Automatic delay when panning

It would be nice if Ardour had some sort of built-in support to insert a small channel-specific delay when panning, to create a better stereo effect. Right now, the only way to do that seems to be to route the affected output channel(s) to a separate bus and insert a delay plugin there. But since I want to do this every time I pan something, it would be nicer if Ardour did it automatically.

If I implement this myself, is the a chance it will be included? For me, the most useful way to do it would be a session property that specifies a factor that, when applied to the panning percentage, specifies the delay applied to the “weaker” channel(s) (sorry, I don’t know the correct terminology here). It would work well for tracks that are panned only slightly off-center, but I’m not sure how good a simple factor will behave for tracks that are panned harder. An alternative, of course, would be a separate setting per panner.

This sounds like a different implementation of panning than we currently use, so if you wanted to implement it, you should start by copying one of the existing panners (1in2out or 2in2out), modify it, then submit a pull request via github for code review.

sounds great.
just two arguments for an optional linkage between panning and delay.

  1. for example if you made a sound collage for a stage performance, but your town hall’s pa system is mono (designed only for podium mic), or the speakers are scattered in the ceiling, you might want to quickly convert to mono. if you had integrated delay you would have to do a whole new mix, because of phasing issues.
  2. two seperate controllers might allow more creativity in soundpositioning and design.

… i wish i knew how to program :confused: