that knob mixes between what is being played back by the software and what is coming in through the inputs, this allows zero-lantency monitoring of your input.

im not sure what zero lantency monitoring is eactly. i no it has to do with the the real time monitoring and how its slow or something. then how does one control the volume if u arent using headphones?

so um ya..

latency is the actual time it takes the computer to process a signal and send it back out. It's basically the lag time.

so where do i deal with the volume of my monitors? besides the inconvienient knobs on the back of each

Right now the only way to adjust monitoring volume is the master fader in protools. I'm looking at getting a "Big Knob" from mackie for this exact issue.

wow, thats kind of annoying

If you know how to use a soldering iron, it is very simple to make you own "Big Knob". If you stay with unbalanced cables (and speakers) it is very easy to find the component. And for most usage, unbalanced is generally quite sufficient on line level. Mind you, not everywhere, but most often.

The component you need is a potentiometer. It should be the logarithmic variety (there is a linear as well, not quite suited but nothing will break). And a value somewhere between 10k and 100k.

Connect hot-in to top of pot, ground to bottom. Fetch signal hot-out from viper and ground. Add a shielded box, some contacts and a large knob.

Gunnar.

Yeah, I'd looked into doing that, and was going to until the Big Knob came out. I'm going to grab that for it's other features too, most importantly (for me) the talkback and the monitor switching (I've got a set of Boston Acoustics bookshelfs that I use as another reference to check mixes)

Would you need to do one pot for each side with that?