4ms Company’s MetaModule Producer Pack: Stereo Width and Spatializer Demystified

The Producer Pack for MetaModule arrives with two digital utilities aimed squarely at stereo field manipulation: Stereo Width and Spatializer. Both are designed to give modular users more control over how their sounds occupy the stereo panorama, whether starting from mono or stereo sources.

4ms Company’s approach here is pragmatic, offering tools that can be slotted into a variety of patches without fuss. The video sets the stage by highlighting these modules’ ability to reshape spatial perception—an often overlooked but crucial aspect of modular mixing. The focus is on hands-on control and immediate results, rather than abstract theory.

Stereo Width is introduced as a module that takes an incoming stereo pair and allows the user to collapse it all the way to mono. This is achieved with a single width control, making it easy to dial in just the right amount of spatial narrowing or expansion. After adjusting the width, a dedicated pan pot lets you shift the signal left or right, adding further flexibility.

What sets this tool apart is its ability to push the width beyond the original stereo field. By turning the width knob past noon, the module employs differential mixing and phase manipulation to create a soundscape that feels even wider than the source material. This psychoacoustic sleight of hand is especially useful for those looking to exaggerate stereo effects or add movement to otherwise static mixes.

Spatializer takes a different tack, focusing on converting mono signals to stereo using the Haas effect. By duplicating the input, panning it to the opposite channel, and introducing a short delay, the module tricks the brain into perceiving a wide stereo image. This is a classic psychoacoustic technique, but 4ms adds a twist by creating a duplicate delay line with inverted phase, further enhancing the sense of space.

The controls here are straightforward: time adjusts the delay, width manipulates the stereo spread, and a mid/side knob acts as a dry/wet control for the effect. Notably, the mid/side implementation is unique—rather than traditional encoding, the sides are formed from the phase-inverted delay lines. This opens up new sonic territory, especially when external processing is applied to the left, center, and right channels via the send/return loop.

Both Stereo Width and Spatializer shine when modulation is brought into the equation. The video demonstrates CV control over the stereo width parameter, allowing for dynamic expansion and contraction of the stereo image. This can yield everything from subtle movement to wild, experimental shifts in spatial perception.

In the Spatializer section, patching an LFO to the delay time creates chorus-like modulation on the side channels, while filtering the mid signal or processing left and right channels separately leads to complex, evolving stereo textures. The send/return architecture encourages creative routing, making it possible to craft truly bizarre left/center/right imagery. For modular users who thrive on patch experimentation, these tools offer a playground for spatial sound design.