01
Init
All defaults. Blur at 0% — bit-transparent. A blank slate for building your own shape from scratch.
Audubon · Plugins
LON-001
·
Released v2.1
Phase Diffuser
Loon.
Dissolve into space.
A static per-bin phase rotation applied to the STFT spectrum — widening and diffusing the stereo image, smoothing transient edges, turning room sounds into textures. Magnitudes are never touched. The tone is preserved exactly.
Under development · v2.1.0
$19
01 — Overview
Dissolve a sound into space
without changing its colour.
Loon applies a static per-bin phase rotation to the STFT spectrum — widening and diffusing the stereo image, smoothing transient edges, and turning room sounds into textures. Magnitudes are never touched, so the tone is preserved exactly. What you hear is diffusion, not EQ.
A phase diffuser that widens and smears the stereo image while leaving every magnitude exactly where it entered.
Loon rotates the complex phase of each frequency bin by a fixed, seed-drawn angle. The sound becomes incoherent with itself over time and space, but the absolute magnitude of every bin stays the same as the input — no harmonic change, no filter, no EQ curve. A hard-coded bass ramp keeps the sub clean, and a latency-matched dry path keeps any Mix blend phase-coherent.
02 — The Engine
Phase rotation — magnitudes untouched.
Loon runs a windowed overlap-add STFT (Hann, 75% overlap) and rotates the complex phase of each frequency bin by a fixed, pseudo-random angle drawn from a seed. The sound becomes incoherent with itself over time and space, but the absolute magnitude of every bin stays the same as the input. No harmonic change, no filter, no EQ curve.
Static Allpass Rotation
Each bin gets a fixed rotation angle θ drawn from the Reseed generator. At Amount 0, every θ = 0 and the plugin is bit-transparent. As Amount rises, θ is scaled by the blur curve's weight at that frequency — bins with higher curve values receive more rotation, bins at zero receive none. Rotation is a pure phase shift: |z| unchanged, arg(z) += θ.
Zero Colouration
Because magnitudes never change, Loon is guaranteed not to colour the signal. Spectral energy at 200 Hz enters at one level and leaves at exactly the same level. You won't hear any EQ-like brightening or darkening as you raise Blur. What you hear is diffusion — the stereo image widens, transients soften, the sense of space grows.
Bass Protection Ramp
Sub-bass diffusion causes comb filtering in mono and can muddy low-end energy. Loon hard-codes a gain ramp on the rotation depth: 0× below 120 Hz, full 1× by 350 Hz. The low end passes completely clean regardless of Blur or the drawn curve. Not adjustable — it's the right call for bass music and it's always on.
Latency & Dry Path
Pipeline latency = one FFT window, PDC-reported. At Tight (1024 samples): ≈23 ms. Soft (2048): ≈46 ms. Wash (4096): ≈93 ms. A separate latency-matched dry ring buffers the input so a 50/50 Mix blend is phase-coherent — the dry arrives exactly when the wet does, no comb filtering.
03 — The Blur Curve
Control diffusion by frequency.
The 512-point drawable curve acts as a per-frequency depth multiplier for the Blur macro. A flat line at 1.0 applies uniform diffusion everywhere above the sub ramp. Draw valleys to protect specific bands. Draw a rising shape to diffuse only the high end. Use shapes or randomizers, then fine-tune by hand.
A — Draw
Draw Your Shape
Click and drag on the curve canvas to draw freehand. The Y axis is rotation depth (0 = no diffusion, 1 = full Blur). The X axis maps to frequency on a log scale (same calibration as the spectral display behind it). Full 5-step undo/redo history: changes are captured before each draw, randomize, or shape-apply action.
B — Shapes
Six Prebuilt Shapes
Flat / Rising / Falling / Mid Bell / High Hump / Rising Tiers. Flat (full depth everywhere), Rising (blur the top end only), Falling (blur the lows — the bass ramp still protects sub), Mid Bell (focus diffusion in the 1–4 kHz presence band), High Hump (air-only diffusion), Rising Tiers (5-step staircase for a banded effect).
C — Tools
Randomizers & Tools
Brown: bounded random walk (smooth spectral mountains). Smooth: interpolated curve with soft-clip shaping (organic, no jagged edges). Flip: mirror the curve vertically (invert highs/lows). Reset: restore flat 1.0 default. All tool actions are captured into undo history before applying.
04 — Stereo & Drift
Width and organic motion.
Two controls unlock the spatial dimensions of the diffusion. Stereo Link controls whether L and R share one set of phase angles (safe, subtle) or use completely independent sets (maximum width). Drift adds a slow, continuous, bounded random walk to the fixed angles so the diffusion fingerprint evolves over time.
