Orbit

Let's fly around some planets.

Put it on anything that should never stand still. Guitar leads. Synth pads. Samples. Vocals that keep sitting exactly where you put them when they should be alive and moving. Orbit is a circular autopanner that doesn't just slide a balance knob - it moves sound the way physics moves sound, and the difference is immediate.

Four axes move simultaneously from a single LFO phase: equal-power stereo panning, Haas ITD delay up to 650 microseconds, front-to-rear spectral tilt from 18kHz down to 4kHz, and volume modulation. As a source sweeps forward it gets louder and brighter. As it passes behind you it darkens and drops back. There's a timing cue between ears that matches the pan position. Your brain reads all of this at once - the same cues it uses to locate real sound in a real room - and stops processing it as an effect. It reads as a source actually moving through the space.

Rate covers 0.05 Hz to 8 Hz: barely a drift at the slow end, aggressive tremolo-territory at the fast end. Lock it to tempo and the rotation snaps to the bar. LFO Shape morphs between sine (smooth, floating) and triangle (deliberate, purposeful turns). Width runs to 200% - past 100% the rotation extends into territory that sounds genuinely impossible on headphones. Phase sets the LFO start position 0-360 degrees: two instances at 0 and 180 produce counter-rotation between two sources. Depth scales all four axes together - one knob to dial in how much the source moves. Mix handles wet/dry for parallel blend when you want the movement felt more than heard.

Features

• Four simultaneous motion axes from one LFO: equal-power pan, Haas ITD up to 650µs, spectral tilt 18kHz (front) to 4kHz (rear), volume modulation.
• Depth - scales all four axes simultaneously.
• Rate - 0.05 to 8.0 Hz, logarithmic.
• Sync - tempo-locked with seven subdivisions: 4 bars, 2 bars, 1 bar, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16.
• Shape - sine to triangle LFO waveform morph.
• Direction - clockwise / counter-clockwise.
• Width - 0 to 200%.
• Phase - 0-360 degree LFO start position for multi-instance counter-rotation.
• Offset - shifts arc center +/-50% without changing width.
• Mix - 0-100% wet/dry blend.
• 9 factory presets including Planetary Orbit default.
• VST3 on Windows and Linux. VST3 + AU on macOS. Universal Binary (Apple Silicon + Intel).

Pricing

$29 - perpetual license, no subscription. Three simultaneous activations. Demo mode available, no account required. Download and demo at mmediaaudio.com/plugins/orbit.

System Requirements

• Windows 10/11 - VST3 64-bit.
• macOS 11 Big Sur or later - VST3 + AU 64-bit, Universal Binary. Signed and notarized.
• Linux - Ubuntu 22.04+ or equivalent, VST3 64-bit.