Dynamic Pairing is a special feature in Q-SYS Designer software that allows you to link a virtual peripheral device in your design to a new physical hardware device on your network, like an I/O-8 Flex or the new NV-32-H. This means you can build your Q-SYS design to include an I/O device that perhaps you don’t even own yet. Or maybe it’s a replacement in case of emergency that you have stashed in the rack or closet just in case. More likely, it’s one device that needs to be used in various places throughout your facility at different times.
What’s great is that you can do this without having to take your system offline, update your design, and then redeploy it every time you want to use this peripheral in a different location. This is an amazing benefit when your sound system is crucial in running your business and stopping the audio is not on the agenda.
Dynamic Pairing also lets you plan ahead for expected additions by telling your system what to do when those new peripherals are connected to the network.
A perfect use for Dynamic Pairing in cinema would be to accommodate a roving presenter cart for meetings and conferences that might utilize different auditoriums based on availability or size. We’ve got a great video that represents this type of use here: Q-SYS Dynamic Pairing. Replace the Bingo cart in the video with a presenter’s podium, and the Bingo hall with a multiplex cinema and you’ll get the point.
But there’s even more
There’s another benefit of Dynamic Pairing that is more specific to cinema than a bingo hall or a dividable conference center, but is not as widely known – Hot-swapping amps. This feature makes swapping out DPA-Q Series amplifiers easy.
We understand, your local technician is great and you don’t mind spending time with him or her. We can appreciate that, and we’re not necessarily trying to keep you apart, but a tech call might take a day or even two. So why wait when you can set up your system so that replacing an amp is a relatively simple process? The power and network cables are already in place. The physical act of swapping one for the other is something almost anyone on your staff could handle.
It would be misleading to make this process seem absolutely effortless, because it’s not. But in the unfortunate event of an amplifier failure, this use of Dynamic Pairing can help prevent periods of non-operation in your cinema and the possibility of having to refund ticket sales.
Since QSC DPA-Q Series amps are capable of providing signal processing duties (crossovers, loudspeaker profiles, delays) and also have multiple channel configuration modes (single channel, bridge, parallel) there are a lot of settings that could get lost during a hardware swap. But don’t worry, once Dynamic Pairing is enabled and configured in Q-SYS this becomes a non-issue. Since all the settings are backed up in the Q-SYS design, the replacement amplifier (which must be the same model as the failed unit) will inherit the firmware and all the DSP and channel configuration settings once it’s connected to the network switch.
Once powered on, you’ll be back in business in about a minute – not days.
We’ve got a team that can advise you on all the details and help you get set up with Dynamic Pairing.
Give us a call. We’re here for you.