No worries.

Have you got your eye on a mixer yet?

cmayhle often recommends a really nice and inexpensive little mixer.  I’ll try and dig a link out.

Also, you are not alone in being tempted by you tube reviews, either.  I’m ‘aware’ of them.

I was looking at some Yamaha ones on Gear4Music.

Something like this one would give me room for expansion in the future, is this a decent one?

Link to mixer

I’m sure that would be perfect.

If you look at the blue area in the top right, you’ll see the Monitor Outputs, left above right, instead of left next to right.

I like the little mixers by Phonic, too.  They are tanks.

http://www.phonic.com/mixers/computers/?sl=en

You’ll notice they use “Control Room” for the monitor outs

philwoodmusic - 10 May 2017 05:51 PM

I’m sure that would be perfect.

If you look at the blue area in the top right, you’ll see the Monitor Outputs, left above right, instead of left next to right.

I like the little mixers by Phonic, too.  They are tanks.

http://www.phonic.com/mixers/computers/?sl=en

You’ll notice they use “Control Room” for the monitor outs

Cheers, I’ll look at phonic ones too :)

Just to complete the story, I bought a Yamaha MG10XU mixer and all is going well so far :-)

Even more knobs to twiddle and play about with!!

That’s great.  Have fun.

I’m now looking to add some monitors and I like the look of the Yamaha HS8 monitors.

I know though that I will have problems with these because I’ll keep forgetting to power them down when I’ve finished with them. Does anyone know if they will auto power down after a period of time at all?

Also would welcome any comments about the suitability of these monitors :)

jg666 - 02 August 2017 01:05 PM

Also would welcome any comments about the suitability of these monitors :)

Listen to them before you buy them and play a range of familiar music (from your CD wallet) and gear on them.  Make sure you are happy with the sound before you pay.

If you are able to do so, aurally compare those monitors with other monitors in a similar price range. 

Never buy ANY monitors without knowing what they sound like and be careful if you are used to using a nice pair of hifi speakers and are moving to studio monitors instead.  You could well find that the studio monitors don’t flatter or pretty up your sound much at all and you may eventually really miss that kind of thing.

Make sure you know WHY you want some studio monitors!  Many people think they just need them, and they are often not necessary.

Hifi speakers are designed to make everything sound open and pretty, or at least they should… and monitors are designed to be neutral and let you hear the sound as it is.  They often don’t though in both negative and positive ways, so it can be tricky.

My opinion of Yamaha monitors (if it’s worth anything) is that they always visually look nice and are well built, but I’ve never been too happy with what I’ve heard in terms of detail.  I’ve never seen a serious recording studio using that particular range of Yamaha monitors and they seem to appear in project studios and are even more commonly used by Motif owners who often have never heard or bought any other brand of monitor, or gear for that matter.  Whilst I love the Motif, I can’t say the same for Yamaha monitors.

I find the same with KRK monitors, they always look very nice with the yellow drivers and look rugged, but I’m never amazed by their sound.

The brands of monitors that I usually like and commonly come across are by companies like PMC, Genelec, Quested, Dynaudio and Adam.  You may find a pair of PMCs or Dyanaudios offer you more detail than Yamaha.  They may cost a little more, too.

PMC’s are my absolute favourite and my Motif is plugged (via a small mixer) into a pair of PMC TB2s

philwoodmusic - 02 August 2017 06:53 PM

jg666 - 02 August 2017 01:05 PM

Also would welcome any comments about the suitability of these monitors :)

Make sure you know WHY you want some studio monitors!  Many people think they just need them, and they are often not necessary.

I agree. Why do you want studio monitors? Put another way, what do you find lacking in your current setup?

Thanks very much for your replies, much appreciated.

I don’t feel I actually need monitors to be honest. The reason I’m looking to change something is that I still occasionally I’m playing along through the mixer and hifi setup and suddenly it’s just loud humming coming from it. I think it must be one of the inputs into the hifi amp.

