OMFG - Another unexpected monitoring improvement

[Ermz]

So here I am switching over my shitty old SM Pro Audio Mpatch 2 for an SPL 2Control I ordered over eBay. For the uninitiated, both of these are monitor controllers.

Now some of you may remember a while back where I got a completely unexpected monitoring improvement when jumping from RME Multiface conversion over to RME ADI-8 AE. Well... lo and behold, it's happened again.

I replaced the monitor control... booted everything up.. tested the 2Control to make sure it wasn't noisy, nor drifted the image like the Mpatch... check. Then I booked up Chimaira's 'Resurrection'.

I never had much fondness for the production of this record in the past due to what I perceived as a fairly cloudy midrange. Upon booting it up with this controller, what seemed to happen was that those cloudy low-mids appeared like they never existed, and the whole record gained another bottom octave. And this is on Event Opals... so the amount of sub-bass and low-end clarity I'm now getting is immense.

So overall, yet another unexpected improvement. Not as large as switching over the converters, but very welcome all the same!

Win.

 

[006]

Do want.

OT: Nice pic btw

 

[Emdprodukt]

i'm using a fireface 800. Is it using the same converters as the multiface or the adi? Nice buy ermin, iwas looking on getting this one too, because i'm using the presonus hp4 which is supposed to be rather crappy.

 

[John_C]

Does it sound as good as monitors plugged in direct?

 

[Ermz]

TBH I've never plugged the monitors in direct. I'd have to be running sound out at about -60dB which would probably degrade the sound coming out of the interface a fair bit. Opals are LOUD, and my interface is calibrated to 15dBFS = 0VU, so having professionally mastered stuff play through is just hot as hell.

Not sure about the FF, Emd. I think they are borderline better than a Multiface II, if not identical. The ADI-8 is better than them for sure though.

TY, 006. The 550D is getting kinda fun to use.

Overall this is just a much higher quality unit, with a much better build quality than the M-patch. There is no contest. This is basically what I've been looking for (short of the Avocet).

 

[MetalJonesy]

what are you doing with the M Patch Ermin?

 

[findingthesound]

I got one and was really pleased with the sound.
I sold it and got an SSL X-desk some month ago, and I feel that's the final word for monitoring/routing in my home studio.
The sound is tight on the bottom and open, i can do insert on channels and master, have 16 pan, and simply sound fantastique while listening through my Opals. But it required more money than I thought due to cables...

 

[Ermz]

what are you doing with the M Patch Ermin?

Wiping my arse with it and then giving it to a mate.

Well, one or the other.

@findingthesound: Yeah the cables really nail you. Glad that you're happy with that X-Desk. I don't see myself ever adopting the quasi-analogue workflow there. It's enough of a hassle to insert outboard compressors in my mixes.

 

[Rez]

My SM Pro Audio Mpatch 2 is going on ebay in around a month when I finally pull my finger out and get a new interface....

 

[DigitalMetal]

I have a few different opportunities for monitoring that im so desperate to try in a decent room but untill i move house im stuffed,
I have a Black Lion Audio modified MOTU 24io a standard MOTU 2408MK3 a Nuendo branded RME ADI8 and a TC Electronic BMC-2,
I should be moving house fairly soon and am insisting on moving to a place with a big enough room to get all my gear out of storage and set up properly, acousticly treat the room etc,
Sooo jelous of you when you can hear little difference like you mentioned by changing gear over, i cant hear squat in my crappy room and i hate it

 

[Ermz]

TBH the crossfeed feature is useless to me. I don't want to artificially narrow the stereo image.. it doesn't do anything relevant nor useful for me. If I've got cans on, it's because I want to hear how it sounds with cans on... not with cans trying to emulate monitors.

 

[John_C]

TBH I've never plugged the monitors in direct. I'd have to be running sound out at about -60dB which would probably degrade the sound coming out of the interface a fair bit. Opals are LOUD, and my interface is calibrated to 15dBFS = 0VU, so having professionally mastered stuff play through is just hot as hell.

Not sure about the FF, Emd. I think they are borderline better than a Multiface II, if not identical. The ADI-8 is better than them for sure though.

TY, 006. The 550D is getting kinda fun to use.

Overall this is just a much higher quality unit, with a much better build quality than the M-patch. There is no contest. This is basically what I've been looking for (short of the Avocet).

That's cool, just thinking that the only way to really judge the quality of any monitor controller would be on how much/little it colours the sound, which ofc is hard to judge witohut a reference point. I'm sure that it's a major improvement however, or else it's one hell of a rip off!

 

[DanLights]

Guys, I'm gonna sound totally retarded, but being retarded is how I have learned so many things, so here it goes... What does that do, exactly?

 

[AudioGeekZine]

Very high quality volume knob between a PCI interface and monitors.

 

[John_C]

with a bit of extra routing control

 

[Zombietakeover]

I thought the SM Pro Audio Mpatch 2 wasn't suppose to affect the signal since it's passive?