E4L Multi Panner - EnvelopSound/EnvelopForLive GitHub Wiki

The E4L Multi-Panner is an spatialization utility that allows a set of sound sources to be spatialized as a group. It takes up to 8 stereo pairs (16 sources) of audio and spatializes them collectively into a 16-channel Ambisonics signal that will be routed to the E4L Master Bus.

The Heads-Up Display indicates the positioning of the active sound sources.

Global Section

The parameters in this section set a global reference position which is the basis for all individual source positions.

Azim moves about the horizontal plane, with 0 corresponding to the listener facing directly ahead, positive values indicating clockwise rotation and negative values indicating anti-clockwise rotation, using degrees from -180 to +180. The Elev control indicates the angle of elevation from the horizontal plane, in a range from -90 to +90 degrees. Negative values place the sound beneath the listener, positive values overhead. The Radius control indicates the distance of the sound source from the central listening position.

The Range control sets the maximum amount of distance attenuation that will be applied to the sound when at a a full Radius setting of 1. The larger this Range is, the quieter a sound will become at large distance values. A lower Range setting will result in less attenuation. It is generally recommended to dial in a Range setting appropriate to the maximum distance you wish to simulate, and then use the Radius control to automate positioning changes.

LFO controls are avaialble on both the Azim and Elev parameters. Each of these LFOs may operate in one of two Time Mode settings. When in Freq mode, the cycle time is a function of the LFO Freq multiplied by the LFO Rate. Note that the LFO Rate also controls the direction of oscillation. When in Sync mode, the cycle is specified by combination of a clock division and a direction.

The Azim LFO has two modes. When in Cycle mode, the source signal oscillates through an infinite loop about the horizontal plane. When in Sin mode, the azimuth value is modulated by a sin wave over a radial number of degrees specified by the Depth parameter. The Elev LFO always oscillates using a sin wave, with a Direction and Depth control.

Note that when either LFO is stopped, the Azim or Elev controls will be updated to the last modulated position that the LFO stopped at, to avoid any sudden discontinuities in the position of the sound.

Scale Section

The parameters in the scale section control the behavior of offsets that may be applied on a per-source basis.

Azim scales the amount of azimuth offset applied to each individual sound source. Elev scales elevation offset, and Rad scales the radius offset.

As with the Global controls, LFO controls are avaialble on both the Azim and Elev parameters.

Inputs Section

The In → button can be used to toggle visibility of the 16 discrete input sources. Each of these 16 input strips has the same set of four controls.

The Active button controls whether this input source is active or not.

The Azim knob specifies an azimuth offset that will be applied to this sound source. The final position of this sound source will be computed as Global Azim + Scale Azim × Source Azim.

The Elev and Rad knobs behave similarly, used to specify offsets that will be scaled and combined with the global position to determine the final position for this source.

Audio Routing

Sources 1/2 for this panner will be received from the Track In, the same as any other Ableton device. Inputs 3-16 may be routed from other Ableton tracks using the Audio To control, as indicated below.