Edirol M-16DX Monitoring to Headphones

Multitrack recorders, controllers, and other studio equipment
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rproust
Posts: 5
Joined: 03:26, 15 April 2009

Edirol M-16DX Monitoring to Headphones

Post by rproust »

Hello,
I just got an M-16DX today, and everything on it is great except for one thing. I can't figure out how to listen to mix on headphones and mute the studio monitors. This is, of course, necessary when recording with microphones so the extra noise doesn't interfere with the signal, as well as when using the mixer late at night and not wanting to disturb others.

Hopefully there is something obvious that I'm missing or not understanding. I've gone through the workshop booklets and the manual, but I have found no help.

If I connect my monitors to the "Control Room" Jacks they have the same volume as the phones. If I connect them to the "Main Out" jacks they match the main out which must be up to get signals to the phones. I can't use the ALT bus or any of the AUXs because USB is on channel 13 and there are no bus controls for USB.

I think one possible solution is to hook the monitors up to the "Control Room" jack and then with adapters put the phones on the "Main Out." Then you have a volume control for the control room, but also the opposite problem that the phones are always blaring and can't have their volume set separate from the mix.

Any ideas?

Thanks.
rproust
Posts: 5
Joined: 03:26, 15 April 2009

A solution

Post by rproust »

I opted for an external solution that fixed this. I went for a
Behringer Mon800 Monitor Matrix Mixer. This works perfectly at taking in a mix and being able to control separate volumes to send it to speakers or headphones. It feels pretty cheaply made, but it did the trick. Definitely not gear for a nice studio or to take on the road, but half the price of the higher quality gear.

I grabbed it off amazon for $50:
[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000MJ ... B000MJ40D2]

For twice the price at various retailers is the Samson C-Control. Similar functionality, but it looks like a much more quality piece of equipment.
[http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/CControl]
Blues4dog
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Joined: 12:53, 14 November 2008
Location: Tasmania
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Re: Edirol M-16DX Monitoring to Headphones

Post by Blues4dog »

My solution? Turn off the monitors............
rproust
Posts: 5
Joined: 03:26, 15 April 2009

Re: Edirol M-16DX Monitoring to Headphones

Post by rproust »

Turning off the monitors is what this is all about. The question is how? Are you suggesting actually hitting the power switch on each monitor? Or maybe pulling the cords out? Neither of those techniques seem very good.
Blues4dog
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Joined: 12:53, 14 November 2008
Location: Tasmania
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Re: Edirol M-16DX Monitoring to Headphones

Post by Blues4dog »

That is exactly what I do. Power switches for the monitors are on the wall behind the desk. Turn em on, turn em off. I don't really see a need to pull the cords out as the switch will usually do the trick but hey, if it works for you.

Another option is to use a patchbay or switchbox and just disconnect or redirect the monitor signal.

I had the same issue with my studio. How to separate monitors from phones. I just found physically switching them off to be the simplest, cheapest solution and it doesn't require any extra hardware.

Why would you think this technique is not very good?

On the other side of things I would have thought a USB mixer would allow you to send the signal to either mains or phones output at will from your DAW. Is this not the case?
rproust
Posts: 5
Joined: 03:26, 15 April 2009

Re: Edirol M-16DX Monitoring to Headphones

Post by rproust »

It may be somewhat of a different setup and style of work, but for me turning them off really isn't a good option. My monitors are raised on a shelf and aren't easy to access, so every time I want to alter their on and off state I'd have to stand up and find the switches. I guess it's not the worst thing in the world, but it probably takes about 20 seconds to alter the state. This may not be a problem if you often use either the headphones or the monitors, but personally, I jump between them fairly regularly. You are right though, turning them off probably works well enough. I just find it frustrating to have to do it.

Yeah, the Edirol M-16DX has no way of separating the volume for the phones and the monitors. You can hook the monitors up to the control room outs, the 2 track out, or the main out, but it doesn't matter much. Those don't have independent volume controls. The mix needs volume, of course, and the phone outs share off the control room volume control, so there is no separating the volume with the device itself, at least so far as I have been able to figure out.

The Mon800 monitor mixer has been a great solution. It also allows taking inputs from 4 different sources and sending them to 3 different outputs, so it has uses that come in handy beyond just separating the phones/monitor volumes. It is too bad though that they didn't just add one more pot onto the mixer. Still, I'm really happy with the M-16Dx. A digital mixer with 16 inputs that can send all the tracks through USB for $350 new isn't too bad. For those considering it my only other complaint is that it has knobs instead of faders, but that's not really the end of the world.
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