MONITOR CONTROLLER

[rayc]

I've been considering options to allow me to monitor two sources lately. I had been using a cheap game controller which work OK but was neither sturdy nor really decent pass through.
I saw and researched a few things but they're all quite expensive.
I noticed a 2nd hand Palmer MONICON - PMC1 on Ebay. Looked in good nick and was REALLY cheap - AUS$48 delivered!!!
I bought it and it arrived today.
It's quite heavy - more than a pound - and was unblemished.
It has balanced and unbalanced inputs as well as outputs with a mute & mono switch.
I can now manage level without wandering through cables connected to my interface.
I have my newer Focusrite connected to the balanced connectors and my older Focusrite, hooked up to an old XP computer using the unbalanced - so long as they aren't running simultaneously there's no issue - even if run together the bad side is a potential ground loop.
Things look much tidier too!
The XP set up is through a mini stereo jack.

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PMONICON_1.jpg

[rayc]

Here's the before and after thing...
With the 1st set up I was using the switcher for old games into a TV so i could monitor old & new computer.

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You can't see the mess but there were cables everywhere behind the interfaces and things dangling under the table etc.
With the Monitor thingy I have a slightly better built "switch" and was able to sort and placethe cables enough to get a "cable tidy" around them.

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The spaghetti on the floor is cabling for Bose Acoustamas Surround Sound speakers I use with an old Yamaha receiver for quadraphonic recordings ( I have a bunch of 'em on DVD/BluRay). I've lost a channel and am chasing the cables to sus out the problem.

[musicturtle]

Pretty neat work around there Ray.

Always good feeling to tidy things up a bit.

[WhiskeyJack]

Looks good Ray!!! I didn't realize how much outboard gear you actually had there. Pretty cool! Looks like a tidier place to sit and be inspired.

[CrowsofFritz]

Niiiiiice, they’re great aren’t they? I love my Big Knob.

[rayc]

Looks good Ray!!! I didn't realize how much outboard gear you actually had there. Pretty cool! Looks like a tidier place to sit and be inspired.

Not as much as I did have.

801 Omnisonic Imager
Behri patchbay
Behri Dual FX (enhancer/exciter) (removed recently)
Behri MIC 100 preamp
Behri Headphone amp
Presonus Blue Tube Stereo Preamp
Alesis Microlimiter
Alesis Microverb
Yamaha FX500
Yamaha FX900
Altec Lansing Electro Voicette subtractive EQ

The preamps are to use with my older Focusrite XP based interface as it has more inputs.
They are also examples of my naivety as they both boast tubes/valves but are starved plate varieties.
The Microlimiter works well on bass.
I use the FX500 a fair bit
The Behri headphone amp, (inputs for two sep programs, four stereo sockets for four pairs of headphones ), is great. It gives me more distance from the computer as well as clear sound, lots of volume and CHEAP.
The ALEV EQ is great BUT it needs to be buffered in and out of a computer and I've not sorted that with my new comp.
The 801 does a brilliant job on the master bus of one in one hundred of my mixes.
MOST of the stuff in the rack is patched into the back of the patch bay and I use the from for both in & out.

[rayc]

Pretty neat work around there Ray.
Always good feeling to tidy things up a bit.

It came to pass as my wife wanted to clear out a lot of our school related books and such that were on shelves in that room...much of the stuff not used this century, (fordigraph/spirit/Gestetner stencils, Overhead projection sheets texts, registers etc). Once I'd achieved that tidying and filled the shelves with the hundred of novels etc that lined the walls of the hallway the room was pretty tidy facing west but east needed the touch up you see in the images.

[rayc]

Niiiiiice, they’re great aren’t they? I love my Big Knob.

It's a really logical thing to have and being passive is less inclined to become inaccurate over time.
I can't comment on your big knob though.

[Tadpui]

Definitely a mad scientists' laboratory! I like it

Just curious, how does that thing switch between speakers? I only see 2 inputs and 2 outputs.

[Armistice]

Definitely a mad scientists' laboratory! I like it

Just curious, how does that thing switch between speakers? I only see 2 inputs and 2 outputs.

This was my question also...

Plus what are your monitors sitting on? They look like a pair of old microwaves but why would anyone have a pair of old identical microwaves? And is that an orange pillow slip pegged to the roof?

[rayc]

[mention]Tadpui[/mention] & [mention]Armistice[/mention] ,
It doesn't actually switch between speakers - I've set it up to take two different sources. New machine via the main INs and old machine via the 3.5 Stereo IN.
It will take two sources at once but risks a ground loop but I've only used them one source at a time so haven't encountered that.
David, the "silver" boxes are CD storage - case free CDs that I've stored acquired audio on...a couple of hundred psych albums more or less.
The orange is a hand towel pegged between the blind & the curtain...LOTS of very bright sunlight leaks in from there and makes the screen difficult to read. I've not put up a perm solution as that interim measure is only three years old.