SwirlerBinaural panner · any sound round your head on headphones, circling in time with your song
The binaural plugin that puts any sound round your head and circles it in time with your song.
Put on headphones and the sound leaves the middle of your head: in front of you, beside you, behind you or above you. Insert it and it is already circling you every 4 bars, locked to your song, in a small real room, every direction levelled to the dry sound so it never jumps in level. FOCUS keeps the movement for speakers and mono.
- Use it on 5 computers per copy
- Lifetime updates
- 90-day money-back guarantee
- Download link in minutes
- VST3, AU and AAX, Windows and macOS
- Try it free
Formats and DAWs
Windows 10 and 11 (64-bit): VST3 and AAX
macOS 11 or later: VST3, AU and AAX
Works in any 64-bit DAW that loads VST3, AU or AAX plug-ins.
Licence
Use it on up to five of your own computers per copy you buy. Yours for good, no subscription. Unlock it with your email and a six-digit code, no dongle and no password. It checks in now and then and works offline in between.
Delivery
Download links by email within about five minutes, and always in your account under Downloads.
Hear the difference
The same sound, without and with Swirler. Listen on headphones.
A sung vocal circling your head every 4 bars
A dry sung vocal - Init (ORBIT 4 bars from the front, ROOM 25 %) - listen on headphones
A synthesised shaker spinning round your head every bar
A synthesised shaker in sixteenths - Orbit / Fast Spin (ORBIT 1 bar, ROOM 15 %) - listen on headphones
A soft vocal moved close behind you
A soft sung phrase - Place / Whisper Behind (DIRECTION BEHIND, ORBIT off, ROOM 0 %) - listen on headphones
A groove lifted to sit above your head
A synthesised voice, shaker and click - Place / Overhead (HEIGHT +90°, ORBIT off) - listen on headphones
A singer standing off to your right
A sung vocal line - Place / Side Stage (DIRECTION 70° right, ROOM 40 %) - listen on headphones
A vocal hook circling you, kept clear for speakers and mono
A vocal hook - Speakers / Speaker Safe (FOCUS 50 %, the default circle) - headphones first, then speakers
Every preview is binaural and made for headphones: on speakers the placement is lost. Before and after are matched in loudness.
Swirler in action
Swirler in under a minute on a synthesised voice and shaker: ORBIT, DIRECTION, HEIGHT, ROOM, FOCUS and a preset. Best on headphones.
Why Swirler
Out of your head
An ordinary pan only moves a sound between left and right, and on headphones it stays inside your head. Swirler plays it through how sound from each direction reaches the two ears of a real measured head, 871 directions about 3 degrees apart, so it sits in front, beside, behind or above you.
Moving the moment it loads
A new Swirler already circles your head once every 4 bars, locked to your song's bars: held to the grid within 0.01 degree through a tempo change and in 3/4. No automation to draw, and a loop jump glides back in 80 ms instead of clicking.
Even level, safe on speakers
Every direction is levelled to the dry sound, so the sound moves without getting louder or quieter at your ears; no preset needs a trim. FOCUS turns the same movement into a plain stereo pan that sums to mono, or any blend, when the mix will be heard on speakers.
Orbit. Direction.
Two big knobs do the work: how long one circle round your head takes, locked to your song's bars, and where the sound sits or the circle starts.
- VST3 · AU · AAX
- Windows and macOS
- Made for headphones
- 15 presets
The binaural panner plugin
- Out of your head. 871 measured directions about 3 degrees apart: in front, beside, behind or above you, with a real small room that helps the sound leave your head.
- On the beat. ORBIT circles once every 1/4 bar to 8 bars, locked to your song's bars, through tempo changes; a loop jump glides instead of clicking.
- An even level. Every direction is levelled to the dry sound, so it moves without jumping in level; no preset needs a trim.
- Safe on speakers. FOCUS turns the same movement into a plain stereo pan that sums to mono, or any blend of the two.
- ORBIT (off, or 1/4 bar to 8 bars a circle), SYNC, DIRECTION and HEIGHT (-40 to +90 degrees).
- ROOM, FOCUS, MIX, Input and Output gain, IN and OUT meters, and ENGAGE.
- 15 factory presets and your own preset files; A/B, undo and redo, MIDI Learn on every control; a window from 75 to 200 %; the full manual.
DIRECTION · HEIGHT
Behind you. Above you.
Not only left and right: DIRECTION puts the sound anywhere round your head, behind you included, and HEIGHT lifts it from below your ears to straight overhead.
