Allen & Heath AH‑DLIVE‑S5

Overview

The AH‑DLIVE‑S5 is a high‑end digital mixing console “surface” (control surface) from the “dLive S‑Class” line by Allen & Heath. It’s designed to pair with a “MixRack” (or audio engine) to create a full digital mixing system. As a “surface-only” mixer, it gives you powerful mixing control, routing flexibility, and a modern digital workflow — ideal for live concerts, touring setups, theatres, houses of worship, corporate events, or large-scale sound productions.

It combines dual 12‑inch capacitive touchscreens with physical controls (faders, rotaries, soft keys) for a hybrid workflow — giving you the immediacy of hands‑on mixing and the flexibility of digital mixing.

  Key Features & Specifications

• 28 faders, arranged over 6 layers, giving access to a very large number of assignable channels/fader strips.

• Dual 12″ capacitive touchscreens — for intuitive control through touchscreen gestures (pinch, swipe, drag‑and‑drop) and visual feedback.

• “Harmony UI” interface — integrates the touchscreens with wrap‑around physical controls (rotary knobs, soft keys), combining digital flexibility with tactile control.

• Assignable SoftKeys — a large number of SoftKeys (e.g. 26) for custom functions, shortcuts or workflows.

• Assignable rotaries — multiple pages of rotary controls, letting you fine‑tune parameters (EQ, dynamics, sends) quickly without diving deep into menus.

• Flexible routing & layout — Every input or mix can be assigned to any fader bank/layer; virtual “scribble strips” allow naming and colour‑coding of channels/mixes for clarity.

• Built‑in I/O (when used with proper MixRack/I-O engine setup):

  • Multiple mic/line inputs with recallable preamps and phantom‑power support.

  • Line outputs and digital I/O (AES3 digital inputs/outputs).

  • Expandable I/O: supports expansion cards/modules for large channel counts.

• High‑quality digital audio engine (with external MixRack): 96 kHz sample rate, high dynamic range, low noise and low distortion — suitable for professional, high-fidelity mixing.

• Comprehensive metering & monitoring — multi‑point metering (inputs, mixes, outputs), flexible monitoring outputs (main, wedges, IEM), and customizable screen widgets for meters, FX, scenes, etc.

• Professional reliability & redundancy options — power‑supply redundancy, robust build quality, networked audio links for stable connection to MixRack and optional I/O expanders.