Audacity Forum

Is it possible to create a track where the sound pans from left to right speaker slowly over the course of the track?

Yes it is, but I would use Audacity 1.3.13 and not Audacity 1.2.x. Which version of Audacity do you have? (look in the Help menu > About Audacity.)

I have Audacity 1.3.13.

Moderator note: You posted in the 1.2 section of the forum rather the 1.3 section - which led Steve to the reasonable conclusion that you were running 1.2. I have moved this for you.

There are a number of plug-ins that can perform various types of panning: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Nyqui ... ns#Panning

Alternatively, the manual method to pan from one side to the other (for example from Left to Right):
1) If the track is a stereo track - Click on the name of the track and select "Split Stereo Track".
If the track is a mono track, select the track and make a Duplicate of the track (Edit menu).

2) Apply a "Fade Out" (Effect menu) to the upper track.

3) Apply a "Fade In" to the lower track.

4) Click on the name of the upper track and select "Make Stereo Track".

Hi, I'm not the OP but I also want to learn how to pan from left to right (not fade in or out gradually but wholly switch instantly from side to side). Thank you, steve, for posting the wiki link to those panning plugins. I have Audacity 1.3.13 Beta and so I downloaded the "Panning (LFO) Type 1 plugin for pre-1.3.4," but I don't know how to install the plugin. The plugin txt file directions say to "Copy panlfo2.ny into your Audacity plug-ins folder. Start Audacity..." but when I try to copy or drag-and-drop the plugin to the audacity folder it says "'Audacity' cannot be modified."

Please advise me - how do I get the new plug-in into the Audacity plug-ins folder? If it helps, my iMac desktop is running Mac OS X version 10.5.8. Is there some way to unlock the Audacity files so it won't keep blocking me from just dropping the new plug-in file into the main plug-ins folder? Thanks in advance for your help

Revere7 wrote: (not fade in or out gradually but wholly switch instantly from side to side)

You can do that without plug-ins.

1) Convert the track to mono (Tracks menu > Stereo Track to Mono)
2) Create a new empty (mono) audio track (Tracks > Add New > Audio Track)
The upper track is going to be your left channel and the lower track is going to be your Right channel.

3) Click on the name of the upper track and from the drop down menu select "Left Channel".
4) Do the same with the lower track but select "Right Channel".
If you play the track you will hear the sound coming only from the left.

5) Select a part that you want to be on the Right (click and drag along the track to select), then from the Edit menu select "Clip Boundaries > Split"
6) Click ONCE in the middle of the selction.
7) Select the Time Shift Tool (button with the double headed arrow <--> or press the F5 key)
8) Click on the bit that you want on the Right and drag it down to the lower track.
If you play this section you will hear that it is now on the Right.

If you want to move more sections, go back to the normal selection tool (the button with the "I" cursor symbol, or press F1) and repeat steps 5 to 8.

When you have finished you can just Export (File menu) and the two tracks will be automatically mixed into a single stereo track, or alternatively you can first select both tracks (Command+A or "Edit > Select > All), then from the Tracks menu click on "Mix and Render".

Regarding the problem installing plug-ins, I'm not a Mac user but I'd guess that you would need Admin Permissions.