Sum to mono?

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PoliticalBonobo
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Sum to mono?

Post by PoliticalBonobo »

Does someone have a good way to sum a stereo input track to mono in DP? I'm trying to do mono checks while mixing.
DP9.5 64bit, Windows 10 Pro 64bit, UA Apollo Quad FireWire interface, Desktop: Intel i7 5820K at 4.0ghz, MSI X99A Gaming 7 mobo, 48gb RAM (DDR4 at 2133 mhz), MSI GTX 960 2GD5T 2GB, 512GB Samsung 950 Pro m.2 SSD (project/system drive). VEP 6
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HCMarkus
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Re: Sum to mono?

Post by HCMarkus »

Monitor controller MONO button works for me.
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mikehalloran
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Re: Sum to mono?

Post by mikehalloran »

HCMarkus wrote:Monitor controller MONO button works for me.
Exactly. There's no "one-button" way to do it in DP. Get a monitor controller that has a MONO button. Decent ones begin around $99. I just bought one of these for my daughter and it is a lot better than I expected it to be (I also paid more).
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/CONTROL1USB
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stubbsonic
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Re: Sum to mono?

Post by stubbsonic »

I use a Trim plugin and set pans to center with a little gain drop (to prevent any clipping from summing). That can be bypassed with a single click.

But that's not necessarily helpful for an input, but just incase someone would want to put it on aux or master that is monitoring an input.
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PoliticalBonobo
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Re: Sum to mono?

Post by PoliticalBonobo »

mikehalloran wrote:
HCMarkus wrote:Monitor controller MONO button works for me.
Exactly. There's no "one-button" way to do it in DP. Get a monitor controller that has a MONO button. Decent ones begin around $99. I just bought one of these for my daughter and it is a lot better than I expected it to be (I also paid more).
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/CONTROL1USB
I think this is what I'll have to get. I thought I would able to easily have multiple monitoring sources from the line outs on my DAC interface, but I can't find a way to control volume and select between the Monitor Outs and the Lines 1-2.

I'm a little confused on how this would work between DP and my interface. Do I run line-out and monitor-out from the DAC interface into this Behringer controller? No need to change anything in DP?
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mikehalloran
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Re: Sum to mono?

Post by mikehalloran »

It doesn't need to be the Behriner. Any monitor controller with a mono sum button will work—not all do.
http://www.sweetwater.com/c417--Monitor_Management

Anyway, the inputs for your studio monitors (if active) or monitor amplifier (if passive) plug into the monitor controller. The outputs of your.interface or Mac go into the controller.

The Behringer takes a lot of desk space. I'm currently using a Mini MON800 which is long discontinued and much smaller. It's a little noisy at higher volumes so I'm now looking at the passive Radial MC3. I don't need 4 input and 3 output options.

The industry standard is the Mackie Big Knob. Lots of Presonus owners on this board and they are very happy, too.

Being able to just push a button and sum to mono . . . Once you get used to it, you'll wonder how you lived without.
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PoliticalBonobo
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Re: Sum to mono?

Post by PoliticalBonobo »

stubbsonic wrote:I use a Trim plugin and set pans to center with a little gain drop (to prevent any clipping from summing). That can be bypassed with a single click.

But that's not necessarily helpful for an input, but just incase someone would want to put it on aux or master that is monitoring an input.
This appears to work as well and will get me through until I buy a monitor controller. Does having a balanced TRS cable going from 1 output (say Left) to a mono speaker work with this setup (using the Trim centered)? Or do I need to use a breakout cable, two 1/4 (ring and tip) to one 1/4? I actually tried the second option and it was pretty quiet compared to just one channel to the speaker.
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stubbsonic
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Re: Sum to mono?

Post by stubbsonic »

[EDITED to correct errors & clarify:]

A TRS cable can be used for either stereo signal or for Balanced signal (same cable, different uses). With a stereo TRS, you have the TIP is the left channel (unbalanced), the RING is the right channel (unbalanced) and the SLEEVE is ground.

With a Balanced TRS cable, it is a mono signal that is carried by two wires, a hot signal (tip) and cold signal (inverted signal) and ground. A differential input will read the difference between hot and cold giving you hotter signal and mostly cancelled noise.

As long as you are sending balanced signal and your input on your monitor system has a balanced input, you should be fine.
Last edited by stubbsonic on Thu Jan 21, 2016 4:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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bayswater
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Re: Sum to mono?

Post by bayswater »

Is there are reason the fold down button on the master output channel won't do what you want?
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PoliticalBonobo
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Re: Sum to mono?

Post by PoliticalBonobo »

stubbsonic wrote:Don't confuse a stereo TRS cable with a Balanced TRS cable.
You cleared it up for me. Thanks!
DP9.5 64bit, Windows 10 Pro 64bit, UA Apollo Quad FireWire interface, Desktop: Intel i7 5820K at 4.0ghz, MSI X99A Gaming 7 mobo, 48gb RAM (DDR4 at 2133 mhz), MSI GTX 960 2GD5T 2GB, 512GB Samsung 950 Pro m.2 SSD (project/system drive). VEP 6
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stubbsonic
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Re: Sum to mono?

Post by stubbsonic »

PoliticalBonobo wrote:
stubbsonic wrote:Don't confuse a stereo TRS cable with a Balanced TRS cable.
You cleared it up for me. Thanks!
Well, I kind of did, but caught a couple errors (corrected above, too).

A TRS cable can be used for either stereo or balanced applications. And it is the RING that carries the right channel (I carelessly typed sleeve twice, perhaps because of a caffeine deficiency).
M1 MBP; OS 12, FF800, DP 11.3, Kontakt 7, Reaktor 6, PC3K7, K2661S, iPad6, Godin XTSA, Two Ibanez 5 string basses (1 fretted, 1 fretless), FM3, SY-1000, etc.

http://www.jonstubbsmusic.com
PoliticalBonobo
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Re: Sum to mono?

Post by PoliticalBonobo »

stubbsonic wrote:
Well, I kind of did, but caught a couple errors (corrected above, too).

A TRS cable can be used for either stereo or balanced applications. And it is the RING that carries the right channel (I carelessly typed sleeve twice, perhaps because of a caffeine deficiency).
Yeah, I knew what you meant. Thanks.
DP9.5 64bit, Windows 10 Pro 64bit, UA Apollo Quad FireWire interface, Desktop: Intel i7 5820K at 4.0ghz, MSI X99A Gaming 7 mobo, 48gb RAM (DDR4 at 2133 mhz), MSI GTX 960 2GD5T 2GB, 512GB Samsung 950 Pro m.2 SSD (project/system drive). VEP 6
PoliticalBonobo
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Re: Sum to mono?

Post by PoliticalBonobo »

bayswater wrote:Is there are reason the fold down button on the master output channel won't do what you want?
This seems like an obvious oversight. It looks like it works to me!
DP9.5 64bit, Windows 10 Pro 64bit, UA Apollo Quad FireWire interface, Desktop: Intel i7 5820K at 4.0ghz, MSI X99A Gaming 7 mobo, 48gb RAM (DDR4 at 2133 mhz), MSI GTX 960 2GD5T 2GB, 512GB Samsung 950 Pro m.2 SSD (project/system drive). VEP 6
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