# DAW WORKFLOW? 2 screens or 1 Ultrawide? or more?



## Pooley (Feb 27, 2021)

Hi just curious on your thoughts and your workflow.
looking to upgrade very soon


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## strojo (Feb 27, 2021)

Ultrawide all the way. Not having the bezels in the middle make a big difference.


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## jbuhler (Feb 27, 2021)

I have mine configured as a 27” 5k main monitor (iMac) and 2 2k 27” monitors in portrait. I’m in the process of incorporating a second iMac with its own external monitor, so that will give me 5 monitors in total.


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## SlHarder (Feb 27, 2021)

I like having multiple side monitors. I use Win10 and like to maximize an app often. On 1 big monitor it would take over.


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## d.healey (Feb 27, 2021)

I don't like turning my head a lot so I have one 27" 16:9 monitor and make liberal use of virtual desktops. When I occasionally need a second screen I use my tablet.


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## pkm (Feb 27, 2021)

I use four - three in front of me and a tv on the wall for video. From left to right, mixer, arrange window, piano roll. That way I’m usually looking straight in front of me and there isn’t a seam in the middle, but I still get full separation and can make windows full screen easily.


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## easyrider (Feb 27, 2021)

Ultra wide with 2 monitors either side of it...


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## charlieclouser (Feb 27, 2021)

I also prefer three screens plus a tv on the wall - nice and symmetrical. Left screen is for my ProTools stem recorder, center and right screens are for Logic. My center screen is a 4k 32" and the left and right screens are 2560x1600 32". I don't use 4k screens on the L+R because the text gets a little tiny and I wind up leaning in to see things. 

If I could find an ultra wide that had more than 1440 vertical pixels I'd get it in a second, but they all seem to be a ridiculous number of pixels L<>R but only 1440 vertically, and I want to see as many tracks as I can from top to bottom.


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## dgburns (Feb 28, 2021)

I’m back down to three across the front, 32 in the middle two 27 on either side. Plus tv on the wall. I just felt going bigger for the middle one blocked the center speaker too much, in my setup anyway. I tried doing a 27 in the middle, but it was too small for me.


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## Publius (Feb 28, 2021)

I saw a wide curved one that was tempting. I went with two smaller curved. 2560x1440–more pixels wide than the single screen. One would be interesting, but I still think in terms of two monitors. Might have main daw window in left screen and a break out window, like mixer, in the other. Strikes me as a matter of preference.


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## Jdiggity1 (Feb 28, 2021)

charlieclouser said:


> If I could find an ultra wide that had more than 1440 vertical pixels I'd get it in a second, but they all seem to be a ridiculous number of pixels L<>R but only 1440 vertically, and I want to see as many tracks as I can from top to bottom.


There's been a couple of UltraWide options pop up in the last couple of years touting a "5K2K" resolution (5120 x 2160) such as the https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1503260-REG/msi_prestige_ps341wu_34_21_9.html (MSI PS341WU) or the LG 34WK95U-W. Haven't used one myself yet but they're probably the only ultrawides I'd personally consider.


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## rgames (Feb 28, 2021)

charlieclouser said:


> If I could find an ultra wide that had more than 1440 vertical pixels I'd get it in a second, but they all seem to be a ridiculous number of pixels L<>R but only 1440 vertically, and I want to see as many tracks as I can from top to bottom.


Yeah I went through that same issue a few months ago when I replaced my 34" ultrawide. I replaced it with a 32" 4k and I do think the extra vertical space is better than the ultrawide format.

I also went back to a flat panel (my 34" UW was curved) and I definitely prefer that format. The curved panel takes up more space than it needs to.

The 32" 4k does get a little small when you sit back in your chair. I think the perfect monitor for me would be about 36" 4k. But I don't think anyone makes that. I had a 40" 4k monitor for about a week. It was absurdly huge for my pretty-typical composer desk.

rgames


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## AlexRuger (Feb 28, 2021)

charlieclouser said:


> If I could find an ultra wide that had more than 1440 vertical pixels I'd get it in a second, but they all seem to be a ridiculous number of pixels L<>R but only 1440 vertically, and I want to see as many tracks as I can from top to bottom.


I got you dude.









Dell U3818DW 38" 5ms 60 Hz Curved LCD/LED Monitor - Newegg.com


Buy Dell U3818DW 38" (Actual size 37.5") 3840 x 1600 60 Hz Built-in Speakers Curved LCD/LED Monitor with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg!




www.newegg.com


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## AlexRuger (Feb 28, 2021)

Like many I'm a three monitors + TV on the wall kind of guy. I've played with how best to put everything together and this is my favorite so far. You'd think that the slanted side monitors would make for bad ergonomics, but it's actually great. Due to religiously tuning the vertical height of the desk/controller/display heights/etc, everything is just *chef's kiss* exactly where it needs to be.

