Ableton Live 10 addresses what has long been a nuisance when working with stereo recordings. It's not the most glamorous update, but it's one that I've certainly appreciated in my day to day work. 

Stereo Panning vs. Split Stereo Panning

When we pan a stereo file to the left, Live is really just turning down the right side of the file. As we pan to the right, the left side is turned down. This can be a problem when the information on each side is quite different. For example, if I have a stereo recording of a bunch of percussion sounds, anything panned hard right will go silent if I decide to pan my percussion track hard left. This is Stereo Panning. 

In Live 10, we can right-click the pan control and select Split Stereo Panning and then pan each side of the stereo file independently. Now we can put both the left and right side of that percussion track on the left side. This opens up some creative possibilities, such as placing both sides of the file in the center, essentially creating mono playback.

Here's a full explanation video below.