question regarding plugins mono vs stereo

**fn86** · 04-04-2008

this may seem like a stupid question, but i've noticed that most of the plugins from waves comes in both a stereo and mono version.

i have a lot of plugins, so having double copies of every plugin
(1 mono and 1 stereo of each) just makes my plugin folder very big and messy, as it is right now im only using the mono versions.

so the question i have is: if i use the mono versions of these plugins on stereo sounds, the 2buss stereo channel or sounds in general, will this have any kind of bad effect on the stereofields of my mix or individual sounds?

or can i use the mono-versions with good conscience?

**FullSpectrum** · 04-04-2008

hmm these are really questions you should know before "buying" a waves bundle.

No soup for you!

**SomOne** · 04-04-2008

Depends on how you use them... but it will be bad either way.

Its either going to flatten your stereo sound into a mono... or its only going to process one side of it... like I said, depending on how you use it. Going from stereo to mono is never good unless you going for that smash sound.

**FullSpectrum** · 04-04-2008

Actually most of the time a plug in will not even load if it is not right. ( I use sampletude pro and pro tools ) and a warning with about no proper plug in will appear if i try to use say a mono effect on a stereo track.

**fn86** · 04-05-2008

hmm...i dont notice any remarkable difference when putting a mono version on a stereo track...are there any one else who have used the waves mono plugins on stereo tracks and know for sure if this is a bad idea?

**LevLover** · 04-05-2008

LoL@fullspectrum the soup nazi

**Carnage** · 04-05-2008

Originally Posted by fn86

hmm...i dont notice any remarkable difference when putting a mono version on a stereo track...are there any one else who have used the waves mono plugins on stereo tracks and know for sure if this is a bad idea?

If you use a mono effect on a stereo source then the effect will be mono, whilst the orginal source will still be stereo. In this case the source will be much more prominent that the returned effect, and as such you may not be able to notice much of a difference but there is one.

**Astar** · 04-05-2008

Originally Posted by fn86

hmm...i dont notice any remarkable difference when putting a mono version on a stereo track...are there any one else who have used the waves mono plugins on stereo tracks and know for sure if this is a bad idea?

I have the Waves bundle. I don't believe its such a bad thing.

About your concern with the stereo field, if you have your sounds properly panned out you'll still have a wide stereo image. Only the effects you have on mono auxs will be compromised (unless you pan those too but its not recommended).

But don't ignore your stereo plugins. One example of why you'd wanna use a stereo plugin is the following:

Lets say you have 4 vocals panned wide. 2 L and 2 R.
If you wanted delay on all 4 tracks, your mono aux would only process the delay in one position (wherever the mono aux is panned).

Now if you wanted the Left vocals to have delay in the Left field, and the Right vocals to have delay in the Right field, you'd use a Stereo Delay.

Another example is when using a Doubler. If you have a vocal track centre, and you want doubles L and R, its easier to do it with a Stereo aux instead of mono.

**sleepy** · 04-05-2008

There is a difference when placing a mono processors into a stereo channel when it comes to Waves processors.

In this case, you will process one side of the channel only. It is not the same for all plugins. Some plugins automatically use a mono or stereo path depending on the channel you use it in.

If you want a mono processor on a stereo sound, make a mono group and send the channel into that group channel. Then use the processor in the group, not the channel.

This is what I do when I have a stereo sample of a kick that I want in mono. This applies to anything else that I want in mono but is stereo for whatever reason.