For me, the arrange window and piano roll are always center -- total focus -- and mixer is on the right. Left is reserved for Total Mix, markers, cue sheet -- it's kind of the "junk drawer," and the ability to *have* that "junk drawer" is something I could never have with a single monitor, even if it's giant. No matter how big the center monitor is, I'd find myself wanting the arrange and piano roll windows full screen. So multiple it is.

I used to have a touch screen, but now that area tends to be taken up with paper, be it a book, score paper, a notebook...over the years I've just found the headache of maintaining touch systems outweighs whatever efficiency I thought I was gaining. Super solid key commands is enough.


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## edhamilton (Feb 28, 2021)

what are those monitors on the left and right? (size, brand, model)

Love that setup


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## AlexRuger (Feb 28, 2021)

They're Dell U2415's. 24" 1920x1200. Perfect size to match the center 30" 2560x1600.

If I had a bigger room I'd move farther back from my speakers and bump everything up to Clouser's sizes. But as it is, they're great.


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## tabulius (Feb 28, 2021)

I'm personally a fan of a bigger 4k tv setup. That of course needs a bit bigger room and space so your speakers and the tv are further away from the listening position. Now I'm in a smaller home studio so the larger screen isn't working. In the old place, I tried 65 inch 4k tv and used it with native resolution - no scaling. It worked surprisingly well. There was a little head-turning, but I did put the tv so far that it wasn't that bad. One thing I would have changed was the stand. The stand put the screen a little too high and with big screens, you should put the screen low as you can so you don't have to look up.

So if I'm going to build a new studio someday, I might consider building it around the same concept and try to find a perfect screen size to distance ratio. 55 inch and up might be good for native 4k resolution. One great thing about this is also the acoustics. No screens in front of your speakers, if it is positioned between or behind the speakers. I haven't tested those "smaller" 43-inch monitors if they could work closer on the desk.

Now I'm using a 27-inch screen and I found a good deal of an older 25-inch widescreen. Those two screens are almost the same width so I placed them vertically. I actually like having the setup this way, because the mixer fits there nicely.

But there is no right or wrong here. I know some will love the 3 monitors setup, and those who love their ultra-widescreen. For me, I think vertical space is more useful in daw work.


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## edhamilton (Mar 1, 2021)

AlexRuger said:


> They're Dell U2415's. 24" 1920x1200. Perfect size to match the center 30" 2560x1600.
> 
> If I had a bigger room I'd move farther back from my speakers and bump everything up to Clouser's sizes. But as it is, they're great.


Thanks for that.

What kind of stand are you using to get them that low/angled???


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## Riz (Mar 1, 2021)

tabulius said:


> I'm personally a fan of a bigger 4k tv setup. That of course needs a bit bigger room and space so your speakers and the tv are further away from the listening position. Now I'm in a smaller home studio so the larger screen isn't working. In the old place, I tried 65 inch 4k tv and used it with native resolution - no scaling. It worked surprisingly well. There was a little head-turning, but I did put the tv so far that it wasn't that bad. One thing I would have changed was the stand. The stand put the screen a little too high and with big screens, you should put the screen low as you can so you don't have to look up.
> 
> So if I'm going to build a new studio someday, I might consider building it around the same concept and try to find a perfect screen size to distance ratio. 55 inch and up might be good for native 4k resolution. One great thing about this is also the acoustics. No screens in front of your speakers, if it is positioned between or behind the speakers. I haven't tested those "smaller" 43-inch monitors if they could work closer on the desk.
> 
> ...


Love the clean set-up here, the way the lower screen mimics a real mixer, perfect for the smaller space.

I’m currently researching what to do with my new set-up. We moved house in December and for the first time in over 10 years I’ll have a dedicated space. At the moment it’s a small workshop/summer house in the garden. Due to budget constraints (no work during lockdown and no government help) I’ll be making do with old kit, as my best monitor has to stay in the home office with my photo Mac. So at my disposal I have a 40” HD tv, a 24” monitor and a couple of 19” monitors. Once funds allow, I’ll take inspiration from this thread to invest wisely. 😁


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## AlexRuger (Mar 1, 2021)

edhamilton said:


> Thanks for that.
> 
> What kind of stand are you using to get them that low/angled???


*These*.


