On a send/aux bus, keep MIX at 100 % and automate the StellarPad — you get a moving spatial layer without touching the dry track.
What PULSAR is
PULSAR is an auto-pan that throws your sound into a real 3D orbit around the listener. Instead of a boring sine LFO, the movement is driven by a physics field — chaos, distance and Doppler all couple together, so the pan flies close and far, fast and slow, on a path that feels alive but never random.
Where it shines It shines on synth leads, pads, arps and FX risers, on percussion you want to scatter around the head, and on send buses where you want a whole stem to breathe and move. Best felt on headphones, but it stays mono-safe for the club.
Up and running in five steps
- Drop PULSAR on a mono or stereo track — or on a send/aux bus to move a whole group.
- Drag the StellarPad to set the center of the orbit. The field flies around the point you pick.
- Bring MOTION up until the movement feels alive (40–60 % is the musical zone).
- Set the speed: leave SYNC off for a free RATE in Hz, or turn it on and pick a division (1 bar is a good start).
- Dial WIDTH to taste, then leave MIX at 100 % on an insert (or blend it back on a send).
How the signal moves through it
The dry signal first hits the StellarPad field, where four attractors (Orbit → Pendulum → Lorenz → Rössler, chosen by SHAPE) drive an XY trajectory whose energy is set by MOTION and whose speed is set by RATE/SYNC. That trajectory modulates a binaural engine: HRIR convolution places the source outside your head, a spectral head-shadow ILD (magnitude/frequency, not time) decorrelates L/R for width, and the propagation delay is modulated to produce real, zero-latency Doppler on the fly-by. SMEAR adds a Schroeder-diffused comet tail in the feedback path; WIDTH scales the stereo image (with IN PHASE collapsing to a mono-safe path); finally a zero-latency engine limiter keeps the output clip-safe before MIX blends wet against dry.
Every control, explained
StellarPad
The big XY control surface — the heart of PULSAR.
Drag anywhere to set the center of the orbit; the chaos field flies around that point. Reads out azimuth, distance, velocity and heat live.
Park it off-center for a lopsided orbit that favors one side of the field.
MOTION
The master energy of the whole orbit.
0–100 % (default 45). Couples chaos, distance and Doppler through orbital mechanics — at 0 the field is nearly still, near 100 it's a wild fly-by.
40–60 % is the sweet spot for musical movement; push past 80 % only for FX.
RATE
Free-running speed of the orbit, in Hz.
0.01–10 Hz (default 0.5), skewed for fine control low down. Active when SYNC is off.
Slow rates (under 0.3 Hz) give a wide, cinematic drift; fast rates get tremolo-like.
SYNC
Locks the orbit to your host tempo.
Toggle. When on, RATE is replaced by a musical DIVISION instead of Hz.
Turn it on for rhythmic auto-pan that stays glued to the groove.
DIVISION
The tempo-synced cycle length.
Choice: 1/4 · 1/2 · 1 bar · 2 bar (default 1 bar). Only visible when SYNC is on.
1 bar reads as obvious movement; 2 bar is a slow, hypnotic sweep.
SHAPE
Morphs the trajectory between four attractors.
0–100 % (default 66). Sweeps continuously: Orbit → Pendulum → Lorenz → Rössler — from clean circles to deterministic chaos.
Low for predictable circles; high for erratic, never-repeating paths.
SMEAR
A comet tail behind the moving source.
0–100 % (default 25). Schroeder diffusion in the feedback path smears the trajectory into space.
A little (15–30 %) glues the motion; a lot turns PULSAR into a spatial reverb.
WIDTH
Real head-shadow stereo width.
0–100 % (default 70). Scales the binaural image; built on head-shadow ILD/HRIR, not a fake stereo widener.
Above ~70 % the image goes ultra-wide (phase down to −0.46) — check it in mono.
IN PHASE / mono-safe
Collapses the stereo image to a mono-compatible path.
Toggle. One click forces a positive phase correlation so nothing cancels in mono.
Leave it on when the track has to survive a club PA or a phone speaker.
MIX
Dry/wet blend of the effect.
0–100 % (default 100). At 100 % you hear only the moving signal; lower it to keep a dry anchor.
Keep 100 % on a send bus; pull back to 30–60 % on an insert to keep punch.
IN / OUT
Input and output trim.
−24…+24 dB each (default 0). Stage gain into the engine and compensate level out.
Trim IN down a touch on hot signals so SMEAR feedback stays controlled.
Tips & tricks
01
02
For rhythmic auto-pan, turn SYNC on and pick 1 bar; raise SHAPE a little so each cycle is subtly different.
03
Long, slow drifts love low RATE (under 0.2 Hz) with high WIDTH — great under pads and drones.
04
Use SMEAR as a creative reverb: push it past 60 % with MOTION low for a smeared, orbiting tail.
05
Automate MOTION from 0 to 80 % across a riser — the sound literally lifts off into orbit at the drop.
06
If a mix needs to translate everywhere, leave IN PHASE on and keep WIDTH under 70 %.
Troubleshooting
It sounds thin or disappears in mono.
Click IN PHASE / mono-safe and/or pull WIDTH below 70 %. High width uses negative phase correlation for the ultra-wide image, which partly cancels when summed to mono. IN PHASE forces a mono-compatible path.
The movement feels too wild / chaotic.
Lower SHAPE (toward Orbit/Pendulum, the ordered end) and bring MOTION down to 40–50 %. SHAPE controls how deep into Lorenz/Rössler chaos the path goes.
The pan isn't locked to my beat.
Turn SYNC on and pick a DIVISION (e.g. 1 bar). With SYNC off, RATE runs free in Hz and won't follow the host tempo.
I hear a pitch wobble — is that a bug?
No, that's the real Doppler. Pitch emerges from modulating the propagation delay as the source flies by. Lower MOTION or RATE to reduce it; it's physics, not a pitch-shifter.
Specs
Formats: VST3 · AU
Systems: macOS
Build: Universal (Apple Silicon + Intel)
Engine: Zero-latency binaural (HRIR + head-shadow ILD)
Doppler: Real, delay-line based
License: AGPLv3 · open-source