Is the signal coming out of the paired outputs by default stereo? I.e. If a signal is summed to mono (with a mono effect or a mono block at the end of the chain), will the output via 1/2 and 3/4 still technically be a stereo signal? This applies both for live and studio recording scenarios. In that case, one would have to run through a single output to get a correct mono signal, right? I am trying to understand whether or not I have to place a mono block (Single (M) Lite) from the IR loader at the end of every single signal chain that I want to run in mono, and then send the signal through a single output, i.e. 1, 2, 3, 4.
In other words, if I want to record guitar (I often double track mono guitars L & R; rarely do I find myself recording stereo guitar in a mix) or vocals through Quad Cortex as an interface in mono, will I lose half of my signal going to a single output, i.e. 1, 2, 3, 4, if I do not sum every signal chain to mono? I want to highlight here that Iām trying to record via USB.
And, what are peopleās confirmed methods for summing to mono?
This is causing me a fair amount of confusion and I would really appreciate some insight. Seems like it shouldnāt be this difficult but maybe Iām just overthinking it.
Honestly, with the way the QC handles stereo and mono effect blocks, I sometimes donāt even know if Iām running something thatās ultimately a stereo output or not. You have to read up in the manual what effects are stereo that donāt have the (ST) on them.
Are the EQ blocks mono? Adding one of those and leaving it on but not doing anything would sum. Maybe a creative use of a Splitter/Mixer?
All lanes in Quad Cortex are capable of carrying mono or stereo signals. What determines the signal on a lane at any point is the block just to the left (or upstream) of that point in the signal chain. Blocks can be stereo or mono, including input and output blocks. Some blocks, such as amp models are always mono. Some others like reverbs are always stereo. So when building your signal chain, its important to understand when stereo signals get summed to mono in a downstream block and when mono signals are expanded to stereo in a downstream block.
The same is true of output blocks. If you have a stereo signal path going into output 1, it will be summed to mono in the output block. If you have a mono signal path going into output 1/2, it will not be stereo, it will be dual mono - the same mono signal on output 1 and output 2. Whatever you send that to will see increased gain by 3dB because you have the same output twice.
One more thing: if you have a stereo signal into output 1/2 and only connect one cable, then you are getting only 1/2 or one side of the signal. It wonāt be summed to mono at the output jack. Unlike Helix, QC doesnāt sense a single output connection and automatically sum to mono. If you want to preserve a stereo output, but occasionally need to connect to a mono device (e.g., Powercab112+), then you should either add a block in QC to sum to mono, or (what I do) use two cables and let the target device do the summing to mono.
You can also check your tones for mono compatibility. Depending on the blocks and settings, you may find that using only one side of a stereo output is OK. Stereo choruses wonāt sound the same, but they might be OK. Stereo reverbs generally are fine listening to only one side. Some stereo delays might have problem though as you will only hear one side of the delay if you donāt sum to mono.
Thanks for this detailed reply! This is exactly the information Iāve been hunting for.
So to clarify: any time you send a signal through a single output, i.e. out 3, it is automatically summed to mono? This would also mean that even if I have only one cable connected (to out 3), and I have a stereo chain coming all the way to a single output block (out 3), the QC would still sum to mono, correct? Iām curious how you went about confirming this, or if the manual says so anywhere.
The only real issue, then, is if one tries to run a stereo signal through a multi-out, say output 3/4, has only one cable connected, and does not add a mono block at the end of the signal chain. Then they would only get half of the signal, right?
Iām running my QC out into a pair of studio monitors, and then via USB into Logic Pro. Using it as an audio interface. If you can confirm that as long as I send through a single output, i.e. output 3, that I will get a summed mono signal into input 3 in Logic, I will be a happy camper.
Forgive me if Iām being repetitive, Iām really just trying to hammer home this āsingle output will always sum to monoā thing. Thanks a lot!
That is the feature many of us have been asking for a long time: when the QC detects that it has only one cable pugged in (either 1 or 2 in XLR, or 3 or 4 in jack), it should automatically make the signal mono (like all/almost all the other modellers do).
I agree that this should be the case, I just wanted to be certain that if I actually switched to only a single output at the end of a stereo chain, that it would be summed to mono.
