DUOPAN – a Psychoacoustic Panner that Brings Natural Depth and Width to Your Mixes

Applied Psychoacoustics Lab (APL) has released DUOPAN, a psychoacoustic panner designed to bring natural spatial width and depth to your mixes, optimised for headphone listening, yet translating to loudspeakers.

Conventional panning can sound unnatural on headphones, with images appearing inside the head and making it difficult to achieve smooth, linear movement across the stereo field. DUOPAN solves this.

Built on APL’s psychoacoustically calibrated Time/Amplitude trade-off algorithm for localisation, DUOPAN delivers seamless and natural control of spatial character, letting you find the ideal balance between spaciousness and precision. On headphones, it achieves a binaural-like imaging, placing sounds slightly outside the head for a more natural and immersive experience.

DUOPAN can also correct spatial imbalances in stereo recordings, and supports multichannel routing, adding natural depth and spaciousness to immersive mixes.

"DUOPAN is the pan pot that I’ve been dreaming of for years! Finally a pan pot with image stability and dimensionality. That widens the sweet spot and lets us create mixes that are compatible simultaneously with both speakers and headphones." Bob Katz

"DUOPAN is one of those wonderful tools that I didn’t know I needed but now don’t want to live without. Panning just became a creative tool, rather than a way to move sounds." Hans-Martin Buff

KEY BENEFITS:

Delivers a more natural and spacious stereo image.
Places images slightly outside the head on headphones (binaural-like).
Pans a stereo track more naturally without narrowing its width.
Corrects unbalanced stereo images (e.g., correcting the snare position in a drum overhead recording).
Enables more precise and creative panning.
Widens the sweet spot for multiple listeners in large listening spaces (e.g. live venue and cinema).

MAIN FEATURES

Flexible control of Time (T) and Amplitude (A) cues for panning – Powered by our psychoacoustic model: Increase Time for a more spacious sound (and more externalised on headphones), adjust Amplitude for sharper imaging. In large venues, time-based panning also helps listeners on the far side experiences a more balanced and even mix.
Dual-band panning – Apply independent T/A settings to low and high frequencies with an adjustable crossover, unlocking new levels of precision and creative flexibility in stereo imaging.
Shadow – Reduces high-frequency energy on the side opposite to the pan direction, solidifying the stereo image and simulating the natural head-shadow effect in headphone listening.
Multichannel routing – On multichannel tracks, the stereo output can be routed to any pair of loudspeakers (Immersive-ready!).

PRICING

Introductory price $39.00 exc. VAT (Reg. $59.00) until Oct 31st 2025.

https://apl-hud.com/product/duopan/

DUOPAN is available for macOS and Windows in AAX, VST3 and AU plugin formats.

If you are an APL Virtuoso Early Access customer who purchased it before 17 Feb 2024 you are eligible to receive a free license of DUOPAN - please complete this form.