Reference Guide

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Changing track settings
Controlling playback
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) 0 dB 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 3dB 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 3dB 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 6dB 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 X1. 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