Chris Hibbins (FOH), Dakota Poncilius (monitors) and Guillaume Bunel (SE)
Canada - There are two reasons why audio rental company, Gearforce Pro Audio chose to invest in a DiGiCo Quantum 225. Rob Nevalainen, founder of the company and engineer in his own right, has always been forward-thinking. Gearforce has always focused on providing high-end technology that enables the company to meet clients' needs regardless of the demands of the gig.
Nevalainen purchased the Q225 to add to Gearforce’s existing DiGiCo inventory in mid-April, ready for the start of a busy season. “After two years away,” he says, “it’s different getting back out. The landscape has changed, for sure.”
However, some things have not, including Nevalainen’s reliance on DiGiCo consoles, GerrAudio, who supplied the console, as a distributor and Gearforce’s emphasis on adapting and moving forward.
Gearforce purchased the Q225 in mid-April 2022, Nevalainen explains, adding that it is currently out on the road for Jann Arden’s summer tour in support of Descendant, Arden’s 15th studio album. The tour started on 20 May with a show at MTELUS Montréal, a storied local concert venue formerly known as Montreal Métropolis and located in the heart of the city’s Quartier des Spectacles.
“The console wasn’t purchased specifically for Jann,” he says. “I’ve been looking at the Quantum for the last year. Obviously, during the pandemic wasn’t a great time to purchase anything, but I was keeping my eye on the technology because we own a bunch of other DiGiCo consoles.”
With so many artists hitting the road, some for the first time since mid-2020, he adds that it seemed like a good opportunity to purchase another DiGiCo board. “I’ve got quite a few tours out right now, which depleted our DiGiCo supply, so I started looking at what new options were out there. I’ve got DiGiCo SD12s already, and they were still on the table, but I figured it might be a good time to dip into the Quantum market.
“One of the reasons I went with the Q225 is its compact footprint. It’s got a lot of power in a small form factor, which is always appealing because there are quite a few tours where that really does matter.” Nevalainen also cites the Quantum’s new features, specifically Nodal Processing, as a driver for the purchase. “I think that’s really a forward-thinking advancement in terms of what we can do with digital processing.”

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