Sound panning impacts volume: is this normal ?

[warpdesign]

instance = sound.play({ panning: [8, 0, 0], volume: 1.0, loop: loop || false });

And sound plays at very low volume. If I remove panning parameter, it plays at normal volume.

[rserota]

Yeah, that's right. In Web Audio, you don't directly set the left/right stereo balance. Panning describes the distance between the listener and the sound source. By default, panning is [0, 0, 0], so it's like the sound is playing from inside your head. If you pan the sound in any direction, it gets further away from the listener, and seems quieter.

I would recommend you pan all sounds away from the user on the z-axis ( e.g. [0, 0, 5] ). This will make it seem less jarring if you then pan the sound on the x-axis. Panning from [-5, 0, 0] to [5, 0, 0] will probably sound irritating, like a bee buzzing around your head, but panning from [-5, 0, 5] to [5, 0, 5] will sound more natural.

[notthetup]

Found this algorithm on stackoverflow that converts a -90: 90 deg parameter to the appropriate setPosition call.

function panPositionSetter( panValue ) {
                var xDeg = parseInt( panValue );
                var zDeg = xDeg + 90;
                if ( zDeg > 90 ) {
                    zDeg = 180 - zDeg;
                }
                var x = Math.sin( xDeg * ( Math.PI / 180 ) );
                var z = Math.sin( zDeg * ( Math.PI / 180 ) );
                panner_.setPosition( x, 0, z );
            }