Marianne Martinez
Panning in Max MSP involves adjusting the relative loudness of a single sound across two or more speakers. This technique allows you to create the impression that a sound source is located in a specific direction or position in a stereo sound field. By manipulating the balance and relative strength of the left and right channels, you can make a sound seem closer to one speaker or pan it smoothly across multiple speakers. The process involves using MIDI values, gain calculations, and crossfading techniques to achieve the desired panning effect. This can be done with basic MSP objects and is influenced by factors such as the number of speakers, their arrangement, and the nature of the audio signals.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Panning | Adjusting the relative loudness of a single sound coming from two or more speakers |
| Loudness | A cue for how far away a sound source is located |
| Mono source | Can be moved along a corridor by panning from speaker to speaker |
| Multi-channel panning | Used to blend waveforms, a technique called vector synthesis or morphing |
| Stereo signals | Cannot be panned by turning left or right, but the impression of the source being on the right or left can be affected by the balance or relative strength of the left and right channels |
| MIDI | Panning is controlled by a single value from 0 to 127 |
| Amplitude | The range of MIDI values 0 to 127 is mapped onto the amplitude range 0 to 1 |
| Speaker angle | Specified in degrees by the user in the main patch |
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What You'll Learn
MIDI controller panning
Panning in Max MSP involves adjusting the relative loudness of a sound coming from two or more speakers. This is done to create the illusion of sound originating from a specific direction. The concept of panning is particularly useful in creating a stereo sound field for monaural signals.
There are three primary methods for calculating panning, all of which can be controlled by MIDI values ranging from 0 to 127. The first method involves fading one channel linearly from 0 to 1 while the other channel fades from 1 to 0. This type of panning is the simplest to calculate. The second method employs a linear crossfade technique, where the sum of the two amplitudes is always 1. However, the intensity of the sound is proportional to the sum of the squares of the amplitudes from each speaker, resulting in a softer perception when panned to the middle compared to the sides.
The third method involves using a pictslider object, which allows for two-dimensional control over four channels. By moving the circle in the pictslider, the sound can be panned not only left and right but also forward and back. This technique is commonly used in automobile sound systems and synthesizers for blending waveforms.
It is important to note that panning is not just about balancing the sound between speakers but also controlling the perceived loudness to suggest distance. A softer sound is generally perceived as more distant, while a louder sound is assumed to be closer.
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Stereo panning
The concept of "stereo panning" is about placing a monaural signal in a stereo sound field. If the source material is stereo to begin with, we are concerned with the balance, which adjusts the relative strength of the left and right channels. The perceived loudness from the combination of two signals depends strongly on the nature of the signals. If the two signals are exactly the same, two copies will combine to be 6dB louder than one alone. If the signals have nothing in common, combining them will only provide a 3dB boost. Most stereo signals are similar in the left and right channels, but not identical. Combining them is somewhere between 3 and 6dB louder than either alone.
On analog mixing consoles, the panning of an input channel to the two channels of the output is usually controlled by a single knob. In MIDI, panning is generally controlled by a single value from 0 to 127. In both cases, a single continuum is used to describe the balance between the two stereo channels, even though the precise amplitude of each channel at various intermediate points can be calculated in many different ways.
There are various methods to achieve stereo panning. One method is to start with the gain going to one output set to 1 and the other output gain set to 0, then gradually turn one output down to 0 as you bring the other up to 1. Another method is to give one sound a gain between 0 and 1 and give the other sound a gain that's equal to 1 minus that amount. Thus, the sum of the two gain factors will always be 1, so the sounds will not clip, even if added together.
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Multi-channel panning
The preferred controller for four-channel panning is a joystick or a two-dimensional control like a pictslider. By opening the Quad_pan subpatcher and starting the window audio, you can experiment with four-channel panning. If you don't have a four-channel listening environment, you can adjust the settings in the Options menu by selecting I/O Mappings and routing the channels accordingly.
The Quad_mix subpatch contains an instrument that blends four waveforms using the pictslider object. By moving the circle in the pictslider left and right, you can control the pan function, which is derived by scaling the pictslider X output to 0-1 and taking the square root. This results in panning the sound forward and backward, with each of the four channels controlled by a combination of X and Y values.
