AutoPan

A lot of people ask how to autopan a track in Logic. Here's one technique I use. Download, open, press play and watch your Pan in the channel strip.

 

I duplicated the Audio 1 Track that I wanted to auto pan. You can quickly drag a Loop from the Loop Browser (Audio > Loop Browser) to check out this template.

 

Then I penciled in an empty MIDI Region onto the new track, opened it in a Matrix window where I drew the pan Hyperdraw curve. I checked my help tag all along, making sure the nodes were on the grid for perfect timing. I created the S curves by Control-Option dragging horizontally in the middle of the segments.

 

You can adjust the rate of the AutoPan by resizing its MIDI Region in Arrange while holding Option, and clicking OK when prompted to time stretch.

 

You can create any shape you want, loop it, stop it, mute it independantly of the original track...

 

Also, if you want to use the automation waveform for events other than Pan, you can convert the events in the Hyper Editor:

1) Select the MIDI region containing the automation.

2) Choose Windows > Hyper Edit (or press Command-5)

3) Choose Hyper > Convert Event Definition (or press Control-T)

4) Enter the event type in the "To" box and press Convert.

 

For example, if you wanted to automate the bypass of a plug-in on an audio track, set:

• Status = Fader

• Channel = 1

• - 1 - = 56

AutoPan.lso.zip

Edited May 17, 2007 by David Nahmani

Nice one, again, David. I'm new here and i really appreciate the fact that you take the time to offer advice on some of the more simple (to the experts at least) environment set-ups. I've recently downloaded the Appergiator and Delay Line templates as well, which i've been trying to set up for a while - trouble is, my patience runs out after about 5 minutes!

 

Theres so much to learn, i've been busy for a year now with Logic Pro 6 and found the manual pretty difficult to understand. Its much easier to actually see the set-up on screen.

 

Keep up the good work!

 

Andy.

No worries, I know (remember) how hard it is when you first get started with Logic!

I usually use the Tremolo plugin for auto-pan effects.

Here is how I do it:

 

I insert SFX Machine RT and choose Autopan:)

 

http://www.sfxmachine.com/

All those alternate solutions are good but don't give you a million^th of the amount of flexibility that this template give you.

 

One of them being that you can control any parameter from any plug-in or channel strip with a region in your arrange window, and you can easily loop and resize the region.

 

This was really done with dance music in mind, where you want to easily loop a modulation for a few bars, stop it, start it again at a different tempo... without having to automate a plug-in.

This has really helped to sort out a Hyperdraw and its easy manipulation in the arrange for me.

 

Once again LPH trumps the manual!

Cheers

David,

 

I've tried to figure this out by examining these threads but I'm afraid I'm being a little dense here. . .

 

Let's say, for example, I want to apply a LFO-like loop to vary the cutoff frequency of a filter. Extrapolating from the instructions on your 4/28/06 post, how do I know where to direct the fader control? In your bypass example, you use 56. How do I determine this number for a particular parameter on a particular plugin?

 

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

 

- Bob

In your bypass example, you use 56. How do I determine this number for a particular parameter on a particular plugin?

 

Mr. O,

 

You can determine the fader event of any plug-in control by inserting a monitor object on the audio channel objects output triangle in the environment. Simply move the plug control you want and it will reveal itself in the monitor.

 

Note that the MIDI channel is important. You may find this thread interesting too:

 

http://logicprohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=12957

Fader8,

 

Thank you! Now I get it.

Hello, i'm very new to logic/apple...and i don't understand your project David.

 

I would like to use this autopan in a project other than yours..i don't understand how to reproduce it...

 

I can see two audiotracks but the midi pan applies to only one, how can you make "linked" the two audiotracks ?

 

thanks for your help...

wouldnt a life be more easy if apple gentlemens just put a bloody autopan plug in in the bloody logic?

I just sometimes can not understand that guys form apple

I just sometimes can not understand that guys form apple

sometimes it looks like they live in the world of their own))

of course,they just care about money as every company in capitalism.

cant wait for some nuclear war and after that a new world order.

 

P.S. there is actually autopan in Logic named "tremolo" but its really crapy

Interesting topic, maybe i dare to enter Environment this evening and try this out .

Interesting topic, maybe i dare to enter Environment this evening and try this out .

FWIW this AutoPan template does not require a trip to the environment: everything can be done in the Arrange area.

For a less robotic approach you could write it during play back. set your channel status to write and record your thumb/index switching left and right.

For a less robotic approach you could write it during play back.

But then it's no longer an AutoPan, it's just pan automation.

Hi,

 

I know this topic is long over, but I'm having trouble understanding this. So I created a new MIDI track, pencilled in an empty midi region, then went to "view", "hyperdraw", and then "panorama". Then I used the pencil to draw in a curve kind of similar to the one I saw in your graphic, although those are automation-looking nodes rather than what you have in that graphic. To be honest, that's about as much as I know how to do. How do I enter the information correctly as you have? And once I have, how do I link that information do the above audio track or any other track? One last question, what's the difference between writing in pan automation and "autopanning"? Is there a benefit to autopanning over drawing in pan automation? I think you said above that pan automation gives you more flexibility, but I'm not sure how. Clarifications? Thanks a ton!

I created a new MIDI track

That's your mistake right there. See my description in my original post:

 

I duplicated the Audio 1 Track that I wanted to auto pan.

 

... to do that, select the track you want to pan and choose Track > New with Same Instrument/Channel Strip.

Nice! Thanks. I have the same pan action going on now that you had in the template. I have a midi track, followed your instructions (track>new with same instrument), then chose view > hyperdraw > pan, and then drew in some info. Seems to work. But I'm not sure it will do the same thing your template does. I didn't take a number of steps that you did, i.e. I didn't open any 'grid' (is that the apple 6 midi editor?), I couldn't use control-option to create any S curves.

 

1. Will this do the same work as your template?

2. If not, how do I do what you did?

3. How is this different from pan automation?

 

Sorry I'm not getting this yet. Not sure why it's not clear to me yet.

I couldn't use control-option to create any S curves.

The keyboard shortcut has changed since I posted this - it is now Control-Shift.

 

1. Yes.

2. n/a

3. It is pan automation, only now it is contained in its own region, independently of any MIDI or Audio regions on the track, and you can loop it, stretch it, cut it, repeat it, etc...

Hi!

Is it possible to make a few preset surround sound panning effects, that can be triggered by a midi-controller, on any channel?

 

I've got AbletonLive8 rewired to LogicPro9, so I can compose and improvise on the go, and send it through surround sound. Ultimately, I'd like to also be able to improvise which speakers my sounds get sent to aswell. Hopefully using some kind of either premade panning loops, or just some panning effects, that I can customize on the go for different tracks.