What Swirler does
Every control has one job: the sound where you hear it in your head, faster.
ORBIT
A circle round your head, on the beat
One full circle every 1/4 bar, 1/2 bar, 1, 2, 4 (the default) or 8 bars, clockwise seen from above: in front, your right, behind you, your left. 4 or 8 bars is a slow drift the ear follows; 1 bar or faster a spinning shaker or hi-hat. OFF leaves the sound where DIRECTION puts it.
SYNC
Locked to the song, or free
On, the orbit follows your host's bars and tempo, so the sound is in the same place at the same bar on every play, held to the grid within 0.01 degree through a tempo change and in 3/4. A loop jump glides back in 80 ms. Off, it runs at fixed lengths for material with no tempo: 4 bars is 8 seconds.
DIRECTION
Put the sound anywhere round you
0 is in front, +90 your right ear, -90 your left, 180 behind you; with ORBIT on, where the circle starts. At the side the near ear hears it about 0.73 ms earlier and 17 dB louder, as a real head does. Moves glide over 50 ms, so you can turn or automate it live without clicks.
HEIGHT
Above or below your ears
From 40 degrees below your ears to +90, straight overhead. The measured directions come in rings 15 degrees apart, exact on every ring and blended between them. Height is carried by the top of the sound, so it is clearest on bright sounds such as shakers, hi-hats and breaths.
ROOM
Help the sound leave your head
The measured reflections of a real small listening room, following the sound left and right. At 25 % (the default) they sit 12 dB under the direct sound; more room also moves the sound a little farther away and softens its top, with the level held within a quarter of a decibel. At 0 % it is close and dry.
FOCUS
Headphones first, safe on speakers
At 100 % (HEADPHONES) you hear the full measured head. At 0 % (SPEAKERS) it is a plain constant-power pan of the same movement, lined up in time, that sums to mono; in between, a blend. 50 % keeps half of each. The level holds across the knob within about a third of a decibel.
Level held
Moves without jumping in level
Every direction is levelled to the dry sound's loudness, so a sound passing your ears never gets louder or quieter. The default sits 0.37 LU under the dry on average, and every preset and setting within 0.52 LU at -18 and -26 LUFS in. No preset needs an output trim.
IN, MIX and OUT
Fit it to the track
IN and OUT set the level either side, -24 to +24 dB, with meters, and a safety limiter keeps the output under -1 dBFS. A stereo input is folded to one source with its loudness kept. MIX blends the placed sound with the dry, lined up in time: at 50 % a centred core stays under a moving copy.
Smooth and exact
No clicks, the same render every time
No clicks at any orbit speed: the residue of a steady tone sits 52 dB down at the fastest and 108 dB down at the default. Renders are identical at any buffer size with the room off. The 1.7 ms latency is reported to your DAW, and the dry and bypassed signals are delayed to match.
15 sourced presets
Start from settings that work
Moving: the default circle, a slow 8-bar circle, a spin every bar, four spins a bar, a circle raised above or lowered below your ears, a distant circle. Placed: right behind you, overhead, a singer off to your right, at either ear, out in front. And two for speakers: Speaker Safe and a plain pan every 2 bars.
The position view
See where the sound is
The head seen from above, the nose to the top. A point of light is the sound itself, travelling the ring with the orbit and trailing five fading dots, moving in towards the head with HEIGHT and brightening with the output. The ring glows with the sound; with ENGAGE off it goes dark.
Inside the plugin
The Swirler window: two big knobs, three small ones and a ring where a point of light shows where the sound is.
Every feature
Everything in Swirler, down to the smallest switch.
