Question about Mono/Stereo in Reason

[Propellerhands]

Hi, it's rather dumb question but I wanted to know if this knob that appears in a Mixer of an instrument (if you add for instance a delay or reverb), a quick setting to turn whole channel into MONO? I mean, does it act as true Mono or not?

Reason I am asking is that on Reason Studios tutorials about mixing everything in mono they go into elaborate ways of creating special combinator patch which can turn a device into Mono. I tried doing it and it is very cumbersome. Is it not easier to just go into Mixer and just pull the Knob all the way to the left and thus making that specific (or all) channels mono?

See attached image.

[deeplink]

There is already a Combinator patch in the Factory Sound Bank that forces mono, so you can just use that.

Yes, you could pull the Width down on every track, however this will not affect your Sends FX.

Also, usually you would want to quickly check your mix in Mono and revert back - therefore, placing a Mono Combinator on your Master Bus is a better and more efficient way to go about it.

[selig]

Easiest is to use a monitor controller that has a mono button, second easiest is to use a device or combinator on the master that makes the entire mix mono (but be sure to not export mono!). Another option would be to bus everything to a Mix Channel before the Master and make THAT one channel mono with the Width knob. Most difficult would be to turn the Width knob of every mixer channel to mono but you would have to make sure any FX returns were also made mono.
I have a monitor controller so I just hit the mono button there when I need a quick mono check, but I also have a mono speaker that I can send the mix to and it makes it mono at the speaker (Roland Monitor Cube, fairly excellent mono dual-concentric powered monitor). Does that help?

[miyaru]

What Selig said: use a decent monitor controller. Doesn't have to cost the world. I use a Presonus Monitor Station V2, and like it a lot. Plenty of routing on the device, can connect up to 4 sources when used thoughtfull, and three destinations to speakers. Also 4 headphones outputs with independend source and volumes.

https://www.presonus.com/products/Monitor-Station-V2

[motuscott]

So the width knob on the channel strip actually turns that track mono?
Or duo mono?

[DaveyG]

Easiest is to use a monitor controller that has a mono button

BIG KNOB!

That is, Mackie Big Knob Passive. The easiest, and almost the cheapest way, to switch/mute/dim/mono two pairs of monitors.

https://mackie.com/en/products/studio-m ... ssive.html

Street price about fifty quid.

[Propellerhands]

Thank you all for answers!

Well for me it is easier to just turn all tracks to Mono in a Mixer, I never exceed 7-10 tracks anyway and practically never use Send FX (if I correctly understand it).

And the option with combinator does not seem easier to me, can't understand from a video how to do it properly. Maybe will try for the 5th time later. (Ok, now I made it work!)

I have no idea what "bus everything to a Mix Channel before the Master" even means, honestly, so no go there. (Ok, after some thinking I understand what you meant but would still be impossible for me to do it)

As for monitor option, I do not know how to do it either on my external audio interface.

P.S. Ok, now it seems that Stero/Mono flip patch suddenly works for me. It did not before. Perhaps I did not put it in master chain.

[Propellerhands]

Yes, you could pull the Width down on every track, however this will not affect your Sends FX.

Weird, first time I tried, and you were right, it did not affect my Send FX on that channel, then tried again and somehow now that width knob affects it suddenly. What kind of sorcery is this? I am sure I did not click anything, now everytime I re-open reason and if make an instrument and insert fx into channel then turn width knob all the way to the left it goes to mono.

[integerpoet]

If you ever mix on headphones, having a mono button handy in your master section is pretty great.

I bet it's also pretty great even if you have a monitor controller and you don't like shifting your attention.

The easier a button is to hit, the more likely you are to use it. And you probably want to use it a lot.

I use the mono button on this RE a lot. The RE does a whole lot more than that. I only occasionally use the other stuff.

https://www.reasonstudios.com/shop/rack ... -splitter/

Here's an alternative which is cheaper and has fewer controls.

https://www.reasonstudios.com/shop/rack ... converter/

If my employer didn't believe it owns my every thought, by now I might have made an RE which is just a single big button for this.

