Exporting Softsynths As Mono

*bump*

Another thing I don't understand:  I see you can have a mono clip AND stereo clip in the same track....  so is there such a thing as a MONO or STEREO track?   
 

Session drummer's multiple outputs can be configured as stereo or mono.

If a stereo track contains the same information (audio) in both channels then if you convert it to mono and combine the two channels into a single mono track that track will be louder by 3dB. It's
Iike adding 1+1, the answer will always equal 2, not one. An easy way to see what's happening is to take a mono track containing audio and cloning it. Run both tracks into the same bus. With the track faders set to the same level the bus will be louder than either track. It will be as loud as the two tracks summed together.

Panning laws don't really come into this unless the balance control on the stereo track is not set centrally. Mono tracks have pan controls, but the same control becomes a balance (between left and right content) control on a stereo track.

As for a mono track sounding different to stereo, that can happen if the two stereo channels don't contain the same audio. Any phase differences between them can lead to some frequencies being boosted when added together and others cancelling each other out.

The easiest way to convert a stereo track to mono is to switch the track interleave button to mono. Then deal with any unwanted issues that appear. Boosted volume is easily compensated for by use of the track fader and if it turns out there's undesirable phase issues then it may be best to just leave the track in stereo.

If you bounce the synth to track (which I do), select MONO from the dropdown in the options box that opens up.
 
For a mono signal, have it output in stereo shouldn't be much of a difference.  It just uses two WAV files (L and R) instead of a centred one.  You can still pan it wherever you like.

Anderton
Exporting in mono can bump up the volume and if you're close to using up the available headroom, this can even result in distortion. It is the result of a design decision to include EVERYTHING downstream of the export. While this makes sense for stereo exports, it does not for mono.
 
Unless there is at least 6 dB of headroom in a track, the approach I use is to drop the master fader by -6 dB before doing a mono export, and select Mono in the export dialog. This allows including any downstream processing, but guarantees that any volume build up will not cause problems. Still, after doing an export, I recommend verifying that the resulting audio has at least some headroom.
 
Due to the confusion I often see in the forums, I wrote a pretty thorough article on exporting with SONAR for the March 2017 issue of Sound on Sound magazine.
 
 
 
 

 
Thanks for the explanation and the link to the SOS magazine.  That makes sense, but one thing I *think* i am noticing, besides the 3db boost, it also changes the tonality of the sound itself.  Even on stuff like kicks.  I think the reason must be there might be some SLIGHT stereo information creating a seperation, but when they are folded in together to mono they sound different?  for me this 909 style kick got a bit more boomy (not just louder).
 
The other dilemna here is this:
 
sometimes I don't know if the synth sound i am going to use is going to be a mono type sound or something with stereo information, so i always end up insert stereo outs for my softsynths.   However, if I decide to go with a sound that is more of a MONO sound, I then bounce to mono and like i said, it changes the sound slightly.
 
I use Battery 4 a lot for drums, which has its own panning inside, so I do stereo tracks there, but that means my KICK also must go out stereo, but then if I bounce to mono after it changes the sound.  So confused what the proper workflow is here.
 
Channel tools before the bounce to mono to emulate the mono sound?  I am unsure really.

Anderton
It's almost impossible to imagine a situation where converting a stereo sound to mono would not change the tone to some degree.
 
If I was the person receiving the tracks to do a mix, I would want to receive all of them in their native format. I would then decide what to do with them during the mixdown process. If you don't trust the engineer doing the mix to make decisions that are the best for the song, consider seeking a different engineer.

sure i get that, so then what is the "correct" option, even session drummer... spits out 8 stereo tracks, but kicks should be in mono.   But when you convert it to mono, it changes the tonality.  
 
Should I change the track manually to only receive "left" from the kick drum synth?  but even then, you are not getting the sound exact.
 
hmmm...

Slugbaby

AdamGrossmanLG
 
sure i get that, so then what is the "correct" option, even session drummer... spits out 8 stereo tracks, but kicks should be in mono.   But when you convert it to mono, it changes the tonality.  

I never like using companies' templates.
I created my own Track Template for AD: Mono for Kick, Snare, Hi Hat, 1 each for Toms, then stereo tracks for OH and Room.
Set them up once and never fail again!
 
Maybe the drums is a poor example since my way probably SHOULD be the standard, but every synth and user taste is different.  Companies have to guess at how the user is most likely to use the product and aim for that.  So it'll never be 100% for anyone...  This small tweak is a good balance for me.  

 
cool thanks, good idea with the template... but let me ask... if you are only taking the input of the left channel for the kick drum (to make it mono), would the kick sound exactly the same if you got both channels (L & R) in there?  

In Session Drummer there are width controls in each channel, which is probably why a converted file might sound different. Try setting the widths to minimum.

Some very good answers here ...wish I could read the whole SOS article ....I be non subscriber at the moment ...
 
if the version of SONAR you have includes this , you may want to give it a spin on a number of your stereo tracks ...
you may find settings that work very good for your tune and some of your synth choices ....
A very underrated plug IMHO ..
 

 
Kenny