Topic by hag01

  • Avatar
  • hag01
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 11-04-2016
  • Posts: 119

Topic: Still don't got it- Stereo, Mono, Sound Recording, Binaural

I can't understand how in Stereo mode and Mono mode there aren't some mic\headphones settings\position just like those we can see detailed in Sound Recording mode and Binaural mode.

Also, I believe that in Sound Recording mode and Binaural mode, all the mic\headphones settings\position is sum up eventually to either stereo or mono.

There isn't other way around as far as I can tell.

Too bad Modartt don't let us choose our on favorite mic settings and positions in stereo mode.
I never digged the Binaural mode and to me Stereo mode sounds best on headphones. Everything else we listen to in headphone is simply stereo, isn't it?

So when I'm taking a preset like for example Bluthner Chamber Recording, it sounds awful because of the mic settings\positions, it sounds like the piano is far away. I can change that in Sound Recording mode in the Standard version of Pianoteq(which I only messed with the demo version so far), but not in the Stereo mode.
And the Stereo mode is not influenced by the changes I'm doing in the Sound Recording mode, I can make it sound to my liking in the Sound Recording mode but when I'm getting back to the stereo mode, the piano sounds like it is not in front of me but somewhere else far away, which is unacceptable for simple playing sessions. I understand it can be useful for production.

It seems like the default Sound Recording mic settings\positions are the ones that determined how the Stereo mode will sound, but after that you can't change it, every change you do on Sound Recording mode will only take effect on Sound Recording mode.

Bottom line is, Stereo output has different flavor than Sound Recording output, too bad I can't control mic settings and positions on Stereo mode.

Those things will determined if I'll peak the Standard upgrade,
so if I'm getting something wrong, I'm willing to see your corrections.

Reply by Gilles

  • Avatar
  • Gilles
  • Member
  • Offline
  • From: Québec, QC
  • Registered: 18-07-2008
  • Posts: 3,345

Re: Still don't got it- Stereo, Mono, Sound Recording, Binaural

If I remember well, the Stereo output corresponds to the initial position of the two main mics 1 and 2 in the preset and don't follow changes in the Sound Recording.

In your case, if you want to use a very dry preset for playing, use the Player preset. It should sound about the same in Stereo or Sound Recording except there is a bit more ambient sound with the mics since they capture the entire soundfield along with mic orientation. Also, the Sound Recording options permits up to 5 output channels, so more than stereo.

An advantage of Stereo output is that you don't get the phase cancellations that can happen when moving mics around in the Sound Recording.

Reply by Philippe Guillaume

  • Avatar
  • Philippe Guillaume
  • Admin
  • Offline
  • Registered: 25-04-2007
  • Posts: 5,418

Re: Still don't got it- Stereo, Mono, Sound Recording, Binaural

hag01 wrote:

I can't understand how in Stereo mode and Mono mode there aren't some mic\headphones settings\position just like those we can see detailed in Sound Recording mode and Binaural mode.

Also, I believe that in Sound Recording mode and Binaural mode, all the mic\headphones settings\position is sum up eventually to either stereo or mono.

There isn't other way around as far as I can tell.

Too bad Modartt don't let us choose our on favorite mic settings and positions in stereo mode.
I never digged the Binaural mode and to me Stereo mode sounds best on headphones. Everything else we listen to in headphone is simply stereo, isn't it?

So when I'm taking a preset like for example Bluthner Chamber Recording, it sounds awful because of the mic settings\positions, it sounds like the piano is far away. I can change that in Sound Recording mode in the Standard version of Pianoteq(which I only messed with the demo version so far), but not in the Stereo mode.
And the Stereo mode is not influenced by the changes I'm doing in the Sound Recording mode, I can make it sound to my liking in the Sound Recording mode but when I'm getting back to the stereo mode, the piano sounds like it is not in front of me but somewhere else far away, which is unacceptable for simple playing sessions. I understand it can be useful for production.

It seems like the default Sound Recording mic settings\positions are the ones that determined how the Stereo mode will sound, but after that you can't change it, every change you do on Sound Recording mode will only take effect on Sound Recording mode.

