Logic Pro 9 Mono plugins and Output1-2/Stereo Out

[qrt]

I need a little clarification on mono and stereo outputs,

Say, I create a new midi track, this will be mono straight away, as the level meter will be a mono one. Though when I created it I chose, Output 1-2 which is a Stereo Output (if I chose, mono > Output 1 > the sound would only come through one speaker (mono)).

I know that mono is 1 channel and stereo is 2 channels.

Take the ESM which is mono, and the output is going to be a Stereo Output, so this is a mono signal/plugin going through a stereo output (both speakers) (sorry if I'm stating the obvious here, if that's the case)?

Where as the ES2 is a stereo plugin going out through a stereo output.

Thanks,

 

[Peter Ostry]

The same signal through two speakers is still mono. Through ten speakers it is also mono. Stereo requires different signals left and right, with a certain relationship to form the stereo image. Independent signals on the two channels are not stereo, we call that dual mono.

Logic allows you to insert plugins as mono->stereo which makes sense. Inserting such an effect means that it's input gets jut splitted (or doubled if you want" to feed the two channels of a stereo effect plugin. Then this effect can work on both channels and outoput a stereo signal. Or dual mono, this just depends on the kind of processing.

 

[qrt]

The same signal through two speakers is still mono. Through ten speakers it is also mono. Stereo requires different signals left and right, with a certain relationship to form the stereo image. Independent signals on the two channels are not stereo, we call that dual mono.

Thanks Peter for explaining that one. See what you mean about mono and how it's the same signal through however many monitors.

The thing with dual mono, so that is two identical signals on two channels?

I noticed that on the ES2 or any stereo plug-in, that left and right when looking at the volume gauge are completely independent (stating the obvious again!) as they both attain different levels when the ES2 is played and are not the same/identical overall.

 

[Peter Ostry]

The thing with dual mono, so that is two identical signals on two channels?

Dual mono rather means independent signals.

I think I generated some confusion. When we work with two channels, we generally call that stereo. If we keep the information of space from the source to the output, let's say from two microphones beside each other, we work in stereo all the time. If there is a stage in the processing chain where we process the two channels independently, we can call this part dual mono to technically explain what we are doing.

An example:
You have only one stereo effects box but with two independent processors. Now you send the flute to the left channel and take a nice long reverb from the left processor. And you send the singer through the right processor, generating a slap delay. This is clearly dual mono processing, it has technically nothing to do with the final stereo image.

I noticed that on the ES2 or any stereo plug-in, that left and right when looking at the volume gauge are completely independent (stating the obvious again!) as they both attain different levels when the ES2 is played and are not the same/identical overall.

In stereo the two channels are never the same. To get information about a certain space from two loudspeakers, there must be a difference between the left and the right channel. It can be a level- or a time difference or both. Then, due to our natural experience, our ears and brains can locate the sounds and hear them as if they were in a real space. It's an illusion.

Wikipedia explains what stereo is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereo

You can explore this yourself. Level difference is clear, your pan knob shows you the effect. It makes one side louder and the other quieter.

For time difference send one or two identical mono signals without panning to your two outputs, take a Sample Delay and delay just one side. From a certain point on your brain tells you that the signal comes rather from the other side. This is because you hear the sound first with one ear, which tells you the direction. The following delay gets interpreted like some echo.

Some people say that they do not pan at all, they just delay. That can introduce phase problems resulting in less mono compatibility but in stereo it works fine.