APL DUOPAN

New Dimensions in Stereo and Multichannel Panning

DUOPAN is a new psychoacoustic panner designed to bring natural spatial width and depth to your mixes, optimised for headphone listening, yet translating beautifully 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 model 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 route its output to any loudspeaker pair within a multichannel mix, adding natural depth and spaciousness.

Launch Sale: 34% Off

Original price was: $59.00.Current price is: $39.00. exc. VAT

Includes AAX, VST3 and AU

If you are an APL VIRTUOSO Early Access customer who purchased it before 17 Feb 2024, please complete this form. You are eligible for receiving a free license of DUOPAN.

Current version: v1.0.0 (Early Access)

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!).

Experts say

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

Mastering/mix engineer, author and inventor

Digital Domain

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

Recording and Mixing Engineer/Producer/Songwriter

By uniting level, time, and spectral shaping in one tool, DUOPAN delivers a far more natural and convincing result than a traditional power panner.

Morten Lindberg

Immersive recording engineer and producer

DUOPAN allows you to pan sources with a beautifully natural result that we’re just not used to with conventional panning ITB – a unique and invaluable tool!

Emre Ramazanoglu

Mixer, Producer and Songwriter

DUOPAN is not just a panning plugin! It’s also a depth enhancing plugin thanks to some psychoacoustic magic. This plugin opens a portal into the depths of your mix you didn’t know was available to you! Whether using it on a mono track or a stereo track, each can benefit in their own way, specially taking advantage of the Dual Band mode.

Aaron PhatChief Gandia

Mixing and mastering engineer

Phat Planet Studios

Conventional Panpot vs. DUOPAN

Conventional panpots rely only on the amplitude difference between the left and right channels. But over headphones, this often sounds unnatural, especially with hard-panned sounds that feel stuck inside the ear canal. Since most people listen to music on headphones today, making your mix sound natural on headphones is more important than ever. DUOPAN is designed exactly for that . It uses a combination of time and amplitude cues based on our advanced psychoacoustic model of localisation, giving you a more natural, binaural-like stereo image over headphones, while also providing a more spacious image over speakers.

Time/Amplitude Ratio Control for Spatial Width and Depth

The Time (T) and Amplitude (A) ratio allows you to flexibly control the spatial character of the stereo image. More Time gives you a wider and deeper sound, while more Amplitude makes it sharper and more focused sound. If you’re familiar with stereo microphone techniques, this is like moving between a spaced AB pair, a coincident XY, or a near-coincident setup like ORTF. DUOPAN enables you to not just pan but adds a new spatial dimension to your sound.

Dual-Band Panning for Creativity and Precision

The Dual-Band control opens up new creative possibilities. It allows you to apply different pan positions and Time/Amplitude ratios to the low and high frequencies, with an adjustable crossover point. This means you can give the low end one spatial character and the highs another, sculpting the stereo image with far greater precision. For stereo recordings, Dual-Band panning can also help correct spatial imbalance and reduce masking in busy mixes.

Shadow and Dual-Band for Binaural-like Imaging

The Shadow control simulates the natural head-shadow effect. In natural hearing, the high-frequency energy is reduced at the ear farther from the sound source because the head acts as a barrier, and the brain uses this information for localisation. On the other hand, low frequencies are localised mainly through the time difference rather than the amplitude difference. By combining Shadow with Dual Band panning, DUOPAN can mimic how we actually hear sounds in space, making the stereo image feel like it’s wrapping around your head instead of sitting inside it.

Spatial and Spectral Shaping for Stereo Tracks

DUOPAN isn’t just for mono tracks. It’s great for stereo sources too. With conventional panning, stereo tracks often lose their spaciousness when you pan them off-centre. With DUOPAN, you can preserve the spaciousness while moving the focal point of the image. By adjusting the Time/Amplitude ratio, you can decide exactly how much spread you want. With Dual Band engaged, you can even fine-tune spectral and spatial balance of the stereo recording.

Stereo Imbalance Correction for Stereo Recordings

DUOPAN is also a power tool for fixing balance issues in stereo recordings. For example, when recording drum overheads with a spaced mic pair, the snare or kick can sometimes lean to one side. Using a traditional panpot to fix this imbalance in mixing causes the stereo image to become narrow and unnatural, as in this example. But With DUOPAN, you can bring the snare or kick to the centre while keeping the cymbals and hi-hat in their original positions. Another useful application is with stereo guitar recordings made using a spaced pair, where the low or/and high frequencies can become overly separated or lean to one side in the stereo image. This can be easily corrected by using the Dual-Band mode.

Multichannel Audio Ready

DUOPAN allows you to route its stereo output to any pair of loudspeakers within a multichannel setup in your DAW. When inserted on a multichannel track, output channel dropdown menus become available, enabling flexible routing in surround or immersive formats (e.g., channel beds in Dolby Atmos). This gives you full control over where your stereo image is positioned within the multichannel mix. DUOPAN can deliver more accurate localisation and a more natural, spacious image, particularly for sources panned between lateral speaker pairs (e.g., between front-left and side-left).

DUOPAN Tutorial with Audio Demos

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Part 1: Conventional Panpot vs. DUOPAN

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Part 2: Time/Amplitude Ratio Control for Spatial Width and Depth

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Part 3: Dual-Band Control for Creativity and Precision

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Part 4: Shadow and Dual-Band Control for Binaural-like Imaging

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Part 5: Spatial and Spectral Shaping for Stereo Tracks

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Part 6: Spatial Imbalance Correction for Stereo Recordings

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Part 7: DUOPAN for Immersive Audio Production

DUOPAN Sound Examples

Please use headphones.

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

Mastering/mix engineer, author and inventor

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

Recording and Mixing Engineer/Producer/Songwriter

By uniting level, time, and spectral shaping in one tool, DUOPAN delivers a far more natural and convincing result than a traditional power panner.

Morten Lindberg

Immersive recording engineer and producer

DUOPAN allows you to pan sources with a beautifully natural result that we’re just not used to with conventional panning ITB – a unique and invaluable tool!

Emre Ramazanoglu

Mixer, Producer and Songwriter

DUOPAN is not just a panning plugin! It’s also a depth enhancing plugin thanks to some psychoacoustic magic. This plugin opens a portal into the depths of your mix you didn’t know was available to you! Whether using it on a mono track or a stereo track, each can benefit in their own way, specially taking advantage of the Dual Band mode.

Aaron PhatChief Gandia

Mixing and mastering engineer

Authorisation Method

PACE iLok (dongle gen. 2 or 3 or machine-base)

Formats

AAX
VST3
AU

Operating Systems

Apple macOS 10.14 through 15.6.1

Microsoft Windows 10 and 11

Mac Requirements

Apple M1 and M2

Intel 64-bit CPU with SSE3 (minimum Core i5 at 2 GHz)
– We recommend using a Mac from at least 2015. Core 2 Duo is not supported.

PC Requirements

Intel 64-bit or compatible CPU with SSE3 instruction set (minimum Core i5 at 2 GHz)
– We recommend using a PC from at least 2016.

Memory

2 GB minimum, 4 GB recommended.

DAW

We tested on the following DAWS:
Pro Tools 2025
Reaper 7
Logic Pro 11
Nuendo 14
Cubase 14
Ableton Live 12
Studio One 7
Pyramix 15
Sequoia Pro 16
Samplitude Pro X7

Sample Rates

44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, 192 kHz

User Manual

The user manual can be accessed by clicking the i button in the top right corner of the plugin/app.

Or click here to download the user manual.

Contact Us

If you have any questions, please email us at support@apl-hud.com

If you found a bug, please report it here.