Multi Monitor vs. 1 27" Display

[TheWhistler]

Hi all you power-users,

I consider buying a new Monitor. But I am wondering if I should buy one 27" Monitor as my only Display.
Or should I (workflowwise) buy a 24" Monitor and use an old but ok display, which I already have as a second screen (FX etc.).
I am afraid of resolution could be a problem, as I sit aproximately 80 cm away from my Monitor.

I do a lot of transscribing for my band. Which means I have REAPER and Musescore opened at the same time.
On my actual Display (22" 1680 x 1050) this is a real pain sometimes.

Does anyone of you have experiences with a similar sitution?

Thank´s for reading and thinking about it

[mostlyjustj]

Originally Posted by TheWhistler

Hi all you power-users,

I consider buying a new Monitor. But I am wondering if I should buy one 27" Monitor as my only Display.
Or should I (workflowwise) buy a 24" Monitor and use an old but ok display, which I already have as a second screen (FX etc.).
I am afraid of resolution could be a problem, as I sit aproximately 80 cm away from my Monitor.

I do a lot of transscribing for my band. Which means I have REAPER and Musescore opened at the same time.
On my actual Display (22" 1680 x 1050) this is a real pain sometimes.

Does anyone of you have experiences with a similar sitution?

Thank´s for reading and thinking about it

Do you have room on your desk for both the 22 and the 27?? My current setup is exactly that and even though they are different sizes, it works amazingly well, and whenever I'm on my laptop I desperately miss my second screen - and I definitely miss the handiness of the second screen more than than I miss the larger size of my desktop. *Especially* for making music... so between the 2 choices you offer, I'd pick 22 + 24 vs. just the 27 for sure!

[Lokasenna]

I've been trying a dual-monitor setup with my laptop and an extra screen I've got lying around, but after a couple of months I think one large one (holding out for 32" or so) would be more comfortable for sitting at my desk.

[TheWhistler]

Originally Posted by mostlyjustj

Do you have room on your desk for both the 22 and the 27?? My current setup is exactly that and even though they are different sizes, it works amazingly well, and whenever I'm on my laptop I desperately miss my second screen - and I definitely miss the handiness of the second screen more than than I miss the larger size of my desktop. *Especially* for making music... so between the 2 choices you offer, I'd pick 22 + 24 vs. just the 27 for sure!

My setup will be an older 19" but 5:4 monitor + a 24" monitor which I have to buy.
The older 19" has nearly the same height as the 24".

I would have enough space for the 2 displays on my desk.
I could place two 27" if i wanted. I don´t want to spend that much money, though.

[TheWhistler]

Originally Posted by Lokasenna

I've been trying a dual-monitor setup with my laptop and an extra screen I've got lying around, but after a couple of months I think one large one (holding out for 32" or so) would be more comfortable for sitting at my desk.

32" is defenitely too big. One would see pixels.
The resolution stays the same.
When using two monitors you have two times the resolution.

[Sigilus]

Too big is right. You'd see pixels and no increase in productivity.

IMO, the BEST way to go is to get TWO monitors (or 3, if your desk size and graphics card support them) and dedicate one full-time to the mixer panel. One or two to the arrange panel.

I run 2x 24" 2048x1152 side by side.

[Jeffsounds]

Interesting thread... my question (not to hijack the thread but to add to it) would be:

Suggestions for which card to get to handle two (or more) monitors?

I do have another monitor laying around so would love to know where to start with skillions of video cards available...

[mostlyjustj]

Originally Posted by TheWhistler

My setup will be an older 19" but 5:4 monitor + a 24" monitor which I have to buy.
The older 19" has nearly the same height as the 24".

I would have enough space for the 2 displays on my desk.
I could place two 27" if i wanted. I don´t want to spend that much money, though.

I think the simple choice is to get the 27" now, use the 19" for fx, midi, etc, and then upgrade the 19" some day in the future when you can afford it. I upgraded my smaller monitor (from 17" to 22") for $60 at a yard sale... it's fabulous, but even 27" + 17" was really nice

[Lokasenna]

Originally Posted by TheWhistler

32" is defenitely too big. One would see pixels.
The resolution stays the same.
When using two monitors you have two times the resolution.

