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Message: [QUOTE="Shamiso, post: 92531, member: 160"] Orbit gives every Low, Mid, and High band separate Position, Width, and Volume controls, with an independent modulator attached to each one. Those three destinations can look like variations on the same stereo trick when you first open the plugin. They are not. Position changes where a band sits between left and right. Width changes how spread out an already stereo band feels, while Volume changes its level without choosing a new side. Modulating each one creates a different kind of motion even when the same waveform and rate are doing the driving. The useful part of [B][URL='https://goldmidi.com/community/threads/soundghosts-orbit-splits-audio-for-three-band-auto-panning.77889/']Orbit's separate position width and volume controls[/URL][/B] is being able to separate those jobs. You can move a band across the speakers, make its image breathe wider and narrower, or pulse its level while leaving its lateral position alone. [HEADING=2]Position modulation moves the apparent source[/HEADING] Basic amplitude panning works by changing the relative level sent to the left and right channels. Move a mono signal left and the left channel receives more of it while the right receives less, creating a phantom source that appears displaced from the center. A moving pan control repeats that redistribution over time. The frequency-dependent interaural cues documented in [B][URL='https://secure.aes.org/forum/pubs/journal/?elib=10180']stereophonic panning localization tests[/URL][/B] help explain why identical pan travel need not create an identical spatial impression across every sound. A bright percussion band and a low synth band can therefore feel different even when the control moves through the same range. Position modulation is the obvious choice when you actually want left-right travel. Put a slow sine on the upper band of a pad and its brightness can cross the image while the rest stays nearer the middle. Put a square wave on percussion, and the motion becomes a hard alternation instead of a smooth sweep. Pan law can also affect perceived level while a source moves across the panorama. Listen for a band seeming louder or softer near the middle before blaming the Volume modulator. Position and loudness can interact perceptually even when only the pan control is moving. [HEADING=2]Width modulation changes spread without choosing a side[/HEADING] Stereo width is not the same control as pan position. A signal can sit in the center and still have a broad stereo image because its left and right channels contain different information. A mono signal panned hard left has an extreme position but no internal stereo spread of its own. Orbit treats Width as a scale from mono through unchanged stereo to extra-wide processing. Modulating it can make a band contract and expand while its Position setting stays put. The band's apparent center does not need to travel just because its spread is changing. This works especially well on stereo recordings, reverbs, chorus-heavy synths, room microphones, and layered textures. A high band can open during a sustained section and shrink again before the next transient, creating spatial breathing without sending the whole part from speaker to speaker. Material with bigger left-right differences will usually make the width movement easier to hear. Extreme width deserves a mono check because widening changes the relationship between the two channels rather than simply choosing which one is louder. Orbit's correlation meter gives a quick warning when the result starts leaning into negative correlation. A giant stereo image is not useful if an important band thins out badly after left and right are combined. [HEADING=2]Volume modulation creates motion without relocation[/HEADING] Volume modulation changes how loud a band becomes while leaving its chosen Position and Width settings intact. At slow rates, it can make one spectral region swell in and out. At faster musical rates, it behaves more like tremolo, with the pulse shaped by waveform, depth, and timing. This matters because level changes can be mistaken for spatial movement in a busy mix. If the high band gets louder while a lower band stays steady, attention can shift toward the brighter region even when nothing has moved left or right. The stereo field feels more active, but the mechanism is simple gain modulation. Combining destinations is where the controls stop feeling redundant. A band can move right while becoming narrower, then lose level before returning left, or its width can expand on a different cycle from its volume. Separate modulators mean those changes do not have to peak at the same moment. Start by deciding which sensation you actually want. Use Position when the band should travel, Width when its stereo spread should change, and Volume when its energy should pulse. Combine them only after one control already does something useful, because three large modulation depths at once can make it impossible to hear which movement is helping. [/QUOTE]

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