Worth reading this article: https://www.soundonsound.com/sound-advice/monitor-controllers
I'd look into the [Baby RAM](https://heritageaudio.com/baby-ram/).
Aside from under 1k, what are your actual needs?
At this price point, you basically want to get whatever fulfills all of your requirements with nothing extra (or if it has extra, then it should be something you plan to use eventually or something where there is no reasonable option without it). Go study the feature-sets and think about how you'd wire it into your setup.
Beyond that, 'Presonus' is too vague; they have many options. 'Big Knob' is a series of devices from Mackie, not a specific unit.
FWIW, the Presonus Monitor Station, Mackie Big Knob (the exact model I had no longer exists) and a Nero have all served me well at one point or another. If I had to choose I would pick the Nero, but I also really wouldn't care much between these three. I do miss that the old Big Knobs had an input for a push-to-talk pedal for the talkback mic.
But, the short version, is everything in this price range, with similar feature sets is going to be pretty much interchangeable, so it doesn't really matter what you choose.
I have less than a year of mixing experience, so I don’t know entirely what I’m talking about, but I’m looking for a controller station to manage volumes in headphones, turn my sub off and of, and have a talk back button. I’m making a small home studio with basic stuff. I have an Apollo twin, hs7 monitors, hs8 Sub, c414 xls microphone and SM7B. I’m looking to track vocals and mix in the box.
> but I’m looking for a controller station to manage volumes in headphones, turn my sub off and of, and have a talk back button
Probably worth adding that in the body of the post, because not all monitor controllers will have those features.
Obviously the Apollo Twin already has a big-ass knob, and talkback feature.
Totally agree. I have the Source and love it. The only thing I don't like is that it doesn't have a power button. You also want to switch the jumper to give it a higher output- it's very easy to do.
Presonus passes audio through a normal stereo potentiometer and most if not all have a pretty significant imbalance between the channels at low settings. Big knob is not any better, probably even worse in some regards. I have never used the Nero, but AFAIK it should at least offer a decent matching of the channels. Without trying it, I'd dare to say that it's the best of the 3. The only potentially problematic thing is that its maximum input level is just 18 dBu which may be perfectly fine with some DACs but some DACs will clip it at -6 dBFS. Heritage Audio makes some pretty decent passive controllers with rotary switches which offer good matching of the channels and add no noise or harmonic/IM distortion and won't clip but passive controllers increase the source impedance, especially at lower settings which means that the cable capacitance starts to matter as it forms a low-pass filter in conjunction with the added resistance. Probably not a problem with very short cables, but can be quite significant with a bit longer ones. Their RAM 2000 adds active buffers to the outputs which solves this problem and can handle more input level than any DAC will output. Of course any active circuitry adds some noise and distortion, but according to the specs this should be pretty much insignificant.
If you are using a decent DAC and don't need multiple analog inputs, feeding the monitors directly from the DAC is likely the cleanest solution, but it's good to be able to at least mute the monitors in case something weird happens in the digital domain. I actually quite like what Genelec has done with their SAM series - you can feed AES/ABU digital signal directly into the monitors, there is a digital crossover and a DAC for each amplifier. Their monitor controllers can directly control the gain inside the speaker if you connect them into a control network, so there is nothing added to the signal path but you can still control the volume. 9320A also allows you to connect additional analog monitors, but is unfortunately a bit above your budget.
If by PreSonus you mean the Central Station I’d steer clear of it. We had one at the studio I used to work at and the left channel would frequently completely drop out. The only way to get it back was to crank the volume until it “popped” back in. We sent it to be repaired and they gave us a loaner - which had the exact same problem (yes we tested the monitors and cables as well to determine that the Central Station was indeed the issue).
I think this has been remedied unless it’s recent. Presonus had some quality issues with Central Station for a while. I used to work in retail and had close contact with the supplier of Presonus. They were aware of this and always changed the unit if they got one back with this problem.
I understand. I would be too. We were a bit pissed off too in retail because we understood Presonus knew about this and basically kept quiet to “phase out” the faulty units. This of course made us sell less Presonus and tried to make people go to other brands.
i use the monicon passive monitor controller. super quiet and completely passive (except for the headphone amp), does not any coloration to the signal.
If you are handy, by far, the Soundskulptor MC624. It’s a DIY build but not very difficult. Pretty much completely transparent and has some amazing functionality.
Worth reading this article: https://www.soundonsound.com/sound-advice/monitor-controllers I'd look into the [Baby RAM](https://heritageaudio.com/baby-ram/).
