# Best Monitor for my DAW Studio One?



## Epicurse (Oct 3, 2017)

*Hey Controllers,*

I have done my research but I am still searching... lol

Many use 3 monitors or TVs like Daniel James who I believe, uses a 30in TV in the middle for his cubase. Some use Wide 21:9 curve screens, some use 4K and some uses touch screens... Not an easy decision to make when all seems to be good.

My budget is $450 all taxes included and I like the idea of having 3 monitors/TV. I already got 2x23" monitors and I would rather have one in the middle between them with a bigger screen to see better and have more real estate.

*Which monitor/TV do you use with your DAW & do you use 3 screens?*

Thx Epicurse.


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## DS_Joost (Oct 3, 2017)

I use 3 dell u2412m monitors, which have a resolution of 1980x1200, which is a lot of screenspace across 3 monitors. 4k is useless because most daws have yet to ne optimized for it (I know cubase isn't). I use studio one, which has high dpi and it looks gorgeous on my screens. They can be had secondhand for about 100-125 dollars, and you find them all over the place because they are very popular office monitors.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Oct 3, 2017)

Most DAWs aren't optimized for 4K?

That's something I've never heard before. Why can't you just adjust the window sizes?

I experimented with using my 4K TV on a Mac a few months ago, and the amount of real estate was amazing. But I found it too much - I didn't want to turn my head that far to get to things that happen on the left edge of the screen (which is a lot when you're running a DAW). The 40" TV has the same dot pitch as my 30" monitor, so the issue wasn't the size of the image, it was the size of the screen.

For me, 2560 x 1680 on a 30" monitor is just right, and having only 1200 vertical pixels wouldn't be enough.

If I need more than my display shows - for example to park VE Pro instances - I use a separate desktop, i.e. macOS has a feature that lets you scroll to another entire desktop.

Also, I wouldn't want three monitors. One big one is more convenient (never mind that I use the TV at 1080p as a second monitor for parking things sometimes).


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## enCiphered (Oct 4, 2017)

There is another, very important fact to consider if you want to work with more than two high-resolution monitors flawlessly.
You will need a very powerful and expensive graphics card.
You can connect a TV to your computer using an hdmi cable, but if you want to run 3 monitors which all run in, lets say 2560 x 1440 resolution, you´ll need a good graphics card with 3 display ports.


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## DS_Joost (Oct 4, 2017)

enCiphered said:


> There is another, very important fact to consider if you want to work with more than two high-resolution monitors flawlessly.
> You will need a very powerful and expensive graphics card.
> You can connect a TV to your computer using an hdmi cable, but if you want to run 3 monitors which all run in, lets say 2560 x 1440 resolution, you´ll need a good graphics card with 3 display ports.



That is not entirely true, it depends on the resolution. I run my three monitors through an Nvidia 720GT which is about 40-50 dollars, and that was 3 years ago! Everything runs just fine, I can even run heavy sessions with the video in the daw. I know 4k needs a beefier video card though.

Also, I understand what you're saying, Nick, but on mac I remember there is much more support for higher resolutions. Also, I said optimized, not that these daws don't work in 4k. In order to get these truly optimized daw interfaces need to be build from scratch in vector graphics to truly appreciate what high dpi as 4k (or even 8k!) brings. I remember so far only FL Studio does this. I might be wrong though, so please correct me if that's the case.


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## enCiphered (Oct 4, 2017)

DS_Joost said:


> That is not entirely true, it depends on the resolution.



Of course it does, I was talking about high-resolution as you can see


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## Epicurse (Oct 4, 2017)

All great tips here...
My PC is a power beast, I use a MSI GeForce GTX 1060 Nvidia, 64GB ram with SSDs so ok there.

I was also thinking of a 30" at 2560 x 1680. Would that be a monitor or TV?

What is your model info?

Thx, Epicurse.


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## StillLife (Oct 4, 2017)

I once had a dual monitor setup, which I grew to dislike because of the bezels and the eye movements (monitors weren't the same size and resultion - just two screens I had...). Two years ago I switched to a Dell 32 inh ultrawide and everything was so much better. Having one screen made me feel more relaxed and gave me better workflow. Plus: the screen was gorgeous. If you are going to sit in front of something fir a very long, it better show you something pretty.
Alas, due to a stupid accident I recently broke my lovely Dell. In the search for a replacement the new giant 43 inch 4k-monitors catched my eye. One of them, made by LG (43ud79) happened to be on sale, so I bought it. And again everything is better. The amount of screen estate is fabulous. It's like having two ultrawides on top of eachother. And the prize was considerably lower than what you pay for 1 ultrawide. I am happy.


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## Gerhard Westphalen (Oct 4, 2017)

DS_Joost said:


> Also, I understand what you're saying, Nick, but on mac I remember there is much more support for higher resolutions. Also, I said optimized, not that these daws don't work in 4k. In order to get these truly optimized daw interfaces need to be build from scratch in vector graphics to truly appreciate what high dpi as 4k (or even 8k!) brings. I remember so far only FL Studio does this. I might be wrong though, so please correct me if that's the case.



That's only if you're trying to scale it but if you're doing that, then there's no point to using 4k. You need a screen that's big enough to use it in 4k and then it'll behave and look the same as on any smaller monitor. I've never had any issues using Cubase/Nuendo on a number of different screens and computers.


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## StillLife (Oct 4, 2017)

Gerhard Westphalen said:


> That's only if you're trying to scale it but if you're doing that, then there's no point to using 4k. You need a screen that's big enough to use it in 4k and then it'll behave and look the same as on any smaller monitor. I've never had any issues using Cubase/Nuendo on a number of different screens and computers.


No scaling neccesary on my 43 inch 4k!


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## DS_Joost (Oct 5, 2017)

Gerhard Westphalen said:


> That's only if you're trying to scale it but if you're doing that, then there's no point to using 4k. You need a screen that's big enough to use it in 4k and then it'll behave and look the same as on any smaller monitor. I've never had any issues using Cubase/Nuendo on a number of different screens and computers.



I didn't know that. Thanks for the information, I stand corrected.


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## rayinstirling (Oct 5, 2017)

40" 4k Samsung here. Replacing two 27" side by side.
No more left right head movements, everything straight ahead. Great


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## Soundhound (Oct 5, 2017)

rayinstirling said:


> 40" 4k Samsung here. Replacing two 27" side by side.
> No more left right head movements, everything straight ahead. Great




What resolution do you use it at, if I could ask?


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## Nick Batzdorf (Oct 5, 2017)

My TV is also a 40" Samsung.

It was certainly usable, but I was still conscious of it after a few days. I was happy when I put back my 30" Apple Cinema Display.

The image on the Samsung is okay - a little color blurring around text, the white is a little blue (even after adjusting the color temperature) - but with the Apple monitor there's not even a question about the image.

And that makes sense, because the TV was under $300 and the Apple Cinema Display was $2500 or some ridiculous price when I bought it 11-1/2 years ago.


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## rayinstirling (Oct 5, 2017)

Soundhound said:


> What resolution do you use it at, if I could ask?


3840 x2160 consumer TV UHD on hdmi 
I did try it on 125% display at first but now I use it at 100% display setting.
It isn't the model I'd choose for moving image but for Cubase etc. It gives me all I need


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