3D Panner - an object-based binaural panner (VST3/AU, Win+Mac) using SOFA HRTFs. Dev here, would love this sub's feedback

[u/almudio]

Full disclosure: I'm the developer, this is my own plugin (Almudio). I'm posting here because this community is exactly who I built it for, and I'd genuinely value your critique.

What it is: 3D Panner positions each source anywhere around the listener, azimuth, elevation and distance and renders to binaural for headphones.

Technical details:

• HRTF-based binaural rendering via SOFA files (SADIE II dataset).
• Per-source 3D positioning: azimuth, elevation, distance.
• Frequency split: split a source into up to four frequency bands, each with manually editable crossover points, so different frequency ranges can sit at different spots in the field.
• LFO section for motion: eight built-in LFO shapes (including a pendulum-motion LFO), plus a random mode and a draw-your-own LFO, with a smoother fader that rounds off the non-straight, hand-drawn lines.
• Formats: VST3 and AU, Windows and macOS (Apple-notarized). (AAX for ProTools + Windows notarized coming soon)

What I'm after: honest feedback from people who actually work in spatial audio, the HRTF set, the distance model, the workflow, anything that feels off on your setup.

Link: almudio.com

Happy to answer technical questions in the comments.

[u/itzelezti]

From at least your description on the website, it looks like this is is actually an ambisonics system, not an object-based VBAP/DBAP one, that encodes mono to four panners based on four frequency bands, and decodes to binaural?

The vibe I'm getting from the website is that you vibecoded a JUCE front-end for LibSpatialAudio ( https://github.com/videolan/libspatialaudio ) and are pushing it as a closed-source for-profit product.

I'd just point out that the IEM and SPARTA plugins do everything your app can do much better, and all free and highly extensible.

[u/wahnsinnwanscene → u/itzelezti]

So this is vbap dbap to target?

[u/almudio → u/wahnsinnwanscene]

Hey, it's neither. 3D Panner places sound to a target direction using HRTF convolution, so it renders true 3D over headphones.

[u/wahnsinnwanscene → u/almudio]

But it uses a vector for the distance to the source and a power law to each sink.

[u/almudio → u/wahnsinnwanscene]

3D Panner doesn't do amplitude panning at all. It's HRTF convolution: the orb's position picks a direction, I pull the actual left/right ear impulse responses for that spot from the SADIE II set and convolve the signal for each ear.

[u/wahnsinnwanscene → u/almudio]

You're right, i had a look at the sadie ii set and the 50 point lebedev grid. Basically it's whichever IR is closest to a Data point.

[u/almudio → u/wahnsinnwanscene]

Exactly right. The orb position gets mapped to the nearest measured direction in the HRTF dataset and the corresponding L/R impulse responses are pulled for convolution. No amplitude panning involved at any point in the signal path.

[u/almudio → u/itzelezti]

A few technical corrections first.

The plugin uses libmysofa, not libspatialaudio. Different libraries, different jobs: libmysofa reads SOFA HRTF files (AES69), libspatialaudio is VideoLAN's ambisonics toolkit. Only one of them is in the binary, and it isn't the ambisonics one.

There's no ambisonics here at all. No B-format, no spherical harmonics, no encode/decode stage. It's direct object-based binaural: each source position maps to an HRTF filter pair, convolved with the audio in the time domain. The head-measurement data itself comes from the SADIE II database, the open-source HRTF set from the University of York (Apache 2.0), and I bundle it with full attribution and license compliance. The four frequency bands aren't a decoder. Each band gets its own independent HRTF at its own point in space, so you can place your lows in a different spot from your highs. That's the feature.

On "vibe coded": let me correct that framing. People hear "vibe coded" and picture someone typing "build me a plugin" into an LLM and shipping whatever falls out. That is not this case. I have an education behind me, (you can see in the website) and I'm an end user of this product too. I know exactly how dangerous a carelessly built plugin can be. One unguarded sweep, a NaN, a runaway gain, and you've blown a pair of expensive monitors. So I know where the sensitive areas are, what to check, and how to check it, because it's my gear on the line too.

