I’ve recently set up a Mac M3 Studio ultra machine. It’s a great machine but coming from windows I was so used to ASIO direct monitoring with my RME UFX III , I was taken aback when doing my first ‘mac’ Session that there’s no direct monitoring…. So…. how do you Mc guys get round this? I always uswed tape machine style monitoring on Windows with Direct monitoring controling total mix.
My ‘workaround’ is to just have the cubase channel volume down and monitor direct through Total mix but if you’re doing a drop in etc this doesn’t work , it’s also an ectra step everytime to drop the volume and then put it back on playback.
exactly, Tape machine monitoring is essential for anyone recording performers and has been part of recording workflow since multi track recording started.
Also with direct monitoring the Cubase channel controls the total mix channel when recording, so level and pan are directly controlled from Cubase without the need to open total mix.
As a ‘professional’ platform you’d think Mac OS users would have been on this from the get go….. Direct Monitoring is part of the Core Audio API by the way…
but on MAc OS yo have to either mute or put the fader on the channel down when recording, which then means you can’t do Tape machine style monitoring and it’s a workflow PIA to have to keep muting or unmuting/bringing the fader up and down everytime you want to hear what you’ve recorded…… In Windows it’s a seamless opperation wherby Tape machine monitopring works perfectly with direct monitoing meaning youj cna control the hardware from the cubase channel.
So… regular recording scenario…. tracking a band and you need to do a drop in….. how do you do that if Tape machine monitoring isn’t available as direct monitoring doesn work on Core audio?
I’ve never had a need to mute or put the fader down when recording and monitoring direct. But I’ve never had a need to do tape-style monitoring when direct monitoring. Everybody is different, but I would consider those two workflows to be mutually exclusive.
If you direct monitor and don’t mute the channel you have both signals being monitored and you’ll get combfiltering at best and a noticable slap delay at worst. The only way to not get that is to mute the cubase channel so you only hear direct monitoring OR mute the direct monitor signal from your interface and monitor thorugh cubase…. which may work if you can run 32 sample buffer, but if you need to drop a singer in at a mix stage for example you cannot monitor thorugh Cubase you have to use direct monitoring.
There is Direct Monitoring when using Cubase on the Mac and that’s a very common way to monitor when recording. There’s no need to mute anything or bring faders down….but I don’t think that’s what you meant.
I think what you’re saying is that when punching in, you want Cubase to automatically turn off direct monitoring in your audio interface when you’re outside of the pre-defined punch-in zone? That way the artist can monitor the previously recorded track outside of the punch-in zone, but direct monitor themselves inside the zone?
How do you direct monitor when it’s greyed out in the Cubase studio menu on Mac OS? ONLY steinberg interfaces can do this.
I suppose what would be a work around is to be able to have the channel volume up but NOT have the monitor button enabled when recording. perhaps there’s preference you have that i haven’t seen as i always used ASIO direct monitoring and tape machine monitoring in Cubase.
Almost any audio interface can do direct monitoring. There’s no need to involve the DAW in that and there is no need to turn on monitoring on the track. For simple recording, I think you’re making things more complicated than necessary .
For punching in, there may be a specific use case where ADM could come in handy that can’t be done on the Mac. But if that use case is rare, then I think you have the answer to your question about why people don’t miss ADM on the Mac .
OK…. On windows ADM means Cubase channel controls the RME total mix channel, there’s complete integration so i don’t need to open total mix as Cubase controls it. That’s a huge workflow difference…..
Monitoring comes on Automatically when recording in my set up , probablt becasue I”m set to tape machine style… I will have a look tomorrow at my settings, I’ve a feeling this is part of the problem.
Even so, having to now have a separate application to control my recording monitoring levels/pan is not a step up , Windows ADM is so much more elegant . If you’ve never used it you probably have no idea how well it works.
The last time I was a mAc user i also used Steinberg hardware, (an AXR4) and of course i had ADM so didn’t notice any difference as it worked the same in Mac OS as it did in windows.
I suspect most people would have no need to turn the direct monitoring on and off. They always want it on, so they just have their studio set up for direct monitoring and never have a need to go into the audio interface console app to change that. The fact that ADM is rarely seen on MacOS seems to support that.
So, yes, I’ve used ADM, but for me, it’s not particularly useful. Everybody’s different though, so I’m sure there are some cases where it’s handy.
@GlennO I think you’re missing the point here completely. No one is turning ADM on and off, that would be crazy.
here’s the question/point I”m making:
On windows in the steinberg audio prefs you can check the ‘direct monitoring’ box.
this means with my RME interface:
The cubase channel controls the Total mix channel directly with Zero latency independant of whay my project latency is. I can set Cubase to use Tape machine monitoring and have no need of a second , sound card direct monitoring mixer open to work, it’s all done from Cubase, seamlessly….
Now, on my M3 ultra, the box for ADM is greyed out so it is just NOT possible to control total mix from cubase and have tape machine monitoring….. period…..
The solution on Mac I’ve realised overnight, is to just turn off monitoring in Cubase and monitor directly from the interface(total mix) , fi you want zero latency monitoring from your soubnd card. If yo want to used Cubase/Core Audio/ Tape machine style/or record with FX then you have to monitor through Cubase and are at the mercy of your latency, which can be small if you’re at the start of a project or if you’re further down the line can be an issue.
I suspect you’ve never used Windows/RME/ ASIO direct monitoring and experienced what a seamless workflow that gives, it’s only when you have used this you see that Core Audio and lack of ADM in Cubase( except with steinberg hardware) is in fact inferior to that.
If you’ve only used Apple computers then you would obviously have no idea that Windows/ASIO is superior in this regard and would have just put up with having to use your sound cards Monitor mixer to direct monitor.
“Mac users, how do you get round having no Direct monitoring?”
We do have direct monitoring. We just control it directly from the interface’s mixer instead of from inside Cubase.
That’s not just with Core Audio–it’s true for every platform. If you’re recording with Cubase effects, you’ll have the latency of your project to deal with, no matter what.
I’ve used Cubase on both platforms. All it does is remotely controlling the audio interface’s direct monitoring–it doesn’t enhance performance or enable low-latency Cubase FX monitoring. Using the interface’s mixer isn’t any more inconvenient than opening a plugin window. The workflow is the same–just the buttons are in a different window.
@Norbury_Brook You misquoted me. I said the opposite of that. I said I believe it’s rare for people to turn direct monitoring on and off and I believe most people always use direct monitoring on MacOS. I’ve recorded many projects using Cubase on MacOS with direct monitoring.
I use Windows computers every day for music production, so I’m very familiar with direct monitoring on both Mac and Windows. I’m very familiar with ADM on Windows. I’m just answering your question about how to do direct monitoring on MacOS and why there is no popular demand for ADM on MacOS.
I’d say being able to control everything from inside Cubase without the need to open your audio mixer is a big enhancement to workflow, and the fact you can use tape machine style monitoring , something we’ve been doing in studio since the days of recording with Tape is also a big enhancement to workflow.
Anyway, it seems the work around is indeed to turn Monitoring to ‘Manual’ and then use total mix.
Thanks everyone for their input… the simple answer was “ turn monitoring to manual as you can’t have tape machine style monitoring with Direct monitoring on mac OS”.
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