the wonders of hardware coupled with a computer, mixers, dual moniters...

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ambi

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I want to buy a good mackie mixer, maybe the 1602, or whatever the modle is. and hook it up to my computer with a delta 66, (althought i've been thinking of a motu because of the firewire interface, still haven't really figured out which is better, firewire or pci) And have two monitors. Im just trying to think of the usefulness of having dual monitors.
Could everyone post how they use dual monitors, or mixing boards with their computers, and all the intresting things they can do. Maybe some unique things you figured out, or just handy tips. Maybe we can get a bank of uses and setups going here.
 
When I record I usually have n-Track or whatever taking up most of my primary monitor, then I stick the Delta control panel and other audio meters on the second channel (e.g. pinguin audio meters). Sometimes I'll even drag n-Tracks meters to the secondary monitor to free up some realestate. Dual monitors simply boils down to having more visable desktop area.

Slackmaster 2000
 
Dual monitors would be pretty useful, like slack said, it gives you a lot more room to work with and isn't as cluttered. But, you need a video card that supports dual monitors. ATI has a few cards that have multiple monitor support. Also, Matrox has cards that support it.
My two pennies.
 
...or you need 2 video cards. I'm using a Geforce4 Ti4200 AGP for my primary display and an old 2MB S3 Trio64 PCI card for my secondary display. Works great!

Slackmaster 2000
 
We just told you.

Running dual monitors is just like having one larger display. You drag things between monitors just as if it was one desktop. You put things on your secondary monitor that you want to be able to view at all times, while you're working on your primary monitor. There's nothing really too special about it I'm afraid.

Slackmaster 2000
 
The bottom line is "real estate." Once you get started you probably won't have room on your monitor to display everything you have turned on. I have that problem now on my 17" monitor. Instead of getting a 19" or 21" (wishful thinking) I'll be using two 17" monitors on my next system. You can get two 17" monitors for the price of one 19" monitor. I don't think a single 19" monitor would do me very much good. When you need to move from one monitor to another you just mouse over and it jumps to the second monitor.

DD
 
hmm i see

i want to get an lcd monitor, and a normal 17, so i can just run the lcd while rcording so theres no noise, and to save space
 
don't buy two video cards!!!
just buy a Radeon 8500 for like sub-100 dollars, and it comes with two monitor hookups.
I have two monitors which would make my resolution 2048x768
So i can go back and forth between two monitors. Works great.!!!
-DAN
 
Using a 19" no-brander at 1600x1200@75Hz is fine for me too. Cubase gives me my arrange window, 20+master-track mixer, and some channels or FX-racks.

As far as price goes, mine cost about €340 (=$). Can't be any wrong, can it?

GrtZ,
Herwig
 
i have a good view sonic 19 inch at 1600x1200, it works well. Actually my friend just bought a geforce 4 and it has dual monitor outputs. IT would be nice, now its time to save my money.
 
I have found that I run out of real estate pretty quickly on a 17" monitor and my 15" laptop screen. When I have a few plug-ins or soft synths open i end up opening and closing windows often. Or looking to other views - such as in Sonar, the main track view and also the staff view.

When I move out of my small apartment and have a dedicated space dual monitors are likely in my future. However, as I thought about it, my laptop could be the main DAW for a while and I don't know about 2 monitors working with a laptop.

But it got me thinking. HOW ABOUT THIS? What about using a proxima, those presentation projectors? In my day job I use them constantly and you can get a very large picture. I haven't researched this much, but I believe you can get a very decent one for $1500, about the cost of 2 LCD 17" monitors. Then you have only ONE screen but it is literally 6' by 8', or whatever you want. One GIANT screen.

The drawbacks are likely to be having available wall space in front of you, or somewhere that is convienent; noise - they are getting quieter and quieter but still have a fan in them.

Resolution? I don't know anything about this, though I assume they aren't as sharp.

Has anyone tried this?
 
A projector would be pretty tough. Most max out at 1024x768 and are a bit fuzzy compared to a real CRT. The main problem is placement of the screen. Unless you have 8 ft to setup a rear projection system you will need the projector behind you and the screen high enough to clear your head. That is assuming you want the screen within a few feet.
 
adam said:
I have found that I run out of real estate pretty quickly on a 17" monitor and my 15" laptop screen. When I have a few plug-ins or soft synths open i end up opening and closing windows often. Or looking to other views - such as in Sonar, the main track view and also the staff view.

When I move out of my small apartment and have a dedicated space dual monitors are likely in my future. However, as I thought about it, my laptop could be the main DAW for a while and I don't know about 2 monitors working with a laptop.

But it got me thinking. HOW ABOUT THIS? What about using a proxima, those presentation projectors? In my day job I use them constantly and you can get a very large picture. I haven't researched this much, but I believe you can get a very decent one for $1500, about the cost of 2 LCD 17" monitors. Then you have only ONE screen but it is literally 6' by 8', or whatever you want. One GIANT screen.

The drawbacks are likely to be having available wall space in front of you, or somewhere that is convienent; noise - they are getting quieter and quieter but still have a fan in them.

Resolution? I don't know anything about this, though I assume they aren't as sharp.

Has anyone tried this?
Click to expand...

A projector will not gain you any screen realestate, just make everything bigger.

I'd rather buy a Matrox Parhelia card with triple head capabilities and 3 17" FPD's.
 
First, I suggest you get a PCI soundcard, cause then you can get a second computer and network it with the first, God, that is my dream.
Anyway, I have my mixer's stereo out's running through a 2 channel equalizer which then runs to the first two inputs of my Delta 410 (PCI). It's so simple and effective, not to mention flexible.
I'll be getting a second monitor soon, not sure how I'm gonna hook it up, but it should be easy. I've done it before.
 
First, I suggest you get a PCI soundcard, cause then you can get a second computer and network it with the first through the firewire conection, God, that is my dream.
Anyway, I have my mixer's stereo out's running through a 2 channel equalizer which then runs to the first two inputs of my Delta 410 (PCI). It's so simple and effective, not to mention flexible.
I'll be getting a second monitor soon, not sure how I'm gonna hook it up, but it should be easy. I've done it before.
 
hmm

i will hopefully have a delta 1010 pci card.. and two computers, one with 2 monitors.. what can i do with two computers networked that would be so good? One will be an amd tbird 1.2 gigs, with about 512 megs or ram, the other will be pretty much top of the line when i buy it in about 9 months, probably the main computer.
so what can i do that is so fantastic with 2 computers? Ive been trying to think of what i could do lately, cause id on't want my old comptuer to go to waste, so im excited you brought that up!
 
good points about the projector - I know those are the shortcomings, and since I don't know the kind of space I will be working in in a year, I'll have to wait and see. The resolution will probably be the biggest issue.


What about this networked computer idea. How can it be utilized? I figured I could have one computer run something like gigasampler, and the other being the main tracker. Would networking be fast enough to go this route, as opposed to audio outs of one computer into another?
 
You could have separate computers running different cpu-taxing programs, which are common in audio or video production. You could also have one of your computers with a 240 gig harddrive and the other with the latest high-speed processor, that way one computer deals with storing files, and the other deals with processing/programs/etc. It's just so kickass, but of course, expensive to have multiple computers.
 
hmm

yea that sounds really sweet, but how would i set that up? Can you just tell programs to use the other computer for some stuff, and yours for others, wouldn't there be latency problems between the network especailly for cpu tasks??
 
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