XY Pad to Control 4 Mics

Question

From a user email:

I'm trying to figure out how to make this work.. I have 4 mic channels
on faders that I want to control from an X-Y grid, in such a way that
each corner of the grid turns up to full volume a single mic
Mics are at the corners of the grid as Far-Left, Near-Left,
Near-Right, and Far-Right. Is there a way to crossfade all four inputs
from a single X-Y?

With the control at the middle left-right and up-down, all mice should
be at -6 dB. Hope I'm making myself clear. Think of a football field
with Parabolic mice on the 25 yard lines left, right, near, and far.

Answer 1

Note: The instructions change for 1.4.0 and later. Please see addendum below.

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This is an awesome question. Yes, it's possible to "crossfade all four inputs from a single X-Y." The solution looks like this:

Make 4 Mic Knobs

Set All 4 Knobs to Be XFader Components

Make Mic Supers 2 and 4 Inverted

Make All Four Knobs Supercontrols

CREATE 4 ADDITIONAL KNOBS

These are the actual controllers that are going to control the mics.

MAKE EACH OF THE FINAL MICS INVERTED

MAKE EACH OF THE SUPERCONTROLS CONTROL ITS CORRESPONDING SUBCONTROL

NOW WE'RE READY FOR THE XY PAD 

1. Make an XY Pad 
2. Make its X-axis a supercontrol of Mic 1 Super and Mic 2 Super
3. Make its Y-axis a supercontrol of Mic 3 Super and Mic 4 Super. See this question if necessary: How to Access Y Dimension

That's it. Now the center of ech axis will make the final Mic knobs spin up one at a time. Bottom middle is Mic 3. Top middle is Mic 4. Right middle is Mic 2. Left Middle is Mic 1.

Now you can do a lot of creative things. Just messing around for a minute or two I wound up with this result:

Addendum: Changes for 1.4.0 and after, now with "Cossfader Overlap."

1. You'll have to postpone this instruction, "Set All 4 Knobs to Be XFader Components" until AFTER they are subcontrols of the XY pad. Otherwise you won't even see the option.
2. Crossfader piece is now called "Crossfader Overlap" and is a slider. Set the slider to ".5" for all four knobs. This will have them crossfade at the center.

 

Answer 2

Note: The instructions change for 1.4.0 and later. Please see addendum below.

---

This is an awesome question. Yes, it's possible to "crossfade all four inputs from a single X-Y." The solution looks like this:

Make 4 Mic Knobs

Set All 4 Knobs to Be XFader Components

Make Mic Supers 2 and 4 Inverted

Make All Four Knobs Supercontrols

CREATE 4 ADDITIONAL KNOBS

These are the actual controllers that are going to control the mics.

MAKE EACH OF THE FINAL MICS INVERTED

MAKE EACH OF THE SUPERCONTROLS CONTROL ITS CORRESPONDING SUBCONTROL

NOW WE'RE READY FOR THE XY PAD 

1. Make an XY Pad 
2. Make its X-axis a supercontrol of Mic 1 Super and Mic 2 Super
3. Make its Y-axis a supercontrol of Mic 3 Super and Mic 4 Super. See this question if necessary: How to Access Y Dimension

That's it. Now the center of ech axis will make the final Mic knobs spin up one at a time. Bottom middle is Mic 3. Top middle is Mic 4. Right middle is Mic 2. Left Middle is Mic 1.

Now you can do a lot of creative things. Just messing around for a minute or two I wound up with this result:

Addendum: Changes for 1.4.0 and after, now with "Cossfader Overlap."

1. You'll have to postpone this instruction, "Set All 4 Knobs to Be XFader Components" until AFTER they are subcontrols of the XY pad. Otherwise you won't even see the option.
2. Crossfader piece is now called "Crossfader Overlap" and is a slider. Set the slider to ".5" for all four knobs. This will have them crossfade at the center.