Configuring panning laws

You can choose from six different panning laws. A panning law is the mathematical formula that a sequencer or mixer uses to control panning.

To change panning laws

1.	Go to Edit > Preferences > Audio - Driver Settings.

2.	In the Stereo Panning Law field, choose one of these options:

(Default) 0dB center, sin/cos taper, constant power. This choice causes a 3 dB boost in a signal that’s panned hard left or right, and no dip in output level in either channel when the signal is center panned.

-3dB center, sin/cos taper, constant power. This choice causes no boost in a signal that’s panned hard left or right, and 3 dB dip in output level in either channel when the signal is center panned.

0dB center, square-root taper, constant power. This choice causes a 3 dB boost in a signal that’s panned hard left or right, and no dip in output level in either channel when the signal is center panned.

-3dB center, square root taper, constant power. This choice causes no boost in a signal that’s panned hard left or right, and 3 dB dip in output level in either channel when the signal is center panned.

-6dB center, linear taper. This choice causes no boost in a signal that’s panned hard left or right, and 6 dB dip in output level in either channel when the signal is center panned.

0 dB center, balance control. This choice causes no boost in a signal that’s panned hard left or right, and no dip in output level in either channel when the signal is center panned.

3.

Click OK.

Pan Law compatibility mode

When using a non-default pan law with floating point or 24-bit audio, Sonar would previously apply the pan law twice; once at the clip level and once more at the track level.

In SONAR 8.5.2 and later, pan laws are only applied once at the track level and only for mono tracks. Any clip pan envelopes will continue to work, but behave strictly as a balance control.

If you have existing projects that use a non-default pan law (i.e. other than 0dB center sin/cos taper), the mix might sound louder in Sonar. To address backwards compatibility with projects that were mixed in previous versions of SONAR, the following Aud.ini variable is available to set the pan law compatibility mode:

PanLawCompatMode=<0 or 1> (default=0)

This variable should be set in the [Wave] section. For example:

[Wave]

PanLawCompatMode=1

When the value is 0 (default), non-default pan laws are not applied at the clip level. Clip pan envelopes always use the 0dB center sin/cos taper law.

When the value is 1, pan laws are applied at the clip level. It is not recommended that you use this value unless you need to retain backwards compatibility with pre-SONAR projects that use a non-default pan law.