Logic 8's DirMix vs. Binaural Panner for stereo panning

[entyng]

Hi all,

Based on the manual and forum discussions I saw, Logic's Direction Mixer plugin seems to be a good tool for stereo panning (as well as width adjustment). I gave it a try but discovered that the more I narrow down the stereo width (ex, to about 30% say) the less effective the panning works. When I narrow the stereo width to 0% complete mono the panning altogether loses its function (or so as my ears tell me) and stay at the center no matter where I pan it)

On the other hand, there is an option to choose "Binaural Panner" in Logic 8's mixer channel strip which allows me to adjust the stereo width too but without losing the panning effectiveness. The panning "boundary" seems to be wider too allowing me to reach more to the left and right position.

Can Binaural Panner be a better replacement for the function that DirMix provides? From the manual it seems that Binaural Panner is not designed specifically for such purpose but instead for a more sophisticated position panning via standard stereo signal which can be more effectively carried out by headphones and not monitor speakers. So will I get a distorted quality or lose something by using Binaural Panner to do stereo panning instead of the Direction Mixer plugin?

Or are there other plugins available that allows one to adjust stereo width while offering a wide and effective panning function?

Thanks in advance!

[Dietz]

For most of our users, Waves' "S1" seems to be the most employed plugin for this task. - I might add that our "Vienna Ensemble"-VI-host offers all important features for this task, too.

[Simsy]

Hi Dietz,

When using the VE panning section should I either

a) Just use the width section and set say the first triangle only for violins, for example. Therefore narrowing the width and panning to the left. OR
b) Set the width using the triangle section (say selecting just the middle part) and then pan to the left with the actual pan control?

Hope that makes sense, always wondered what the proper way to use the panning section.

Thanks!

[Dietz]

:-] I have to admit that I seem to miss the point, sorry ....?

[Simsy]

Yeah, sorry I though it was a bit confusing. OK I will have another go :

Say I want to set up Violins I, so that I narrow the stereo width and pan them to the left, should I

a) Set the power panning to start at the extreme left and finish say at the middle, e.g. set up the triangles in the power panning to be from the very beginning on the left to the line in the middle. Therefore the power panning is narrowing the stereo width and doing the panning.

OR

b) Set the power panning to just set the stereo width, e.g. set the power panning to be just the two middle triangles. Then use the pan control (located just below the power panning slider) to adjust the pan location. Therefore the power pan section sets width while the pan control sets the location.

Hope this is a bit easier to understand.