"I just read your "Macs in sleep mode" advice (inSync 12/19/00) about setting the Energy Saver to NEVER, which I just did. My question pertains to the monitor, and a similar type of "sleep" mode. I always shut my computer down, although I believe my monitor stays in a sort-of "sleep" mode, where the screen goes black, but turns on automatically when I start the computer. In other words, I never physically turn the monitor on or off. Is this a form of sleep? What do you recommend regarding monitors and on/off/sleep?"

Most modern monitors will enter a sleep or stand-by mode when the video signal is removed. Obviously shutting your computer off or putting it to sleep removes the video signal. To our knowledge this has never caused any problems in DAW and MIDI systems. Some users prefer to turn the monitor off but leave their computer running (not in sleep mode) so they don't have to continually shut down and restart their system. This normally works pretty well, and based on what we've seen is a better alternative than the sleep mode for stability.