Panagement is an advanced binaural panner, distance fader and more (Free Edition available)

[Guillaume Piolat]

EDIT UPDATE v1.2: https://www.auburnsounds.com/blog/2016- ... lease.html
EDIT UPDATE v1.1: https://www.auburnsounds.com/blog/2016- ... lease.html

Greetings KVR,

Panagement by Auburn Sounds is a spatialization multi-effect that is at its core a binaural panner combined with a distance fader.
But then it adds much more.


Introductory Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YytzPk09cQk

The inception

Binaural panning was a topic of Auburn Sounds with GFM Psypan 4 years ago already. It got a tiny underground following, users sent emails asking for more and I started paying attention.

So I enhanced the basics: interaural delay (ITD) and power difference are now better tuned. Added a lower-latency delay interpolation, and interaural spectral difference which enhance realism and externalization further. The end result is that Panagement blows Psypan out of the water, on its own turf.

That's before you turn on the additional content.


Going further

I thought it would be useful to add a Tilt Filter, Mono-to-Stereo, Phasescope, and most of all the Distance fader that would put things further.

The beta-testers then asked for a LFO . That turned out to be a decent idea. Panagement in its current form was born.


Requirements

Panagement works for:

• Windows Vista or later
• OS X 10.7 or later

In addition to VST 2.4, Panagement works as a 32-bit and 64-bit Audio Unit.


Free to play, Pay to modulate

Panagement can be used:

• for free with the Free Edition but with a limited feature-set,
• with premium features with the Entreprise Edition. Introductory price is only €29 (+ VAT in EU).

Clich here to start using Panagement now!
>>> https://www.auburnsounds.com/products/Panagement.html <<<

[Chandlerhimself]

Looks great. I can't wait to try this.

[Musical Gym]

Thanks for making free edition easy download. Site looks good!

[HunterKiller]

I love the intro video, sounds like Inspector Clouseau, before it suddenly changes universes completely and becomes quasi-Jarre!

[Guillaume Piolat]

Thanks! It has been a lot of tireless work to do it, especially with the addition of Audio Unit. Our beta-testers are the ones who made it possible and I can't possibly thank them enough.

Note that €29 is an introductory price, I don't guarantee it won't go up. It's imho a bargain and I fear the price is too low for perception.

It's the kind of effect that shines when modulated, that why it's a premium feature
Note that there is a random LFO mode which can be quite useful to bring life (tm) to a track with minimal effort. What I prefer to do with Panagement is modulating drums with tempo-sync LFO, but the user manual brings you 10 tips and trick to use it better.

http://www.auburnsounds.com/downloads/P ... Manual.pdf

[Chandlerhimself]

I tried it and I have to say I really liked it. It does what it says, it sounds good and the CPU use is low. The only complaint I have is the volume when you use the distance control. Would it be possible to either link the distance to the output or turn off the volume decrease when using the distance control. I understand that volume decreases with distance, but its a bit too much.

The only other thing is the mono->stereo part. I haven't bought the full version yet, but from what I understand this uses a multitap delay. Do the parameters change with the panning/distance control? If not I think that would be a cool feature to add. Ex if the pan control was left the left delay tap would be 15ms and the right tap would be 55ms and as you moved the knob from left to right the left delay time would increase and the right would decrease. This would better simulate real early reflections. Maybe this is already implemented though.

Anyway, overall this is a really well done plugin.

[Guillaume Piolat]

Hi Chandler,

I hear what you have to say, the requests seem reasonable in retrospect but I must say upfront: I cannot guarantee anything with regards to future releases, features or suitability thereof (other than Panagement will be maintained).

The mono-to-stereo uses 6 LP-filtered, decaying, equally-spaced delay taps that are feed into the Side signal. The constant factors have been tuned so that when reduced to mono it doesn't sound metallic like a comb filter.
The parameters of mono-to-stereo don't change with distance or panning. Why?
The primary goal is to give stereo to mono sources first and foremost in a gentle way. The fact that it remotely looks like early reflections helps but it is only a by-product.

If you liked it, wait before you use the full version

[DJErmac]

Hi,

Only one (triple) question please : does the "mono to stereo" feature induces changes in the original signal or does it only add things ? In other words, is this feature 100% mono compatible ? Or what changes can you hear when you use it then go back to mono ?

[Guillaume Piolat]

Hi,

Only one question please : does the "mono to stereo" feature induces changes in the original signal or does it only add things ? In other words, is this feature 100% mono compatible ?

Yes.
The additive signal added by mono-to-stereo only affects the Side signal, so it disappears entirely when reduced to mono.

Before Mono-to-Stereo: L | R
After Mono-to-Stereo: L - Stuff | R + Stuff

where Stuff is a delayed, filtered version of (L + R)
Mono-to-stereo taps are tuned to avoid sounding too much metallic.

[DJErmac]

Thank you very much for your answer. Then I will purchase the full version today. What you've done here is amazing, this is THE stereo management plugin I've been waiting for. The free features are already more than awesome, can't live any other day without it !

[Guillaume Piolat]

Thanks DJErmac, I'm honoured. I'm a bit overwhelmed by the response and all the e-mails right now tbh! have to go grab a coffee.

[HunterKiller]

I also have to say it looks beautiful, great use of colour and tone. Looks a tiny bit unconventional yet intelligible, just the way I like it!

[DJErmac]

Great GUI indeed.

The best thing for me is what you get when you engage the mono function, then play with the binaural pan button. The only alternative I had so far is Voxengo's Pha-979 (by adjusting only one channel), and I didn't like it at all. Now I can convert stereo sounds to mono without losing any stereo information, by adjusting the spectrum until I like the result.

And now that I have the full EE version, I can only thank you once more for this plugin : it's great ! You deserve some more love ! (et vous êtes français en plus !)

ps : If you have a suggestion box, I'd love a "switch L R" button.

[MogwaiBoy]

What a great looking plugin - and so many cool features!

Thank you so much

[Guillaume Piolat]

Great GUI indeed.
The best thing for me is what you get when you engage the mono function, then play with the binaural pan button. The only alternative I had so far is Voxengo's Pha-979 (by adjusting only one channel), and I didn't like it at all. Now I can convert stereo sounds to mono without losing any stereo information, by adjusting the spectrum until I like the result.

It's funny, hadn't considered this use case. In this case it can be useful to turn off the interaural shelf filter by turning "spectral" down to zero.

I'll be abroad for choir work for two days, won't be able to answer here.

If you want to help me survive and make more such plugins, one thing that could help me the most is getting the word out!