H9 MONO summing?

[Heathcliff]

Hi all,

this is my very first post here. I’ve been using 2 H9 combined together for a long time and am very happy with them but one thing I can’t sort out:

The first H9 goes out stereo into the stereo input of the second one. Now, if I plug the second H9 to just one output, I expect a mono summing of the whole signal. What happens instead is that only the algorithms of the second unit are converted to mono but the left or right side of the effect coming from the first H9 is lost

Is there anything I’m doing wrong?

Thank you in advance!

[brock]

A few quick questions:

Are you going mono in (lnput 1 only) in the 1st H9, or stereo in (Input 1 & 2)?

Do you have the Pitch Mix control centered, or off to the left or right?  [It is usually called that, but may vary, depending on the loaded algorithm.  Often the second parameter, right after MIX].

Can you give me an example situation that I can test?  Such as 1st H9 uses Vintage Delay, the 2nd H9 is Flanger (or however you have it set up when you’re getting those results).

[Heathcliff]

 

Thank you for getting back.

I’m going stereo into the first H9 from another chorus pedal (i love choruses and delays).

The pitch mix Is set differently depending on what I Need from the preset. If i go out mono from the second H9, i loose the left or the right side of the algorithm of the first one, which Is always connected stereo in the pedalboard

 

brock wrote:

A few quick questions: Are you going mono in (lnput 1 only) in the 1st H9, or stereo in (Input 1 & 2)? Do you have the Pitch Mix control centered, or off to the left or right? [It is usually called that, but may vary, depending on the loaded algorithm. Often the second parameter, right after MIX]. Can you give me an example situation that I can test? Such as 1st H9 uses Vintage Delay, the 2nd H9 is Flanger (or however you have it set up when you’re getting those results).

[brock]

You can tell I started with the PitchFactor (I’m still calling it “Pitch Mix”).

All I can think of offhand is what happens with a Delay algorithm, and Delay Mix.  With stereo in, if you tilt the Delay Mix away from center (say, 0 or 100), both outputs will only have that side’s effect, A or B.

That may or may not be the case here.  If it helps, I always use TremoloPan for a stereo diagnostic test.

Maximum Depth, Square Shape; slower Speed, Width 100.  If you don’t hear equal levels alternating each side, something’s screwy upstream.  You can also use that as a downstream test.

[Heathcliff]

brock wrote:

You can tell I started with the PitchFactor (I’m still calling it “Pitch Mix”). All I can think of offhand is what happens with a Delay algorithm, and Delay Mix. With stereo in, if you tilt the Delay Mix away from center (say, 0 or 100), both outputs will only have that side’s effect, A or B. That may or may not be the case here. If it helps, I always use TremoloPan for a stereo diagnostic test. Maximum Depth, Square Shape; slower Speed, Width 100. If you don’t hear equal levels alternating each side, something’s screwy upstream. You can also use that as a downstream test.

Good morning,

I have an interesting update.

I tried some different algos. For example, the chorus algo on the second H9 sums to mono as expected. The Diatonic algo won’t sum to mono. As for “summing to mono” I always refer to the incoming stereo signal from the first H9.

The unit will never sum to mono when bypassed. Of course, both pedals sum to mono their own algorithms as stated in the manual.

But this issue makes it difficult to pair 2 H9s unless you can always play stereo, otherwise you have to set the first H9 to mono, which is a bit of a shame.

Sorry for this twisted message, english isn’t even my mother tongue, but it would be interesting to see what other users are experiencing

[Heathcliff]

Ok seems like I’ll have to dedicate some time to this 😅

Another related question: when bypassed, the second H9 should sum to mono  the incoming signal from the first one the same, right?

[grienkho]

For those still reading. Having two H9 as well, and using stereo or mono output this is the quick and dirty “how to”. Short answer: with a PA mono output, use a mono chain on the pedalboard always. Long answer: most modulation effects are using phase inverted or shifted signals among left and right. If you sum them , you get 0 modulation, or a very unexpected modulation in case the phase is not 180 degrees. If you don’t want this to happen, only use a single channel which will be modulated and this will be kept up to the PA.   A common error is to use a stereo connection up to the last pedal, which is capable of summing to mono : exiting in mono will make the input summed and the modulations weird.  If you want to keep stereo path on the pedalboard and exit sometimes mono, do not use chorus (at least), because that’s the worst of all thing. Use instead detuning (pitch shifted signal but no phase correction). Detuning will pass through, although not at best (because the two stereo signals are detuned differently to make it sound wider, but once mono summed will not be the same).

My advise: be always prepared to go mono by disconnecting the second stereo input and output along the chain. This will let you have the best of all sounds, and no surprises.

Let alone the fact that if the PA is not perfectly tuned, a chorus is a very dangerous thing to use in stereo.

 

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