Monitoring Cue Mix Through D-Command/XMon?

[SimonInAustralia]

I can't seem to find a way to monitor the cue mix in the control room, through the control room monitor section of the D-Command/XMon.

Should I be able to?

I need to hear what is going to the cue mixes when setting them up, and this should be an easy process in the D-Command/XMon monitor section.

If this is not possible, it seems to be a major oversight in the design of the D-Command/XMon, it is basic mixer functionality that is required in a tracking situation.

[Drew Mazurek]

I used Y cables to return the Cue Send back to Stereo Return 1 to make this possible. Otherwise, it's not.

Or you could use a dedicated buss for headphones and use AFL solo mode to listen.

[Mikey MTC]

Yeah Drew's right. I've got it permanently coming up Stereo 4 and didn't realize how often I'd be using it.

[SimonInAustralia]

To me, it seems that not being able to monitor your cue mix within the control room when setting it up the cue mix is a MAJOR oversight in the design of the D-Command/XMon.

It seems totally bizarre to me that the D-Command monitoring section allows for cue mixes to be sent through to the studio, but that you can not monitor them to setup those cue mixes from within the control room, without a kludgy workaround.

Sad and pathetic, whoever missed that feature when designing these surfaces should be ashamed of themselves, or they have no idea how a real work tracking session works.

[Drew Mazurek]

Well, you can either bitch or fix it. You chose.

Either do the wiring work around or use a dedicated buss and AFL/PFl solo mode.

[SimonInAustralia]

Using a kludgy workaround is NOT fixing it!

It is using a workaround to do something very basic that should be easily performed withing the existing D-Command monitor section.

I am bitching about it, because I can not fix it, all I can do is use a kludgy workaround to try and get similar functionality to what should be there already.

Splitting the cue signals and wasting 2 of the 3 stereo inputs to monitor cue mixes, or using buses to do it, is an ugly way to get basic mixer functionality that should have been in the D-Command monitor section in the first place.

In this level of equipment I should not have to deal with such poor design. I sort of wish that we went with some normal digital mixers instead.

So, why don't you tell me how to fix it so it works as it should, within the D-Command monitor section, without these workarounds? You can't!

[Brent_Sydney]

Actually, I think the most elegant way to use the Xmon in this situation is to use the headphone output from the main unit itself to monitor your cue mix. Then you're hearing it in cans, just like the talent, rather than through your mains which will be a diff colour.
just my 2c

[Drew Mazurek]

Oh, I agree 100%, it should be able to do it, but it can't and it's obviously hardware based so I wouldn't expect a "fix" anytime soon.

So..... it's either the headphone thing Brent suggested, the dedicated buss method, or the splitting "fix".

[SimonInAustralia]

Yes, and I will obviously have to use one of these workarounds to make it work.

I really just wish it would have been designed properly in the first place.

Is it a limitation of the hardware routing within the XMon, or could the functionality be added through a firmware update in the future?

Has anyone at Digidesign looked into whether this is possible?

It would be great for example if you could choose cue1 and cue2 as alternative sources for the control room stereo inputs (without having to externally split the cue mix and physically feed it to a stereo input), in the same way you can select the Main mix as a source for the cue1 and cue2 outputs.

It is really puzzling as to why this was designed without being able to easily monitor the cue mixes in the control room, all the monitoring signals go through the XMon, it seems very bizarre that the cue mix to control room routing was not implemented within the XMon.

[SimonInAustralia]

Originally Posted by Brent_Sydney

Actually, I think the most elegant way to use the Xmon in this situation is to use the headphone output from the main unit itself to monitor your cue mix. Then you're hearing it in cans, just like the talent, rather than through your mains which will be a diff colour.
just my 2c

Yes, that would be fine for commerical recording sessions, where there is only the engineer that needs to hear the cue mixes, but not for a teaching situation where a number of students would need to hear the cue mixes as they are being setup.

Brent, do you know if this is an actual hardware limitation of the internal XMon routing, or could it possibly be fixed in the firmware? Is there any way to make a request like this to Digidesign?