APL Duopan Review: A Panner That Understands Psychoacoustics

In this video, I'm reviewing the APL DuoPan plugin, a revolutionary panning tool that combines traditional amplitude-based panning with time-based panning approaches based on psychoacoustic principles. Coming from Applied Psychoacoustics Lab—a company built on 20 years of academic research at the University of Huddersfield—DuoPan offers a unique blend of cutting-edge acoustic science and professional usability. The plugin's innovative T-A slider lets you blend between time-based and amplitude-based panning to create more natural and realistic spatial effects. I'll also demonstrate the head shadow functionality, which mimics how your head dampens higher frequencies, and the dual band option that allows you to apply different panning settings to low and high frequencies—essentially giving you a simple way to achieve binaural rendering effects.

Beyond the core panning features, DuoPan is incredibly versatile for immersive audio workflows. It works seamlessly with various surround sound formats including 7.1, 7.1.4, 9.1.6, and Dolby Atmos, allowing you to route channels flexibly in your DAW. Whether you're just looking for a high-quality panning plugin for stereo work or you're deep into immersive audio production, I genuinely believe this is a must-have tool. It's not just a binaural panner or a regular panner—it's both, and everything in between, giving you unprecedented control over your spatial audio. If you've ever wanted to use binaural rendering as a creative effect rather than just a headphone simulation tool, DuoPan is exactly what you need.