Justin Webster at The Cargo Cult has updated Spanner with some useful new features and Windows support. The release of Spanner 4 is also great news for post folk working on the Windows platform as it finally means that all The Cargo Cult products are supported to run on macOS and Windows OS.

What’s New In Spanner 4.0.9

• New surround formats - If you're mixing in surround, you’ll appreciate the newly added immersive stem formats. Spanner now also supports: 5.0.2, 5.1.2, 5.0.4, 5.1.4, 7.0.4, 7.1.4, 7.0.6, 7.1.6, 9.0.4, 9.1.4, 9.0.6, 9.1.6 – in addition to the previous set

• Windows Support - Spanner now offers support for both Windows and MacOS, so users can feel free to insert a Spanner no matter who will be inheriting the session. There is one rider to this. They say that the Spanner SpanControl app is currently only available for Apple iPad on IOS and does not support Spanner instances on Windows.

• Mini Mode - Screen real-estate is always at a premium. Spanner now offers 3 separate view modes so you can hide controls that you don’t need and keep the overall size to a minimum.

What Is Spanner?

For those not familiar with Spanner, it is so much more than a surround and Atmos panner.

As well as offering a wide range of panning options, Spanner can upsize or downsize to and from all common track formats, allowing you to actually 'pan' an LCR into the 7.0 mix bus or temporarily send a 7.1 stem to a 5.1 output for monitoring.

The Rotate mode enables ambiences to follow a camera move, while the Spin mode can get very dizzy.

All of which makes Spanner very flexible. For example, you can automate an entire stem to shift left, then right, before collapsing into the centre. Or you can engage the ‘Balls-To-The-Wall’ mode, which gives 3D fly-overs, designed to minimise bleed between channels.

For macOS users, there is also an iPad remote control app designed to open up new workflows for the edit room, the predub or the final mix.

It follows the currently opened Pro Tools Spanner instance so you never have to think about loading a surround panner... it's just always there when you need it.

If you want to learn more about Spanner from The Cargo Cult, then check out this video tour by Jonah Guelzo…

Spanner Price And Availability

• Spanner 4 Perpetual - $269

• Upgrade from Spanner 3 - $99

• Upgrade from Spanner 2 - $109