So the complaint is that one would have to have a whole second batch of presets with a single output vs. multi-out for situations when only one input is available in FOH?
Do a lot of folks find themselves actually running the QC in stereo to FOH? I find it pretty surprising how basically every preset on QC is in stereo. I feel like most of my recording and live signals are mostly mono. Maybe that will change now that I have a QC, but for simplicity mono is what Iāve always done.
I went ahead and tossed a ping-pong delay at the end of my signal chain. It is very obviously a stereo effect when sent to multi-out or out 3/4. When I switch to only output 3, the signal is in fact summed to mono. I guess this would have been a solid way to test it all along, but sometimes we take a little while to come to things, eh? Thanks for the input and help everyone.
As this is my first modeler, Iāll sometimes get confused by the whole ā1 LANE can be stereo, but 1 OUTPUT cannotā factor.
My recording/mixing experience tells me it should be 2 lanes for stereo, but in this case it doesnāt have to be and it still trips me up sometimes.
āSome blocks, such as amp models are always mono. Some others like reverbs are always stereo. So when building your signal chain, its important to understand when stereo signals get summed to mono in a downstream blockā
Is there a list that tells us what, other than amp and reverb blocks (always the two things mentioned in this discussion), are blocks that are always stereo or always mono? Itās not in the manual, not in the virtual device list site.
It should honestly be in the device description on the device itself. I shouldnāt have to look at a third party resource to discover if an effect block is mono or stereo. That should be a part of the workflow.
Hey everyone, I have a correction to make. The conclusion I came to, and what @jamsden was explaining, is that a stereo signal will be summed to mono through a single output block I.e. Output 3. I had tested this on my studio monitors using a ping-pong delay. When I heard both sides of the ping-pong panned Hard L, I assumed it had been summed to Mono. However, in listening with headphones, this is not actually the case, which leads me to believe the QC is still sending a stereo signal through the left output. Does that make sense? Would a stereo signal be preserved through only one output?
Sending to a single USB Output does seem to auto-sum to mono.
Placing a Mono Block from the IR Loader at the end of a signal chain does sum to mono. This would just mean that one would have to place a block at the end of every single chain if they wanted make certain they are going through a single output in mono.
Can anyone test this out and confirm? I donāt have a speaker/set of speakers aside from my studio monitors and headphones, so thatās what Iām working with.
QC does not detect cables plugged into out 1/2 or 3/4 and automatically sum to mono if only one cable is plugged in. You can see this with the ping-pong delay. In stereo you will hear the delay bounce between left and right. If you unplug one cable from out 3/4, youāll still hear the delay, but only one side or the other (depending on which cable you unplug) and the delay repeats will appear to have twice the delay time because you are only hearing 1/2 of the delay.
Bottom line, you need to be intentional about how you sum to mono, either in a block in QC, or at the target device. And/or you need to check your patches for mono compatibility and see if they sound OK even if you are only getting one side of the stereo signal.
I understand that the QC doesnāt detect and sum to mono if only one cable is plugged in. Iām mostly referring to what you said in your explanation above:
āThe same is true of output blocks. If you have a stereo signal path going into output 1, it will be summed to mono in the output block.ā
Iām trying to point out that even with both cables plugged in, sending a signal chain to a single Output Block, i.e. Out 3, also doesnāt seem to automatically sum to mono. Which goes back to what you are saying about being intentional in how you sum to mono ā that one has to actually place a mono block at the end of their signal chain vs. relying on the actual output summing to mono.
Again I want to ask: Would a stereo signal be preserved through only one output? Because what Iām hearing (with both cables plugged into Out 3/4) seems to be a Stereo signal panned Hard L when I send to Out 3 without a mono block to sum the stereo signal at the end of the chain. Try this with ping-pong delay, headphones and monitors and compare the two for reference.
If you or anyone is having a different experience I would welcome further input. And if Iām missing something or doing something incorrectly please let me know.
So just to be clear, and apologies for possibly repeating whatās been said; I only ever use mono, I always output from xlr 1, almost all my patches have a reverb as the last block so does this mean I really need a sum to mono block after every reverb I have (I just read that all reverbs are stereo?) if I donāt do this can I assume that Iām not getting the full sound output ?