Name: Locomotion
Brand: Desert Moon Audio
Price: 54.00 USD
Availability: InStock

Locomotion LM-18 - Desert Moon Audio plug-in

3D Auto-Panner

A sound that travels through the room, not a level sweep

Locomotion is a 3D auto-panner plugin for Mac and PC. It takes a mono or stereo signal and moves it through the space in front of you, or right around your head, so it sounds like a source actually travelling rather than a level sweep. Six paths, host sync, a trigger mode that moves on hits, and one DIMENSION knob that turns a pan into a place.

14-DAY FREE TRIAL

Full version, free for 14 days. No payment details needed.

Works with all major DAWs

AU / VST3 / AAX for Mac · VST3 / AAX for PC

Yours forever — no subscription

Instant download after purchase

Hear the difference

Press play to hear a part through Locomotion. Tap Dry for the part where the mix left it, at the same moment.

Synth pad

Electric guitar

Shaker

Bells

Where it goes

Four of the places it lives, each with a demo above.

Pads and keys
A slow CIRCLE under a pad or an electric piano, DIMENSION up, and the part moves through the room instead of sitting in it.
Hear it
Guitars
BOUNCE or CLASSIC locked to a bar on a rhythm part, FEEL toward RUSH: the old stage trick, without the level dip.
Hear it
Percussion
TRIGGER on a shaker or a hat, every second hit, and the part dances around the kit in time with the player.
Hear it
Returns and effects
ORBIT on a reverb or delay return, DEPTH wide, and a static mix gets something that travels around the listener.
Hear it

About Locomotion

Locomotion is a 3D auto-panner. A pan knob changes a level; Locomotion moves a source. A phase runs one lap of the path you choose, and the image follows it with every cue a real moving source gives: level and air that change with distance, a touch of Doppler, the far ear hearing it a little later and duller, and a way of reading "behind you" on loudspeakers that works in mono too.

The front panel is the sound. PATH picks the route: side to side, a ring in front of you, a figure eight, an orbit around your head, a hard bounce or a new spot every lap. SPEED runs free or locks to the host's bar line, sample-accurate, so a lap lands on the downbeat and two instances never drift. DEPTH and IMAGE OFFSET decide how far it reaches and where its middle sits.

In TRIGGER mode it only moves when told, on every COUNTth hit above THRESHOLD, a side chain, the MAN TRIG key or a MIDI note; in ENVELOPE the input's own level pushes it along the path. A stereo input stays stereo: the two channels keep their spacing as the image moves, so a wide synth stays wide while it orbits.

Key features

Six paths
CLASSIC side to side, CIRCLE a ring in front of you, FIGURE 8, ORBIT around your head, BOUNCE hard left and right, RANDOM a new spot each lap. The screen under the knob shows all six and is clickable.
SPEED, SYNC and START
0.02 to 20 Hz free-running, or 8 bars down to 1/32 locked to the host's bar line: sample-accurate, it survives loops and transport jumps, and two instances never drift. START sets where on the path a lap begins; TAP TEMPO taps one in.
DEPTH and IMAGE OFFSET
How far the path reaches and where its middle sits. DEPTH at half and OFFSET to the left is a ring around your left ear. REVERSE runs the path the other way.
TRIGGER and ENVELOPE
In TRIGGER the image only moves when told: every COUNTth hit above THRESHOLD, from the input, the side chain, the MAN TRIG key or a MIDI note. In ENVELOPE the input's level pushes it along the path. FEEL, from RUSH to DRAG, swings the lap or holds every other move back.
DIMENSION, WIDTH and MIX
DIMENSION is every cue a real moving source gives, in one hand: distance, proximity, Doppler, the ears and behind the head; at zero the image is a level pan. WIDTH scales the field and, past the loudspeakers, pushes the far side out with a bleed that thins in mono rather than cancelling. MIX blends the moving image against the input.
IMAGE and COUNT readouts
The IMAGE readout shows the image left to right, a wider and brighter blob the closer it is. COUNT shows the hits toward the next move in TRIGGER, the lap's progress in AUTO, or the level in ENVELOPE.
FREEZE and MAN TRIG
IMAGE FREEZE holds the image where it is for a breakdown. MAN TRIG moves it to the next spot now, automatable from the host, and a MIDI note on does the same.
Stereo stays stereo
A stereo input is an image, not two channels: the two sources keep their native spacing as the image moves, read off the input's own correlation, so a wide synth stays wide while it orbits. Four milliseconds of latency, reported to the host, with bypass and MIX aligned.

Locomotion panel, with its controls numbered

The panel at a glance

Image screen The room from above: you at the bottom, the loudspeakers across, and the image as a lit dot with its trail.
Count readout Hits toward the next move, the lap's progress in Auto, or the level in Envelope.
Freeze & Man Trig Hold the image where it is, or move it to the next spot now.
Dimension Distance, proximity, Doppler and the ears in one control. At zero the image is a level pan.
Width The field the motion plays in. Past 100, outside the loudspeakers.
Mix The moving image against the input as it came in.
Path Six routes: side to side, circle, figure 8, orbit, bounce or random.
Speed One lap of the path, 0.02 to 20 Hz free, or 8 bars to 1/32 locked to the host's bar line.
Start & Depth Where on the path a lap begins, and how far the path reaches.
Image offset Where the middle of the motion sits, left to right.
Count to move In Trigger mode, how many hits make a move.
Threshold The level a hit must cross.
Feel Swing the lap, or shuffle the hits, from Rush to Drag.

More details

Yes — 14 days, fully featured, from the first time the plugin loads. Every path, every control, no interruptions and no signup. When the trial ends, audio passes through dry until a license is entered, so your sessions always open.

Yes. It's a one-off purchase, not a subscription, and there's nothing to renew. Updates to a plugin you own are free — download the current installer and run it over the top.

Every plugin is sold on its own, so you can buy just the one you want.

Your license covers up to 4 computers you personally own — studio desktop, laptop, spares. Enter the same key on each; the first activation on a machine takes one quick internet check; after that it works offline, apart from a once-a-day check for a newer version. Moving on from a computer? Deactivate This Machine in the plugin's preset menu hands the seat back, and if a machine dies before you can, just ask us.

Your download link and license key are in the order confirmation email sent at purchase. Run the installer, open Locomotion, click the trial notice on the panel, paste the key — done.

Can’t find the email? Check spam, then write to info@desertmoonaudio.com and we’ll resend it.

Yes — after activation. Entering your license key needs an internet connection once; from then on it works offline — the only other time it goes online is a once-a-day check for a newer version.

Tech specs

Mac: AU, VST3 and AAX — universal, native on Apple Silicon and Intel. macOS 10.15 or later.

Windows: VST3 and AAX, 64-bit Windows 10 or later.

DAWs: All major DAWs — Ableton Live, Pro Tools, Logic Pro, FL Studio, Cubase, Studio One, Bitwig, Reaper and Reason.

Engine: six paths with host sync; a spatial renderer with distance, Doppler, inter-aural and behind-the-head cues and an early-reflection network; a stereo input handled as one image; 4 ms of latency, reported — 44.1 to 192 kHz. Mono or stereo in, stereo out.

DOWNLOAD MANUAL