[ardour-users] Feature Request on the Panner

[Thomas Vecchione]

Obviously this won't be worked on until after the 2.0 release but 
something to hopefully keep in mind when the Panner gets rebuilt to 
allow for decent surround panning.

Allow for the ability to monitor on a different setup than it is being 
panned for.  What this means is I might be doing an 18 channel mix, but 
only have a 5.1 setup to monitor on.  So for the purpose of 
monitoring(Not export) it would be great to be able to just monitor the 
mix on the 5.1 as I don't always have access to 18 channels.  Then on 
export doing the 18 channels.  It would be great to be able to set up 
different monitoring 'profiles' that could be switched between in any 
session, say a 5.1 setup vs my nicer stereo setup, or possibly two 
different stereo setups to switch between monitors.  Only really useful 
if you have the available outputs on your card to choose, but could 
definitely be at least slightly useful.

The reasoning for this is because of the work I do, though this would 
likely apply very well to artistic installs as well.  I work doing sound 
design for live theater, and as such the layouts definitely don't fit 
into the 5.1 standard, not a big deal until you consider I also end up 
at times working in layouts I don't have a monitoring setup for.  As 
such I generally end up on any software package having to choose what I 
am listening to, listen to the rear channels in house right, or the 
proscenium arch stereo channels, or whatever.  It means that my mix may 
not come out how I like it in the space though and I have to spend time 
fixing it, either remixing it or trying to fix it on the board mix 
depending on whether an op capable is available for the show or not.

The next part of this has more to do with useablility of the current 
panner, even though it doesn't work for above stereo panning the basic 
concepts of it.  Personally I would like to be able to layout the 
locations for speakers once(Say on the master track, or bus), and then 
have that follow through on every other track, but not be editable.  Not 
sure if there was a reason for being able to change the locations of the 
outputs on every track or not, would be curious to hear if there was.

            Seablade