G-Force ping-pong tremolo/delay

A sinus wave panner moves gradually between the left and right pan positions. A square wave panner jumps directly from hard left to hard right. This page, however, deals with a panning tremolo that moves between left, center, right, center and back to the beginning again, each cycle giving you four steps in the left, center and right positions.

This principle can also be used to create a ping-pong delay if the Panner is routed after a Delay.

Basic programming

To create this effect you can use a Simple Panner with its Out level linked to a square wave LFO. By setting the LFO speed to exactly four times the Panner speed the LFO will raise the Panner's Out level to its max value exactly at the left, center, right and center positions during each Pan cycle. The rest of the time the level will be at min values, similar to a square wave Tremolo with 100% Depth.

By using tempo parameters for setting speeds it becomes easier to find an LFO speed value that's exactly four times the Panner speed, then you can easily change the overall speed with the Global tempo. If you want say four different pan positions in six steps (hard left, left, right, hard right, then back to the beginning through the right and left positions) you can simply set the relationship between LFO Speed and Panner Speed to 6:1 instead of 4:1.

Four step ping-pong tremolo

Simple panner

The LFO

Link response curve

The Link response curve must be vertical (like Slope 9.0) otherwise you will not get distinct level changes. Setting Glide time to its min value (1ms) does not seem necessary, though.

Four step ping-pong delay

This idea can also be applied to ping-pong delays, if you want the delay repeats to be panned left, center, right, center, left and so on. Here are two solutions:

From the Delay block only

Make an ordinary One Tap Delay. Link its Pan parameter to a Sine wave LFO. The Link response curve can use its default values. Delay time must be exactly four times the Speed of the LFO (so that four Delay repeats will occur during each Pan cycle).

From the Delay block and the Panner

Make an ordinary One Tap or Stereo Delay with Mix 100%, followed by the Panner. Use a Pipeline in parallell with both effect blocks for the dry signal, unless you want both Delay and dry signal panned. The Delay time should be four times the Panner Speed (so that exactly four Delay repeats occur during each Panner cycle).