Left/Right Track and Send Pan Controls

[Bill Phillips]

I would love to be able to pan left/right track output and send levels independently as if they were dual mono channels. I have work arounds but it would be a lot easier if there were separate pan controls.

I apologize if I've submitted this before. I'm constantly running into situations were I'd like to have separate pan controls.

[Glenn Stanton]

maybe just use two mono tracks. i just did a recording this weekend up at Woodstock and just two mics and two mono tracks per performance, sounds great and i can also adjust some of the levels between the tracks to change the closest instruments to a given mic. 

[Bill Phillips]

1 hour ago, Glenn Stanton said:

maybe just use two mono tracks. i just did a recording this weekend up at Woodstock and just two mics and two mono tracks per performance, sounds great and i can also adjust some of the levels between the tracks to change the closest instruments to a given mic. 

What I do is avoid it unless it makes a big difference. When it seems to make a significant difference, I do as you suggest. 

[scook]

WRT track controls, @Craig Anderton offered this solution (from http://forum.cakewalk.com/Pro-Channel-Panning-m3755460.aspx)

Quote

I did do an FX Chain, but I think the following approach is more convenient. It's on page 16 in "The Big Book of SONAR Tips," here's the text.
 
Add Pro Tools-Style Dual Panpots to SONAR  
 
From time to time, some people wish that like Pro Tools, SONAR had separate panpots for the left and right channels. The reason why Pro Tools has two panpots is because it traditionally treated stereo as two mono sources, very much like the hardware mixing consoles that were common in the mid- to late-20th century. Like most DAWs, SONAR does understand the difference between stereo and mono signals. This is why for mono tracks the panpot acts like a traditional panpot, but for stereo signals, it acts like a balance control.  
 
However there are advantages to the dual panpot approach, as it allows “weighting” the stereo image more to the left, right, or center. The ultimate solution is the Channel Tools plug-in, which not only allows each channel to pan anywhere in the stereo field, but also has a Width control so that each channel can spread across part of the stereo field, or all of it.  
 
While flexible, you might not want to have to open up Channel Tools to do this kind of advanced panning. However, it’s possible to integrate Channel Tools’ functionality right into the Console View’s channel strips by using the Channel Strip’s “Show Assignable Controls” option. 
 
1. Insert Channel Tools into the track’s FX Rack.
2. In the Console View, choose Options > FX > Show Assignable Controls.
3. Four sliders appear below Channel Tools.
4. Right-click on a slider, choose Re-Assign Control, and assign it to the appropriate Channel Tools control. I assigned Width to the top two sliders, and Angle (pan) to the lower two sliders, but assign the sliders in whatever way makes sense to you.
5. With Channel Tools visible, adjust the sliders and observe the effect on the Channel Tools controls so you get a feel of how they work. 6. Now close the Channel Tools GUI to get it out of the way, and use the Assignable Controls.
 
If you want all your channels to have these kinds of panpots, Ctrl+Drag the Channel Tools label from one channel’s FX Rack into another channel’s FX Rack. The same slider assignments will now appear in the copy—Ctrl+Drag into as many channels as you want. (You may want to create a track template around this if you’re fond of the dual pan pots approach.)
 
If you put another plug-in in the FX Rack, then you can assign sliders to four parameters in that plug-in as well. To see the Channel Tools assignable controls, just click on the Channel Tools label in the FX Rack. The Assignable Controls will follow whichever plug-in has the focus. And of course, if you want to see the results of your tweaking in a more visual fashion, just double-click on the Channel Tools plug-in to open the GUI and see the changes your tweaks are making.
 
So…not only do you have all the functionality of dual panpots, but an additional Width control that does more than the Pro Tools dual panpots can do.

I believe it was deleted from the Huge Book of CbB Tips because Channel Tools was not bundled with CbB at the time the book was compiled.

[reevant]

I was looking for a good solution.  Many good DAWs have setting on the track panning that do similar without the need of adding extra tools or plugins.  Yes some plugins such a Neutron or VST instruments such as VSL Synchron have it built in as do some other DAWs.  
 

it would be a really good feature to add IMHO.

Tony

[Roland-Music]

There is the Channel Tools plug-in since CbB 2020.08  ❓

[reevant]

I think you’ll find Channel Tools has been around for a very, very long time (I can recall using it years ago).  However a number of DAWs have a simple option on the panning knob (or whatever) that allows the user to simply choose how the panning is to be performed without adding yet another plugin.

my thoughts

Tony

[Bill Phillips]

On 4/18/2021 at 8:49 PM, scook said:

WRT track controls, @Craig Anderton offered this solution (from http://forum.cakewalk.com/Pro-Channel-Panning-m3755460.aspx)

I believe it was deleted from the Huge Book of CbB Tips because Channel Tools was not bundled with CbB at the time the book was compiled.

I haven't used this  because, it appears to affect the track output and all sends. I usually only want to do this on one or two sends. Even the split mono tracks is a problem because I want to apply stereo FX to the stereo channel.

Edited April 21, 2021 by Bill Phillips

[jesse g]

Channel Tools was added to Cakewalk Sonar back in 2008

SOS Magazine wrote about Sonar Channel Tools in 2009.

https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/sonar-stereo-tools