Panner Layout

s3g Panner Layout is a direct speaker panner, not an ambisonic plugin. It distributes source inputs across a fixed 64-channel output bus, with each active output corresponding directly to a speaker in the selected layout. Use it when the speaker layout itself is the target.

Workflow

1. Insert Panner Layout on a REAPER track with the required source inputs and enough channels for its 64-channel output bus, then select a speaker-layout preset or load a custom layout and confirm its active speaker count and output order.
2. Route the active output lanes to the matching main speakers, directly or through a speaker-array utility chain, then begin playback.
3. Use FIELD to place sources, then set gain, mute, solo, and inside-source behavior in the field or mixer.
4. Use DESIGN to refine and save custom speaker geometry, then verify motion across the complete array.

Signal Shape

source inputs
-> source AED / gain / mute / solo
-> selected speaker layout
-> direct source-to-speaker gain render
-> speaker outputs 1-64

Only the active speaker count writes sound. Unused output lanes are silent. Source mute and solo are available for diagnosis and performance setup.

Pages

Layout Presets

The layout menu provides common speaker shapes such as quad, rings, cube layouts, dodeca, domes, and custom. Presets are starting points. Switch to CUSTOM or edit a speaker to build a layout for a specific room or format.

Speaker markers use the same square AED color strategy as the Ambi Encoder Point and Decoder Speaker. Geometry lines show the intended layout mesh, not nearest-neighbor analysis. See Interpreting Color for the shared azimuth, elevation, and distance mapping.

AED Distance and Layout Shape

DST is always radial distance from the listener to the source or speaker. It does not automatically mean distance to the wall or perimeter of the selected layout. On a square whose side centers are one unit from the listener, a corner is sqrt(2), or about 1.414, units away. On a cube whose face centers are one unit away, an edge midpoint is sqrt(2) and a corner is sqrt(3), or about 1.732, units away. A dome or sphere can instead keep every point at the same radial distance.

Consequently, a source aimed toward a Cartesian cube corner at DST 1 can be directionally aligned with that speaker while still appearing inside its marker. This is expected: the source and speaker share azimuth and elevation but not radial distance.

Panner Layout offers two methods. DIST uses full source-to-speaker XYZ proximity, so speaker distance participates in distribution. COS uses speaker direction, so matching azimuth and elevation is the important part. With either method, source DST still controls source rolloff and IN behavior; placing a source at a cube point beyond DST 1 can therefore change its overall level.

Panning Methods

METHOD changes how Panner Layout distributes each source across the selected speakers.

Panner Layout treats unsupported negative elevation as a musical rolloff case. If the selected layout has no real lower-elevation speakers, steering downward preserves the selected method's normal speaker distribution first, then applies a smooth attenuation toward silence at -90 degrees. This keeps lower-hemisphere motion meaningful for upper-only and 2D arrays without inventing extra output channels.

IN selects how source distances inside the radial unit boundary, DST < 1, behave. This boundary remains radial even when a Cartesian cube speaker shell extends beyond it. HOLD keeps level stable and is the default, ATTENUATE reduces level as the point moves inward, DIFFUSE spreads energy more evenly, and CENTER blends inward positions toward the center response.

The host project stores the selected TOP, SIDE, or 3/4 view together with manual rotation and zoom. Reopening the project restores that camera state.

Design Page

DESIGN is for speaker geometry only. It hides panning method, focus, diffusion, and other audio-distribution controls so the page stays about the speaker layout.

• SHAPE chooses the custom layout generator: AUTO, RING, DOME, GEO, or STACK.
• COUNT sets active speakers from 2 to 64.
• AUTO chooses useful count-based defaults. For example, 8 speakers generates a cube.
• SEL, AZ, EL, and DST edit one speaker at a time. DST is radial distance from the listener, independent of the selected shape.
• COPY copies the current preset into a custom editable layout.
• LOAD and SAVE import/export readable JSON layout files.

Custom Layout JSON

Saved layouts use readable JSON with a shape label, speaker count, and one AED entry per speaker.

{
  "shape": "AUTO",
  "speaker_count": 8,
  "speakers": [
    { "azimuth": -45.0, "elevation": -35.0, "distance": 1.0 }
  ]
}

Imported files preserve their speaker coordinates. The shape label is metadata after import, so loading a measured layout does not regenerate over the edited positions.