Digital Mixers

Complete digital mixing ecosystems for live sound, installation and touring, built mainly around the Allen & Heath range from the compact CQ and Qu series through SQ to Avantis and dLive, with BSS and Biamp covering the install processing side. This is the deepest section of the audio catalogue: consoles, control surfaces, mix racks, stage boxes, option cards, personal monitoring and zone matrix processing all live here.

The structure follows how the systems bolt together. Consoles and Portable Mixers hold the desks themselves. Surfaces and Mix Racks split dLive into its two halves, where the surface is purely a controller and every bit of processing lives in the rack, which is why a dLive system is specified as a pair rather than a single product. IO covers stage boxes and expanders, Option Cards adds networking such as Dante and MADI to a console’s expansion slot, and Personal Mixers and IP Controllers handles musician monitor mixing and wall-mounted remote control. Zone Mixers holds the AHM matrix processors for installed audio, which behave more like a building system than a live desk.

The Allen & Heath SQ-5+ is the volume seller in the middle of the range, and the reason is buses rather than channels. Buy on buses, not just channels. Channel count is what gets compared, but the number of independent mixes is what runs out first: the moment a band asks for individual monitor mixes or a recording feed, a desk that looked generous on inputs starts to feel small. Work out how many separate outputs the job needs, add the ones you will be asked for later, and shop from there.

The most common speccing mistake is a transport mismatch. Before buying any stage box or option card, confirm which port it actually talks to: SQ’s SLink, the dLive and Avantis DX ports and Qu’s dSnake are related but not interchangeable in every combination, and firmware versions matter when mixing generations. If you are putting a full system together, send us the list and we will sanity check channel counts, expander compatibility and pairings before you commit.

The CQ against Qu and Qu against SQ against Avantis comparisons cover the range in order, and Dante against analogue multicore covers what the networking cards buy you.

Digital mixer FAQs

Which Allen & Heath range do I need? Qu and CQ cover small venues and bands; SQ adds 96 kHz processing and expandability for busy venues and hire stock; Avantis and dLive are the touring and installation flagships. The honest breakdown is in our Qu vs SQ vs Avantis guide.

What is the difference between the dLive surfaces? Nothing about the audio, every dLive runs the same 128-channel, 96 kHz engine in the MixRack. You are choosing faders, screens and build. See the dLive range explained.

Do you help spec systems? Daily, MixRack sizing, expanders, Dante cards and personal monitoring included. Call 0330 043 8650 with your channel list.