The idea is to do this stuff with LFOs. A motorized joystick, no matter how skilled the operator, cannot give me the kind of stuff a controllable LFO can. Drawing this stuff, IF you have good drawing tools for automation comparable to what Photoshop offers in gfx, which I don't see ANYWHERE.
It's main use would be for surround effects. Stereo has been done a lot, for example with Waves MondoMod or for that matter a whole bunch of Autopanners. Surround is another one alltogether, and its success will in part depend on how much time it saves the operator.
--EDIT--
Fleshed out some more design ideas. Here goes :
The panner has multiple inputs. Each input can be processed with modulation effects, AM, FM, Delay, Filters and Reverbs.
The output configuration sets up the number of outputs used by the panner, which output refers to which speaker, and of course where each speaker sits in the virtual room. Some may even want to modulate the speaker positions
.The signalfeeds flow in to something I call the roundabout. The signal can either travel on a path or be static, configurable per signal input.
The motion of the point where the audio is played in the virtual room can be changed by :
1) Starting/Stopping an LFO controlling the position along a preset path. Linera travel would be the rising SAW.
2) The path could be generated by an LFO as well
3) A 'Positon' control per input, linkable, could further "spin" the entire setups or channel, adding another layer of control. Imagine turning your audio like a turntable in the surround field. The position could be on a preset path, which makes this control a manual, automatable control of the position of the audio along a path in your virtual room. Of course an LFO generated path could be used as well.
4) Distance from center, or rather a 'spread' control. LFOs could genrate a variation of the distance from center as well. It wouldn't be so far-fetched to add an LFO controlled center point from which all this propagates either.
This means you may want to stick in a bunch of LFOs and add slots to use them in.
Numbers and colourcoding for placing LFOs. A simple one or four-pixel per input graphical display of the whole thing should suffice. Of course the graphical handle of each point should be larger when the mouse pointer is over it.
A small sketch can be found here.
http://home.arcor.de/airon/dev_panner_sketch.jpg
It's a simple idea of a layout. Lots of design work needs doing of course, but I'm working out this idea at 2 am with a long day ahead of me.
So who wants to try something like this ?