DCommand AFL/PFL Solo modes after upgrade

[Matthew Steel]

Finally made a big jump:
Old system: 2010 era Intel Mac Pro running Lion and PT HD10.
New System: 2022 Apple Silicon Mac Studio (with a PCI chassis) running Monterrey and PT Ultimate 2023.
Hardware common to both: HDX card, HDIO interfaces, PREs, DCommand with XMON (custom wiring harness between the first HDIO and the XMON).

Pretty much everything works well, but one thing that I either can't remember or has changed is the AFL/PFL solo stuff with the XMON. Any help would be appreciated.

It used to be the XMON needed a separate solo path, and would replace the main out with that path when soloing something (in AFL/PFL). Now when in PFL/AFL modes if I solo something, meters on the DCommand and the interfaces show that PT is routing soloed channels to the Solo Path. But the XMON is not routing that to the monitors. I just still hear the main mix.

The behavior sounds like it might be "Broadcast Mode" but I never used that mode before, and I cannot find the setting to turn it on or off. It just doesn't seem to be there in the operation menu where manuals say it is supposed to be.

The DCommand reports that the surfaces have firmware v10.0.0.0 and the XMON has v11.

Any help getting this functionality back would be appreciated.

[Hanswurstlsepp]

Maybe this thread helps ?

https://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=372909

[Matthew Steel]

Thank you for pointing me to that thread. That is exactly the issue I was asking about.

In many ways the new way is better but like some of the posters on the thread you linked, I used to feed my main mix to the headphone system and the new solo method breaks that workflow. So I guess a separate output with a copy of the main mix is the way to do that now.

[Matthew Steel]

Oh - and now that I think about it, soloing something in the control room will now affect the studio monitors and any cue mixes that are set to main. I will have to remember that.

[albee1952]

Originally Posted by Matthew Steel

Oh - and now that I think about it, soloing something in the control room will now affect the studio monitors and any cue mixes that are set to main. I will have to remember that.

I created a "solution" to this very issue, maybe it can help you? I added a send in the last slot on every track, set them all to -0, pre-fade and muted. This send feeds a separate output pair(stereo here) and routes thru my monitor controller. Instead of hitting Solo buttons(with anyone tracking), I Ctrl-click on one(or more) for these sends and switch CR monitors to the matching set of outputs. This allows me to listen to anything without affecting headphone mixes(it even allows me to listen to effects on AUX tracks). I even took it one step further; with a bit of creative patching at the monitor controller, I could leave the main mix on one set of speakers, and route this "solo" signal to a second set of speakers