What is the Q-SYS Platform?

Let’s start off with the big question: What is Q-SYS?

Well, if you’re watching this video you probably have a general idea,

but let’s make sure we’re on the same page because you might not be aware of everything that Q-SYS can do.

Q-SYS is an cloud-manageable audio, video, and control platform built around a modern, standards-based IT architecture,

which was designed to enable an Ecosystem of partners, that is also completely open for integration.

It starts with an OS, that drives and manages a multitude of Q-SYS products within the platform.

Additionally, its modern IT architecture and a set of development tools (called “Q-SYS Open”) enable an entire Ecosystem of third-party integrations developed by approved

and endorsed Q-SYS Partners as well as a worldwide community of Q-SYS programmers and developers.  

I know, there’s a lot to unpack there, so let’s take a look at each of those pieces. It all starts with the Q-SYS Operating System.

The Q-SYS OS is a software-based foundation for Q-SYS that makes everything possible, and it’s built off of a unified, standards-based IT architecture.

We used industry-standard principles and mission-critical technologies like IEEE standard networking protocols, Intel processing, Linux,

and conventional programming languages to make it as flexible, scalable and performance driven as possible.

It includes a robust audio engine, video engine and control engine providing processing at the software layer,

with a robust OS administrative layer that operates holistically, rather than requiring an integrator to spend time separately programming and integrating audio, video and control.

One of the main jobs of the OS is to drive a single blueprint or design, for your individual system.

The main focus of this course will be to teach you the basics of how to build this design using Q-SYS Designer Software, which is one of the tools available.

The size and scope of designs can vary wildly.

But whether you’re building a small design that might manage no more than the stereo background music of a coffee shop,

or a massive design like an airport that manages hundreds of audio channels, controls countless third-party devices, and incorporates complicated scripting,

your design will still be built within the same Q-SYS Designer software.

As you can guess, Q-SYS can be used for a wide variety of applications. Much of this course will highlight high-value spaces for collaboration like boardrooms

or conference spaces that require the integration of UC platforms and video platforms, but don’t let that trick you into thinking that’s all Q-SYS is used for.

Q-SYS can be used in any number of applications for entertainment, collaboration, and commercial AV.

Q-SYS is used in higher ed institutions for lecture halls, public address, and video distribution.

It’s used in hospitality venues like hotels, convention centers, and cruise ships.

Cinema, theme parks, government chambers, stadiums, transportation, restaurants, houses of worship, you name it! Any high value space that needs audio, video and control.

Practically speaking, the Q-SYS OS needs a processor, which is where the Q-SYS Core comes in .

If the Q-SYS OS is the brain of your system, then the Core processor is the HEART.

There are a variety of models of Q-SYS Cores that vary in the amount of processing power they offer, the number of network audio channels they can handle,

as well as differences in their available onboard I/O.

For instance, some models have onboard audio inputs and outputs, others don’t.

Some are better suited for centralized processing while other are better for in-room processing.  

Knowing which Core is right for you will depend on the needs of your system, but what’s important is that all Cores run the same Q-SYS OS,

and offer all the same software-based functionality, and run designs from the same design tool, Q-SYS Designer software.

In fact, the first thing you’ll probably do when creating a design is to choose which Core you intend on deploying it to with a simple drop-down menu with Designer

(although you could easily change that later if you realize your processor demands have evolved).

The needs of the system are going to dictate what kinds of devices that you are going to drive with your design.

QSC offers an extensive portfolio of native Q-SYS hardware devices, services, and software that were designed to be driven directly by the OS.

This ever-growing portfolio includes Q-SYS conference cameras, amplifiers, loudspeakers, touch panels, software licenses, IO devices,

and of course the vast resources of digital signal processing, control processing, and video routing components that connect all of this together.

Using native Q-SYS Products makes your integration much easier, as every one of these devices is designed with drag-and-drop functionality within the software,

and has been rigorously tested against everything else in the Q-SYS Platform.

However, we have no illusions of thinking we can manufacture every single imaginable peripheral or endpoint that you might need in your particular installation.

That’s why we have Q-SYS Partners.

Q-SYS Partners create software, services and hardware that integrate into the Q-SYS Ecosystem and have been fully vetted and endorsed by QSC.

The solutions that they develop can be integrated into the Q-SYS OS and operate alongside native Q-SYS Products.

Q-SYS Partners collaborate with QSC teams to develop and verify their solutions upfront, and then continue to work with QSC in their support and maintenance for our mutual customers.

Later in the training, we’ll show you how to integrate plugins that give you the control of these third-party devices within your Q-SYS design,

giving you the confidence that comes with these fully-vetted, benchmarked integrations.

We mentioned earlier that Q-SYS allows for open integration, and we meant it.

The reality is that there are plenty of manufacturers out there with whom we don’t have partnerships… yet…

which is why we built Q-SYS Open so Q-SYS Partners and non-Partners alike can ALL enable third-party development within Q-SYS.

The Q-SYS Open tools take full advantage of the industry hardened Q-SYS OS, namely its utilization of open industry standards and protocols,

along with a collection of available developer tools for integration like Lua, HTML5, CSS, as well as an open API.

Finally, don’t let all that talk of being “open” make you think we haven’t designed Q-SYS with security in mind.

Q-SYS also employs world-class security measures, encryption, cryptographic code signing, and more to keep your systems safe.

And you can also monitor and manage your installations remotely from the cloud by using our Q-SYS Reflect Enterprise Manager platform.

So, that’s Q-SYS in a nutshell.

When you’re ready, move on to the next video, and we’ll start to discuss the basics of a Q-SYS signal path, hardware peripherals, and how to add them to your design.