39 features
The placement
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A real measured head
871 directions about 3 degrees apart: on headphones the sound sits outside your head
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DIRECTION
Anywhere round you: in front, at either ear, behind you
-
HEIGHT
From 40 degrees below your ears to straight overhead
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ROOM
A real small measured room that helps the sound leave your head
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Ears that agree with a real head
At the side, the near ear about 0.73 ms earlier and 17 dB louder
The movement
-
ORBIT
One circle every 1/4 bar to 8 bars, or off to place the sound
-
SYNC
Locked to your song's bars within 0.01 degree, through tempo changes
-
Free time
SYNC off: fixed lengths for material with no tempo (4 bars = 8 s)
-
Glides, never clicks
A loop jump glides in 80 ms; DIRECTION and HEIGHT over 50 ms
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The same render every time
Identical at any buffer size with the room off
Level and speakers
-
Level held
Every direction levelled to the dry sound; no preset needs a trim
-
FOCUS
The same movement as a plain stereo pan that sums to mono, or any blend
-
MIX
The placed sound against the dry, lined up in time
-
Input and Output gain
-24 to +24 dB, with a safety limiter under -1 dBFS
Workflow and control
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A/B compare and A>B
Two complete settings, switch in one click
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Undo and redo
Step back and forward, or press Ctrl+Z
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MIDI Learn
Take complete control of your workflow: right-click any control, move a knob
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Host automation
Automate every control from your DAW
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ENGAGE
Click-free bypass, to hear the before and after
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IN and OUT meters
See the level going in and coming out at a glance
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Tooltips
Every control explains itself as you point at it
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Resizable window
75 to 200 %, and the size you pick is remembered
Presets
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15 factory presets
Each one built from a documented setting
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Previous and next arrows
Audition presets one click at a time
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Save your own
Keep your settings as .binauralpannerpreset preset files
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Open presets folder
Back up or share your presets in one click
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Reset to default
Back to a clean start in one step
Performance
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Mono or stereo in, stereo out
A stereo track is folded to one source, its loudness kept
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Light on CPU
About 3 % of one core at 48 kHz on the default, up to about 5 % at its heaviest
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Any session rate
Tested at 44.1, 48 and 96 kHz
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Audio-reactive face
A point of light travels the ring with the sound; the ring glows with the output
Licence and compatibility
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VST3 and AAX, Windows 7 SP1 or later
Loads in any 64-bit Windows DAW with VST3 or AAX
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VST3, AU and AAX, macOS 10.13 or later
Loads in any Mac DAW with VST3, AU or AAX, Intel or ARM
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5 computers per copy
Studio, laptop and more on one licence
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Email and code unlock
No dongle, no password, no extra app
-
Works offline
No internet needed between check-ins
-
Check for updates
From the plugin's menu; nothing installs without asking
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Lifetime updates
Every future update included
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Platinum priority support
Questions answered by the people who build it
How Swirler compares
Front, behind and above as well as left and right, on the beat, at an even level, with the controls most leave out.
| Swirler | Typical panner plugins | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the sound goes | In front, beside, behind and above you, from 871 measured directions | Often left and right only |
| On headphones | Outside your head, with a small measured room | Often stuck inside your head |
| Movement | A circle locked to your song's bars from the first note | Often automation drawn by hand |
| Level | Every direction levelled to the dry sound | Often a jump as the sound passes your ears |
| Speakers and mono | FOCUS: the same movement as a plain pan, or a blend | Often lost on speakers |
| Fast moves | No clicks at any orbit speed; a loop jump glides | Often zipper noise |
| Try-and-compare | A/B, A>B, undo and redo | Often missing |
| Hardware control | MIDI Learn on every control | Often host automation only |
| Licence | 5 computers per copy, no dongle, works offline | Often fewer activations, or a dongle |
| Updates | Lifetime updates included | Often paid upgrades |
"Typical" describes what we commonly see in this category; it does not describe any particular product. Swirler facts are from the plugin and its manual, October 2026.
What you get
Vox Samples
90-day money back · Thank you
Specs and system requirements
- Formats
- VST3 and AAX on Windows; VST3, AU and AAX on macOS
- Operating system
- Windows 7 SP1 or later, 64-bit; macOS 10.13 or later, universal (Intel and ARM)
- Host
- Any 64-bit DAW that loads VST3, AU or AAX plug-ins. No standalone app.
- Channels
- Mono or stereo in, stereo out. A stereo input is folded to one source: its loudness is kept (up to 6 dB made up), its width is not
- Listening
- Made for headphones. FOCUS turns the movement into a plain stereo pan for speakers, mono-safe at 0 %
- Directions
- 871 measured directions about 3 degrees apart, from 40 degrees below the ears to straight overhead; exact on rings every 15 degrees, blended between them
- Orbit
- OFF, 1/4, 1/2, 1, 2, 4 or 8 bars a circle, clockwise seen from above. SYNC on: locked to your host's bars and tempo. SYNC off: the same lengths at 120 BPM (4 bars = 8 s)
- Sample rates
- Whatever your session runs at; tested at 44.1, 48 and 96 kHz
- Latency
- 1.7 ms, reported to your DAW (76, 83 and 166 samples at 44.1, 48 and 96 kHz); the dry and bypassed signals are delayed to match
- Tail
- 0.25 s, reported to your DAW, so a render includes the room
- Level
- Every direction levelled to the dry: the default 0.37 LU under it on average; every preset and setting within 0.52 LU at -18 and -26 LUFS in
- Output
- A safety limiter keeps the output under -1 dBFS
- CPU
- About 2.7, 3.0 and 7.8 % of one core at 44.1, 48 and 96 kHz on the default; up to 4.4, 4.9 and 14.0 % at the heaviest setting; the open window adds about 1 %
- Presets
- 15 factory presets; your own as .binauralpannerpreset files
- Manual
- https://voxsamples.com/swirler-binaural-panner-manual
- Window
- 960 x 600 at 100 %, resizable from 75 to 200 %
- MIDI
- MIDI Learn from any controller routed to the track
- Licence
- 5 computers per copy you buy. Unlock with your email and a code we email you. Checks in now and then and works offline in between.
