First impressions of the Allen Heath SQ V1.6 Update

My USB round-trip latency measurement dropped from 12.104 ms on SQ firmware V1.5.11 to 7.031 ms on V1.6. That is the change I care about most when using external effects over USB.

USB recording and latency

V1.6 lets the internal USB recorder and the USB audio interface run simultaneously. I no longer have to choose between SQ-Drive and USB-B.

Here is the setup for my latency comparison. These results describe this setup, not a guaranteed latency for every computer and driver combination.

Testing Setup:

• Channel 1 set to USB Input 1

• Main L is routed to USB Output 1

• RTL Utility is used for round trip latency measurements

• 32 Samples at 96 kHz

Testing Results:

• V1.5.11: 12.104ms

• V1.6: 7.031ms

Matrices and scenes

Each of the three stereo matrices can now be split independently, giving up to six mono matrices with their processing retained. That gives more separate destinations when stereo is unnecessary.

Scene management now includes crossfades. For theater and musicals, where cues follow changing ensembles, the transition between scenes matters as much as recalling the settings. Similar scene workflows were already familiar from the dLive and GLD consoles.

DEEP processors

This update also added two new DEEP channel compressors: A LA-2A emulation and an SSL-Bus Compressor emulation.

I like both. For a live show, their attraction over an external plugin chain is practical: they run on the console’s DSP without a host computer or an additional audio round trip. If the compressor I need is available there, that is one less external dependency to manage.