[selig]

Yes, you could pull the Width down on every track, however this will not affect your Sends FX.

Weird, first time I tried, and you were right, it did not affect my Send FX on that channel, then tried again and somehow now that width knob affects it suddenly. What kind of sorcery is this? I am sure I did not click anything, now everytime I re-open reason and if make an instrument and insert fx into channel then turn width knob all the way to the left it goes to mono.

You just said two different things: that the Width knob not affect your SEND FX, and then you said the Width knob affected your INSERT FX. These are both “as expected”. Send FX have a separate RETURN channel, Insert FX are a part of the source channel.
If you mono the source channel, the send effect (even if the send was mono) will still likely output a stereo signal. So that means you ALSO need to “mono” the FX RETURN. But if there are Insert FX on that channel, it will indeed make the FX mono too.
But as you have already discovered, if you make the entire stereo mix “MONO” you cover all your bases.

[Propellerhands]

Weird, first time I tried, and you were right, it did not affect my Send FX on that channel, then tried again and somehow now that width knob affects it suddenly. What kind of sorcery is this? I am sure I did not click anything, now everytime I re-open reason and if make an instrument and insert fx into channel then turn width knob all the way to the left it goes to mono.

You just said two different things: that the Width knob not affect your SEND FX, and then you said the Width knob affected your INSERT FX. These are both “as expected”. Send FX have a separate RETURN channel, Insert FX are a part of the source channel.
If you mono the source channel, the send effect (even if the send was mono) will still likely output a stereo signal. So that means you ALSO need to “mono” the FX RETURN. But if there are Insert FX on that channel, it will indeed make the FX mono too.
But as you have already discovered, if you make the entire stereo mix “MONO” you cover all your bases.

My mistake. I vaguely knew the knob should not affect the Send FX and when I tried it for the first time, it did not (or maybe thought it didn't). Only affected the FX that was added below the Instrument, not the one inside channel SEND zone. Then the second try suddenly I could not reproduce it. Maybe I'm retarded and do it wrong?

So turns out I am and you explained it, because I confused Insert FX and SEND FX. I thought those things are the same. Embarassing.

Here is attached image which got me confused.

P.S. Ok, tried attaching Delay to Master channel and enabled SEND fx on that instrumen and indeed, the width knob did not affect it. Learned again something new today

[robussc]

I created a combinator with both "mono" and "small speakers" buttons which is patched between the master output and the hardware interface. It goes though a Line mixer, before hitting the hardware interface, which also takes the direct outputs from any reference tracks so I can easily A-B my mix without worrying about the reference tracks going through any master bus fx or fader rides etc.

Screenshot 2022-08-11 at 10.37.06 AM.jpg (969.77 KiB) Viewed 1230 times

[bxbrkrz]

You could check if the user interface of your audio card provides a mono/stereo switch also.

[napynap]

The width knob on the main mixer channel just moves the left and right signals of the source closer together in the stereo output. When you put that knob all the way to the left, then both signals are at equal strength in the stereo output. This could cause some phasing issues depending on the source channels. Insert FX would be part of the width change. It doesn't affect any send FX.

[selig]

The width knob on the main mixer channel just moves the left and right signals of the source closer together in the stereo output. When you put that knob all the way to the left, then both signals are at equal strength in the stereo output. This could cause some phasing issues depending on the source channels. Insert FX would be part of the width change. It doesn't affect any send FX.

Maybe I missed something, but IMO that’s the whole point of checking your mix in mono, to reveal any phase issues.
Also, the width knob keeps both signals at equal strength at every setting, not just all the way to the left. Maybe what you meant to say is that at the far left both signals appear equally in both channels (thus, centered)?
And one correction - all changes to panning DO affect send FX, mainly if they are stereo. This is because the sends always follow mute and pan, even when pre fader (something I’ve complained about in the past!). So if you have The Echo on a track that has wide panning, then you collapse that channel to mono with the Width knob, the FX will also be mono because the send goes from stereo to mono. Make sense?