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## ckett (Mar 1, 2021)

charlieclouser said:


> I also prefer three screens plus a tv on the wall - nice and symmetrical. Left screen is for my ProTools stem recorder, center and right screens are for Logic. My center screen is a 4k 32" and the left and right screens are 2560x1600 32". I don't use 4k screens on the L+R because the text gets a little tiny and I wind up leaning in to see things.
> 
> If I could find an ultra wide that had more than 1440 vertical pixels I'd get it in a second, but they all seem to be a ridiculous number of pixels L<>R but only 1440 vertically, and I want to see as many tracks as I can from top to bottom.


Charlie, That is changing this year with the Dell 40" Ultrawide at 5120 x 2160 height resolution. Pricey but certainly more pixels. https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/del...tISNZtcBMJQiUvYV3oIaAiqHEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds


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## ckett (Mar 1, 2021)

Using one 38" Ultrawide with a 24" touchscreen monitor below for the mixer.


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## detritusdave (Mar 1, 2021)

I'm 90% blind in my left eye, so I have 1 32" monitor. Works well for me.


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## Saxer (Mar 1, 2021)

I had two 24" monitors in front of me and replaced them with an ultrawide 34" some years ago. But I missed a second monitor for the mixer/movie so I added a 21" on the left side (90 degree).


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## Vokes (Apr 18, 2022)

tabulius said:


> I'm personally a fan of a bigger 4k tv setup. That of course needs a bit bigger room and space so your speakers and the tv are further away from the listening position. Now I'm in a smaller home studio so the larger screen isn't working. In the old place, I tried 65 inch 4k tv and used it with native resolution - no scaling. It worked surprisingly well. There was a little head-turning, but I did put the tv so far that it wasn't that bad. One thing I would have changed was the stand. The stand put the screen a little too high and with big screens, you should put the screen low as you can so you don't have to look up.
> 
> So if I'm going to build a new studio someday, I might consider building it around the same concept and try to find a perfect screen size to distance ratio. 55 inch and up might be good for native 4k resolution. One great thing about this is also the acoustics. No screens in front of your speakers, if it is positioned between or behind the speakers. I haven't tested those "smaller" 43-inch monitors if they could work closer on the desk.
> 
> ...


Is your 27 inch 1440p or 1080p monitor? Is there any difference?


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## cel4145 (Apr 18, 2022)

Vokes said:


> Is your 27 inch 1440p or 1080p monitor? Is there any difference?



I have a 32 inch 1080p curved monitor and it's great. If I were into Photoshop or video editing, then the 4K would have made more sense to me. But 1080p resolution is fine for working with a DAW.


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## Alex Fraser (Apr 18, 2022)

4K 27 inch in the middle, 24 inch to the left for picture etc.
Laptop is on the right, though at some point I'll go Mac Studio + 3rd monitor.

Resolution trumps screen size for me.


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## Vokes (Apr 18, 2022)

cel4145 said:


> I have a 32 inch 1080p curved monitor and it's great. If I were into Photoshop or video editing, then the 4K would have made more sense to me. But 1080p resolution is fine for working with a DAW.


Nice! I really overthink what monitor to get 2x 24 inch 1080p, 2x 27 inch 1080p or 2x 27 inch 1440p?!
I want one side for the arrangement view (I heard that on 1440p you can see more tracks than on 1080p, plugins look smaller..), and one monitor for the Midi Roll when writing/Session View when mixing.


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## CSS_SCC (Apr 18, 2022)

49" 4k + 32" 4k

P.S. But you need to take in consideration that I have a few helper screens and devices:
Nektar Panorama P1 (it has a Cubase/Nuendo profile that you can install)
Behringer X-Touch
Komplete Kontrol S88 MkII
Maschine MkIII
Ableton Push 2
Mackie Big Knob Studio+


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## jmauz (Apr 18, 2022)

3 monitors on the desk, one large TV on the wall. Of course this accommodates several computers. If I only used 1 computer I'd only need 2 monitors.

I've tried 4K reso, I think it's a waste and it could potentially tax your graphics card unnecessarily.


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## AceAudioHQ (Apr 18, 2022)

1x 1080p monitor is good enough for me. I've tried having two but I just couldn't think of anything to put on the other screen


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## thevisi0nary (Apr 18, 2022)

I've spent a year obsessing over this and still haven't purchased anything lol


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## vancomposer (Apr 18, 2022)

Thanks to all for sharing!

LG-34UM69g-b ultra wide in the center and its a good 4 years old now at 2560x1080 resolution. It still does the job but eventually might consider upgrading again. The tiny screen to the right doesn't do much except I keep the mixer open but its hard to read anything or I use it for the video feed as well so I have the upper screen for GUIs. Left screen is for surveillance cameras.

