Q-SYS Activate introduced us to the next phase of the manufacturer’s quest to create a “full AV stack”. The presentation was full of information and we bring you the most pertinent developments.
Three new cores
Q-SYS has launched three new Core products in the shape of the Core 24f, Core X10, and Core X20r. Technical details for all these products is easy enough to find online.
The new range of products will be supplanting Q-SYS’ older offerings, seeing that they will be available in June 2025. The popular Core 110f will be available till the end of the year. And the Core 510 and 610 will have limited availability.
So, if you were looking to use any of the older Core products for a project or deployment you better get your orders in soon!
New approach to software and licenses
Q-SYS Designer Software v10 marks Q-SYS’ largest software release to date and it comes with a host of features.
But the most interesting was the approach to control licensing, a move that will impact the bottom line of AV businesses.
Control licenses will be baked into the new Core products at no additional cost. Essentially every Core product will be control enabled out of the box.
What Q-SYS communicated was that the new cost of have a new Core product (with the control license baked into it) would be less than the old cost structure of purchasing a Core and the control license. However, that also means that people looking for just a Core with no control license do not have the option and will have to absorb the additional cost moving forward.
Now on Android!
Q-SYS announced support for Android! An app will be made available on Google Play allowing AV professionals to use Android-powered displays as control interfaces.
AV, AI, and the whole shebang
The ‘full stack’ term comes from the world of IT and software development. Q-SYS has been using it as far back as 10 months ago and with it being the headline for this Activate session it is clear that this approach will be central to the manufacturer’s next phase of evolution.
With ambitions to roll AI, endpoints, and everything else AV has to offer into one platform, we’ll be keeping an eye on how this approach works in application.