Running 2 monitors with PTLE??

[voxpitch]

I am upgrading to a 17" monitor (from a 14", and yes i think it has made me blind!!) My questions are, Can anyone tell me if PTLE can work with two monitors (ie-Mix in one, Edit in the other) if I have install a dual monitor card in my PC. Secondly, is it really a luxury and worth it? Thirdly, if it will work, how much are the cards and what are the minimum requirements the card must have?-Thank you in advance for your expertise.

[Stone Knife]

It has worked for others here. One thing I remember them discussing is to not have either Mix or Edit window maximized... just make 'em big enough to fill each screen by resizing...

Look for 'dual display' on the card's features and make sure it's the type of display you have, such as Digital or CRT.

I'm sure Allen or some of the other Computer folks will fill you in some more.

I think it'd be way cool to have one screen for each...

[da BaSsTaRd!]

PT sucks with dual monitors. i was planning on doing what you're doing. i got the 2 monitors setup and all the window problems with PT drove me crazy. so i just use PT in the main window and use the second monitor for synths and stuff. i love the 2 monitors, just not with PT.

[gerax]

Hi

I actually use the dual monitor setup every day in my work with PT: to me, if the chore of your work is done in PT (i.e. don't need third party soft synths and the likes) the dual monitor option is a godsend: you have complete control of what's going on under eyesight, and don't have to continuously skip the windows to automate a plugin, or move a fader, and then get back to Edit window to perform a cut or copy operation; everything is laid out so that you gain a certain amount of speed and ease of use (at least this has been my case), otherwise it wouldn't have been though about, isn't it? The only minor drawback in PTLE lack of real dual monitor support is that each time you open a new session the two windows have to be repositioned and resized to fit the two screens, but I think that 1) it's a small charge to pay for the benefits you get, and 2)it should be fixed with the next update release.
For the hardware part I'm using a Matrox G450 Millennium Dual head AGP card, and only had a minor glitch with a funky mouse pointer in the edit window when the session is playing, but I have come to a reason for it (mine fault). Drivers uptade will fix this.
A suggestion if you decide to go Dual Monitors: put the Mix window in the Left monitor, and the Edit in the right one (as opposed to the common rule which wants the two windows the other way around), this way you solve the fact that every time you call up a plugin it will appear in the left monitor, in the mix window.

Hope this helps

L.G. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[8mmOverdose]

its a pain having to resize pt every time you open the program- it doesnt "remember" the settings. but i like having the mix on the right (gerax makes a good point in his post about this) and mix on the left. it saves me a lot of clicking. i only recently have started working with the 2 monitor setup. i use wavelab as my main mastering program. even wavelab has its quirks with 2 monitors. the program will open maximized across the 2 screens, but when you open a wave, it also is stretched across both screens. i have to resize the wave window every time. but to me, the benefits of 2 monitors outweigh the problems.

[MikeD]

I use two monitors, but probably not like most people around here do. I set up ProTools so that I can see the edit screen stretched across both monitors and toggle back and forth between edit and mix screens like I did before. I like it this way so that I can see more of what is coming up in the song while tracking overdubs.

I tried the two monitor set up the other way but hated little quirks that come along with not having your windows maximized.

[n.mathis]

mike d,what kinda quirks?as long as you've resized edit window first so you can always see horizontal scroll bar,along with the vertical and both for mix window on other monitor,can't you scan ahead this way.works fine for me but do whatcha like.

[MikeD]

I probably shouldn't have used the word quirks so much as the word nuisance. For instance, when inserting a plug in into an insert on the edit screen rather than the mix screen, the option box (no insert, i/o, plug-in) pops up on the left monitor which is a pain.

The scanning ahead was just something I really dug in the configuration I currently use. I have two 15" LCD's compared to the old 19" CRT I was previously using so the real estate is a little smaller on a 15" LCD. Using both monitors to display the edit screen gave me alot more than I had before. That's the main reason I like the set up I use now.

Plus it just looks cool [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[electrobank]

2 monitors are nice but is contrl = that time consuming? Command function vs. $350?
This is money that could be better spent elsewhere in the studio. [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img]

[n.mathis]

if your mix window is on left monitor the option box will open on top.i have two different size monitors,the left larger,and i still like the edit on right 15"lcd. i got a matrox g450 16mb for $30 bucks used,and has worked fine for me.although there's other routes.