All audio interfaces have a volume knob, why do so many of us duplicate it by buying a separate monitor controller? Considering this for a moment some reasons which spring to mind include having a conveniently located, high quality volume control which doesn’t influence the sound. This is surprisingly difficult to do with analogue hardware as level discrepancies between the left and right will tend to occur using standard components. This is one of the reasons a really top quality monitor controller is so expensive.
Other must-haves for me would of course include an easy way to A/B between alternative sets of monitors and to be able to trim the levels of these sets of monitors independently, and a way to quickly A/B between the track I’m mixing and a reference, and to be able to easily level-match the track and the reference.
Another big reason why I want a monitor controller is as a safety stage, and intermediary between my DAW and my speakers and headphones. I haven’t had many crashes which resulted in full scale noise blasting out of my speakers (or even worse, headphones!) but even one of these events is enough.
Something which does occur to me is that nowhere on my list does it say that my monitor controller has to be a piece of hardware. Can a software monitor controller do everything I need? Sonnox certainly think so and their new ListenHub for macOS is exactly that - a stereo monitor controller which provides everything you need to mix and reference along with a few extras which bring everything you need to keep focused and fresh when mixing.
What Is ListenHub For macOS?
The important thing about ListenHub is that it’s an intermediary between your DAW and your speakers and headphones. In exactly the same way as a hardware monitor controller sits between the DAW and the speakers, so does ListenHub. You route your DAW to it in the same way as you would route the outputs of your interface to your hardware monitor controller and alternate input sources such as a mix reference and alternate output sources such as secondary monitors or headphones can be routed to and switched between in the same way as a traditional monitor controller.
Using desktop software isn’t attractive is it means that you have to juggle your on screen real estate between DAW and controller so ListenHub is accompanied by a free iOS and Android App which can run on a tablet or a phone. Having control of source and output switching under your fingers is accompanied by level control, which I was expecting to hate. Touchscreens have no tactile feedback and while touchscreen switches are fine, touchscreen faders don’t work for me. I was surprised to find no volume fader or knob. Instead, as well as Mute and Dim, ListenHub has a series of four switches labelled loud, normal, quiet and soft, each representing a -6dB reduction in level from full scale. This might sound like a limitation but in these days of calibrated monitoring isn’t it a useful simplification?
Essential channel operations like mono sum and L/R swap (useful for checking whether the centre of your stereo recording is actually in the centre) are covered as are tools for examining areas of the frequency spectrum both visually, courtesy of the spectrum analyser, and aurally using the band solo controls. Useful metering is supplied with a LUFS and dynamic range meters. Also included are automatic level matching of sources, plugin hosting on outputs for speaker and headphone calibration. I could go on but suffice it to say that there’s a lot here but for all its features the experience is streamlined and uncluttered.
ListenHub In Use
ListenHub comes as a systemwide stereo audio device and plugin for Mac, but to get the full experience, systemwide is the way to use it. By presenting itself to macOS as an audio device multiple apps can be routed to it. To use ListenHub you need to route ListenHub’s outputs to your interface and set ListenHub as your system audio device. ListenHub presents three inputs: System, Main and Reference and if you set your DAW’s audio preferences to Listen Hub the three outputs are available in your IO. Route your DAW to ListenHub’s Main inputs and your system audio to the System inputs and you’re in business. The Reference input can be used to route a reference track from within your DAW. Only one input is presented in ListenHub when using it as an audio device (as opposed to using the Plugin version) this loopback input is incredibly useful because it is so simple. Many interfaces offer this facility and software solutions such as Loopback exist but having this very simple implementation of an essential feature is a welcome bonus.
There is a plugin version too. This is used when latency would be an issue. The latency of the systemwide version varies but in workflows where latency would be unacceptable routing via the plugin incurs no addition latency.
Facilities
Inputs
Three inputs are available - Main, System and Reference, with a fourth ‘Plugin’ input available if the plugin is in use.
Outputs
Two Outputs are available - Main and Alt either of which can be used for speakers or headphones. The outputs can host AU plugins. The obvious candidates being headphone solutions like Slate’s VSX or Goodherz CanOpener or Speaker calibration software like Sonarworks or IK Multimedia ARC.
Metering
The spectrum analyser gives visual feedback as well as Band Solo controls which allow the selected band to be auditioned in isolation or in context with the rest of the audio attenuated. The crossover point between these five bands aren’t user definable and in a similar way to the excellent Claro there are useful descriptor words like ‘body’ and ‘definition’ to help guide the novice.
The loudness measurement in LUFS guides the user’s decisions and in these days of loudness normalisation on steaming platforms this is essential information but given greater prominence is the Dynamic Range figure quoted in PSR or peak to short term loudness ratio. This numeric measurement is complemented by a scrolling history graph. The approach is simple, stay in the green and you’re good! As streaming platforms normalise to a loudness level, giving greater prominence to dynamic range over loudness is a wise move.
In the preferences we find some essential features like the ability to independently trim the levels of the outputs, some monitors don’t offer very helpful facilities for this. particularly as trim controls are usually on the back of each speaker so it is impossible to trim from the listening position. being able to do it from here saves a lot of trips to and from the speakers! Also here we find an auto mute level which can be set to any value from +0.2dBfs to +20dBfs protecting the listener from feedback loops and the like.
For users who don’t have a WiFi network availble through which to link the iOS device with the host computer operation via a lightning cable is supported. On the subject of mobile devices Android devices are supported with ListenHub too.
So Does A Monitor Controller Have To Be Hardware?
In use I have to say that ListenHub is every bit as usable as a hardware controller. I’d be surprised if owners of quality hardware monitor controllers would switch but I don’t think that they are the target audience here. Many people who are working happily without a monitor controller or have bought a cheap unit might well find ListenHub better in every way. It doesn’t suffer the variable stereo image at different volumes that the cheapest monitor controllers can suffer from, it offers a dedicated physical interface and while it doesn’t offer the tactile feedback of a hardware controller, it neatly avoids presenting anything other than buttons, which work very well on a touch screen interface.
While there isn’t a dedicated input for clients’ phones (how can there be in software?) there is plenty of scope for creating a workaround. A hardware controller is completely transparent to the computer with which it is being used but with the monitor controller existing in software, while you do have to adapt your routing from your DAW, it does bring advantages such as the ability to host calibration software which isn’t available as a systemwide app.
After a few days using it I have to say I like it. it’s a great use for the redundant iPad some people will have lying around which means that you’re not having to fetch your iPad from where it was being used for goofing around online somewhere and my only request would be for a version which could act as a controller for surround formats or Dolby Atmos.
Pricing
ListenHub for macOS will launch on Monday March 7th at an introductory retail price of £44.25/$63.72 with a MAP of $59.99.
This 25% saving will last until midnight GMT April 7th 2022, after which ListenHub will revert to its full retail price of £59.00/$84.96 with a MAP of $79.99.