Plinnie releases Localizer, a freeware 2D auditory positioning tool in VST2 and VST3 plugin formats for Windows and macOS.
One of the big challenges with mixing a track is getting the listener to feel like everything is in its own space. To help us get that part right, Plinnie has released Localizer, a freeware 2D auditory positioning emulator.
Localizer is intended to place a stereo signal in a place, and it has a clever feature set to help it achieve this.
A special directional filter helps lend to the realism, emulating the characteristics of the human head and ears. Localizer doesn’t just apply filtering, but instead also directly affects the phase and volume of whatever material is run through it.
There are controls for the radius, which is the distance from the center in this case, with fine and coarse controls alike. The coarse controls can place a sound up to 300 meters away, while the fine knobs are a little gradual, only placing objects up to 3 meters out. These controls can be locked so that changes made to the left side are reflected on the right side.
The other controls affect the way the sound is perceived, with average angles and stereo separation both being adjustable.
Also present is a unique feature called dist2vol, which is how the distance changes the volume of the sound. At 0, there is no effect, but at full range, it becomes very drastic.
The Xmix knob refers to a cross mix, or where signals are intermingling with each other on the left and right stereo channels.
This is rounded off by the specialized ear emu control, which is a directional filter meant to emulate the anatomy and geometry of the human ear.
Localizer is a novel plugin, as there aren’t many freeware spatial placement tools out there. Installation is easy, being a drag-and-drop affair on Windows and Mac alike.
Localizer supports VST2 and VST3 for Windows PCs and VST2 and VST3 for macOS. Plinnie has made Localizer free but is also accepting donations for those who feel inclined.
Download: Localizer
More:
Last Updated on January 24, 2023 by Tomislav Zlatic.