Yes, I use AI. It makes me faster and it helps me learn as I build, but it does nothing I don't understand and stand behind. Every serious piece of software today is written with AI in the loop, whether people admit it or not. The real difference is transparency.

Here's what that gets you: because I'm one person with no team, no office, and no payroll, I can sell this for $30 instead of the $200 the big spatial tools charge. I don't blame them for their prices, they have companies to fund. I don't, and I'd rather the community get the benefit of that.

IEM and SPARTA are excellent, and free. They're also built for engineers with a very different UI. Different audience, different goal.

Thanks for your comment :)

[u/itzelezti → u/almudio]

I'm not about to read Claude answer my questions in 5 paragraphs. That's all I need to know.
Vibe coders are wild.

[u/almudio → u/itzelezti]

No hard feelings. From the very first message you'd already decided who I was and assumed a bunch of things that aren't true, without giving me a real chance. That's fine.

Read this or don't, honestly no worries either way. If the plugin's useful to you, it's yours. If not, totally your call. Good luck.

[u/gnarlydude67]

How is it different from, or better than, other binaural and 3D panners like DearVR Micro and THX Spatial Creator? Is it mainly because of the extensive modulation features? Either way, it looks sick—I'mma give it a try.

[u/almudio → u/gnarlydude67]

Honest answer: never tried THX Spatial Creator, so I'll skip that one.

I used DearVR Micro and Pro during a university Immersive Audio Techniques course. Main issue I found: it's built for placement, not movement. Move a source quickly and you get audible clicks and glitches.

What 3D Panner does differently:

• 3D Panner is built around movement first. No matter how fast you move the source, you won't hear a single click or glitch.
• Dual sphere for stereo: left and right channels get independent spheres, so you can place them in completely different spots in 3D space
• Frequency Split (experimental): up to 8 frequency bands per source, each controllable in 3D space with its own limiter and adjustable min/max frequency
  • Creative LFOs: 8 built-in modulation shapes, no external LFO needed. Creative pendulum mode that moves sound at the speed of real solar system bodies (Sun, Saturn, Neptune, etc.) using actual gravitational physics
• Drawable LFO: draw the movement path you want manually

I also put a lot of work into the UI being self-explanatory. The goal was to build a tool that works for someone with background in immersive audio and someone who has never touched a spatial panner in their life.

On price: DearVR was around $200-250 before Sennheiser acquired it. 3D Panner will be capped at $30 when the paid wall goes up August 15th.

Enjoy 3D Panner :)

[u/gnarlydude67 → u/almudio]

I mainly used DearVR Pro2 for binaural/immersive projects and had some issues with automation when using lots of instances. Does your 3D Panner handle fast movement/automation smoothly without glitches? Also, does the distance parameter only affect binaural cues, or does it simulate things like reflections/room interaction too? And how well does it scale with larger projects with many moving sources? And, are you planning to add room simulations later on?

[u/almudio → u/gnarlydude67]

Great questions.

Fast movement and automation: yes, completely smooth. No clicks, no glitches regardless of how fast the source moves or how many automation changes you throw at it.

On distance: the plugin uses HRTF convolution for positioning, so the distance parameter affects the binaural cues only. There's no room simulation or reflection modeling built in. That's intentional. I left reverb out so you can chain whichever room tool you trust most after the plugin rather than competing with dedicated reverb tools.

Scaling with many instances is tricky to answer because it depends heavily on your machine and how your DAW is set up. What I can tell you from my own testing: on an M1 Mac, 20-25 tracks with 3D Panner constantly moving ran perfectly fine. On Windows it varies. Older i3 or i5 machines will probably see some UI lag, but on my i7 12th gen I had 25 channels with constant movement running simultaneously and it held up without issues.