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Message: [QUOTE="Shamiso, post: 92525, member: 160"] SoundGhost Orbit divides incoming audio into Low, Mid, and High bands using two movable crossover points set by default at 250 Hz and 2.5 kHz. Those numbers are useful starting positions, but they are not targets you need to protect. Moving either boundary changes which part of the source gets handed to each independent panning and modulation section. A crossover point is less about finding a universally correct frequency and more about deciding where one behavior should stop and another should begin. Put the split in the wrong place, and a snare crack, bass harmonic, vocal edge, or synth texture can end up moving with a band you meant to keep steady. [HEADING=2]Crossover placement decides what receives the motion[/HEADING] Orbit shows the incoming spectrum before the signal is divided, so you can see where energy is concentrated while moving the two split points. A crossover does not understand musical roles such as kick, body, presence, or air. It only separates frequency ranges, leaving you to decide which range belongs with which spatial behavior. Start with the sound itself instead of a frequency chart. A bass patch may carry its fundamental well below 250 Hz while important growl and pitch information sits above it, so placing the first split too low can make the stable band contain less of the instrument than expected. Move it too high, and you may keep so much of the patch centered that the moving mid band barely changes the stereo picture. Drums expose the same problem differently. A loop can have kick weight, snare body, hi-hat energy, room tone, and distortion spread across overlapping regions rather than clean little boxes. If your upper crossover slices through the part of the snare that gives it bite, aggressive high-band panning can make every hit tug sideways when you only wanted the hats and fizz to move. This is where [B][URL='https://goldmidi.com/community/threads/soundghosts-orbit-splits-audio-for-three-band-auto-panning.77889/']SoundGhost Orbit's movable crossover points[/URL][/B] become more useful than the default numbers themselves. Slide a boundary while the full arrangement plays and listen for the moment an unwanted element stops following the moving band. Small changes can matter more than adding extra modulation depth afterward. [HEADING=2]Crossovers are transitions, not musical labels[/HEADING] Real crossover filters have transition behavior around their split frequencies rather than acting like perfect brick walls. The engineering tradeoffs behind those filters, including slope, phase response, separation, and latency, are covered in [B][URL='https://doi.org/10.17743/jaes.2022.0100']a 2023 review of audio crossover networks[/URL][/B]. Orbit does not publish enough filter-design detail to assume a particular topology, so predicting its crossover behavior from a label alone is shaky. For practical mixing, audition the boundary instead of treating it as a surgical cutoff. Solo a band briefly if you need to hear what it contains, then return to the complete signal because the recombined result is what matters. A split that sounds logical in isolation can still put too much movement into the wrong part once all three bands are playing together. Avoid chasing round numbers because they look sensible. Setting a crossover at 200 Hz does not automatically create a bass band, and 3 kHz does not automatically isolate presence. Instruments distribute fundamentals, harmonics, noise, transients, and effects differently, so the useful boundary is the one separating behaviors you want to control independently. The spectrum display helps, but your ears make the final call. Look for clusters of energy, then move the split while listening for changes in stability, tone, and apparent position. Visual gaps can be useful clues, although many real sounds have no clean valley waiting for you. [HEADING=2]A good split makes less processing necessary[/HEADING] Poor crossover placement often gets disguised with more modulation. If the high band contains too much midrange body, you might reduce its pan depth, slow the rate, or narrow the width when moving the boundary would have fixed the actual problem. Wrong band, wrong cure. Try exaggerating the panning temporarily while choosing the split. A wide, obvious movement makes it easier to hear which harmonics have crossed into the animated band, especially on pads, guitars, vocals, and distorted basses. Once the boundary feels right, pull the movement back to what the mix needs. Low-band decisions deserve restraint because moving weight around can change how solid the whole source feels even when nothing is technically broken. Keeping more of the fundamental region in a restrained band can give upper harmonics room to travel without making the source seem to lose its footing. On another sound, some low-mid movement may be exactly what creates the character. Choose the crossover before polishing the modulation settings. Decide what belongs in Low, Mid, and High first, then shape how each region moves. The result usually needs fewer extreme settings because each modulator is finally working on the material you meant to give it. [/QUOTE]

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