The old Stereo vs. Mono topic ... revisited ...

I did a gig last night, a very small one - ~20-22 people or so, in a room not much bigger than my living room. I'd say the room was ~20' x 30' or so. Low ceiling.

I thought I could get by with just 1 Bose S1, which I set up using the "L+R" output (mono) as Yamaha suggests. The one S1 did fine as far as volume, amount of bass, clarity overall, etc., for this room. However, many sounds seemed "flat" (not musically flat, but tonally flat) ... things like the piano (C7 and CTX), the strings, vibes, etc. Sometimes my Left sound, which I had set at a decent volume for playing countermelodies etc., didn't seem to "cut through" as I'm used to. The pianos in particular just didn't sound that great to me. Organs with "Leslie" sounded "OK" but not as I'm used to.

I'm going to play the exact same place next week; will try it with two S1's evenly spread out in the room. Maybe the audience won't notice it much - but it'll be interesting if it's a big difference, or a small difference, for me as the player.

I didn't "feel" as good about the sound, and it sort of was less "inspiring" than I'm used to (I usually go Stereo, either with 2 Bose S1s, or my Lucas Nano 600 in stereo setup, two FBT Maxx40a's) ... so even if it's mostly for me, if I do indeed hear a noticeable difference, I'll probably stick with Stereo even for smaller gigs. It's only an extra minute or two to set up a 2nd speaker ...

Thoughts?
Jim

It's what you get used to lugging around and setting up. Some think I'm crazy for setting up (2) 8.2 speakers, but it only takes 10 minutes (if in a hurry) to set up my whole rig.

I really like the dual pole mount that houses both speakers and then the air assisted pole can be adjusted to any height. I put them directly behind and above my head - works like a charm in any situation and all my sounds that I hear through headphones sound the same live.

I only played for 10 people yesterday in a very tiny room. It looks so overkill when setting up, but the headroom I have and the low volumes are perfect in these scenarios too. I also have the power to do almost any place now.

The pianos, especially, sound terrific in stereo and like a toy in mono. Never will do one speaker - just me!

Even if not needed I use both my Eon Ones. Did an outdoor Happy Hour which had to be laidback and low-key but it only took me a few extra minutes to set up the second Eon. The full soound surrounding me made me happy and I guess it ounded good to the people too. I got a number of compliments and no requests to turn down.
As i said before stereo give your sound more "depth and body" JMHO

DITTO!

Donny, when did you get an eon 1?

2 days ago..

Yamaha has always had issues summing to mono. Unless you tweak the sound, it'll always come up short. They use stereo samples that don't play well in mono right out of the gate, but with some TLC, you can add the life back in. I did it when I was in YammaLand.

Hi - how did you add life back into Yamaha's mono out? I'll likely stick with 2 speakers for even small gigs - as it's not much more time and at least for me, I get more enjoyment (and maybe play a little better) when I like the sound I'm hearing . . . but curious how one might breathe more life (or remove mono-ness) from Yamaha's mono-summed outputs ...

jim

Jim,
It's been so long, and there was no formula, but I just fooled with the piano sound until it began to "sing" in the Bose Compact. Adjusted filters, ADSRs, etc. just use your ears, and not your eyes. Pretend you're Ray Charles mixing a recording.

Jim, many years ago I posted a Yamaha Piano voice that I created using the PSR-3000. It took me about a week to get what I wanted to hear, but nevertheless, it really worked well and has been downloaded thousands of times. If I recall, I used one of the Gm Piano voices, then went to work using the effects.

I'll be more than happy to post the link if anyone wishes to download it.

Gary

One voice will not change the overall sound of the mix..but to each their own...

Donny, the only ones that, obviously, need changing are the stereo sampled voices, which mainly are pianos. Changing them makes a world of difference. I don't know of any stereo styles or multi-pads, but I could be wrong because I pretty much ignore some of the new styles in the dance area of the keyboard.

Gary

Gary's right Donny. Changing the piano voice can make a huge difference.

Gary,
i would like to try your mono-piano, for those rare occasions I may need to play in mono.
Do you think it will work on a Tyros5?

Thanks,
Skip G

It will work on all Yamaha arranger keyboards.

You can download it from: https://app.box.com/s/620aqowt5q1vlnvcl7n9 The link provides you with a number of modified voices I created for Yamaha arranger keyboards. They will all work on the T5.

Good luck,

Gary

At the end of the day, if you "feel" good about how you sound, then you tend to play better and that flows though the music to the audience; in my opinion.

Allan

Quick report - I did another job at the same place, same setup, as mentioned in this note as I created it - except I used 2 Bose S1's instead of 1. No surprise: sounded MUCH better ... I know that stereo will sound better than mono, and I almost always go stereo - but I didn't know it would make that much difference in clarity, fullness, "feel-good-about-playing" etc.!

2 Bose S1's did fantastic for this and other smaller gigs I have done ... setup is so quick. For a couple of places I play regularly, I just put them on the floor, a bit behind, angled up (using the built-in slight angle-up position), seem to do well and got good feedback on the overall sound. I can hear them as "monitors" just fine, and reports are that they get good sound to the audience. I have not yet had to re-charge the battery, and I've done I think 5 gigs with them (1 hour each).

Jim

Jim...good news no surprise there Stereo is the way to go.
good luck

I’ve been very impressed with my Bose S1 pair. However, I’ve always had them on stands. I haven’t tried the floor placement thing but I’ve read others reporting good results.

doesn't the space station supposed take the place of using 2 speakers

Yesterday I used one bose s1pro on the floor tilted straight back for a 30 person assisted living group on battery power.
everybody loved the sound. they sound great with my pa1000. I could have just used the korg because the speakers are super strong but I didn't want to push it too hard so the s1pro just helped a little. Just perfect for these types of jobs. It also gives me plenty of extra power if I need it.
MEL

I agree Mel Pa1000 speakers are pretty decent for a small job a bit more power overall compared to the Pa900..nice improvement for sure & fantastic monitors.