How do you route your keyboards/modules - stereo or mono ?

anppilot

anppilot

Never Act Like U Know All
I'm curious how other ppl do things. I used to run all the outputs of my boards in stereo to my 32ch mixer. problem is, it eats up inputs.

I've been learning guitar for the past few years and I wanted a efx unit. I looked at buying pedals, but some are expensive. So since I love Roland, I opted for a VG plus floor pedal controller.

So anyway, I love running my fantom, motif, triton and virus ti through the VG when mostly using a guitar patch, but I'll use it for other efx with other patches.

So what I do these days is, I'll run the 'L" left out of all my keys/synths into my Mackie 1202 and leave it paned to the center. Then run the output of the 1202 to 1 mono channel on my MG32 32 ch. mixer

Next, the "R" right output of each synth to 1 mono ch to the mg32 and leave it panned to the center.

So,
A. does anyone do something similar to this?
B. does anyone ever use guitar efx processors on their keys/synths?

Cheers
 
anppilot said:
So what I do these days is, I'll run the 'L" left out of all my keys/synths into my Mackie 1202 and leave it paned to the center. Then run the output of the 1202 to 1 mono channel on my MG32 32 ch. mixer

Next, the "R" right output of each synth to 1 mono ch to the mg32 and leave it panned to the center.
Click to expand...

what exactly do you think you're accomplishing by doing this??? you're only submixing all the L outputs before sending them to the 32 where they are summed to their R outputs all in mono!!! if you really need the extra channels then at least run all the sunths to the submixer in stereo and then to 2 channels of the 32... any panning you've done will then be maintained at least... as for FX with all the dough you got tied up in synths you should atleast spring for a good (moderate-low end) unit... look at the lexicons and the tc electronics IMO.... ymmv...
 
I run several keyboards/modules into a 16 channel submixer. I run each keyboard/module into the submixer in stereo (panning each set of submixer channels hard left and hard right). I then run the submix, stereo into 2 channels on my main 32 channel board (which I pan hard left and hard right).

My submixer can accept 4 stereo effects processors (I have 4 rack mount effects modules low end Alesis and Lexicon wired to the submixer) - so I can control all the processing (and any panning) at the submixer - and then run the 2 channels on the main board dry. Naturally most of the keyboards/modules also have on board processing (although I do have an old EMU and and old Kawai that have no on board processing).
 
!!! Wtf !!!

OMG, I litterally have tears in my eyes I am laughing at myself so hard !!! dmented chord, when I read the quote. Ok that sounded retarded when I read it. LOL

What I meant to sya is, on the output of the mackie sub mixer, the output of the mackie goes to the input on the Roland VG-99 guitar processor.

I get two things out of this.

1. I can turn off the R channel at the 32ch mixer and only have the processed sound from the VG comming through

2. I can blend the normal output on the R ch with the processed L channel and mix them together.

This sounds pretty good when I have a processed elec guitar from the vg and blend it back in with the original acoustic R ch. It sounds pretty cool

Hope that makes sense. I can see how that was confusing. :D

Cheers
 
oooohhh..... never mind....i still wouldnt do it that way personally... to whatever degree the patches are really stereo you'll only be effecting one side... and when you're doing your little muting trick again you lose the "stereoness" of the patch... of course no ones gonna spank you... whether you do it this way or for that matter the way i thought you were...
 
Peron ally, I've found that rarely do I want a stereo image of a keyboard im my mix, and that's only in the event that the stereo effect is really important to the patch.

Otherwise, the patch almost always sounds artificial, as if it's been dropped into the mix. It's almost always better to treat the keyboard as a mono instrument that has a position within the mix and apply the fx there accordingly.

That's my experience anyways FWIW.
 
fraserhutch said:
Peron ally, I've found that rarely do I want a stereo image of a keyboard im my mix, and that's only in the event that the stereo effect is really important to the patch..
Click to expand...

i agree to a large degree... it seems the more natural the patch (piano vs say some etherial thing) the less likely i am to use panning fx... i do like alittle motion in "rhodes" sounding paches though... fwiw..
 
I agree with the whole stereo piano thing. I feel its better sometimes if the piano is not stereo. Somewhere in the middle, unless the piano is the focal point/lead instrument... better to blend it down either in mono, or, if your using both L + R outs to L + R ins on mixer, instead of leaving your L panned to the L and R panned to the R, it sounds less stereo like - maybe its my ears if you bring your pans back to the center? just my ears maybe
 
Just about the only time I like a stereo piano is when it's a solo piano. If it has to sit in the mix, I want it mono.
 
Exactaly !

Thats what I mean. Theres something about the stereo separation that sounds weird when a piano is in a mix - well to me.
 
That's an awkward way of running synths though. Better to have all the synths running into adjacent channels on the same mixer. You can still easily make them mono by muting or panning, and you can effect one side or the other. But what you've got now is convoluted and not very practical. That said, it might work for you in your very specific uses. But I certainly wouldn't recommend it as a standard way to run synths.
 
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