[napynap]

The width knob on the main mixer channel just moves the left and right signals of the source closer together in the stereo output. When you put that knob all the way to the left, then both signals are at equal strength in the stereo output. This could cause some phasing issues depending on the source channels. Insert FX would be part of the width change. It doesn't affect any send FX.

Maybe I missed something, but IMO that’s the whole point of checking your mix in mono, to reveal any phase issues.
Also, the width knob keeps both signals at equal strength at every setting, not just all the way to the left. Maybe what you meant to say is that at the far left both signals appear equally in both channels (thus, centered)?
And one correction - all changes to panning DO affect send FX, mainly if they are stereo. This is because the sends always follow mute and pan, even when pre fader (something I’ve complained about in the past!). So if you have The Echo on a track that has wide panning, then you collapse that channel to mono with the Width knob, the FX will also be mono because the send goes from stereo to mono. Make sense?

@Selig,
Thanks for the clarification. For the phase mono check, that's why I use your Selig Gain RE , but it's good to know what can cause phase issues before they get to that point. For the send FX, I mostly use mono tracks so I don't notice what you pointed out. Thank you.

[selig]

@Selig,
Thanks for the clarification. For the phase mono check, that's why I use your Selig Gain RE , but it's good to know what can cause phase issues before they get to that point. For the send FX, I mostly use mono tracks so I don't notice what you pointed out. Thank you.

Even with mono tracks, the pan knob affects stereo FX. I take advantage of that function by swapping the send (or receive) cables L > R to R > L which is great on stereo delays or reverbs (when using full/true stereo effects). The result is if you pan the dry signal towards the left, the delay or reverb will pan opposite, which can be shared with any other track doing it's own independent pan for dry and wet. So one instrument panned center would delay center, another instrument panned left will delay right, and anything panned right will delay left with all in-between settings covered.
So basically with one delay, you can have 'smart panning' delays on multiple track that all pan independently!
This also works in the default routing where the FX will 'follow' the panning of the dry signal. Works on any full stereo FX like The Echo. For mono/stereo FX like RV-7000 you'd need to build a full stereo version using two RV-7000s, one for left and one for right (then link the controls in the Combinator).

[FrankJaeger]

Selig is probably to modest to tell you so I will for him. In the shop he has a very cheap device called Selig Gain and it has a mono enable button on it. I use that thing on EVERY single track I make in the master section. I prefer to do my full mix down in mono then switch back to stereo when I'm 95% done to see if it's to my liking. That device is one of the most useful ones I've purchased. Shout out to Selig as he made a good product, reasonably priced it and I've gotten tons of use out of it over the years.

[napynap]

@Selig,
Thanks for the clarification. For the phase mono check, that's why I use your Selig Gain RE , but it's good to know what can cause phase issues before they get to that point. For the send FX, I mostly use mono tracks so I don't notice what you pointed out. Thank you.

Even with mono tracks, the pan knob affects stereo FX. I take advantage of that function by swapping the send (or receive) cables L > R to R > L which is great on stereo delays or reverbs (when using full/true stereo effects). The result is if you pan the dry signal towards the left, the delay or reverb will pan opposite, which can be shared with any other track doing it's own independent pan for dry and wet. So one instrument panned center would delay center, another instrument panned left will delay right, and anything panned right will delay left with all in-between settings covered.
So basically with one delay, you can have 'smart panning' delays on multiple track that all pan independently!
This also works in the default routing where the FX will 'follow' the panning of the dry signal. Works on any full stereo FX like The Echo. For mono/stereo FX like RV-7000 you'd need to build a full stereo version using two RV-7000s, one for left and one for right (then link the controls in the Combinator).

@Selig,
Okay I never thought of doing that, and it reminds me of the Hendrix or even early Van Halen guitar mixes where there was extreme panning, and direct guitar on one side, but its corresponding reverb on the other side. Thanks for the creative tip! I'll try it out.