- Internet
- Needed once to unlock, then for the occasional check-in
90Day money-back guarantee
Our guarantee
-
90-day money-back guarantee
Not for you? Email contact@voxsamples.com within 90 days for a full refund.
-
5 computers per copy
Use it on up to five of your own computers per copy you buy, and move it yourself from the plugin's Licence menu.
-
Lifetime updates
Every future update and upgrade of Swirler, included.
-
Platinum priority support
A real person at contact@voxsamples.com, first in line.
Try Swirler free
The whole plugin, with the same sound as the full version and no time limit. It goes silent for a moment every few seconds; the full version never does.
Windows and macOS installers in one download. Like what you hear? Get the full version on this page, with a 90-day money-back guarantee.
Questions
Do I need headphones?
For the binaural effect, yes: it is made for two ears. On speakers most of the placement is lost; FOCUS turns it into an ordinary stereo pan for them.
Will my mix still work on speakers and in mono?
With FOCUS at 0 % the movement is a constant-power pan that sums to mono. At 100 % a sound at your side loses about 4 dB folded to mono; 50 % (Speaker Safe) is the middle ground.
Does the orbit follow my song?
Yes. With SYNC on (the default) it is locked to your host's bars and tempo, so the sound is in the same place at the same bar on every play, even through tempo changes. With SYNC off it runs at fixed lengths (4 bars = 8 seconds).
Can I put a sound behind me or above me?
Yes: DIRECTION 180 is behind you and HEIGHT +90 straight overhead; the Place presets do it in one click.
Does it work on stereo tracks?
Yes. A stereo input is folded to one sound before it is placed; its loudness is kept (up to 6 dB made up), its width is not.
Does it add latency?
1.7 ms, reported to your DAW, which lines the track up; the dry signal under MIX and the bypass are delayed to match.
Why does a sound in front sometimes seem inside my head?
The measurements come from one measured head, and every listener's ears differ, so the front is the hardest place to hear. A little more ROOM, a slight HEIGHT, or movement helps.
How much CPU does it use?
About 3 % of one core at 48 kHz on the default, up to about 5 % at its heaviest setting. The open window adds about 1 %.
Does it work in my DAW?
Any 64-bit DAW that loads VST3, AU or AAX plug-ins, on Windows 7 SP1 or later or macOS 10.13 or later. There is no standalone app.
How many computers can I use it on?
Up to five of your own for each copy you buy. To move it, deactivate it in the plugin on the old computer and unlock it on the new one.
Does it need the internet?
Once, to unlock it with the code we email you. After that it checks in now and then and works offline in between.
Is there a manual?
Yes. The full manual explains every control, every preset and the menus, with tips. It opens from the help key (?) in the plugin's top bar, and lives at https://voxsamples.com/swirler-binaural-panner-manual.
What if it's not for me?
Request a refund from your account within 90 days.
Founder's Story
"When COVID hit, I finally had time to dive into music production—only to discover I was missing the right tools. The plugins I tried were clunky, overloaded with unnecessary features, and killed my vibe with endless tweaking. I knew there had to be a better way.
So, with my engineering background, I started making free and simple audio plugins for my producer friends. They loved them! That’s when I set out on a mission to create plugins that save you time, streamline your workflow, and keep your creativity flowing."
- Ryan Svensson (Founder & CEO)
Any sound, anywhere round your head. On the beat.
In front, beside, behind or above you on headphones, circling in time with your song, in a real small room, at an even level, and safe on speakers when you need it.
$42.51 AUDPrecio habitual $141.74 AUD70% off
- 90-day money back
- Five computers
- Lifetime updates
Pairs with
Swirler Binaural Panner
$42.51 AUDPrecio habitual $141.74 AUD70% off