A — Stereo Link
Stereo Link
When Link is on (default), both channels rotate by the same set of angles — the result is diffuse but mono-compatible. When Link is off, L and R draw from independent random seeds: the two channels rotate by entirely different angles across all bins, creating a wide, decorrelated stereo image that sounds enormous on headphones but may collapse partially in mono. Sub-band protection still applies on both channels regardless.
B — Drift
Drift
At 0%, the phase rotation angles are perfectly static — the same fingerprint every block, no warble, no movement. As Drift rises, each bin's angle wanders as a bounded random walk (reflected at ±π), sized so it takes about 8 seconds to drift across its full range. On sustained pads this creates a natural shimmer without the metallic flutter of per-frame phase randomization. Drift = 0 is byte-identical to no-drift processing.
C — Reseed
Reseed
Hit Reseed to draw a new set of pseudo-random phase angles from new seeds. Every Reseed gives Loon a different diffusion fingerprint — the same Blur and curve, but a different spatial character. If the current fingerprint causes an unwanted artifact (a partial that happens to be near a phase-cancellation sweet spot), Reseed moves it. Saved with the preset.
05 — Controls
Four parameters, one curve.
Blur
0 – 100%
Global depth macro. Scales the rotation weight at every frequency by the curve's value at that band. 0% = bit-transparent bypass (the angles exist but multiply by zero). 100% = full curve-weighted diffusion. This is the primary mix-in dial — automate it like a wet knob.
Stereo Link
On / Off
On: L and R share one angle table — diffuse but mono-safe. Off: independent tables per channel — maximum decorrelation and width. Default On. For stereo buses and reverb sends where mono compatibility matters, keep Link on. For headphone-optimised width effects, turn it off.
Size
Tight / Soft / Wash
FFT window length (1024 / 2048 / 4096 samples). Larger sizes resolve low-frequency bins more distinctly and produce a longer, more sustained wash. Not automatable — switching re-prepares the engine off the audio thread and re-reports latency. Tight (default): 23 ms. Soft: 46 ms. Wash: 93 ms.
Drift
0 – 100%
Per-bin phase walk speed. 0% = static (no movement). 100% = fast drift (~8 s to traverse ±π per bin, scaled by the walk step). Keep below 30% for a subtle shimmer. Above 60% starts to produce a gentle, evolving chorus-like movement. When linked, R replays L's walk; when unlinked, independent walks per channel.
06 — Factory Presets
Eight starting points.
Factory presets cover the full range from a near-invisible polish to an enveloping wash. Size is never changed by a preset — it stays where you set it, since it controls latency, not sound character.
02
Soft Focus
Light uniform diffusion. Smears transient edges very subtly without audible washing. A glue layer on a full mix bus to knock off the "assembled from separate tracks" quality.
03
Wash Everything
Full uniform diffusion. Best on reverb returns, pads, or textural sources where complete blurring is the goal. Sends everything into space while keeping the tone intact.
04
Airy Diffuse
Diffusion focused in the top two octaves (air band). Lows and mids stay focused; the air layer becomes a cloud of shifting phase. Great on cymbals, room mics, and synth pads.
05
Smeared Mids
The blur curve peaks around the 1–4 kHz presence band. Smooths harsh mids and takes the edge off overdriven sources or guitars with too much bite. Bass and air remain clear.
06
Bass Blur
Curve falls from high at the low end to zero at the top — but the bass protection ramp still keeps the sub clean. A warm, rounded diffusion that blurs low-mids while leaving attack and air crisp.
07
Wide Wash
Stereo Link off — L and R get completely independent rotation tables. The stereo image spreads very wide. Use on headphone-optimised content, room sends, or anywhere mono compatibility isn't a concern.
08
Drifting Fog
Moderate diffusion with active drift. The fixed phase angles slowly wander per bin — the washing effect evolves over time, creating a natural shimmer. Long pads and reverb tails sound like they're breathing.
07 — Workflow
How to use it.
01
Choose your source. Loon works best on room sounds, reverb sends, sustained pads, synth textures, background layers, or room mic channels — anything where diffusion enhances rather than ruins the transient. It also works on a full mix bus for subtle glue at low Blur settings. Avoid high Blur directly on solo kick, snare, or lead lines — the phase diffusion softens attack transients.
02
Choose a Size (then leave it). Size determines the FFT window length and thus the latency. Tight (1024, ≈23 ms) for low-latency or live use. Soft (2048, ≈46 ms) for most studio use — the sweet spot. Wash (4096, ≈93 ms) for maximum smearing and best low-frequency resolution. The host compensates via PDC. Set Size before the session — switching mid-mix re-prepares the engine.