32" would let me sit back without wearing my glasses. So there's that.

[brainwreck]

I'm not crazy about using dual monitors - it takes up too much space, too much looking and moving the mouse back and forth. For my laptop at the desk, I connect a 22" and usb keyboard/mouse, with the laptop folded up and off to the side. I wouldn't mind a bigger monitor, but 32" seems excessive to me for a desktop - it wasn't that long ago that 32" was tv size, from a distance.

[Gerry P]

Originally Posted by TheWhistler

I could place two 27" if i wanted. I don´t want to spend that much money, though.

If I had to do it over again, I would choose two Identical 27" monitors (I have a 27" and a 26") with small bezels.

With my current 27/26 system, I can make use of different windows viewed on either monitor...(vsts, mixer,etc) but I would really like to extend the track length view INTO my second monitor...but they don't align!...yes they are close, but not enough to make this config usable.

[edkilp]

I have a 7' long desk which is nice. I use a 24" in front of me and a 22" that sits on the corner of the desk. Placing them side-by-side had my studio monitors (speakers) spread out way too far. I built a gizmo that allowed me to mount the 22" on top of the 24", but that killed my neck and looked ridiculous.

I've been trying to force myself to try and work with just one monitor because I'd like to have just one big screen. If one of them took a crap, I think I'd be ok with just one. But being able to have my FX and instruments open on a separate screen is really convenient. I'm personally OK with the mixer at the bottom of the main screen, and really don't find it all that beneficial to me to have it on its own monitor, as opposed to someone with really large track counts.

[brainwreck]

Originally Posted by steegpuzh

I wouldn't mind a bigger monitor, but 32" seems excessive to me for a desktop - it wasn't that long ago that 32" was tv size, from a distance.

What's with the tracking pixel?

[BobF]

Best thing I ever did was start using dual screens years ago. I'm currently using 2 x 22" 1920 x 1080 ... No way I could ever go back to a single display.

Single or multiple, it's best to run at "native" or "recommended" resolution. In other words, match your setting to the physical screen resolution. This gives you the best appearance and performance.

[Mace404]

I'm using a triple 24" setup and if you take the time to make some screensets its really awesome to work with. (Also Displayfusion to position windows that are not saved in screensets is awesome)

Left: Maschine & Plugin browser
Middle: Arrangement and Midi in docker below
Right: Floating plugin docker switchable with Monitoring chain fx and half mixer switchable to full screen mixer.

The only downside of 3 screens is the distance my monitors are apart. Stereo image is a bit wide

So I would say go for a multi screen setup. Once you get used to it you don't want to go back to 1.

[cyrilfb]

I use 19 inch and a 17 inch monitor and I love the dual arrangement. I do not record usually, I compose midi and also use copyright free loops. Using screensets, I can get exactly what I want for arranging and then mixing.

[TheWhistler]

Originally Posted by Jeffsounds

Interesting thread... my question (not to hijack the thread but to add to it) would be:

Suggestions for which card to get to handle two (or more) monitors?

I do have another monitor laying around so would love to know where to start with skillions of video cards available...

I want to try it with only the graphics adapter of my i5

[TheWhistler]

Originally Posted by Gerry P

If I had to do it over again, I would choose two Identical 27" monitors (I have a 27" and a 26") with small bezels.

With my current 27/26 system, I can make use of different windows viewed on either monitor...(vsts, mixer,etc) but I would really like to extend the track length view INTO my second monitor...but they don't align!...yes they are close, but not enough to make this config usable.

That is a good hint, but I did not think of extending the arrange view across two monitors.
I really want to have REAPER on one screen and MUSESCORE on the other.
When working with REAPER alone, I thougt of doing the arrange thing in one window and FX, EQ, VSTi,....in the other window.

