Variometer

Record > Recorder Settings > Variometer

Gaggle’s variometer turns your climb and sink rate into sound so you can follow changes in the air while looking outside. You can use the phone’s available sensors or a compatible external flight instrument. With Lift Assist and stereo headphones, directional sound can also suggest where stronger observed lift lies.

Set up before launch

1. Open Record > Recorder Settings > Variometer and enable Free-Flight for paragliding. Powered Flight is a separate control for powered flying.
2. Keep Only In Flight enabled if you want live tones to wait until Gaggle detects flight.
3. Set Volume, then use Try the cues > Play demo to check the sound through the output you will use in flight. Your phone’s media volume also affects loudness.
4. Choose your Thresholds and Climb rate smoothing. Start with a familiar setup and adjust one control at a time.
5. Under Tone profile, compare the sounds, then tap Use this profile to save your choice. In use identifies the active profile.

Stop any recording, including background recording, before playing the demo. Use its example scenarios to find a sound you like and check your headphones and volume. Your saved settings stay in place while you preview.

Understand the sounds

Listen to Early lift cue, Climb, Sink, Lift to the left, and Lift to the right in Try the cues before flying. The Lift Assist audio section also has a circling-lift demo.

Thresholds: decide when tones start

Climb sets the rate that starts climb tones. A smaller value lets you hear weaker climbs; a larger value leaves more weak lift quiet.

Sink sets the negative rate that starts sink tones. For example, −1.0 m/s starts the sink cue sooner than −2.0 m/s. Gaggle shows rates in your selected units.

You can use the sliders, plus/minus controls, or tap a value to enter it. The presets are:

The gap between the thresholds is normally a Silent glide window. If the early lift cue is enabled, the near-zero part of that gap can still produce its short cue. Small changes around a threshold do not always switch the sound immediately: Gaggle smooths the response and uses separate tone entry and exit conditions to reduce chatter.

Climb rate smoothing: tune the response

Use Climb rate smoothing to choose between More smoothing and Faster response. More smoothing softens brief fluctuations; a faster response follows changes more closely and can sound busier in turbulent air.

Use Accelerometer adds your phone’s motion sensors to the variometer’s inputs. Gaggle works with the sensors available on your phone, or with a connected external variometer. The response time shown beside the smoothing control describes that setting.

For a closer look at the testing, our recent flight replay results include recordings with and without barometer data.

Tone profiles: choose a sound you can read

A tone profile changes the voice and rhythm of the cues. Use Climb rate smoothing separately to choose how steadily the tone strength follows changes in climb rate.

Early lift cue: notice near-zero air

Enable Early lift cues > Early lift cue to add the optional thermal sniffer. It plays once when you enter its near-zero range, rather than repeating as another climb-rate beep.

With the standard early-cue settings, a reading of −0.2 m/s can produce the cue even while you are still descending. It gives gentle sink a sound of its own before the normal climb tone starts.

The cue marks that near-zero band as you enter it from either sink or climb. On a quiet glide, it draws your attention to air you might otherwise pass through. If the climb then builds and persists, use the vario and wing together to decide whether to work it. If you hear it during a weakening climb, compare where you are with the better part of your last turn.

Balanced, Responsive, and Gentle use a quiet double pulse. Syrinx uses a short birdlike whistle. When the climb threshold is reached, normal climb tones take over.

The useful habit is to listen for what follows the cue. That helps you distinguish a brief patch of gentle sink from a developing climb.

Binaural audio: hear the direction of lift

Enable Lift Assist > Enabled, then Lift Assist audio > Directional lift sound. Use stereo headphones with the left and right channels correctly placed.

When Gaggle has a usable direction estimate, the climb sound is weighted toward the stronger lift. Its texture can also change as the directional balance changes. You can hear the cue move around you while circling, then compare it with your climb rate and the Thermal Assist view.

The direction develops from the lift around your recent turns. You can hear it before a detailed thermal shape appears on screen. A centred sound is your normal climb cue; left/right movement adds direction when an estimate is ready.

If you keep climbing well on one side of a circle and losing it on the other, use the directional sound to keep track of the stronger side. When the sound, climb rate, and wing agree, use your usual centring technique to reposition the circle while keeping the established circling direction and traffic pattern. Listen through the next turn to judge whether the climb is more sustained.

For the flying technique behind those adjustments, see USHPA’s guide to centring a thermal.

Sink and deep-sink cues stay centred. Head-tracked spatial playback applies to climb tones. The early lift cue can carry stereo guidance.

Stereo and head tracking

Ordinary stereo headphones give you the left/right lift cues. Connect them, check that each earpiece is on the correct side, then play Lift to the left and Lift to the right in Try the cues.

Compatible phones and headphones can also add head tracking, allowing the spatial sound to respond as you turn your head:

• iPhone: iOS 18 or later with compatible head-tracked headphones, such as supported AirPods. Allow motion access if prompted.
• Android: Android 13 or later with a phone and headset that support head tracking. Enable spatial audio in the phone’s headphone settings.

Gaggle uses the playback mode your setup supports, including left/right stereo. Use the demo to set a comfortable volume before launch.

Plan access

Locked controls show the required plan in the app. Directional audio needs both the plan access and Lift Assist enabled. Spoken Audio Cues have their own settings.

External instruments

If Gaggle is using an external variometer, enable Use With External Vario to hear Gaggle’s audio alongside it. Leave it off if you want the external instrument to handle the tones. Pairing and sensor selection are explained in Bluetooth devices.

Use Play In Background for background audio, and check the sound with your usual recording, screen-lock, and headphone setup before launch.

Troubleshooting

• The demo will not play: stop the recording first. Gaggle keeps live flight audio in control while recording.
• The demo works, but there are no live tones: check Free-Flight, your aircraft type, Only In Flight, and whether the current rate crosses a tone threshold. If an external vario is active, check Use With External Vario.
• The sound is too quiet: check both Gaggle’s Volume and the phone’s media volume while a demo plays, and confirm the intended headphones are the active output.
• The sound is too busy: try more Climb rate smoothing, wider thresholds, or Gentle tones. These controls change different parts of the experience.
• Climb tones work, but direction stays centred: check your plan, Lift Assist > Enabled, and Directional lift sound. The estimate may also need more usable observations.
• Left and right sound the same: check the headphone channels, audio balance, and the phone’s mono-audio setting. Head tracking is not required to hear the stereo demo.

Directional sound and Thermal Assist are aids to reading the air. Confirm their suggestions with your actual climb rate, glider feedback, and the conditions around you.