equal power panning in the modular & daws

Anything about the Scope modular synths

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castol
Posts: 323
Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2001 4:00 pm

Post by castol »

i have recently been turned on to this technique. but i'm struggling to put it into practice.

there is a fair amount of info online about this, but most hits are either just a mention of the feature, or going into the mathematical implementation (i no so good with math, anymoor...heh).

would anyone care to enlighten me?

an article on pre-mastering over at creativesynth.com was what initially got me interested. the author says:

"A car goes by: listen to it without following it with your head. Hear how the sound pans from ear to ear naturally. That’s equal-power panning, and you should know how to get it from your audio sequencer. (Hint: most mixers’ panpots don’t work this way.)"

creativesynth is a great site, btw. i think someone here at planetz posted the link, don't remember who though? anyway, lots of interesting articles....quite a few that are modular oriented.

thanks.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: castol on 2002-03-15 15:42 ]</font>
algorhythm
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Post by algorhythm »

check the audio>system panel in Cubase (the page where you set up your drivers).

There is a check-box to determine what type of panning power setting you wish to use.
Is this what you mean?

I am not completely sure if what I am about to say is correct, but I will try :wink:

Some physics of sound stuff:
A doubling of power (i.e. 2 equally powerful speakers instead of one) yields only a 3 dB increase in SPL. In other words, doubling the power does not double the sound pressure level.

I think that the purpose of equal power panning is to compensate for this. If a signal is sent to one speaker only, then it would be 3 dB quiter than if the signal were output of both speakers. It sounds like equal power-panning would make it such that the power output of the signal would be the same regardless of the position of the sound in the stereo field. In other words, I think that there is a gradual increase in the signal's power as it is panned to either side, maxxing out at 3 dB gain at full L or R.

Of course, I may be completely wrong. :wink: I ain't no physicist :lol:
algorhythm
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Post by algorhythm »

I was sorta right. here is a better explanation:

http://members.optushome.com.au/utopiaa ... pmixer.htm
castol
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Post by castol »

ahh!

your description made all the difference.

thanks.
castol
Posts: 323
Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2001 4:00 pm

Post by castol »

it seems the crossfade module maintains equal power as it is moving from one source to another.

but...the mod input doesn't cover the entire modulation range - moving from one source to another.

alternatively i figured out one can use a crossfade module, with two value or frequency modules, to range limit modulation. but, again, the mod input doesn't cover the entire range. so whatever two values you use, the upper end will allways be comprimised - because of this lack of full modulation range.

ohhh, hold the drama!

heh.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: castol on 2002-03-16 09:18 ]</font>
castol
Posts: 323
Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2001 4:00 pm

Post by castol »

i figured it out, after i realized that the crossfade modules mod input was looking for bipolar modulation instead of unipolar.

using unipolar (most envelopes, velocity, at, key track...) modulation yielded the half range i was grumbling about.

can anyone comment if equal power panning is any more dramatic monitored through correctly positioned (in reference to the listener) monitors than a pair of cans?

//c
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