Additionally, to inject a stereo signal into a quad space, you need to combine balance control with front-to-back panning using the Stereo_quad_pan subpatch. This technique is commonly used in automobile sound systems and synthesizers for blending waveforms, known as vector synthesis or morphing.
There are also more advanced techniques for multi-channel panning in Max MSP. For instance, one user modified the signal-controlled 4-channel panner in Max 5 to support eight channels. Another user developed amplitude panning externals for graphics-driven sound projects, utilising internal sample-rate interpolation of coordinates. These examples demonstrate the flexibility and scalability of Max MSP for multi-channel panning applications.
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Speaker angle
The concept of "panning" is about placing a monaural signal in a stereo sound field. The relative loudness of a sound in each of our ears is a cue we use to tell the direction from which the sound is coming. When the sound is equally balanced between two speakers, we localize the sound in a direction precisely between the speakers. As the balance between the two speakers varies from one to the other, we localize the sound in various directions between the two speakers.
The speaker angle is specified in degrees by the user in the main patch. The angle is converted to a fraction of a cycle and is eventually converted to radians (multiplied by 2π, or 6.2832) for the trigonometric operations. The speaker angle can be adjusted to suit the actual speaker positions. The effect of panning becomes more pronounced as the speaker angle increases. It is most effective with 'normal' speaker angles ranging from about 30° up to 45°, or even up to 60°. Below 30° the effect is too slight to be very useful, and above about 60° it's too extreme to be realistic.
The perceived loudness from the combination of two signals depends on the nature of the signals. If the two signals are exactly the same, two copies will combine to be 6dB louder than one alone. If the signals have nothing in common, combining them will only provide a 3dB boost. Most stereo signals are similar in the left and right channels, but not identical. Combining them is somewhere between 3 and 6dB louder than either alone.
The pan function is linear, derived by scaling the pictslider X output to 0-1 and taking the square root. The value derived is applied to the right channel and pow((1-$f1), 0.5) is applied to the left channel.
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Gain and loudness
Panning in Max MSP involves adjusting the relative loudness of a single sound coming from two or more speakers. The relative loudness of a sound in each of our ears is a cue that we use to tell the direction from which the sound is coming. When the sound is equally balanced between two speakers, we localize the sound as coming from a direction precisely between the speakers.
The gain value is multiplied by a normalizing factor of 2/ (d+b) to avoid clipping. When the source reaches an angle greater than 90° from one speaker, that speaker's gain is set to 0. The speaker angle, specified in degrees by the user in the main patch, is converted to a fraction of a cycle and eventually to radians (by multiplying by 6.2832, or 2π) for trigonometric operations.
On analog mixing consoles, the panning of an input channel to the two channels of the output is usually controlled by a single knob. In MIDI, panning is generally controlled by a single value from 0 to 127. The precise amplitude of each channel at various intermediate points can be calculated in many different ways.
The perceived loudness from the combination of two signals depends strongly on the nature of the signals. If the two signals are identical, two copies will combine to be 6dB louder than one alone. If the signals have nothing in common, combining them will only provide a 3dB boost. Most stereo signals are similar in the left and right channels, but not identical. Combining them is somewhere between 3 and 6dB louder than either alone.
In MSP, the average~ object can measure power (which is related to perceived loudness), while peakamp~ can measure the peak history ("envelope"). The difference between the measured amplitude and the target amplitude can be thought of as the gain error. The compressor wants to boost soft notes, and some of the early notes may be excessively punched and distorted.
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Frequently asked questions
Panning refers to adjusting the relative loudness of a single sound coming from two (or more) speakers.
In MSP, panning is controlled by a single value from 0 to 127. This value represents the amplitude of the right channel, while the left channel is always set to 1 minus the amplitude of the right channel.
The stereo effect can be achieved by blending the two channels, which affects the apparent width of the sound stage. This can be done using the most basic MSP objects.
To pan between four speakers, you can use a two-dimensional control such as a joystick or pictslider. The four speakers define the boundaries of the stereo field, and each speaker can be controlled by some combination of X and Y or 1-X and 1-Y values.
To create a smooth crossfade, give one channel a gain between 0 and 1 and the other channel a gain equal to 1 minus that amount. This ensures that the sum of the two gain factors is always 1, preventing clipping even if the sounds are added together.
