How to force dual mono in 2.1

[jayR]

Buy a stereo-to-mono adaptor plug and use external speaker! SOLVED.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

There are numerous reasons why a user such as myself has had difficulties playing a stereo file and would want to play a stereo file in mono instead:
(...)
c) as mentioned, poor initial recording or mix balance
(...)

1. All of the above "reasons", other than (c) are persistent system conditions. Either the operating system or the VLC preferences should be set accordingly. Forcing mono down-mixing on a per media basis via the VLC audio menu is not an adequate solution to those problems.

2. Contrary to multiple claims, the Stereo mode (a.k.a. Audio channels in older versions) menu never had support for mono down-mixing. Maybe it should, but it never did. If somebody wants that feature added, s/he is welcome to provide a patch or hire a consultant. It won't get implemented by arguing on the VLC fora.

3. Support for multiple audio output devices is far more important than support for a few poorly-mixed audio files. Therefore, the Audio devices menu wil continue to provide a list of devices, rather than a list of channel mappings going forward.

[idantlol]

I was trying earlier today to get something to output mono sound, and I couldn't see any obvious way of doing it with windows. I assumed VLC could do this, because VLC is usually quite good with things like that, but I couldn't work out how, so I tried google and found this thread.

I am not going through this again. Your insistance amounts to trolling.

Rémi - you have an attitude problem. Perhaps no-one understands your vision of VLC. But you clearly don't understand VLC's users. And I think it's because you're the one not listening. Listening is not a difficult skill, you should work on it a little.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

Sorry you are just plain wrong. With regards to mono down-mix, see point 2 of my previous comment. I know what you are after. I just don't intend to solve somebody else's problem on my free time.

And no, I don't always listen to users. I don't have that much free time, and I have more important things to do then. If you want a VLC developer listening on demand, I believe that you can purchase the service from some companies (it won't be cheap, and I'm not in that line of business at the time of writing).

[stevebow]

The title of this topic should include "Stereo downmix" to clarify what the OP is asking. What the OP is trying to do can be achieved via VLC's (using version 2.2.4) prefs:

Open prefs, make sure the Settings Mode is All and not Simple. Next, navigate to:

Audio->Output modules->DirectX->Speaker configuration

This is normally set to "Windows default". The drop-down menu has a "Mono" option, which does do a stereo downmix to dual mono, at least here on my Realtek SPDIF o/p it does. Note that this disables the main Audio->Stereo Mode menu.

As mentioned elswhere in this thread, I also have no option in Windows nor the Realtek audio settings to force a stereo downmix to dual mono. While the argument "it makes more sense to force mono in Windows OS audio settings than in VLC" is not entirely invalid, nevertheless I think this option could still be added as a new item to the Audio->Stereo Mode menu as a convenience for users.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

Dual-mono and mono down-mixing are different things. They both result in monophonic output, however dual-mono achieves it by discarding one of the two channels, while down-mixing averages the two channels.

Dual-mono is really only meant for some legacy media that store separate audio tracks as separate audio channels. Old VCD do that a lot, e.g. Mandarin on Left, and Cantonese on Right.

Down-mixing is for rendering a normal stereo (or surround) audio track to a single speaker.

[pulchra]

Tools -> Preferences -> Audio -> Output . Select "ALSA audio output" for "Output module".
Tools -> Preferences. Change from "Simple" to "All" (bottom left).
Audio -> Output modules -> ALSA. Select "Mono" for "Audio output channel"
Restart VLC.

[mbesol]

@puchra - thank you for posting the solution. It helped to solve the problem I had with audio available and playing only in the left channel in some videos on my Fedora Linux.

[TheHalfDeafGuitarist]

Tools>Preferences>In the bottom left corner under Show Settings select All>In the left panel under Audoe expand Output Modules>select DirectX>in the right panel now to the left of Speaker Configuration change from stereo to mono. Bam.
Hope this helps.

Party on dudes!
Be excellent to each other!

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

That forces mono, not dual mono.

[davthp93]

Has anyone found a way to do this?

My problem is I am deaf in one ear and if I use headphones I need combine the two channels into mono so I hear both. I know it will never be stereo but this used to work on VLC but doesn't now. The solutions I have found include buying special wired headphones which do this and using other products such as foobar2000 which does it. What has happened to the mono button?

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

Please stop hijacking threads. This thread is about dual-mono playback, not mono-downmixing.

[Realgigabyte]

Hi,

I am using the 2.2.4 and it does not seem to have the option anymore. Is there a way to enable it.
Also the activex vlc.audio.channel (used to be 3 or 4 for L or R) does not work anymore.
Anybody can help?

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

The dual mono options are still there, under Audio, Stereo Mode.

[PatrickArchangel]

Hi all,

I think I found the solution. This should convert stereo to real mono (mono sound from combined both left and right channels).

Go to Tools, Effects and Filters:
Under Audio Effects, Go to Spatializer and check Enable.

This should make all audio become mono.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

And that's not dual mono. Care to read the subject of this thread even?

[panu]

In Windows, select DirectX output module from Tools->Preferences->Audio->Output module, then select Audio->Output modules->DirectX->Speaker configuration->Mono from Tools->Preferences->All



This will downmix all channels to one, which is then copied to both left and out output.