03
Draw or pick a curve shape. Start with a preset shape. Flat gives uniform depth. Rising focuses on the top end. Falling hits the low-mids hard. For surgical work, draw a custom curve: protect a frequency you want to keep focused (pull the curve to 0 in that band) while diffusing everything else. Changes take effect immediately and are captured into undo history.
04
Dial in Blur. Blur is the master depth. 0% = bypass. 25–40% is subtle, good for glue. 60–80% gives a clearly diffuse character — textures open up. 100% is maximum wash. Add slowly while listening in context. If you hear comb-filtering artefacts (a resonant "hollow" quality), try a different Reseed.
05
Use Stereo Link and Drift. For widening: turn Link off. The two channels get independent phase tables — the stereo image stretches wide. Check mono compatibility: sum L+R and listen for loss. For organic movement: raise Drift to 20–50%. The angles drift slowly per bin, adding a gentle evolving shimmer. Unlinked + drifting = a constantly evolving stereo field.
06
Reseed when needed. Different seeds give different diffusion fingerprints. If the current seed causes a problematic resonance or phase artefact, hit Reseed — the angles are redrawn from new seeds, and the Blur curve and Amount stay the same. Two or three reseeds usually find a clean result. Save a preset after finding a fingerprint you like — the seeds are stored with the state.
08 — Specifications
Everything, on one page.
Blur (Amount)
0 – 100% · default 0% — global depth macro; 0% = bit-transparent
Stereo Link
On / Off · default On — Off = independent L/R angle tables (widening)
Size
Tight / Soft / Wash · default Tight — FFT 1024 / 2048 / 4096; not automatable
Drift
0 – 100% · default 0% — per-bin phase walk; 0% = static (byte-identical)
Blur Curve
512-pt drawable · default Flat 1.0 — log-frequency depth multiplier per bin
Reseed
Button — redraws all per-bin angles from new random seeds
Format
VST3 · Windows 10 / 11 · macOS 10.13+ (Universal — Apple Silicon & Intel) · 64-bit
Latency
Tight ≈23 ms · Soft ≈46 ms · Wash ≈93 ms — one FFT window, PDC-reported
Sub protection
Hard-coded ramp: 0× below 120 Hz, full 1× by 350 Hz
MIDI
None
Presets
8 factory · user presets saved to Documents
Version
2.1.0
09 — Fine Print
Documentation.
Operating System
Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit) — the editor uses WebView2, which is built into Windows 11 and most current Windows 10 installs. macOS 10.13 High Sierra or later — one Universal build runs natively on both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.
DAW
Any VST3-compatible host — Ableton Live, FL Studio, Bitwig, Reaper, Studio One, Cubase. Insert on any mono or stereo track. VST3 only — Logic Pro and GarageBand load Audio Units, not VST3, so they are not supported.
Latency
One FFT window, PDC-reported. Tight ≈23 ms, Soft ≈46 ms, Wash ≈93 ms. The host compensates automatically in any DAW with PDC support.
Activation
No iLok, no dongle — activation is offline with the serial from your Members Area. Your download stays accessible in your Members Area.
Personal & Commercial Use
One licence covers all your personal and commercial productions. No royalties, no project restrictions.
Terms & Refunds
See the Terms of Service and Refund Policy for full details.
No Redistribution
You may not resell or redistribute the plugin binary. Source code is not included.
v2.1.0 — Update check, from the logo
The Audubon Audio wordmark in Loon’s header is now a button. Click it and Loon asks audubonaudio.com one question — which build is current — then shows that number beside the one you are running, with a link straight to the members area if there is something newer and a plain “you have the current version” if there is not. If it cannot reach us it says so rather than claiming you are up to date. This is the only moment Loon touches the internet, it happens only on that click, and nothing about you goes with it — no serial, no licence, no machine id, not even your version or operating system. The comparison happens on your own machine.
v2.0.0 — Complete Rebuild
Static allpass phase-rotation engine (fixed per-bin angles from seed, not per-frame randomisation). Drawable 512-point blur curve with 6 preset shapes, brown/smooth randomizers, undo/redo. Stereo decorrelation (Link off). Drift parameter for slow per-bin walk. Bass protection ramp (0× below 120 Hz, 1× by 350 Hz). WOLA Hann overlap-4, PDC latency reporting. Output level meter. Reseed button. 8 factory presets. WebView2 UI.
Full User Guide
A step-by-step guide covering every control, all curve shapes, and four workflow recipes (reverb send, stereo widening, pad shimmer, subtle glue).
Open User Guide →