Axos JL Cooper surround panner

[garnoil]

Does anybody know if the Axos JL Cooper surround panner hardware can be used to automate the new parameters for Dolby Atmos mixing? specifically interested in being able to pan through 'height' and 'size' and in surround 7.1.2. The product picture shows 5 knobs but none of them is labelled 'height' or 'size'. Thank you

[José Luis Díaz]

Hi garnoil.
In their web site they say "New-Direct support in Dolby ATMOS Tools 1.6".
What that means ... I don't know with precision.

[originalscottyg]

Just did a quick test...
In the Pro Tools panner it works only in the traditional way, with no way to control height or size. But using the Dolby Atmos Panner plugin, if you click the settings button (gear icon) you can setup the Axos under Joystick Device. Then the top 2 knobs (Front Div/Front Pos & LFE/Center%) control height and the FR Div/FR Pos knob controls Size. This works regardless of whether the Div/Ctr% button is selected, as those controls don't exist in the Dolby plugin. There doesn't seem to be any way to control any of the elevation modes, speaker snap, or speaker zones with the Axos unit.

[garnoil]

Originally Posted by originalscottyg

Just did a quick test...
In the Pro Tools panner it works only in the traditional way, with no way to control height or size. But using the Dolby Atmos Panner plugin, if you click the settings button (gear icon) you can setup the Axos under Joystick Device. Then the top 2 knobs (Front Div/Front Pos & LFE/Center%) control height and the FR Div/FR Pos knob controls Size. This works regardless of whether the Div/Ctr% button is selected, as those controls don't exist in the Dolby plugin. There doesn't seem to be any way to control any of the elevation modes, speaker snap, or speaker zones with the Axos unit.

Thank you for doing the test. I think Axos needs to implement additional controls to enable the new panning modes when working in immersive audio. I guess it is something that it can be made to sort of work using the Dolby Atmos Panner plugin but that is not ideal, it really should work natively in Pro-Tools and support all panning modes. Too bad may be someone will come up with a hardware base panner than works in the new formats.

[originalscottyg]

I agree. While the Axos panner has been really useful, and at a much better price point than the previous DigiDesign midi-based model, the hardware is not quite as robust. We often get some weird behavior where the joystick won't pan all the way to the right, sometimes stopping at 97>, but not always. Overall it's been great though. And there's not really anything else available, especially at that price point.