Dual monitors or 1 big one?

[rmallam]

Hey Ableton users,

I am interested in everyones experienced opinions.

Should I buy two 22 inch monitors or one big 30 inch?

I use Cubase 6 and Ableton Live everyday and am not a gamer.

Thank you in advanced.

[david.barker]

Yeah I tend to agree with Funken

I got 2 monitors and use Reason in one,with rewire to Live in the other

Shame Live has no detached views,but thats the beauty of each DAW ,has its own quirks,lol

[Da hand]

I have 2 monitors and use mainly Live for production. Even if Live doesn't "use two screens", the second screen is very useful for:

- putting up plugins (Meters, Eqs, Compressors, Synths, etc) - that way they don't cover what is going on in Live
- placing the video screen when syncing music / sound with video
- when working with two or more programs (i.e. Rewire)

[andydes]

Using 3rd party stuff a lot- 2 monitors

Using mainly live instruments and effects- 1 big one. Then possibly kick yourself if ableton ever decide to drop the ridiculous one view only policy.

[Bagatell]

Laptop and a 21" here. No gas for a single big'un.

[ian_halsall]

multi monitors. because when you double click the window bar it resizes to fill the screen. which is incredibly useful.

[JuanSOLO]

I used to think 2 monitors was the way to go, then I got a big one.

I like everything right in front of me, plus I like the parameters of one screenspace because it creates efficiency and a super fast workflow.

A friend of mine at work is a real pioneer on workflow stuff, for example, if your using 2 monitors and dragging your mouse to the other screen to adjust things all of the time, it might not seem like it takes much effort, but over the course of six months time adds up. Granted at work we are talking about Maya and Nuke and shit, where he can build us custom python quick select menus where you can get to all of your favorite commands ultra fast.

However, port that idea over to music production, you may not have hotmenues, but you can abuse every key command, learn to set things up right, use the fast tools till they become natural.

With ideas like that I find that one monitor keeps me focused.

[tecgen]

I'm using a 32" TV in Full HD resolution (1920x1080) for Ableton Live on my Macbook Pro 17. I would prefer one really big screen (40") over two relativ small 22inch monitors.

[Tarekith]

I'm like Juan, I used to use two monitors, but eventually switched to one big one and preferred that greatly. The bezels always being in front of me with two screens side by side bugged me.

[3dot...]

check which gives you the most pixels... I'm guessing the 2 screen option...

[JuanSOLO]

For me it's not about more pixels or more space, but enough space to work with whats right in front of you.
Once you do it, you wonder why you were ever f'n around with 2.

[mauronedj]

I mix a lot when I'm producing my track, so I tend to stick all my plugins open to adjust a small bunch of parameters on different track...

In this way I think you are going to benefit from a 2 screen setup: One big one's for the main ableton windows and another for the various plugins instance!

[rmallam]

Thanks for all your opinions. Big help.

I do use alot of external plugins so am leaning towards 2 monitors.

Fingers crossed the bezels don't drive me nut or else there will be 2 nice new monitors for sale on ebay pretty soon....

[H20nly]

i used to love the dual monitor bit too.... then i bought a 27" all in one unit. ahh... bliss.

the best parts about one big monitor:

- no "frames" around half your work
- one power plug
- one power button
- no need to have a video card that supports two monitors of the same type... or the need to use one monitor with VGA and one with DVI (cheapskate stylee)
- no need to configure a video card
- no need for an add on video card at all...
- no lefty righty mess... just open, unframed landscape right in front of you...

[3dot...]

- one power plug
- one power button

woa..goddammit this is doing my head in...


ends the conversation really... can't argue with that !