New toy
 

I wouldnt normally bother saying anything about random computer bits, but this might interest anyone else who finds Cubase SX (or any of the other big DAWs) a real cluttered pain in the ass to use.

After about 6 months of thinking about it on and off I finally threw in the towel and ordered one of these - its a huge 1920x1600 24" flat panel monitor. It arrived this morning, plugged it in, quick bit of fiddling to re-organise my desktop a bit and OMG - what a difference. Lovely bright screen, very easy to read and nice vivid colours.

So now the relevent bit - you have probably heard me winging about what pain in the backside Cubase SX is to use - fiddly UI, horribly cluttered, blah blah...

After spending about half an hour this morning re-doing my project templates and workspaces to make good use of the big screen, Cubase SX *allmost* seems useable :)

Spent quite a while today tracking, tweaking, mixing etc on the new monitor and it makes such a difference. For the first time I can actually see all the mixer channels on one screen on a complex track *at the same time* as having a project window open.

Just loads of little everyday things have suddenly become so mch more accessable and quicker to use. On yeh - finally I can have Virus Control on the primary monitor so mouse over works at last (VST host bug, not a VC bug I think) :)

If anyone else is having a really crap time with one of the big DAW applications, especially Cubase (which I think is possibly the most annoying) have a serious think about a huge screen for it - it really seems to making a huge difference to productivity over the day I have been using it so far.

The other big bonus - this thing is big enough to accomodate my MachineDrum panel (all the MD controls for all channels and master fx on a single panel - its huge...)


I did give it a quick try for a couple of games - Microsoft Freelancer @ 1600 x 1200 - slight bit of motion blur that I am sure i will get used to, but nice bright colours. The other I tried was civilisation that actually supports playing at 1920 x 1600 - that is awesome - especially watching some of the behind menu graphics sequences at that resolution with anti-aliasing switched on :)

Because of the size of this thing (and it is monstrous!) games do suddenly seem very immersive compared to a 19" screen.

Yeah have to agree. I picked up an Apple 23" Cinema display for use with Logic - and it does make a hell of a difference. I couldn't initially decide on whether to get two 21" displays or one large one. I am glad chose the right option - the build quality on the display is superb as are the extra USB and firewire ports.

I tell you what is really annoying... I keep getting my nob shut in the door when I try to leave a room. I also keep tripping over it when I try to walk down the street. Does anyone else have this problem?

That Dell 2405 24" is a great lcd. I bought one 2 months ago. I also use a viewsonic vp201b (20", 1600x1200) as my second lcd. It's a real joy to work with Logic now.

Yep, Cubase isn't meant for a small box unfortunately. I'm running twin screens, but I'd love a wide one to go in the middle!

Yeh - I was running twins at 1280x1024 (an old CRT and a freebie cheap LCD that came with something) - just never seemed confortable.

One of the device panels I use alot is about 1500 width - that was just painful :)