PsychoPan

Beyond Panning

Since the invention of stereo sound, music producers have been using rudimentary left / right panning techniques to place sounds around the listener. But why limit yourself to a two-dimensional plane, when you can expand your sonic horizons?

PsychoPan is a revolutionary psychoacoustic sound-styling plugin designed to change how humans perceive sound in a 2D space. Born from the demanding worlds of cinema sound design, game audio, and immersive production, PsychoPan sculpts depth, elevation, front-to-back placement, and distance… magically encoding a universe of 3D audio, within a standard stereo stream.

This groundbreaking tool was created in collaboration with sound designer Pan Athen, a veteran audio professional with more than 30 years of experience in game audio, film sound, immersive audio, and audio technologies. Powered by the innovative HyperSpatial™ framework, PsychoPan bypasses overly complicated acoustic measurements, and instead serves up a tactile interface for ultimate creative control. Manipulate level, timing, and spectral cues to create engaging environments that translate perfectly across headphones, studio monitors, TV and theater systems.

2D to 3D via XY

At the heart of the plugin is an intuitive XY pad, featuring built-in energy visualizers. Seamlessly glide your sound across the horizontal plane using advanced psychoacoustic phase and time differences. Drag vertically to control the perceived elevation, placing audio above or below the horizon.

For movie and TV production workflows, the built-in Cinesafe guidelines keep your sound placement perfectly framed to the on-screen action. Alternatively, throw the rulebook out and push past the visual boundaries to craft massive, ultra-wide effects that explode far beyond the edges of the screen.

Back to Front

Traditional stereo processing cannot differentiate between a sound directly in front or behind you. PsychoPan’s dedicated Zone Module solves this by emulating the subtle spectral shifts our ears rely on to decode front-to-back directionality. Dialing in the Zone fader enables truly head spinning front-to-back separation that translates perfectly to standard stereo speakers.

Dynamic Distance

Real-world distance attenuation is an incredibly complex cocktail of physics, environment, and human biology. PsychoPan translates this into an intuitive, percentage-based Distance Slider, divided into five distinct perceptual zones ranging from Close (meters) all the way to Distant (tens of kilometers).

Under the hood, adjusting the distance drives 5 powerful independent micro-engines:

• Level Attenuation (ATN): Mimics standard acoustic volume loss over distance. At zero you’ll retain your original mix levels while keeping all other spatial distance characteristics.
• Proximity Effect (PRX): Simulates intimate, ultra-close "near-field" acoustics. Perfect for ASMR, up-close whispers, or terrifyingly tight projectile fly-bys.
• Width Loss (WID): As objects move away, they naturally lose their wide stereo envelopment. This module handles that narrowing effect automatically to maximize spatial realism.
• Distant Diffusion (DIF): Recreates the environmental diffusion cloud (late reflections and reverb tail) that wraps around distant audio sources.
• Big Freakin Event (BFE): The ultimate tool for cinematic sound designers. It simulates massive, high-energy global phenomena happening miles away by reinforcing the sub-bass frequencies. This gives epic weight to explosions, volcanic rumbles, or even just your kick drum.

Visual Feedback & Comparison

PsychoPan is built on vector graphics with a resizable interface. With multiple live displays, you can see the processing in action, showing exactly what’s happening to the processed signal as it travels through the plugin in real time. This allows for accurate monitoring at every step of the chain. To keep your tracks safe, activate the zero-latency Safety Limiter, which sits at the very end of the output chain, catching sudden peaks and protecting your master bus. There are also per-module Bypass buttons for quick comparisons. 

Presets

Factory presets are included within PsychoPan, giving quick access to some of the most common placement options - and some more creative effects too. Use these starting points to create sonic environments that jump right out of the screen. From intimate whispering, to distant rumbles - these transformative combinations will enthrall your audience.

W. A. Production are real-life producers making creative plugins to help you achieve studio quality processing quickly and easily. Enjoy!

Features

• 3D Depth & Positioning plugin designed for truly cinematic sound
• HyperSpatial™ Audio Core
• Intuitive XY Pad
• Elevation and Pan controls
• Cinesafe Visual Guidelines
• Zone Module
• Perceptual Distance Engine
• 5 Distance Sub-Modules
• Zero-Latency Safety Limiter
• Global & Modular Bypass
• Resizable interface
• Responsive & CPU friendly
• Flexible factory presets
• Full PDF Manual & Tutorial video

Get the plugin manual HERE

FAQ