Stereo instrument tracks. Why?

[guitardom]

Mono Instrument tracks are quite common especially with drums. Some people will use Instrument tracks instead of aux tracks to make it more apparent it is from a VI and not just an Aux track.

When you are using AOS for your VI (drum kit) you are going to use mono tracks for your individual kit piece mics, kick in/out, snare top/bottom, toms, etc. The only time I use stereo on a kit is for the room and overhead mic sets.

[Terry Wetzel]

Wow fellas! Thanks for all the responses. I guess to you pro and semi pro people it was probably a , not too smart question, but I am thankful for the info, a lot of which I didn't know. It's as simple as this. Mono tracks work better for me! I am an old timer and I developed my preferences long ago as to what I like to hear in a recording. With mono tracks, audio or stereo, I find it easier to set track pans to my liking. There are no rules, right? Thanks again.

[Terry Wetzel]

Thanks guitardom. Sounds logical to me.

[Terry Wetzel]

Thanks DonaldM. As I said, I am aware that a stereo instr. track can be split into mono and with ezd I do that frequently but not always.

[Terry Wetzel]

Thanks musicman. as far as how it makes my life simpler, you would have to know me in order for me to answer that question. Stated simply the more tracks of any kind that I have to deal with amounts to frustration due to memory problems. In my version of PT's 9.0.6 I have always used Instrument tracks to host a VI. Generally VI's are new to me anyway and I'm just feeling my way around. I only own ezd as a third party VI and Mini Grand is the only PT's VI that I have used thus far. I haven't used any of the other PT's supplied things since I don't comprehend their uses. I am not into beats and loops or weird sounds.

[Terry Wetzel]

guitardom. I didn't know you could use an aux track to host a VI. Can you explain? Thanks (Some people will use Instrument tracks instead of aux tracks to make it more apparent it is from a VI and not just an Aux track. )

[Benoni]

Originally Posted by Terry Wetzel

guitardom. I didn't know you could use an aux track to host a VI. Can you explain? Thanks (Some people will use Instrument tracks instead of aux tracks to make it more apparent it is from a VI and not just an Aux track. )

This is how it use to be done before we had instrument tracks, and I still use this method as well depending on what I'm doing.

Put your VI on an Aux track and create a MIDI track to "trigger" the VI.

An example of how I might use this would be if I'm using Kontakt with 8 different instruments loaded in Kontakt, I could put Kontakt on an Aux track (or Instrument for that matter) and then create 8 MIDI tracks and have each one trigger a single instrument.

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

It depends on the nature of the instrument as to whether or not I will decide which to do as stereo and which to do as mono.

Mini Moog V by Arturia, a bass drone or simple synth bass tone, I'd likely keep as mono.

The deep growl on the Mini Moog, ala Tom Sawyer by RUSH, then I'd likely keep that one as stereo because there is a sense of "space" across the stereo spectrum where the growl separates a bit from the predominantly subharmonic content of that particular preset.

The song will tell you what it needs.

[nigelpry]

Originally Posted by Terry Wetzel

guitardom. I didn't know you could use an aux track to host a VI. Can you explain? Thanks (Some people will use Instrument tracks instead of aux tracks to make it more apparent it is from a VI and not just an Aux track. )

An instrument track is basically a combination of a midi track and an aux track.

For the record, you can also instantiate an instrument on an audio track if you want to. And you can choose an plugin's output as the input of an audio track too.

Back in PT11 days when we were having those horrendous problems with delay compensation for multi output virtual instruments, using audio tracks proved the most reliable way to get get multi output VI audio all happening in sync. There is a very big thread on this in the PT11 forum, which sets out lots of useful info.

[musicman691]

Originally Posted by TonyFlyingSquirrel

It depends on the nature of the instrument as to whether or not I will decide which to do as stereo and which to do as mono.

Mini Moog V by Arturia, a bass drone or simple synth bass tone, I'd likely keep as mono.

The deep growl on the Mini Moog, ala Tom Sawyer by RUSH, then I'd likely keep that one as stereo because there is a sense of "space" across the stereo spectrum where the growl separates a bit from the predominantly subharmonic content of that particular preset.

The song will tell you what it needs.

Funny you mention Tom Sawyer; was playing the R30 dvd last night and Geddy's keyboard of choice was a pair of Yamaha FM synths. Lately I've seen him use one of the Moog Phatty's.

I must be an odd duck when it comes to bass tracks - with the exception of when I track a real bass (in my case a Fender Jazz bass) I like to keep them stereo. I do that mainly because I like a good wide spread on bass tones at times.