Bottom line is, Stereo output has different flavor than Sound Recording output, too bad I can't control mic settings and positions on Stereo mode.

Those things will determined if I'll peak the Standard upgrade,
so if I'm getting something wrong, I'm willing to see your corrections.

Stereo and Mono are just particular positions of respectively 2 mics and one mic. No sum up. As mentioned by Gilles, it used to be the two first (stereo case) or the first mic (mono case) from the "main" preset (usually the one with the full instrument name), but it is not necessarily the case any more. If you have Standard version, you can simply forget about those two outputs (see exception below), it has no interest at all as you can achieve the same result with some particular mic position, as explained for example here:
https://forum.modartt.com/viewtopic.php...89#p946089
https://forum.modartt.com/viewtopic.php...45#p964845
https://forum.modartt.com/viewtopic.php...67#p935767

Regarding "far away", this is just a matter of reverb, see my previous post:
https://forum.modartt.com/viewtopic.php...90#p971090

So you may ask why those stereo and mono outputs? They are there only for the electro acoustic instruments for which those outputs are NOT produced by mics but are instead the LINE OUT of those instruments.

Philippe Guillaume's Website

Reply by hag01

  • Avatar
  • hag01
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 11-04-2016
  • Posts: 119

Re: Still don't got it- Stereo, Mono, Sound Recording, Binaural

Philippe Guillaume wrote:
hag01 wrote:

I can't understand how in Stereo mode and Mono mode there aren't some mic\headphones settings\position just like those we can see detailed in Sound Recording mode and Binaural mode.

Also, I believe that in Sound Recording mode and Binaural mode, all the mic\headphones settings\position is sum up eventually to either stereo or mono.

There isn't other way around as far as I can tell.

Too bad Modartt don't let us choose our on favorite mic settings and positions in stereo mode.
I never digged the Binaural mode and to me Stereo mode sounds best on headphones. Everything else we listen to in headphone is simply stereo, isn't it?

So when I'm taking a preset like for example Bluthner Chamber Recording, it sounds awful because of the mic settings\positions, it sounds like the piano is far away. I can change that in Sound Recording mode in the Standard version of Pianoteq(which I only messed with the demo version so far), but not in the Stereo mode.
And the Stereo mode is not influenced by the changes I'm doing in the Sound Recording mode, I can make it sound to my liking in the Sound Recording mode but when I'm getting back to the stereo mode, the piano sounds like it is not in front of me but somewhere else far away, which is unacceptable for simple playing sessions. I understand it can be useful for production.

It seems like the default Sound Recording mic settings\positions are the ones that determined how the Stereo mode will sound, but after that you can't change it, every change you do on Sound Recording mode will only take effect on Sound Recording mode.

Bottom line is, Stereo output has different flavor than Sound Recording output, too bad I can't control mic settings and positions on Stereo mode.

Those things will determined if I'll peak the Standard upgrade,
so if I'm getting something wrong, I'm willing to see your corrections.

Stereo and Mono are just particular positions of respectively 2 mics and one mic. No sum up. As mentioned by Gilles, it used to be the two first (stereo case) or the first mic (mono case) from the "main" preset (usually the one with the full instrument name), but it is not necessarily the case any more. If you have Standard version, you can simply forget about those two outputs (see exception below), it has no interest at all as you can achieve the same result with some particular mic position, as explained for example here:
https://forum.modartt.com/viewtopic.php...89#p946089
https://forum.modartt.com/viewtopic.php...45#p964845
https://forum.modartt.com/viewtopic.php...67#p935767

Regarding "far away", this is just a matter of reverb, see my previous post:
https://forum.modartt.com/viewtopic.php...90#p971090

So you may ask why those stereo and mono outputs? They are there only for the electro acoustic instruments for which those outputs are NOT produced by mics but are instead the LINE OUT of those instruments.

Thank you, I will read carefully all your links and learn how to use smartly the Standard version.
Outputs parameters control is the main reason I upgraded, as I found out this what makes most of the difference for me, between a good preset and a bad preset.