The other option I have is to replace that little Onkyo hifi amp with my Big Denon AV amp and see how that performs as I’ve been looking for an excuse to get a new AV Amp for a while anyway :)

When the humming happens, switching off the mixer doesn’t stop it so that is why I’m thinking it’s at the amp end?

jg666 - 03 August 2017 03:17 AM

I don’t feel I actually need monitors to be honest. The reason I’m looking to change something is that I still occasionally I’m playing along through the mixer and hifi setup and suddenly it’s just loud humming coming from it. I think it must be one of the inputs into the hifi amp.

Yes, that problem is likely at the amp, and probably a connection problem. Early in this thread I discussed that issue. If replacing the amp (even temporarily) allows you to determine what’s wrong, then that seems a good thing to try initially.

If you decide instead to get studio monitors, I suggest purchasing them from a dealer with a liberal return policy. As philwoodmusic mentioned, they might not be the sound you’re looking for. However, with EQ control available on your mixer and most monitors (certainly the HS8 model), you could probably find satisfactory settings.

The issue of possibly forgetting to turn the monitors off could be resolved by plugging everything into a power strip so that there’s one master switch.

Cheers. I’ll have a go at moving the AV Amp over and using that for a while and see how it goes :)

I’m still happily using my MG10XU mixer connected to my AV Amp and large floor standing speakers. The problem I have is that I keep buying more synths !!

The mixer only has 3 sets of stereo inputs and they are all in use now. If I buy another stereo synth, I wouldn’t have a spare stereo input to plug them into BUT I still have inputs 1 and 2 spare which are both mono ones and can be used as Mic inputs are mono instrument.

I’m not sure if this is the right place to ask, but does anyone know if it’s OK to send the Left Output of the synth to input 1 on the mixer and the Right Output of the synth to input 2 on the mixer? This would solve my problem if I end up buying yet another synth (DSI Prophet X is currently nagging me to buy it ;-) )

jg666 - 14 June 2018 10:20 AM

[...] I’m not sure if this is the right place to ask, but does anyone know if it’s OK to send the Left Output of the synth to input 1 on the mixer and the Right Output of the synth to input 2 on the mixer? This would solve my problem if I end up buying yet another synth (DSI Prophet X is currently nagging me to buy it ;-) )

I don’t know if it’s the “right” place to ask, but it certainly is a place where you’ll get an appropriate answer.  :-)

Yes, you can use the MG10XU channel 1 and channel 2 inputs for left and right outputs, respectively, of a synth. For line usage, the 25dB PAD on each channel would typically be on (button depressed). The PAN control for channel 1 should be turned to the fully counterclockwise “L” position. PAN for channel 2 should be turned clockwise to “R”. Channels 3 and 4 can be similarly used with a synth

However, there’s one important precaution - make sure that the PHANTOM +48V power is not turned on. Output stages of some synths, such as those of the Motif family, can be damaged by connecting them to phantom power. That power should be turned on only when condenser mics requiring it are connected.

5pinDIN - 14 June 2018 01:11 PM

jg666 - 14 June 2018 10:20 AM

[...] I’m not sure if this is the right place to ask, but does anyone know if it’s OK to send the Left Output of the synth to input 1 on the mixer and the Right Output of the synth to input 2 on the mixer? This would solve my problem if I end up buying yet another synth (DSI Prophet X is currently nagging me to buy it ;-) )

I don’t know if it’s the “right” place to ask, but it certainly is a place where you’ll get an appropriate answer.  :-)

Yes, you can use the MG10XU channel 1 and channel 2 inputs for left and right outputs, respectively, of a synth. For line usage, the 25dB PAD on each channel would typically be on (button depressed). The PAN control for channel 1 should be turned to the fully counterclockwise “L” position. PAN for channel 2 should be turned clockwise to “R”. Channels 3 and 4 can be similarly used with a synth

However, there’s one important precaution - make sure that the PHANTOM +48V power is not turned on. Output stages of some synths, such as those of the Motif family, can be damaged by connecting them to phantom power. That power should be turned on only when condenser mics requiring it are connected.

Excellent mate thanks very much for the prompt reply :)