Is there a plugin that shows "spatial mixing maps" where I visually place tracks in a stereo or 3D field and see all the sources together?


My concept is essentially:
-each track has a plugin instance,
-all instances communicate,
-I get one global visual soundstage/panorama map,
-I can position sounds spatially,
-sometimes with depth/front-back simulation too

I mean it is for mixing/mastering purposes.

 

Last edited: May 7, 2026 at 6:57 PM

You might want to be a bit more specific, otherwise you’ll just get a list of plugins that are only loosely related to what you’re after. Are you thinking something like Dolby Atmos in Logic, or more of a visual stereo/3D panning mixer?

 

Dear Reality dearVR PRO 2 v2.0.0-R2R

This is perhaps the most popular choice. It gives you a 3D coordinate system where you can drag your sound sources.
It handles the complex math of distance (air absorption), elevation, and room reflections automatically.

Flux Spat Revolution v1.1.0.48000 HAPPY NEW YEAR-R2R

This is the most advanced option. It includes a "Nebula" spatial spectrogram that shows you exactly where energy is concentrated in a 360° field. It’s used primarily in high-end sound installations and film.

 

In case of, no need to crack anything from DearVR since 2024 or so. All their products are now free on Senheiser site.

https://www.sennheiser.com/fr-fr/immersive/dear-reality

Edit : You didn't answer Clone's question, but if you're not in real 3D mixing, Izotope visual mixer is what you describe but in 2D. And free if not mistaken.

Spoiler

 

Last edited: May 7, 2026 at 10:05 PM

Thanks a lot, had no ideas those were now free. Christmas is early! The R2R ones always had issues with registration for me, hopefully the legit ones will be rock solid.

 

EDIT : Free versions are on AZ too actually. ^^

 

The only ones that comply to your criteria and that I've personally used are:

-Virtual Sound Stage 2: Unfortunatelly, no longer supported. Lot's of mic setup options, but only a few of them sound good. It only produces early reflections, you have to combine it with another reverb to produce the tail.
-Audio Modeling Ambiente: This is currently what I am using. The version available on the sister site uses a lot of CPU, but allegedly the new 1.4 version corrects this. It sounds quite good to my ears.
-Fiedler Audio Spacelab Interstellar/Ignition: Difficult to setup. 3D positioning. The only one of these which can produce a surround output. After a whole evening playing with it, I didn't find the sound compelling enough to bother with the steep learning curve.

Others that I haven't used:
-VSL MIR Pro 3D: This is the golden standard. Since the last gong, I have my fingers crossed for it to appear on the sister site, although I doubt my computer can run it.
-Inspired Acoustics Inspirata: Only heard a few demos in YouTube, all of them quite compelling I must say.

 

Have you tried to use early reflections only from a reverb to create the psychoacustic effect of front to back panning? It's not the ideal XY panorama but you can get used to that if it works for you.

 

Izotope Neutron has a visual mixer. Its so simple yet so useful

 

Neutron, Insight, and Relay are still operating in a 2D stereo-domain model. The visual layers can look spatial, but they’re really just different ways of showing pan, level, masking, etc. in relation to one another via "the mothership", not true 3D or object based spatial mixing.