http://www.motifator.com/index.php/forum/cache/rss16.xml/viewthread/464483/

Previous keyboards were slightly more technical:

For Alt. Panning:

Determines the amount by which the sound is panned alternately left and right for each received
Note On message, assuming the pan position set above as center. Higher values increase the width
of the Pan range.

It seems basically if you press one key - the note should be panned one way (L or R depending on last note) or the other.

If you set values higher than the further you get away from "C" in any direction (R63 or L64 as the extremes) then the amount the panning alternates will increase up until at the extremes one channel (L or R) will get ALL the signal and the opposite channel (R or L) will get none. Smaller numbers and the amount of panning offsets will be smaller.

So an extreme alternate panning of R63 may yield (for volume = 127)

Note press (count as in 1st press, 2nd press) -- Left Speaker Volume -- Right Speaker Volume
#1 -- 0 -- 127
#2 -- 127 -- 0
#3 -- 0 -- 127
#4 -- 127 -- 0

(alternates to extreme)

"C" (center) is no alternating. Lower number values mean less difference between the right and left difference in level.

If you had a value of L64 (instead of R63) then the pattern would alternate in an opposite direction. You can use this when setting up multiple parts which work together - so you know which will be opposite in panning than another.

L64:
#1 -- 127 -- 0
#2 -- 0 -- 127
#3 -- 127 -- 0
#4 -- 0 -- 127

Notice how it's just opposite the above.

Random instead of alternating will be random if the pan will favor a right-most offset or left-most offset.

Due to stereo performances which would "act funny" if you only had one speaker hooked up (one channel) - Yamaha, like most keyboards, offers a "MONO" output. If you only have one side plugged in - and it's MONO - then you'll have a harder time hearing pan effects. To really isolate what this effect is doing, I would recommend hooking up your keyboard MONO - but use the Main R output (not the L/MONO output). This way you can clearly hear the alternating because every other note will be silenced when using the maximum PAN values.

If you switch between R and L (R63 and L64) extremes - you will see the note either always cuts out or never does - because you are alternating the alternating (if you catch my drift). If you hear a note - have the setting to R63, then switch it to L64 - you will hear a note again the next keypress - but then will not hear the next one if you keep pressing.

If you do not want to "animate" panning - then do not set Alternate pan (with or without random pan).

There are also some cases when the L and R channel of a sample may be different so there are some "tricks" you can play by either alternating between two different samples or randomly playing one side or the other. There may be examples of these in Montage - but should be fairly sparse. And the performance will already be setup to the proper setting for using this "trick".

Note this all applies to a chord as well. There are no notes that you play, according to a MIDI device (Montage included) that happen at the exact same time. MIDI scans in notes using a one-lane highway - so notes come in one at a time even when playing chords. They are time-stamped maybe really, really, really close to each other - but still a measurable time distance apart.

So when playing a chord - half your notes will fall under one pan bias (R or L) and the other half will fall other the opposite pan bias (L or R).

If you "roll" your chords (in an upward direction) - then the notes will alternate in panning as you go up the stack. If you hit a block chord all at one time - then it will be sort of random which notes fall to which pan bias. Unless you're really accurate - in which case the bias will fall in the order that the keyboard scans in the keys (probably one direction or the other top-to-bottom or bottom-to-top).

It's really just the order that MIDI messages arrive.

... another tip to hear what's going on is to use headphones since audio directional awareness (L or R) I think may be easier to discern using headphones vs speakers. And what's going on can be isolated by pulling one side (L or R) back.

Thank you Jason!
The reason for me asking this is because I have imported the TX816 Factory sounds and now setting them up in the Montage.
Many of the sounds have 8 parts and sound really cool. I read somewhere that the "Random pan" is similar to something available in DX7II. Hence the question. 😉