Now what I am curious about after seeing some of your setups here, I just recently got into using a tablet in my work flow and must admit it is a BIG game changer for sure. But now I am also considering a wider WINDOWS tablet so I can get my hands on like the mixer in Cubase and replace that Android in the picture. Open for suggestions what model and size. Wont really need it for much else except the occasional reading a book or watch a movie on it.


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## thevisi0nary (Apr 18, 2022)

vancomposer said:


> Thanks to all for sharing!
> 
> LG-34UM69g-b ultra wide in the center and its a good 4 years old now at 2560x1080 resolution. It still does the job but eventually might consider upgrading again. The tiny screen to the right doesn't do much except I keep the mixer open but its hard to read anything or I use it for the video feed as well so I have the upper screen for GUIs. Left screen is for surveillance cameras.
> 
> Now what I am curious about after seeing some of your setups here, I just recently got into using a tablet in my work flow and must admit it is a BIG game changer for sure. But now I am also considering a wider WINDOWS tablet so I can get my hands on like the mixer in Cubase and replace that Android in the picture. Open for suggestions what model and size. Wont really need it for much else except the occasional reading a book or watch a movie on it.


Do you find the top monitor hurts your neck after a period of time?


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## vancomposer (Apr 18, 2022)

thevisi0nary said:


> Do you find the top monitor hurts your neck after a period of time?


GOOD point, I sense a bit of a tension in my neck when I sit upright but not to where I would say it is a problem and also I have a very comfortable office chair with good back support and an Ottoman below the desk so I can lean back and put my legs up. In that angle I can relax my neck.


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## tabulius (Apr 18, 2022)

Vokes said:


> Is your 27 inch 1440p or 1080p monitor? Is there any difference?


It's 1440P. I prefer that and it gives a little more pixels to look at.


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## richiebee (Apr 20, 2022)

Modest hobbiest here. I only need one 27". I'm either writing, or mixing, not both. I don't need two screens, and don't see the point of ultra-wides. Like some others have commented, most of my workflow requires vertical space, and an ultrawide just cuts that off. With the latest version of Cubase having a split project window, vertical space is even more important, for times when I make use of that. Mine is a QHD. I thought about going 4k, but I understand there are still some issues with plugin scaling. I find some plugin UI's a bit small as it is, and more than I expected, are not resizable. QHD works fine for me tbh, but I'm not doing stuff with massive track counts. My screen is quite close to me. Again, I don't see the point in getting a larger screen, only to require it be further away, negating any advantage, as far as I can tell.


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## SandChannel (Apr 20, 2022)

tabulius said:


> I'm personally a fan of a bigger 4k tv setup. That of course needs a bit bigger room and space so your speakers and the tv are further away from the listening position. Now I'm in a smaller home studio so the larger screen isn't working. In the old place, I tried 65 inch 4k tv and used it with native resolution - no scaling. It worked surprisingly well. There was a little head-turning, but I did put the tv so far that it wasn't that bad. One thing I would have changed was the stand. The stand put the screen a little too high and with big screens, you should put the screen low as you can so you don't have to look up.
> 
> So if I'm going to build a new studio someday, I might consider building it around the same concept and try to find a perfect screen size to distance ratio. 55 inch and up might be good for native 4k resolution. One great thing about this is also the acoustics. No screens in front of your speakers, if it is positioned between or behind the speakers. I haven't tested those "smaller" 43-inch monitors if they could work closer on the desk.
> 
> ...


Are you using computer monitors or televisions? I like your setup and can imagine trying to do something like that myself in the future. Also, how did you get the monitors into those positions?


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## Jeremy Spencer (Apr 20, 2022)

I used multiple monitors for 20+ years, but now I'm just using the 27" display on my iMac. If I need to score to pic, I have a 32" mounted on the wall, but I rarely use it.


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## jneebz (Apr 20, 2022)

32” 4k and “CMD ~” for screen switching is all I need.


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## IFM (Apr 20, 2022)

I have a 32” 4K center monitor and two smaller 1080p on either side. For the center I bounce between resolutions because I love the screen space but Cubase gets hard to read At higher resolutions.


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## tabulius (Apr 21, 2022)

SandChannel said:


> Are you using computer monitors or televisions? I like your setup and can imagine trying to do something like that myself in the future. Also, how did you get the monitors into those positions?


The 27" and 25" are computer monitors. The 27" is just using a regular monitor stand that you can purchase from anywhere. The 25" is on a stand that was originally from a tiny and cheap 19" touch screen monitor. It has an angle adjustment so I can place it like that.


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