Acid 4 Surround panning -ACID Product Family - MAGIX Community Forums Archive

Subject:Acid 4 Surround panning Posted by: arcmusic Date:11/6/2002 8:09:01 PM Maybe Sonic Foundry or someone else can confirm this for me... I set up one of my Acid projects in the 5.1 surround format and started trying out the new Acid 5.1 mixing capabilities. But it appears that my stereo tracks are being summed to mono before they are sent to the panner! For example, I purposely tried inserting a wav loop that has only audio in the left channl and silence in its right. If I pan the track containing this file to Front right or Rear right I still get the full amplitude left channel signal playback. I sincerely hope there is a workaround or setting for this, since summed mono tracks panned to a 5.1 mix does not = 5.1 surround! All stereo imaging is lost in such a design and therefore pretty much useless for anything but casual multi-channel experimenting. Please someone tell me there's a way to keep stereo imaging in the 5.1 project mode!!
Subject:RE: Acid 4 Surround panning Reply by: SonyMLogan Date:11/7/2002 8:29:45 PM ArcMusic, It sounds like a different Pan Type setting will give you the behavior you want. Right-click on the surround panner, highlight the "Pan Type" item (which will reveal a menu of pan types), and try "Balance (0 dB Center)" for starters. The default pan type in acid ("Add Channels") folds an increasing amount from the left source channel into the right speaker as the control is moved from center to right. Likewise, as the fader is moved from center to right, more and more of the right signal is fed to the left speaker. The "Balance" pan types are more suited to the effect you seem to desire. No cross-channel gains are applied in this type. The various -X dB versions of balance indicate that as the panner nears the center, a -X dB gain is applied. This has the effect of making the signal seem to pan around the user as opposed to panning through the user's head. The "constant power" pan type is designed to pan in a way that yields a constant sum of squared signals from the speakers, resulting in a pan that has no audible signal difference as the signal is panned around the surround field. One thing to watch out for with this pan type is that feeding signal to the center speaker reduces the signal to the left and right speakers (to keep the power from the front constant). Good luck with your surround projects!

Subject:Acid 4 Surround panning

Posted by: arcmusic

Date:11/6/2002 8:09:01 PM

Maybe Sonic Foundry or someone else can confirm this for me... I set up one of my Acid projects in the 5.1 surround format and started trying out the new Acid 5.1 mixing capabilities. But it appears that my stereo tracks are being summed to mono before they are sent to the panner! For example, I purposely tried inserting a wav loop that has only audio in the left channl and silence in its right. If I pan the track containing this file to Front right or Rear right I still get the full amplitude left channel signal playback. I sincerely hope there is a workaround or setting for this, since summed mono tracks panned to a 5.1 mix does not = 5.1 surround! All stereo imaging is lost in such a design and therefore pretty much useless for anything but casual multi-channel experimenting. Please someone tell me there's a way to keep stereo imaging in the 5.1 project mode!!

Subject:RE: Acid 4 Surround panning

Reply by: SonyMLogan

Date:11/7/2002 8:29:45 PM

ArcMusic,

It sounds like a different Pan Type setting will give you the behavior you want. Right-click on the surround panner, highlight the "Pan Type" item (which will reveal a menu of pan types), and try "Balance (0 dB Center)" for starters.

The default pan type in acid ("Add Channels") folds an increasing amount from the left source channel into the right speaker as the control is moved from center to right. Likewise, as the fader is moved from center to right, more and more of the right signal is fed to the left speaker.

The "Balance" pan types are more suited to the effect you seem to desire. No cross-channel gains are applied in this type. The various -X dB versions of balance indicate that as the panner nears the center, a -X dB gain is applied. This has the effect of making the signal seem to pan around the user as opposed to panning through the user's head.

The "constant power" pan type is designed to pan in a way that yields a constant sum of squared signals from the speakers, resulting in a pan that has no audible signal difference as the signal is panned around the surround field. One thing to watch out for with this pan type is that feeding signal to the center speaker reduces the signal to the left and right speakers (to keep the power from the front constant).

Good luck with your surround projects!