Large Seattle Non-Profit Deploys the Q‑SYS Audio, Video & Control Ecosystem

With their sights set on upgrading their AV system, one of the largest non-profit organizations in Seattle looked to QSC and the Q-SYS Ecosystem to provide networked audio, video and control throughout their conference center.

Working alongside system integrator McKinstry, the conference center required a networked AV solution that would be compatible with their digital audio network and offered additional flexibility for their space. The conference center install consisted of three separate meeting spaces, each equipped with a Q-SYS Core 510i Integrated Processor that handles audio and control processing for each individual room, plus an additional Q-SYS Core 1100 Enterprise Processor that handles processing when the rooms are combined.  

Audio is distributed throughout the facility via Dante™ network.  “One reason we chose Q-SYS was because of its ability to scale to different room sizes while integrating with the existing audio infrastructure,” explains David Emmert, Sr. AV Design Engineer at McKinstry.  “Each meeting room uses Dante-enabled microphones and peripherals that we were able to seamlessly integrate with Q-SYS.”

Each room also utilized the web conference integration capabilities offered by the Q-SYS I/O-8 Flex. The USB port allows for an easy, plug-and-play experience to interface a PC with access to Q-SYS audio feeds for use in soft codec applications like Skype for Business, Microsoft Teams, Zoom and more.     

McKinstry also took advantage of unique, software-based features offered by Q-SYS. Core-to-Core streaming allows for audio streaming between each Q-SYS Core 510i and the central Core 1100 for shared amplifier processing, access to central building I/O and room combining.  They also implemented 38 channels of acoustic echo cancellation (AEC) per Core 510i, without the need to install any additional cards or hardware.

“Q-SYS offers flexibility that really sets it apart from other solutions,” says David Emmert.  “The flexibility of the software allowed us to meet requirements and provide additional functionality that would have been much more challenging on other platforms.”

Lastly, McKinstry utilized the Q-SYS UCI Editor and Q-SYS Control app for PC to build a robust User Control Interface (UCI) that lets on-site technicians easily monitor audio sources throughout the space.  In addition, the UCI allows for control of AtteroTech Dante I/O devices via Q-SYS third party control plugin and the Q-SYS Scripting Engine.  This simplifies the setup process for custom events.