[TheWhistler]

Originally Posted by BobF

Best thing I ever did was start using dual screens years ago. I'm currently using 2 x 22" 1920 x 1080 ... No way I could ever go back to a single display.

Single or multiple, it's best to run at "native" or "recommended" resolution. In other words, match your setting to the physical screen resolution. This gives you the best appearance and performance.

One thing I struggle with atm is that my current monitor does not have 1920 x 1080.
A lot of the best looking themes are optimized for that, though.

[TheWhistler]

Originally Posted by edkilp

I have a 7' long desk which is nice. I use a 24" in front of me and a 22" that sits on the corner of the desk. Placing them side-by-side had my studio monitors (speakers) spread out way too far. I built a gizmo that allowed me to mount the 22" on top of the 24", but that killed my neck and looked ridiculous.

I've been trying to force myself to try and work with just one monitor because I'd like to have just one big screen. If one of them took a crap, I think I'd be ok with just one. But being able to have my FX and instruments open on a separate screen is really convenient. I'm personally OK with the mixer at the bottom of the main screen, and really don't find it all that beneficial to me to have it on its own monitor, as opposed to someone with really large track counts.

That is a thing I also was thinking about. Not to get my monitors too far from each other.
They have a distance of approx. 120 cm at the moment, which gives me a comfortable listening setup.

As for me, I do band-like stuff. That means 20-30 tracks. Mixer at the bottom is ok for me too,
but I wanted to try mixing on the other screen, will see if it works.

[TheWhistler]

Originally Posted by mostlyjustj

I think the simple choice is to get the 27" now, use the 19" for fx, midi, etc, and then upgrade the 19" some day in the future when you can afford it. I upgraded my smaller monitor (from 17" to 22") for $60 at a yard sale... it's fabulous, but even 27" + 17" was really nice

That´s a good suggestion, but two 27" monitors would be too big on my desk (monitor speakers too far away from each other).
That makes me think of buying two 22" monitors which have the same specifications so they will allign perfectly.

[oishearsy]

You'd see pixels and no increase in productivity.

[evosilica]

As much as I'd like to use 2 or even 3 monitors side by side, it's rarely applicable while still remaining a reasonable listening triangle.

speaker placement has higher priority.

[TheWhistler]

Originally Posted by evosilica

As much as I'd like to use 2 or even 3 monitors side by side, it's rarely applicable while still remaining a reasonable listening triangle.

speaker placement has higher priority.

Two 22" monitors side by side will still make a good speaker position possible.

[TheWhistler]

Originally Posted by oishearsy

You'd see pixels and no increase in productivity.

When and what?

[evosilica]

Originally Posted by TheWhistler

Two 22" monitors side by side will still make a good speaker position possible.

Depends on speaker size and personal preference of listening triangle width. In my case (larger full range monitors and ~60° triangle) absolutely not.

[benqbasic]

+1 to speaker placement.

If your mixing/recording that should be your main priority

[Magicbuss]

Due to my narrow desk and 8" monitors I can only use a single screen. Currently its a 21" lcd. I want to upgrade to 24" or 27"

My workaround for a pseudo dual screen is to use screen sets where f7 gives me the TCP, master fader on the right and a single channel inspector on the left. f8 gives me the mixer with a horizontal inspector channel at the top of the screen.

This works fairly well and has curbed my gas for a dual monitor setup although I would love to try it someday.

[TheWhistler]

So I bought a 27" monitor today. Thank´s for the input.
I tried it today with my older 19" and an 22" and decided that I don´t like a dual monitor setup.

Greetz
Whistler

[TheWhistler]

Originally Posted by TheWhistler

So I bought a 27" monitor today. Thank´s for the input.
I tried it today with my older 19" and an 22" and decided that I don´t like a dual monitor setup.

Greetz
Whistler

Update: Installed the old 19" alongside with the new 27" and that is how it will stay. It is a big difference to have the arrange view right there all the time.
Listening is not such a big thing.
When I sit back a bit and have a concentrated listen, I have a perfect, equal-sided triangle.

Thank´s again for all the input