External USB Audio Device

The External USB Audio Device components allow you to connect a standard USB headset, speakerphone, or similar to a compatible Q-SYS device and process the incoming and outgoing audio streams in the Q-SYS audio DSP. Mono input devices and stereo output devices are supported.

Tip: The External USB Audio Device feature is intended for connection of USB headsets, speakerphones, and similar devices. To send and receive audio between a PC and the Q-SYS Ecosystem, use the USB Audio Bridge feature.

The following Q-SYS devices can accept a USB connection to an external audio device:

For compatibility with Q-SYS, your external USB device (headset, speakerphone, or similar) must support the following specifications.

Input Devices

  • Sampling rate: 48k or 16k, mono
  • Resolution: 8-bit, 16-bit, 24-bit, 32-bit, float
  • Format: Little-endian, signed or unsigned

Output Devices

  • Sampling rate: 48k only, stereo
  • Resolution: 8-bit, 16-bit, 24-bit, 32-bit, float
  • Format: Little-endian, signed or unsigned
  • USB-A Ports: Use these ports to connect the External USB audio device.
  • USB-B Ports: These ports are used for host connections and are not suitable for connecting the External USB audio device.
  1. Connect an external USB audio device to a compatible Q-SYS Core or peripheral USB port. See Supported Q-SYS Hardware.

    Note: If you connect multiple USB devices, the External USB Audio components will only detect the last one connected.

  2. From your Inventory list, select the Q-SYS Core or peripheral.
  3. In the Properties window, set External USB Audio to 'Enabled'.
  4. From your Inventory list, drag the External USB Audio Device In and External Audio Device Out components into your schematic.
  5. To send monaural audio from your device microphone, connect the External USB Audio Device In mono output pin to the input pin of a downstream component.
  6. To send stereo audio to your playback device, connect the External USB Audio Device Out stereo input pins to the output pins of an upstream component.
  7. Press F5 to save your design to the Core and run it. (Or, press F6 to emulate your design.)
  8. Double-click an External USB Audio Device component to open the component's control panel. See Controls.

There are no configurable properties for these components.

Audio Device

A read-only indicator that shows the name of the detected external USB device.

Input / Channel

Peak Input Level (dBFS)

Meter displaying the detected peak level of the audio input or output.

Note: The External USB Audio Device In component must be wired to another component for the meter to function.

Invert

Click to invert the polarity of the input or output audio signal.

Mute

Click to mute the input or output audio signal.

Gain (dB)

Click to adjust the gain on the input or output audio signal, from -40 dB to 0 dB.

Status

Connected

LED indicates whether the USB device is connected.

Fault

LED indicates whether a problem has been detected with the audio stream. Faults are logged in the Q-SYS Core Manager Event Log.

Pin Name

Value

String

Position

Pins Available

Channel n

Gain

-40 to 0

-40dB to 0dB

0.000 to 1.00

Input / Output

Invert

0

1

normal

inverted

0

1

Input / Output

Mute

0

1

unmuted

muted

0

1

Output

Peak Input Level

-120 to 43

-120dB to 43dB

0.000 to 1.00

Output

Active Device

(text)

Output

Connected

0

1

false

true

0

1

Output

Fault

0

1

false

true

0

1

Output