Width 14 HP

Our Voltage Controlled Panning Amplifier is unlike many of our modules in that it actually sounds more complex than it is, as opposed to the other way around. But that doesn't mean it's not powerful!

It is designed, quite simply, to dynamically position audio signals in the stereo field. It can operate on either stereo or dual mono signals (in effect, turning the module into two standalone VCAs), and can accept two simultaneous independent CV controls in either configuration.

At first glance, there may seem to be an awful lot of inputs, outputs, and knobs for such a simple purpose as panning, but they allow a number of creative possibilities. And you probably won't be surprised to hear that we backed it all up with a secret weapon (more on that in a minute).

Feature-wise, the module has two exponential response VCAs, each with a manual or CV gain control and input level attenuators. You can pan these two signals manually or using CV (with a dedicated knob to control the amount of CV panning control). In addition, the CV1 and IN 1 signals are normalised* to CV2 and IN 2 (allowing, for example, simple mono-to-stereo panning effects without additional signal splitting/doubling). Finally, once you have achieved the stereo perfect balance, both channels' gain can be simultaneously adjusted with a single pot (or CV), preserving the relative levels of both.

Naturally, there are many potential uses for this module, including even some not confined to stereo processing (simultaneous gain processing of two different audio signals using one CV control, for example). Panning is what it's really about, though, and so a more conventional use example might involve applying fast panning modulation. With this in mind, our secret weapon ensures that neither manual nor CV panning causes a level drop in the centre of the stereo image.

Correcting for this 'pan-power-law' is far from standard in such modules, but ensures the perceived volume of a panned signal will not change, even if panned hard left or right. This has an especially noticeable effect when the panorama is modulated. It goes without saying, as with all of our modules, the VC Panning Amplifier is designed for low distortion, low CV feedthrough, and low noise, and features overload indicators, ensuring that any extremely intense signals running through the modules are entirely intentional!

*Automatically patched on the circuit board, unless alternative sources are manually patched in.