Hi, I need to mix down 6 inputs to a stereo output. I want to control volume and pan. Does anyone know a way to do it or a vst3 plugin which I can use for that?
You could use my 8-input/1-output mixer rack:
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If you want to convert a bunch of separate mono instruments into a stereo mix, you would want to work with each input signal separately. Otherwise they will sound like placed in the same spot, very unnatural outcome.
You can apply a free stereo widening zero/low latency plugin, such as Ozone Imager by Izotope, or Stereo Touch by Voxengo, to each mono input for its panning, and to apply the wanted gain, and route the resulting stereo outputs into the final stereo mix. You will need to work with each channel separately while doing panning adjustments on it to find the best settings for the most natural stereo image, because settings for different sound sources differ.
This might also require EQing at least some of the channels for better punch through the mix. I.e. add a zero latency EQ after stereo widener in each channel, and apply EQ to channels that pop out too much, or do not punch through, and bypass the rest.
Ideally you would create a linked rack for such a task, and load it whenever needed.
@The_Elf 's rack works great, just don’t accidentally route your keyboard inputs to the rack input!
On the other hand, do route your MCU controls to the rack! If your keyboard has a bank of faders it would be relatively simple to re-map these to MCU-compatible commands with a Cantabile filter.
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I’ve used it, but I can’t use the controls for panning. I’ve inserted a BlueCat dual gain control in every signal, now it works. I don’t need to control everything all of the time; it’s for a hexaphonic guitar pickup that I want to pan from left to right, lowest string mostly on the left hand side to highest string mostly to left. Works like a charm now. Thanks!
I didn’t implement panning. For a live situation it’s not so useful, so it wasn’t something I felt a need for. Maybe I’ll look at adding it for a future version.
I need to keep things relatively simple, since my first mixer version was too complex for most people. The version that I use for my own live rig includes dry and wet outputs, 3 effects sends, looper send and other goodies. All of this is controlled from a MIDI Designer Pro Layout.
The V-pots of an MCU surface do not send absolute values, so I’ll need to look at how that would work with Cantabile for panning. I’d be happy to take advice from anyone who has made this journey.
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I did some work on this today…
I managed to get my X-Touch’s V-Pots working as binding controls for Cantabile. They need to be added as ‘Relative Value Encoder’ and ‘Signed Bit’.
But inside my mixer Rack I can see no pan controls, so I have nothing to bind to in there. 
@brad can no doubt confirm, and/or suggest a way around.
Obviously you can bind to the pan controls of each plug-in Rack, but this would not be the generic ‘ready to go’ solution my mixer Rack otherwise provides.
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Yes, this is a limitation in that Cantabile only supports panning on plugins - not on routes or racks. (I’ve been aware of this limitation for a long time, but no one has ever really asked for it so I kind of forget about it).
The only solution I can think of off hand is to use some dummy plugins (pick something light weight) and push each input pair through them to apply the pan.
Anyone else looking for panning on racks or routes?
Brad
Thanks for confirming, @brad. I think this is an outer edge case. In another thread I asked about the possibility of a Cantabile mixer, which could include this potential.
Oh yes! I’m using The Elf’s mixer now with BlueCat Dual gain on each channel, but it’s not a stylish solution, to put it mildly. I have a SubSix hexaphonic guitar pickup that I want to spread from left to right, OR send to two different outputs, depending on my project. Using an 8-in soundcard I would love to have a six channel mixer between the inputs 3 to 8 and control them. I looked for a VST mixer but couldn’t find one.
Oh yes, I’d love that! that’s an easy way to create a very rudimentary mixer without any plugins - just insert empty embedded racks for all relevant channels, connect in and out and use the rack controls to mix.
Put a comp and an EQ inside each rack, have custom buttons to pop the GUI open and you have everything you’d want in a minimal mixer. And with Cantabile’s on-board tooling, you can automate the heck out of it…
Yes, a basic mixer with MIDI-controlled parameters, either mono or stereo channels.
I currently use Blue Cat, but it would be nice to have a built-in solution, as Torsten said.
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