X2 with multiple monitors

What are your experiences?

I'm thinking of going to X2 (from 8.0!!) and will need a new computer. What's the skylight interface like with multiple monitors? 

Can you put the channel strips on one monitor and the tracks on the other?

Are you using nVidia, firepro or what?  I have had mixed results with different video cards. Have to say the performance may not have been stellar but the stability and 'non-glitchyness' of Oxygen and Matrox cards is something I miss.

...and another thing!  I'm looking at getting a high end 2D video card (or two) rather than a low or mid-level 3D card. I am making an assumption here that there is no benefit to 3D capability for Sonar. Is that a reasonable assumption?

Hi there Howard

I switched to two monitors when I got X1 and to me, it's a really intuitive way to work (I'm using 24"HD and 22" monitors) - and I've never used screensets that much so the two monitor approach really works well for me.

For example, when I'm tracking guitar and bass, I have X2's Track View open on my main monitor and use the other screen to show my POD Farm UI and a chromatic tuner - this is really useful as the standalone version of POD Farm isn't dockable, nor can it be set to 'always on top'. When I'm mixing, I float the Console View and drag that over to the second monitor.

You'll love it all the way around when working and mixing.  Cant beat undocking and having things up on different screens.

Makes it soooo easy especially with tabs so you can have all your favorite working screens up.  You can just pop back and forth as needed

I have an Nvidia GTX550 TI and running two 28" Hanns G monitors.  I do both audio and video editing and LOVE the visual real estate.  No way I could go back to one monitor now.

And to think I used to edit video on ONE 19" widescreen.....LOL.

X1 and X2 are great on two monitors.  I have two 23 inch (or is it 23.5? - who cares) and it's great.  Recently having to do a bit  on one monitor, and wondered how I used  to cope.
 
M favorite setup is to spread X2 over both screens (they're side by side and touching), so you have one really wide monitor.  Can display whole track view at once, or have really wide console view with loads of ProChannel open.
 
On your ProChannel enquiry - Yes, I think ProChannel and it's extra modules are fantastic - Great workflow and great sound.  Now we have Pro Channel  FX Chains in X2, I don't trouble the FX bin.
 
IMHO, ProChannel is worth the price of Producer alone.

I use triple monitors. Two 22" side by side for the main view and another one above my keyboards as I can't be bothered to turn my head anymore.

I think multiple monitors are great and very useful but on on the X series they are a nice addition to have as opposed to earlier versions where they were IMHO an absolute necessity.

The layout and workflow methods available in the X series, think Screensets, (<---Take note Steve ) have removed that necessity element.

Just to add my tuppence worth.

Beagle

FastBikerBoy


I use triple monitors. Two 22" side by side for the main view and another one above my keyboards as I can't be bothered to turn my head anymore.  

I really want to do that as well.  currently my video card only supports 2 monitors, but I would love to add another so I can put a screen in front of my keyboards.

If you already have the monitor the expense isn't that great. I have two ATI 5450 cards. One is in the PCIe x16 slot, the other in one of the x8 slots (IIRC).
 
You will need two cards that can use the same driver though. I tried it with two different cards and it was a nightmare although there are some on the web claim it can be done I never got it working, not under windows 7. It seems to me that XP actually had better support for two graphics cards as I ran two different ones under that OS.
 
My MB supports crossfire natively but I believe the cards can be linked with a cable if your MB doesn't. Crossfire is the ATi term I have no idea what NVidea call theirs.
 
It's a nice luxury but I still haven't found any way of extending a desktop across two and cloning the desktop onto the other one. There are workarounds and I'm using DisplayFusionPro which can mirror a monitor or window to the third one but to be honest it's a bit kludgey. I trialled one of the other alternatives and it wasn't much better.
 
Now I just have a keyboard shortcut set up to switch windows between monitors so just do that as required. It is a handy extravagance though.

FastBikerBoy

Beagle

FastBikerBoy


I use triple monitors. Two 22" side by side for the main view and another one above my keyboards as I can't be bothered to turn my head anymore.  

I really want to do that as well.  currently my video card only supports 2 monitors, but I would love to add another so I can put a screen in front of my keyboards.

If you already have the monitor the expense isn't that great. I have two ATI 5450 cards. One is in the PCIe x16 slot, the other in one of the x8 slots (IIRC).
 
You will need two cards that can use the same driver though. I tried it with two different cards and it was a nightmare although there are some on the web claim it can be done I never got it working, not under windows 7. It seems to me that XP actually had better support for two graphics cards as I ran two different ones under that OS.
 
My MB supports crossfire natively but I believe the cards can be linked with a cable if your MB doesn't. Crossfire is the ATi term I have no idea what NVidea call theirs.
 
It's a nice luxury but I still haven't found any way of extending a desktop across two and cloning the desktop onto the other one. There are workarounds and I'm using DisplayFusionPro which can mirror a monitor or window to the third one but to be honest it's a bit kludgey. I trialled one of the other alternatives and it wasn't much better.
 
Now I just have a keyboard shortcut set up to switch windows between monitors so just do that as required. It is a handy extravagance though.

thanks for the info, Karl!

I use 3 monitors and and really like it.  One monitor is an old TV that only gets Picture played back on it.  I think i'm going to need to replace it in the near future because it is not hi def and I can't take total advantage or a 3 monitor system,  but for now the system works.  

My  main monitor is track view and the 2nd bounces back and forth between Staff View and Console View....which brings to mind Screensets.  The OP should know Screensets make X1/X2 really a lot of fun and navigating monitors very efficient.

BUT BE forewarned...jumping from Sonar 8 to Sonar X is not too easy.  There will be growing pains and a somewhat steep re-learning curve.  But Prochannel and Screensets should make it worth it for you in the long run.  I really have benefited from both.

....now if only Staff view could step up a notch I would be in heaven.       

Just a thought.  I found that I could buy 32" HDTV's for around $199 each.

I picked up a couple of them,and they work GREAT - I then returned a bad 512 GB solid-state drive and took the refund store card and bout a 46" HDTV, which is now my main monitor.

Check out the prices of HDTV displays,and you will find great prices on really big displays.

Bob Bone

tomixornot


I'm running 2 different cards, with no issue, not by plan, rather to reuse what I already have rather than buying another card, after I added the 3rd monitor. Check my system spec below.

That's interesting. I tried with two different ATi cards under Win 7 and it just wouldn't play. If I installed one the other just refused to install. Uninstall it and the other would install okay, they just wouldn't install together.
 
I read a whole bunch of posts while I was trying - some from people such as yourself saying yeah it's easy put them in and they just work and others like myself who couldn't get it to work for love nor money.
 
I guess like many things PC related hardware combinations have much to do with it. I gave up in the end and bought two cards that could run the same driver which seemed to be the common 'fix'
 
I wonder whether the two different card manufacturers are something to so with it? I was running two different manufacturers cards on XP and that just worked.
 
Anyway - have you found any way of extending the desktop across two of them and having a cloned desktop on the other except for the mirroring technique used by most of the graphic manager utilities?
 
That works but it displays the stretched monitors at their combined resolution which obviously doesn't work very well on a single monitor.

They are now and they work, but previously they were same manufacturer different cards. A 5450 and another  ATi card the type of which escapes me now.

IIRC I couldn't get it working on my previous ASUS MB or my current Gigabyte P67A.

By the looks of it tomixornot has two different manufacturer's cards running together including one that I was trying with (the 5450).

I now have two of those and they work fine together.

Computers eh?