In this article Julian Rodgers highlights the flexibility of a monitoring system controller by a DAD MOM when used in combination with DADman and the Pro Mon software option.
The reason you need a MOM if you have hardware which can be controlled by it like a MTRX, AX32 or MTRX Studio is the flexibility it offers.
The Monitor Operating Module works the way you set it up to work. It doesn’t have a fixed architecture. Because of this it can be a difficult product to understand but whether your monitoring needs are simple or complex, the MOM, combined with a suitable hardware and a copy of DADman and the additional Pro Mon software option makes a monitor control system capable of whatever you need it to do.
Central to this system is Pro Mon, a licensed software extension of DADman which offers virtually limitless options in setting up and assigning sources to monitor profiles. What MOM is is a tactile, customisable hardware controller for Pro Mon.
MOM vs Traditional Monitor Controllers
The DAD MOM is one of those products which is so useful and so flexible but its usefulness can be hard to convey, in part because of its flexibility. Whereas a traditional monitor controller is easy to understand because its function is largely fixed, the MOM is a tactile front end to an impressively complete monitoring solution which integrates with an entire system, hardware and software.
Because of its role as a programmable remote control some might write off the MOM as an expensive volume knob in the same way as many write off Eucon control surfaces as an expensive mouse. The parallel between an analogue mixer versus a Eucon control surface like an S6 and a traditional hardware monitor controller versus a MOM is probably a helpful way to understand the role the MOM, DADman and a MTRX, MTRX Studio, AX32 or DX32 play in a studio scenario.
In this video from DAD, Jan Lykke explains the usefulness of a MOM when paired with a MTRX Studio.
Do get a closer look at what is involved in setting up MOM Layers in Pro Mon here is a video demonstrating the process.
If you want to see the MOM in use in a real world example click the image below to see an On Test article by James Richmond who uses a pair of MOMs in exactly the way Jan suggests in his studio for monitor control of his Avid MTRX from his mix position and at his large modular synth.
The felxibility goes far beyond that. For a more detailed walkthrough the setup options possible with an AX32, the SPQ card and DADman, including multichannel monitoring and fold-downs here are a series of interviews with Jan Lykke of DAD with Mike Thornton which illustrate some of the possibilities.