Recording mono signals form a midi source

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TonyReed
Posts: 34
Joined: Sat Aug 24, 2019 3:52 am

Recording mono signals form a midi source

Post by TonyReed » Sun May 09, 2021 5:34 am

I am converting my drum midi tracks to audio. For some reason the audio for each track is coming out as stereo! I can't seem to configure each audio track to record only in mono and the manual implies that Ableton will default to recording in stereo. The configure button only leads me to the audio device set up window - no help there.
I can't honestly understand why a mono drum sample is converted to a stereo audio file.
Actually I wish ableton would simply let us set up audio tracks as either stereo or mono.
But in the absence of that is there any help out there? I just want to know how to have each of my drum tracks as mono.
Thanks Tony

Chancery
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Re: Recording mono signals form a midi source

Post by Chancery » Sun May 09, 2021 6:07 am

I don't know the answer to that, and there's probably a better way, but what I do is export each track separately with the Convert To Mono option on. And then re-import them from the browser.
It's far from convenient, but so far it's the only way I've found to get mono audio tracks out of my midi.

TonyReed
Posts: 34
Joined: Sat Aug 24, 2019 3:52 am

Re: Recording mono signals form a midi source

Post by TonyReed » Sun May 09, 2021 8:59 am

Yes, that does work. Ive spent hrs on this and I can't seem to find any other way to do it??

Mark Williams
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Re: Recording mono signals form a midi source

Post by Mark Williams » Sun May 09, 2021 10:22 am

use Utility.
Live 11, M1 Mac Mini, Push 2, Scarlett 18i20 & ADA8200, Softube Console 1 Mk2, Deepmind12, Hydrasynth, Cobalt 8M, Moog Subsequent 25, IK Uno Synth Pro, Plethora X3, Nord Drum 3P

Chancery
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Re: Recording mono signals form a midi source

Post by Chancery » Mon May 10, 2021 9:18 am

Mark Williams wrote:
Sun May 09, 2021 10:22 am
use Utility.
Could you elaborate on that, please?
I've tried every possible combination of Utility mono modes in both the source and destination tracks, with no other devices in the chain, and the result is invariably a stereo file. I've tried both recording and freeze-dragging. No difference.

TonyReed
Posts: 34
Joined: Sat Aug 24, 2019 3:52 am

Re: Recording mono signals form a midi source

Post by TonyReed » Mon May 10, 2021 11:32 am

Yes I second that. It doesn't seem possible to make a mono file from a mono source! It seems ridiculous.

[jur]
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Re: Recording mono signals form a midi source

Post by [jur] » Tue May 11, 2021 1:57 pm

The solution to do it from Live is to use the Export feature, which has an option to bounce to mono.

The reason behind this behaviour is that Live treats even track as a stereo track.
It has many workflow advantages (in some DAWs mono and stereo tracks are 2 different things and you can't put the wrong file format on the wrong track type 8O), but what you're describing is one of the downside.
Sure it'd be great to have options to e.g consolidate to mono, but atm it's simply not available.

But don't miss things up: a stereo signal reduced to mono (with e.g Utility's Width parameter set to 0%), and then recorded to another track will get you a mono sound. The recorded file appears as a stereo one (because of what's explained above) but it's actually a "dual-mono" file: same exact signal on both channel.
The only real downside is that it takes up more space on your hard drive, but sound-wise it's exactly the same is if it were a one-channel file.
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Chancery
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Joined: Mon Dec 14, 2020 9:59 pm

Re: Recording mono signals form a midi source

Post by Chancery » Wed May 12, 2021 6:31 am

[jur] wrote:
Tue May 11, 2021 1:57 pm
.
Sure it'd be great to have options to e.g consolidate to mono, but atm it's simply not available.
Thanks [jur] for the clarification.
Indeed it would be as simple as letting the user decide if it's a workflow advantage or not.
Precisely because of the great feature in Live of being able to interchange mono and stereo files not worrying about track type, it would make all the more sense to be able to record/consolidate in either format at will. And save disk space (and CPU?) in the process.
The way it is now, to me personally there's nothing advantageous about it.

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