Waves

Conceived and designed by celebrated US
mix engineer Michael Brauer (Coldplay,
Florence and the Machine), Brauer Motion
(VST/AU/AAX/RTAS) is an auto-panner that
independently shifts the two channels of a
stereo signal between the left and right and,
thanks to the magic of psychoacoustics, front
and back of the soundstage.
Two Panners are each set up in their own
colour-coded control tabs (green for Panner 1,
red for Panner 2), mixed with the dry signal in
the Mixer section at the bottom, and collectively
visualised in the Sphere Display (see boxout).
The plugin comes in stereo and mono-to-stereo
versions, the irst assigning the left channel to
Panner 1 and right to Panner 2, the second
duplicating the mono input on both Panners.
Moving targets
The movement of each Panner is programmed
in the top area of its Panner section. The auto-
panning can be synced to host tempo, run free
at anywhere from 0.05 to 125 seconds per AB
cycle, or set to respond to the amplitude of the
input or a sidechain signal (with adjustable
sensitivity). Alternatively, Manual mode enables
static positioning.
The Panners are set to one of three
movement styles in the Path Type menu. Classic
W a v e s
Brauer Motion $99
With a big name behind it and a snazzy GUI, is there more to
this ambitious auto-panner than celeb cred and a pretty face?
“Two Panners are each
set up in their own
colour-coded control
tabs – green for Panner
1, red for Panner 2”
DYNAMICS
SECTION
Apply compression
or distortion
MOTION FILTER
A high shelf filter for
dynamically shaping the Panners
PANNER TABS
Switch the controls between
Panners 1 and 2
GLOBAL SECTION
Route the external sidechain
to the Panner and more
PATH T YPE
Choose one of four
movement styles for
each Panner
MODULATION
CONTROLS
Apply channel delay
and more
SPHERE DISPLAY
Drag the handles
around to set the
Panner ranges
MIXER
Input, Output and
Panner levels,
and dry/wet Mix
PRESET LIBRARY
Presets by Tony Maserati,
Dave Pensado et al
TRIGGER
Run your panning
continuously or
triggered
cycles between left and right; Circle and Circle
Phase move in a horizontal circle with the
closest point perceived as being at (Circle) or
behind (Circle Phase) the listener position; and X
Lights hard pans between left and right. In
Synced and Free modes, the LFO controlling the
auto-panning has four waveforms (sine, triangle,
saw and square) available to all but the X Lights
Path Type, which is saw-only. The Ofset knob
shifts the three markers (see boxout) together
and becomes a Pulse Width control in X Lights
mode; and the Reverse button lips the direction
of movement.
The four controls below the Path Type dial in
up to 200ms of channel delay and simulate the
efect of distant signals taking longer to reach
the ears than nearer ones, as well as reducing
the perceived depth of movement and setting
the limits of the panning range all the way
‘outside the speakers’, using the usual mid-side
shenanigans to present a 200%-wide image.
88 / COMPUTER MUSIC / Autumn 2017
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CMU248.rev_brauer.indd 88 18/08/2017 18:01