For the basics of intensity panning for stereo sound in MSP, you might want to review Example 12 on linear amplitude panning, and Example 13 and Example 14 on constant power panning, from the 2012 Interactive Arts Programming class.

This patch is a very useful abstraction for constant-intensity stereo panning of sound. It’s identical to Example 43 from the 2009 Interactive Arts Programming class, so you can read a description of it there.

Notice how this abstraction allows the user to specify the panning position in any one of three ways: as a typed-in value in the parent patch to set an initial value, as a float to change instantly to a new position, or as a signal to change continuously and smoothly from one value to another.

Save this patch with the name “pan~”. It’s needed for the next two examples.