TopicPosted on 11/14/2014 at 01:26:06question about the Impact Twin's side component
I'm considering buying this interface, as they're of great quality, worth upwards of 300GBP but I can get it for closer to 100.
I've read about the features which I like, but I don't understand what the 'side component' is? The manual says it's for only listening to the SIDE component of your signal (in this mode, the M/S decoding algorithm is active). This sounds like a foreign language to me and I'm lost. What does it do? Anything of value? Or is it just fluff to help sell a product?
Cheers,
felixis
CaliMoose
121
AFfinity Poster
Member 11 years ago
2Posted on 11/14/2014 at 07:27:56
Hey felixis, welcome!
I actually own the Impact Twin so I'll help you out myself with this one. Basically, the side component is one of my favorite features, as it helps mitigate mono-related problems. Allow me to explain:
So as you might already know, stereo implies that the left and right channel will be played on the left and right monitors, respectively. Mono is when both channels are summed together and played out of one monitor (typically).
The problem with mono is that sometimes, important elements of a mix made for stereo play don't translate well when played back in mono. The M/S coding you're referring to flips the polarity of the right channel, then sums it with the left channel. This removes any information that exists equally on both channels, leaving you with what's lost when summing to mono.
Essentially, setting your monitor mix to SIDE provides a cool way to see what's left out of your mono mix so that you can make changes to improve the quality of your mono mix.