Can I "Transform to Audio Track" in Mono?

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 12/11/2013 07:10:54

When I've finished creating a drum track with (for example) Kontakt or Battery, and I want to start rendering the individual tracks, is it possible to make my kick, snare and hi-hat tracks mono to treat and mix like a typical drum kit? I use Studio One all the time, but can't figure out how to do what seems like a very simple thing.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 12/11/2013 16:54:11

IIRC, you click the mono/stereo icon in the Track Panel and switch the track to mono and then render the track with ctrl/(mac cmd)-b. The stereo icon looks a bit like a figure eight on it's side.

Correction - you select the event and then bounce.

By the way - I like your photo - that's really nuts!! Are you into photography?

stratoholic wrote:IIRC, you click the mono/stereo icon in the Track Panel and switch the track to mono and then render the track with ctrl/(mac cmd)-b. The stereo icon looks a bit like a figure eight on it's side.

Correction - you select the event and then bounce.

This would be correct. However you may need to expand the track height in arrange to see the stereo/mono button.

Agree. This is one of those rare peculiarities in S1. Transform seems to always render stereo audio files, even with a mono instrument mixer channel output that (in the mix console) can't be switched to stereo in the mixer or even being doing anything stereo, like with a mono Snare output from Addictive Drums.

Maybe (mmv) transform should render the audio output channel as it is. If it's mono, render a mono file, like with stems.

Thanks for all the replies, but I'm still unsure...

So I transform the instrument track to a stereo audio track,
Make the new track mono
Bounce the selection

The resulting mono file seems to clip (it's louder than the individual L/R of the stereo track).

This is how I've been doing it, but thinking there must be a more direct and intuitive way.

Please let me know if I'm missing something.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 12/11/2013 23:29:41

Seems like an elegant and straight forward solution to me.... in the track control panel (area to the left of the arrange area), make sure that the little figure 8 (on it's side) is a single circle. If necessary, make the track taller if the icon is not in view. This is a relatively universal switch for mono/stereo control. Select the event and render/bounce with control-b,

I would expect the audio to be much louder since the amplitude of the two channels were summed.

Perhaps this will help:

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This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 12/11/2013 23:33:27

But If you transform a midi track and then bounce the audio clip to mono with CTRL+B you lose all the midi data, the freeze functionality of transform.

Anyway, I think (upon more reflection) the reason it always transforms stereo is probably to make certain that the freeze sounds identical to the original, which is probably a little harder to do in some cases with panning... in this case ... the way it's setup with using a brand new track, so a stereo file result would always capture all of that in any case I guess.

So ... contrary to my earlier comment ... it's maybe not so peculiar after all.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 13/11/2013 01:47:49

stratoholic wrote:By the way - I like your photo - that's really nuts!! Are you into photography?

That's the silly Photobooth app built into Mac laptops. You just select a filter, look at the screen and WHAM! Instant art.

I've been rendering tracks the way you illustrate for a long time now, as I couldn't figure out a better way to do it.

I believe I've tried creating a mono output from Battery/Kontakt for the Kick, Snare and Hat tracks, and it still rendered them in stereo, but I'll have to go back and check that again.

Does anyone know the math for combining a L/R track to Mono to maintain the same track level? How many dB should I cut to sum them and end up with the same result?

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 13/11/2013 15:16:27

Why don't you export stems instead of transforming to audio tracks?

Export the drum channel stems with the "preserve mono tracks" checked, and also set it to import the new files. Once it is complete all of your drums will be true audio tracks. Just mute the midi channels, and hide them. If you need them in the future, they are still there.

That said - I wish "transform to audio" had an option to preserve the mono track like stem export does

THAT, SIR, IS WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR!

This preserves mono/stereo and the volume of each track. Thank you.