Auburn Sounds has released Panagement, a commercial binaural panner effect in VST/AU plugin formats for PC and Mac. A freeware feature-limited version of the plugin (labeled Panagement Free Edition) is also available.
Panagement is a binaural panning utility that was designed for quick and easy placement of sounds on a stereo stage. The free version of Panagement lacks the advanced mono-to-stereo, tilt filter and modulation controls that are included in the full version of the product (priced at €29). The most important core features are available in the free version, though, and that includes the binaural panner module, the distance fader and the visualization tools.
Stereo placement of mix elements using Panagement Free Edition is a breeze. The Distance slider affects both the volume and the tone of the processed signal, pushing it closer or further away from the listener. As you push the signal away, Panagement Free Edition will roll of the top frequencies and slightly boost the low-mid range, while reducing the overall volume accordingly. The Binaural Pan knob, on the other hand, is used to place control the panning of the processed signal.
Used in tandem with a couple of nice sounding reverbs, Panagement Free Edition makes it possible to set the complete stereo image of a basic mix in a matter of minutes. To make things even easier, an XY control is included on the front panel, allowing the user to literally place a sound anywhere on the virtual stage.
Auburn Sounds is a relatively new name on the VST plugin development scene, however their website features two freebies (Distort and Psypan) that were previously released under a different label – Games From Mars. Those two plugins are well worth checking out, especially Distort. It’s a simple but very useful distortion effect with up to 16x oversampling to ensure there’s no aliasing on the output.
Panagement Free Edition is available for free download via Auburn Sounds (6.18 MB download size, ZIP archive, 32-bit & 64-bit VST/AU plugin format for Windows & Mac OS).
12 Comments
Marcus Rasseli
onThe free version brings nothing new. I still be using the A1Stereo Control which is a way better than this one.
Roman
onNo, you’re wrong. While this may look like a simple panner, it does some complex spatial processing. It changes frequency response and amplitude of the source depending on the distance from center. A1 SC can’t do that.
Tracing Arcs
onHave to agree with you. I use A1SC, but d/loaded and tried this on a mix for my next release. It it has made me rethink entirely what I am doing with that particular mix. It has more depth, spread and definition of some instruments, and not in a “plastic” way. It could be a very useful tool.
Marcus Rasseli
onI thought the Free version wouldn’t do that. OK, I’ll give it a try.
Tomislav Zlatic
onIt definitely does stuff that A1 SC doesn’t do. The distance slider won’t just reduce the volume, but also change the frequency response of the processed signal in order to emulate added distance.
Guillaume Piolat
onHi, Panagement developer here. I’m not sure why Panagement gets sometimes compared to A1StereoControl, it’s perhaps the name choice? Anyway in my mind they weren’t made to be competitors. A1StereoControl is about detailed control of the stereo and Panagement is about binaural panning first (delay panning, spectral panning, distance). Each does thing the other doesn’t. If you look around for binaural panners you will find the other products Panagement was made to displace :) Though there is some overlap, for example you can’t do such a plugin without stereo width because it’s always useful.
Now is there something truly new? Yes the binaural panner is tuned over and over to feel the most natural (it’s the 2nd time I make one), when not modulated there is no interpolation so no signal degradation and the distance fader is a (currently incomplete) way to get depth. It makes more sense in the Full Edition of course :) because a lot of competing products can’t be modulated.
Juan Maria Solare
onBon soir Guillaume,
can you tell me the difference between Panagement and Psypan?
In other words, does Panagement “include” most functions of Psypan? Would it be redundant to have both in a same track?
I hope my question doesn’t sound silly.
Juan maría
Guillaume Piolat
onHi Juan,
Panagement has been designed to completely replace Psypan.
Purely on the binaural panner, Panagement improves on Psypan on the following directions:
– Less latency => 3 samples instead of about 40 for Psypan,
– More sound quality, the delay is rounded so that there is no pre-ringing when the pan is not modulated,
– More natural pan with an added shelf filter. If you don’t like it, you can disable it completely by turning Spectral to 0%.
Psypan had “ITD” which is still there (“Head Delay”), and Width which is still there too (“Stereo width”).
The only way in which Panagement could sound less clear than Psypan is when modulating the pan, the delay interpolation keeps less HF but is more natural sounding on the other hand (because Psypan one was ringy).
Overall the tuning is different and I would say it sounds more pleasant.
Achsanos
onHuh, however, all those controls with nag in this free version can be accessed – and its settings saved – via external midi control. In Synapse Orion, at least.
Guillaume Piolat
onGood catch, thanks :) But the DSP isn’t in the plugin so it should not have any effect.
Esol
onWow, i love this thing! Will be one of my go to Stereo plugins for now. :)
Jerry Causey
onAre there any AAX version of the Panagement Binaural Panner