Orbit Pro 1.5 brings a dramatically cleaner interface and a surprising new capability that pushes the software into fresh territory. I break down what's improved, what still needs work, and whether this tiny developer is quietly outpacing the giants behind Eclipsa Audio.

I sit down with Pablo Garcia-Valencuela of Nine Angles For Forte, a two-decade pioneer of immersive live performance, to dig into SPAT Curve, his patent-pending 3D Kontakt instrument built for the stage. We cover where immersive audio is heading, why he builds instruments rather than tools, and a few creative directions that genuinely caught me off guard.

I dive into Vert1go, the new immersive 3D auto-panner from Max1mus Audio, and explore everything from its pattern library and draw mode to a clever feature for object-oriented workflows like Dolby Atmos. I also compare it head-to-head with Sound Particles' Beat Panner so you can decide which one belongs in your immersive audio toolkit.

Sound Particles just released Beat Panner, a new plugin that works like an auto-panner in three-dimensional space for immersive and spatial audio. In this video I explore what it does, who it's for, and give my honest verdict, limitation and all.

Dolby recently made the Dolby Reference Player available to buy on its own, so I take a hands-on look at what it does, how it fits into Dolby Atmos quality control, and how to create a bitstream you can actually test. The real question, though, is who this $50 tool is for — and whether hobbyists and semi-professionals need it at all.

I answer the two biggest questions I keep getting about the Steven Slate Immersion One: can you use the VSX system for immersive audio, and should you upgrade from the original VSX? My verdict might surprise you — better doesn't always mean right for you.

In this episode, I chat with Gert Keunen, mastering engineer and author of Stereo Was a Nice Try, about everything from setting up a budget immersive studio to mixing secrets for Dolby Atmos and why thinking immersive from the start changes everything. We cover DAWs, headphone mixing, the LFE channel, loudness, virtual instruments, and even what beer style best represents an immersive mix.

I take a first look at the Areal SR1 — a groundbreaking set of immersive headphones from Belgium that uses multiple physical drivers per ear cup to reproduce spatial audio through your own ear geometry, bypassing software-based HRTF simulation entirely. In this video I walk through the hardware, the audio interface, the setup process, and give my honest verdict on whether the SR1 lives up to its fascinating concept.

I ranked every major DAW by the immersive audio features added in 2025 and early 2026 — from platforms with zero native support all the way to the surprising leader at the top of the list. Spoiler: Avid Pro Tools has quietly pulled ahead of the pack with native multi-format spatial session architecture, Sony 360 RA integration, and Audio Vivid support.

Fiedler Audio's new Armada plugin lets you use any mono plugin on immersive audio tracks and even on Dolby Atmos master channels via the Dolby Atmos Composer — and in this video I put it through its paces with FabFilter Pro‑Q and Pro‑C in Reaper. If you've been looking for a Waves Immersive Wrapper alternative from a developer you trust, this one's for you.

I review UpM1xer from Max1mus Audio, a new upmixing plugin for Dolby Atmos that features some genuinely innovative tools like an immersive transient shaper and an LFE subharmonic generator. It's a very strong first showing, though the lack of 9.1.6 support and the Apple Silicon-only limitation are worth noting.

Audio Brewers just released abEQ, a first-of-its-kind ambisonics EQ that lets you independently EQ each dimensional pole of the ambisonics field — and I'm walking you through everything it can do. I've also got a surprise reveal: Virtuoso's new HeadTrek feature, which turns your webcam into a head tracker for binaural monitoring.

In this follow-up to my SnappySnap review, I demonstrate the plugin's MCP integration, which lets you use Claude as a natural language interface to position immersive audio objects, create snapshots, and automate your mix — all inside your DAW. I walk through the full setup from scratch and show what this kind of AI-plugin collaboration actually looks like in practice.

In this video, I explore InShaper, Sound Particles' new LFO-driven waveshaper plugin, and put its impressive multi-channel capabilities — supporting formats all the way up to NHK 22.2 — to the test in a 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos session in Reaper. While the plugin has some limitations for immersive audio work, such as the inability to bypass individual channels internally, it's a convenient and powerful tool for spatial audio producers looking to add creative waveshaping to their multi-channel workflow.

In this video, I review Orbit by Orbit Spatial — a brand-new dedicated Dolby Atmos music player that finally makes it easy to play back and inspect your Atmos master files without needing the Dolby Atmos Renderer. At just 79 pounds (39 for educational users) and packed with features like object soloing, head tracking, and metadata PDF export, this Mac-only tool gets my first-ever unconditional buy recommendation.

In this video, I explore WaveLab 13's new Dolby Atmos mastering features, walking you through the complete workflow from ADM import to final render. I also compare it to competing solutions and share my honest verdict on whether it's worth the investment.

In this video, I explore the Waves Immersive Wrapper's new ability to wrap any VST3 plugin for immersive audio formats up to 9.1.6, making it one of the most powerful tools in immersive audio today. While the plugin itself is outstanding, I also address the elephant in the room—Waves' controversial 2023 attempt to eliminate perpetual licenses—and explain why this affects my recommendation.

In this video, I take a first look at the Illusonic plugin suite—a set of four immersive audio plugins currently available for free during beta testing, including an impressive upmixing plugin that supports rare formats like Sony 360RA's 13.1 layout. While the documentation is sparse, these plugins offer unique features you won't find elsewhere, and I'm particularly excited about the potential for head-tracking integration with the binaural renderer.

This year I'm doing something different for my year-in-review: instead of talking about my videos, I'm highlighting some of the most negative, insulting, weird, and sometimes insane comments I received in 2025—plus a couple of wholesome ones for balance. From developers upset about not making my top 10 lists to confidently incorrect commenters and AI critics, it's been quite a journey through this year's comment section.

In this video, I answer the 10 most important questions about Sony 360 Reality Audio and MPEG-H, covering everything from technical fundamentals to practical production workflows and how these formats compare to Dolby Atmos. Whether you're a producer considering immersive audio or just curious about spatial audio technology, this guide will give you everything you need to understand these next-generation formats.