card such as Dante or Waves to SQ’s I/O port and you’re ready to integrate with installed systems, provide a digital FoH / Monitor split and more.

SQ Dante

• 64×64 channel audio and control over a network
• 96kHz or 48kHz operation
• Multichannel recording / playback using Dante Virtual Soundcard (available separately)
• Two ports with redundant and switch modes
• Internal Control Network Bridge
• Locking Ethercon connectors
• Dante Domain Manager ready
• AES67 compatible
• V1 compatible with SQ
• V2 compatible with SQ (V1.5+) and AHM-64

SQ Waves

• 64×64 channel digital audio over a network
• 96kHz or 48kHz operation
• Integration with a Waves plugin server or Waves Native
• Multichannel recording / playback
• Two ports with integrated switch
• Internal Control Network Bridge
• Locking Ethercon connectors

SQ MADI

• 64×64 channel digital audio
• 96kHz or 48kHz operation
• Smux or HighSpeed 96kHz modes
• Sync from inputs or separate wordclock
• Console controlled error handling
• 4x BNC connectors (2 links)
• 1x BNC Wordclock I/O

SQ SLink

• 128 inputs and 128 outputs of audio and preamp control
• 96kHz or 48kHz operation
• gigaACE, GX, DX, or dSnake connectivity
• Intelligent switching between modes
• Independent SRC for use of two different protocols in one system
• Plug’n’play installation