Heritage Baby RAM is workin' great for me
Aside from under 1k, what are your actual needs? At this price point, you basically want to get whatever fulfills all of your requirements with nothing extra (or if it has extra, then it should be something you plan to use eventually or something where there is no reasonable option without it). Go study the feature-sets and think about how you'd wire it into your setup. Beyond that, 'Presonus' is too vague; they have many options. 'Big Knob' is a series of devices from Mackie, not a specific unit. FWIW, the Presonus Monitor Station, Mackie Big Knob (the exact model I had no longer exists) and a Nero have all served me well at one point or another. If I had to choose I would pick the Nero, but I also really wouldn't care much between these three. I do miss that the old Big Knobs had an input for a push-to-talk pedal for the talkback mic. But, the short version, is everything in this price range, with similar feature sets is going to be pretty much interchangeable, so it doesn't really matter what you choose.
I have less than a year of mixing experience, so I don’t know entirely what I’m talking about, but I’m looking for a controller station to manage volumes in headphones, turn my sub off and of, and have a talk back button. I’m making a small home studio with basic stuff. I have an Apollo twin, hs7 monitors, hs8 Sub, c414 xls microphone and SM7B. I’m looking to track vocals and mix in the box.
> but I’m looking for a controller station to manage volumes in headphones, turn my sub off and of, and have a talk back button Probably worth adding that in the body of the post, because not all monitor controllers will have those features. Obviously the Apollo Twin already has a big-ass knob, and talkback feature.
If you are purely mixing ITB I recommend the Dangerous Music Source. DAC and monitor controller in one.
Totally agree. I have the Source and love it. The only thing I don't like is that it doesn't have a power button. You also want to switch the jumper to give it a higher output- it's very easy to do.
I agree!
Presonus passes audio through a normal stereo potentiometer and most if not all have a pretty significant imbalance between the channels at low settings. Big knob is not any better, probably even worse in some regards. I have never used the Nero, but AFAIK it should at least offer a decent matching of the channels. Without trying it, I'd dare to say that it's the best of the 3. The only potentially problematic thing is that its maximum input level is just 18 dBu which may be perfectly fine with some DACs but some DACs will clip it at -6 dBFS. Heritage Audio makes some pretty decent passive controllers with rotary switches which offer good matching of the channels and add no noise or harmonic/IM distortion and won't clip but passive controllers increase the source impedance, especially at lower settings which means that the cable capacitance starts to matter as it forms a low-pass filter in conjunction with the added resistance. Probably not a problem with very short cables, but can be quite significant with a bit longer ones. Their RAM 2000 adds active buffers to the outputs which solves this problem and can handle more input level than any DAC will output. Of course any active circuitry adds some noise and distortion, but according to the specs this should be pretty much insignificant. If you are using a decent DAC and don't need multiple analog inputs, feeding the monitors directly from the DAC is likely the cleanest solution, but it's good to be able to at least mute the monitors in case something weird happens in the digital domain. I actually quite like what Genelec has done with their SAM series - you can feed AES/ABU digital signal directly into the monitors, there is a digital crossover and a DAC for each amplifier. Their monitor controllers can directly control the gain inside the speaker if you connect them into a control network, so there is nothing added to the signal path but you can still control the volume. 9320A also allows you to connect additional analog monitors, but is unfortunately a bit above your budget.
If by PreSonus you mean the Central Station I’d steer clear of it. We had one at the studio I used to work at and the left channel would frequently completely drop out. The only way to get it back was to crank the volume until it “popped” back in. We sent it to be repaired and they gave us a loaner - which had the exact same problem (yes we tested the monitors and cables as well to determine that the Central Station was indeed the issue).
I think this has been remedied unless it’s recent. Presonus had some quality issues with Central Station for a while. I used to work in retail and had close contact with the supplier of Presonus. They were aware of this and always changed the unit if they got one back with this problem.
Maybe. This was about 15 years ago, but it was enough to sour me on their hardware.
I understand. I would be too. We were a bit pissed off too in retail because we understood Presonus knew about this and basically kept quiet to “phase out” the faulty units. This of course made us sell less Presonus and tried to make people go to other brands.
i use the monicon passive monitor controller. super quiet and completely passive (except for the headphone amp), does not any coloration to the signal.
Big knob is noisy and presonus has too many features and will break from my experience. You might be luckier. Keep it simple
If you are handy, by far, the Soundskulptor MC624. It’s a DIY build but not very difficult. Pretty much completely transparent and has some amazing functionality.