Binaural Location vs Spatializer

Binaural Location goes beyond the simple pan control; it allows you to place your audio at a specific location anywhere in a virtual space around the listener. The location of the L and R control points on the screen controls the location of two virtual speakers. Based on the angle and distance from the speakers to the listener's ears, the app creates a realistic impression that the sound is actually coming from the specific location of the L and R points. *** This is an audio unit plugin that runs in host apps such as GarageBand. It does not run as a stand-alone effect. *** Is it just a fancy pan control? No. This plugin models three different aspects of the sound location at the same time, and none of them is a pan control: 1. The delay due to the distance between the sound source and the listener's left and right ears. 2. When the left ear hears sound coming from the right side, it gets less high-frequency clarity because the sound waves are coming around from the other side of the head. 3. The volume of the sound changes depending on the distance between the listener and the speakers. Does this plugin work for listeners who use speakers instead of headphones? It is designed to work with headphones. If you listen with speakers, it will sound fine, but you won't get the immersive effect of binaural audio. How is this useful for making music? This is a creative effect. One interesting thing you can do is enable the orbit mode, which modulates the location of the left and right sound sources in real time, moving them around the room in an orbit around the listener. You'll hear the Doppler effect gently shifting the pitch up and down and the sounds move closer and farther from your ears, and the volume sways up and down in accordance with the changes in distance. This is a nice effect, similar to a Leslie speaker and a little bit like a stereo chorus but with more emphasis on the modulated filtering than on pitch shifting. It works especially well with reverb, and makes a sound like a modulated reverb effect.

Spatializer is a great choice if you want to widen your sounds but need to avoid: • phase smearing in the mono mix • phasing / comb filter effects (from asymmetric channel delays) • or any changes to the mid channel or mono mix The plugin's main focus is to enhance sounds that have little or no side channel information, where traditional widening approaches like mid-side processing can't be effectively used. It also offers more flexibility in case of mixed inputs, widening narrow components without boosting already existing stereo width to extreme levels that would drown out the mid channel, leading to stereo image problems. Spatializer can also be combined with other effects, for example it's excellent for augmenting large-scale reverbs by enhancing the more immediate space or effectively moving the listener closer to the virtual sound source. At large timescales, the plugin takes on some of the qualities of a reverb itself, while keeping the mid channel sharp and free of any reflections. This could either be used as a special effect in and of itself (depending on the transient characteristics of the input), or be blended together with traditional ambience or acoustic space simulation effects. FEATURES: • Synthesis of side channel information where there was none (stereoization of mono sources) • Linear phase mid channel • Capability to deliver both a neutral / transparent response as well as stronger effects • Built-in multiband transient shapers for delivering a more focused response by suppressing outlier reflections • Multiple visualization options: Directional RMS distribution, position and motion • Effects can range from close-proximity / spatial audio effects to larger acoustic space reflections • Baseline frequency response is optimized to maximize flatness, balancing the spectral density of Left, Right, Side channels The built-in selection of subtly tuned presets and the combined psychoacoustic properties of the above features give more leeway to easily experiment with kinds of source material that have traditionally presented difficulties, like tracks with prominent LF content. Due to its ability to provide transparent, subtle and high-clarity responses, as well as good spectral density characteristics, Spatializer can also be included in master bus effects chains. In multi-track setups it can be used in parallel with other positioning methods to bring more variation to the sound stage or to provide additional ways to adjust the mix. For audio demos, visit: www.quantovox.com/sp PLEASE NOTE: • AUv3-compatible host application required • Supported sampling rates: 22.05, 44.1, 48, 96 kHz.