Control room instead of monitor controler

Steinberg Hardware Legacy Steinberg Hardware
#1

Is it safe to use my MR816 and the Cubase control room without going through an analogue monitor controller?



With Cubendo’s control room it seems I can switch monitors, external inputs etc etc which looks great in paper, however, in practice is it safe?

I’m aware that the MR has a volume control on the front of the unit and I could use any of my controllers to adjust the control level. I’m just a bit concerned about;

1: digital attenuation not being technically a good thing sonically, however this might be cancelled out by lack od cables/analogue pots etc being removed from the chain.
2: Destroying my $10,000 monitors if there was a sudden software noise blast.



MC

#2

I run my MR816CSX direct to my amplifiers with no analogue monitor controller. I’ve been doing this for a few years and never had a single problem. I have four sets of stereo monitors, switchable with Control Room. I have four key commands for each of my monitors which makes it great for quickly comparing a mix on the different monitors.

Regarding digital attenuation -in practice I don’t think it’s a problem. I have my 816 within reach so I can access the analogue volume control to set my approximate volume range, depending if I want to work loud or quiet and then I will use the control room volume for adjusting as I work. For critical adjustments or checking final mixdowns etc, I’ll set the Control Room fader at zero so that there is no digital attenuation taking place but 95% of the time, whilst I am composing/mixing/whatever I will use the digital attenuation and don’t find it to be a problem. Of course if you are using ridiculous amounts of attenuation then your signal will be degraded and it will become an issue but in that situation, you would want to turn down the analogue volume on your 816 and use less attenuation.

So, in short, this feature is brilliant to use and very reliable.

#3

Exactly what I wanted to hear :smiley: thank you.


looking at the control room it seems this is exactly what it’s designed for, however I’m old so it’s a bit of a mind shift :laughing:


Thanks again.

MC

#4

OK,

Wired everything up and set up the control room All sounding great :smiley:

However I’ve just come across a showstopper with this.


external hardware; as the master volume controls all the outputs at the same time if you have any external FX then the levels are lowered accordingly rather than being left at unity which is useless :cry:


the only way to use external FX is to leave the volume at zero which of course means everything is way too loud so you HAVE to use an analogue attenuator.

Need to see if the UR works the same


MC

#5

Aaaah yeah I forgot about that as I don’t use hardware inserts. That is indeed a show stopper! It’s a shame because it’s such a great feature otherwise. :slight_smile: