How to have a 7.1.4 layout AND a pair of your favorite stereo reference monitors and switch between them.
IMPORTANT: Speaker Layouts in the Monitor Workflows module DO NOT perform DOWNMIXES.
Monitor Workflow presets contain many settings including which speakers are ON or OFF.
Speaker Sets provide additional, more granular control of speaker configurations within a Monitor Workflow preset.
We will explain how Speaker Sets work by way of a use case scenario. In this scenario we will use a Symphony Studio 8 X 16 to create a 7.1.4 layout and 2 different STEREO layouts using speakers that are not part of the 7.1.4 layout. This method will work with any model of Symphony Studio using smaller layouts.
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Create a 7.1.4 Layout
Open the Monitor Workflows window.
Make sure you are in the Main tab in the Monitor Workflows window.
Here we can see that, when working with a Symphony Studio 8x16 - when using a 7.1.4 layout, there are 4 available speaker channels. These are what we will use for our alternate stereo pairs.
Next, click on the Edit button in the sidebar,
then click on any of the buttons that display New+.
The “New Monitor Workflow” default window appears.
Give the “Slot” a name and select 7.1.4 from the Channel Layout dropdown.
The Speaker Count changes to 12, the First Speaker defaults to Out1 and the First Route Source defaults to Playback 1.
Exactly what we want.
Click Create…
and you will now see the layout you just created in the list of layout slots.
Select the SLOT you just created.
Then click on the In/Out tab.
Give the speakers names - It doesn’t matter that they don’t turn blue.
The “Blue-ness” only matters for speakers that are part of a Surround / Atmos layout. For more on that topic see www.apogee.symphonystudio/speakernames.com
Click on the Bass Management tab.
De-Select the Sub-Woofer contribution boxes for your speakers - That is unless you want bass management for these speakers.
Note that Bass Management settings are saved per layout / Monitor Workflow Slot.
Close the Monitor Workflows window.
You will now see the speakers you just created - They are RED because they are currently OFF.
All the other speakers are GREEN because they are ON.
More on that in a moment.
Next, set the Speaker Set for the first pair of alternate speakers
(Playback 13 - 14) to Speaker Set 2.
Then set the remaining two outputs. (Playback 15 - 16) to Speaker Set 3.
For reference, GREEN means ON. FADED Green means OFF because it is part of another Speaker Set. RED means OFF.
Now, in the Master section there are 3 Speaker Set buttons.
Speaker Set 1 is your 7.1.4 BrandX Layout.
(Your Stereo pairs are muted because they are now in different SpeakerSets)
Speaker Set 2 is your Stereo BrandY Layout.
(Your 7.1.4 Layout is muted and your stereo BrandZ speakers are muted)
Speaker Set 3 is your Stereo BrandZ Layout.
(Your 7.1.4 Layout is muted and your stereo BrandY Layout is muted)
