I've been finding my working life recently consisting of doing main mixes on my Windows rig in the studio at Shoreditch, and updates / deliverables at home using my MacBook Pro laptop. 

I've been finding myself hitting a problem.

Size Matters

My MacBook Pro's screen resolution is 1440 x 900, and I generally don't have a second monitor plugged in. My Windows rig has up to four 1920 x 1080 screens, as well as the projector.

When I open sessions from the studio, if I've left a plugin window open, because of the size of my laptop's screen, I find it difficult to tweak plugins in realtime, as I can no longer see the tracks.

If I open the Nugen Halo Upmixer plugin in 7.1.2 mode, then on my laptop, the top controls disappear and I cannot access them. These include the plugin controls and presets.

This unfortunately means I have to plug in a 1920 x 1080 monitor to be able to use this plugin. There are many other plugins I could mention - it's certainly not just Halo. Quite a few have a resize option, but on most that's still almost as big as my entire edit or mix window.

Should Plugin Resizing Be Compulsory?

My main image for this article was a little misleading. It featured the Metric Halo Channelstrip, but in its largest display mode. This is one of the few plugins I've found with multiple display options, which can bring it down to a far more manageable size.

Let's Talk About This

I think this is a discussion we should be having more with plugin manufacturers. At what point does the plugin GUI become an impedance rather than a help? Should a "mini mode" be mandatory for AAX plugins?

Please let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments below.