Auto Panner moves a sound back and forth between the left and right speakers. A sine wave sets the position, so a single mono source comes out as a stereo signal in motion.
The idea
Panning is the oldest way to make one sound occupy two speakers. A panner builds the two channels itself, so this works on a mono guitar, voice or synth without needing a stereo source.
Rate behaves like two effects. Below about 8 Hz your ear follows the movement and hears a position travelling. Above about 10 Hz the movement is too fast to track and turns into a rough texture with a stereo edge. The range goes up to 20 Hz so that end is reachable.
Controls
- Rate is how fast the sound crosses the field, from 0.1 to 20 Hz.
- Depth is how far toward each speaker the sweep travels. At full depth it reaches hard left and hard right.
- Mix blends the moving copy with a still copy of the sound. Pulling it back leaves a stable image with movement around it instead of narrowing the sweep.
- Position places that still copy anywhere from left to right. With Mix at zero, Auto Panner becomes a plain panner with no movement.
Getting started
Play a guitar, voice or synth through it and start with Slow Drift or Gentle Sway. Hard Ping-Pong throws the sound from side to side, Wide Pulse keeps a centre under a rhythmic sweep, and Flutter goes past the rate the ear can track.
At full depth the sound sits entirely on one side at the extremes, which half disappears if the mix is played back in mono. Moderate depths, or a Mix below 100%, hold up better on mono speakers.
