How do you copy a stereo track's insert to a mono track?

[moshuajusic]

I get an error saying the input channels don't match. But it's a PITA to separately instantiate a plugin and copy automation. The manual just mentions alt-dragging an insert to another track. Maybe I'm missing something. There must be a way, right?

[Sardi]

Unless something has changed recently, you can’t.

You either have to copy the plugin settings and paste them to the newly instantiated mono insert or split the stereo tracks to 2 x mono and delete one of the tracks.


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[DontLetMeDrown]

This is one of those stupid Pro Tools things that isn’t an issue for people on other DAWs. PT should be smart enough to copy the plugin in either direction, but unfortunately, it is not. Fixing this would be helpful to me, but I don’t have much faith in Avid anymore.

[midnightrambler]

Originally Posted by DontLetMeDrown

This is one of those stupid Pro Tools things that isn’t an issue for people on other DAWs. PT should be smart enough to copy the plugin in either direction, but unfortunately, it is not. Fixing this would be helpful to me, but I don’t have much faith in Avid anymore.

I agree. Been putting up with this stupid “error” for far too long.

[Noteon]

Maybe split stereo into mono tracks and then alt dragging. Well... stupid extra work.

[midnightrambler]

If you split the stereo track into mono the stereo plug-in magically disappears. You can’t alt-drag a stereo plug to a mono track.

Sometimes (but not always), converting the stereo plug-in into 2 mono plugins on the stereo track, and then splitting the track, means the plug-in copies over.

[Stephen Bond]

Originally Posted by jscomposer

I get an error saying the input channels don't match. But it's a PITA to separately instantiate a plugin and copy automation. The manual just mentions alt-dragging an insert to another track. Maybe I'm missing something. There must be a way, right?

You cannot use the Alt & click+drag method to copy a stereo plugin from a stereo track to a mono track, with or without automation. You will get the error "The plug-in cannot be copied ... because the number of input channels does not match."

If you wish to copy the plugin settings of a stereo plugin to a mono version you can use the plugins "Preset/Copy Settings" and paste them on the mono plugin AOK as there is only one set of settings (on both channels).

If you have the plugin on the mono track you can copy the stereo plugin automation to the mono plugin AOK (once again because there is only one set of settings).

If you have a dual mono plugin on a stereo track then copying the plugin settings and pasting onto the mono plugin and will paste the left hand settings only. There's no option to select the right hand setting if that is what you want.

OK, back to automation, if you try to paste either side of a dual mono plugin automation to a mono plugin you will get "Some automation parameters in the clipboard do not match the paste destination."

In short, it is easy to copy from stereo channels to stereo channels and mono to mono channels. Anything else might be more troublesome.

Hope that helps!

Stephen

[albee1952]

One thing I have never tried: use a dual-mono plugin on a stereo track and see if that one can be alt-dragged onto a mono track.

Or, if you want the same plugin on several tracks, put the plugin on a stereo AUX track and route the other tracks thru it(or use a Routing Folder)

If this is something that you use often, maybe build up a template with the plugins in place

[Stephen Bond]

Originally Posted by albee1952

One thing I have never tried: use a dual-mono plugin on a stereo track and see if that one can be alt-dragged onto a mono track.

I tried that earlier too! You get the input channel mismatch error in the same way as trying it with a Stereo plugin.

Stephen

[Rich Breen]

Can't do it - yes it sucks.