Fire The Pan

Name: Fire The Pan
Author: Acustica Audio

by Acustica Audio · Imaging · Panner collection

Not rated yet

Fire The Pan is an Acustica Audio panning plugin with more than 60 emulations of analog and digital panners in five categories.

It covers 2D panning, 3D spatialisation and object-based positioning; the price is not shown on the product page.

Best for: Vocals, Keys & Synths, Mix Bus, Sound Design. Genres: all genres.

Keywords: spacious, auto-pan, bus processing, hardware emulation, sound design, wide, analog-sounding, CPU-light, enhancement, full mix, low latency, mid/side, mix bus, mixing, vocals.

What it does

Fire The Pan is the fourth plugin in Acustica Audio's Fire series: a panner built from more than 60 sampled analog and digital panning emulations. The developer says it will "transform the way you think about your stereo image", adding depth and definition rather than just moving a sound left or right.

Five panning categories: 2D Analog, 3D Analog, 2D Digital, 3D Digital and 2D MS (mid/side).
60+ emulations: the different panning modes spread across those categories, each with its own character.
3D and object-based panning: the 3D modes go beyond left-right placement, drawing on 3D, object-based and Ambisonics audio techniques.
Main knob: one large control sets the position of the source.
Multifunction slider: switches between Elevation, Distance and Mix, so you can raise a sound, push it back or blend the effect.
Output and Compensation: an Output Level slider, plus Compensation buttons that normalise volume so panned sounds keep a steady level.
Light and fast: low CPU use and low latency, in line with the rest of the Fire series.

The product page lists no version, and we found no trial details.

Source: Acustica Audio product page

When to use it

Fire The Pan places one source at a time, using the sound of real analog and digital panners plus 3D modes with elevation and distance, where most rated imaging plugins, such as Ozone Imager, S1 Stereo Imager and Stereoizer, work on the whole stereo field: they widen, narrow or decorrelate a track or bus. That makes it closer to a replacement for your DAW's pan knob than to a widener. Its Distance and Elevation controls also give a sense of depth that a normal pan pot can't, which helps in dense mixes.

Best for: placing single tracks with analog character or 3D depth, and pushing sounds back in a mix with the Distance control.
Genres: any; especially dense pop, rock and electronic mixes, and sound design.
Look elsewhere if: you only need width control on a bus or master; Ozone Imager is free and simpler, and S1 Stereo Imager is a quick alternative.

Where to buy

Acustica Audio: see store

Tutorials and reviews

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