Basic Stereo Pan Question

[lamboguy]

How do you do it?



All this time I've used a "real" external mixing board (Fostex) and now I'm doing everything in the computer. I just installed Ivory and I go to pan it to the right and...nothing.

I checked the manual and don't see anything particularly earthshaking about this.

What am I doing wrong? I've got my Ivory track in the Mixer and when I pan left or right nothing happens. (I also turned Stereo Width down to zero in Ivory to see if that was it -- no difference)

Thanks,

Fred

[philbrown]

How do you do it?



All this time I've used a "real" external mixing board (Fostex) and now I'm doing everything in the computer. I just installed Ivory and I go to pan it to the right and...nothing.

I checked the manual and don't see anything particularly earthshaking about this.

What am I doing wrong? I've got my Ivory track in the Mixer and when I pan left or right nothing happens. (I also turned Stereo Width down to zero in Ivory to see if that was it -- no difference)

Thanks,

Fred

Not sure, but have you checked your audio bundles to make sure they're assigned correctly?

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Are you panning the VI or the MIDI track? I think you have to pan the VI (audio) track in most VIs. Same for volume automation - at least in the VIs I use.

[Mr_Clifford]

Are you panning the VI or the MIDI track? I think you have to pan the VI (audio) track in most VIs. Same for volume automation - at least in the VIs I use.

Yeah. Less and less VI manufacturers are programming their VI's to respond to the basic MIDI control messages like pan & volume these days. Not too much of a drama with a mono-timbral VI like Ivory, but a real pain with multi-timbral ones like the Kompact player that comes (came) with a lot of the East West libraries.

However, you'll find the pan knob a little limited with stereo tracks in DP, and you may want to put a 'trim' plug-in on the track to do more specific panning. - The 'trim' plug-in lets you control the volume, panning, and polarity of each of the L & R signals individually.

[lamboguy]

Thanks all -- armed with all this info I will attack the problem later today.

Much appreciated!

Fred

[Tim]

However, you'll find the pan knob a little limited with stereo tracks in DP, and you may want to put a 'trim' plug-in on the track to do more specific panning.

Yeah.
In DP the 'Pan' on a stereo track is really a balance control, not a pan. In other words, with a source like a close miked stereo piano where the high notes are on the right, and the lows on the left, turning the balance pot to the left will just turn down the right hand mic, resulting in mostly/only low notes being heard.
With the two separate pan controls in the Trim plug the L/R placement of the whole instrument can be panned, leaving the balance (relative levels) between the left and right 'mics' the unaltered.

[adeptusmajor]

However, you'll find the pan knob a little limited with stereo tracks in DP, and you may want to put a 'trim' plug-in on the track to do more specific panning.

Yeah.
In DP the 'Pan' on a stereo track is really a balance control, not a pan. In other words, with a source like a close miked stereo piano where the high notes are on the right, and the lows on the left, turning the balance pot to the left will just turn down the right hand mic, resulting in mostly/only low notes being heard.
With the two separate pan controls in the Trim plug the L/R placement of the whole instrument can be panned, leaving the balance (relative levels) between the left and right 'mics' the unaltered.

wow

that's good info

i don't think i've ever even used the trim plugin

figured it was just a basic gain control, i had no idea that it could do that

i'll check it out now, thanks

[James Steele]

In DP the 'Pan' on a stereo track is really a balance control, not a pan. In other words, with a source like a close miked stereo piano where the high notes are on the right, and the lows on the left, turning the balance pot to the left will just turn down the right hand mic, resulting in mostly/only low notes being heard.

Man... this does NOT sound like how it should work does it?

With the two separate pan controls in the Trim plug the L/R placement of the whole instrument can be panned, leaving the balance (relative levels) between the left and right 'mics' the unaltered.

Whew! Good to know!!

[stephentayler]

In DP the 'Pan' on a stereo track is really a balance control, not a pan. In other words, with a source like a close miked stereo piano where the high notes are on the right, and the lows on the left, turning the balance pot to the left will just turn down the right hand mic, resulting in mostly/only low notes being heard.

Man... this does NOT sound like how it should work does it?

Yes this one of the only niggles I have with DP as opposed to PT, where stereo tracks have 2 tiny panpots for the left and right. Sure, one can get round this with the Trim plug, but when working with stereo tracks in 5.1 there is no way to have complete independent control over the left and right pan. DP's surround panpots give you individual control of left and right, but they both stay linked in the front/rear plane.... another case where PT's dual panpots allow complete control.

Cheers

Stephen

[Mr_Clifford]

In DP the 'Pan' on a stereo track is really a balance control, not a pan. In other words, with a source like a close miked stereo piano where the high notes are on the right, and the lows on the left, turning the balance pot to the left will just turn down the right hand mic, resulting in mostly/only low notes being heard.

Man... this does NOT sound like how it should work does it?

Well.... stereo channels on mixing desks often have a balance knob instead of a pan knob, but at least it's labelled 'balance'. As stephentayler pointed out, really the only way to get proper panning on a stereo track is to have separate controls for Left & Right.

[burp182]

Remember, piano does present a little bit of a special situation in that the tonality differs from side to side in a VERY specific way. On most "stereo" sources like a synth, the stereo is often generated from the effects and so decreasing the level on one side or the other won't change the character of the sound.