Case No. 12.47 — Open

v12.47.17 · Free 14-day trial

Dust 12.47

Name: Dust 12.47
Brand: The Sound Detective

Make clean sound feel lived-in. Dust 12.47 is a vintage sampler you play, not just an effect you set: bend speed and pitch live the way the early machines did, pour on grit, gated texture, and movement — and catch every discovery in the Vault. One machine instead of a six-plugin chain.

Free 14-Day Trial Buy — $97

Trial: fully functional · 14 days · no card — one email unlocks the download. Or buy it outright: $97 one-time, licence on two computers.

macOS 12+ · Apple Silicon & Intel · Windows 10/11 (VST3) · AU + VST3

AU + VST3
macOS 12+ · Apple Silicon & Intel
Windows 10/11 (VST3)

The Dust 12.47 interface — The actual plugin, v12.47.17. Tour every section

The Dust 12.47 interface: sampler speed and pitch faders on the left, the dust row of bit depth, sample rate, drive and crunch, jitter and noise, gate, shape, machine drift and level sections, with the folder shelf and Vault below

Map the panel — what's what on the interface

Sampler Speed & Pitch faders — the two big verticals; Grid and Musical mode switches beside them.
The Dust row — Bit Depth, Warm/Hard, Sample Rate, Drive, Crunch.
Jitter & Noise — instability and the hiss bed, with Noise SC routing.
The Gate — Threshold and Release, fed by program or noise.
Shape — High Pass, Low Pass, Tone tilt.
Machine Drift — Drift, Motion, Stereo width.
Level — Mix, Output, Delta Mode, Gain Match.
The folder shelf — Noise, Jitter, Gate/Delay, Stutter, Filter, Tone, and Quality open into their own drawers.
The Vault — capture, library, and re-process controls.
Preset browser & version tag — fifteen factory case files; the build number lives on the panel.

The problem it solves

Pristine recordings can feel frozen in place. Building believable dirt and movement usually means stacking saturation, filtering, modulation, gating, delay, and bit reduction — then automating the whole chain and hoping it survives the next revision. Dust 12.47 puts those treatments inside one connected instrument for character.

Add age and attitude to drums.
Set static synths in motion.
Pull polished vocals deeper into textured productions.
Create rhythmic gates, interruptions, and stutters.
Produce worn repeats and decaying echoes.
Build transitions and ear candy.
Give loops and samples a new identity.
Apply a subtle dusty coat across a bus or a full mix.

It runs from barely-there to unrecognizable. The point isn't lo-fi for its own sake — it's the interaction between texture, movement, quality reduction, filtering, gating, stutter, delay, and drift, in one signal path you can push as far as the record wants.

And underneath all of it is a sampler in the oldest sense. The Speed fader is a real transport on a real buffer — pitch and time move together, exactly like dragging the speed control on early hardware. Ride it live over the track, glide a fall into the downbeat, snap it to musical ratios or intervals, and the machine bends whatever is playing through it. When the bend turns into the best sound of the session, the Vault is already listening.

Hear the evidence

Six exhibits, one rule: each is the dry take and the same bars through Dust 12.47 — level-matched, one switch apart, named for the factory preset that makes it.

Exhibit A — Drums · Drum Machine Fall
Exhibit B — Vocal · Vocal Case Drop
Exhibit C — Synth · Machine Alive
Exhibit D — Guitar · Old Sampler Bus
Exhibit E — Full Mix · Full Mix Dust
Exhibit F — Sound Design · Destroyed Loop

The exhibits are being printed at the studio now — dry/wet pairs land here as they're finished. The trial has all of it today.

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See Dust 12.47 in the session

Follow the signal through the machine — from clean source to subtle movement, fractured rhythm, filtered decay, and full dust.

Demonstration film and filmed field tests are in production — the case file list sees them first.

Inside the machine

Every section of the panel — what it is, what it sounds like, what to pair it with.

Read the full operations manual →

Core Panel · 01The Faders — Sampler Speed & Pitch

Two independent ±24-semitone faders. Sampler Speed is a true variable-speed transport — pitch and time move together, exactly how the early samplers did it, and it responds live while the track plays. Pitch is a separate shifter that moves pitch alone. Each fader has its own glide time, its own blend against the clean signal, snap, and link switches. Grid Mode locks speed to musical ratios; Musical Mode snaps pitch to intervals.

SubtleA few cents of drift-adjacent blend keeps a static loop breathing.

PushedFull-range speed falls and tuned drops — the classic tape-stop family, but playable and automatable.

Best onLoops, drums, vocal throws, transitions.

Pairs withGlide controls for the fall shape; The Dust for crunch on the way down.

SPEED ±24 STPITCH ±24 STGLIDE PER FADERBLEND PER FADERSNAP · LINKGRID MODEMUSICAL MODE

Core Panel · 02The Dust — Bit Depth, Sample Rate, Drive & Crunch

The degradation core. Bit depth from 2 to 16 bits with two quantizer characters — Warm is companded like a vintage 12-bit sampler — the noise gets quieter when the music does, riding the signal like tape hiss; Hard is straight truncation with a noise floor that chews into decays. Sample-rate reduction from 4,000 Hz up to 44.1 kHz. Drive gives −12 to +24 dB into a Crunch stage built to add distortion, not loudness.

Subtle12-bit Warm at moderate sample rates reads as "old record," not "effect."

PushedLow bits in Hard mode chew decays into gravel; low sample rates alias into telephone-radio territory.

Best onDrums, samples, whole loops, anything too polite.

Pairs withShape and Tone to frame the wreckage; Gain Match keeps the A/B honest.

BIT DEPTH 2–16WARM / HARDSAMPLE RATE 4k–44.1kDRIVE −12/+24 dBCRUNCH

Core Panel · 03Jitter & Noise

Jitter adds per-sample instability — the small timing misbehavior that makes digital feel mechanical. Noise lays a hiss bed under the signal — and the gate can key from it, so the noise floor itself becomes a modulator.

SubtleA whisper of noise glues a too-clean vocal into a sampled beat.

PushedHeavy jitter plus noise reads as damaged media — a source that survived something.

Best onVocals, pads, buses that need age.

Pairs withThe Gate — noise through the gate breathes with the track.

JITTERNOISEGATE KEYING

Core Panel · 04Shape — High Pass, Low Pass & Tone

The framing section: high-pass and low-pass for lo-fi framing, telephone tones, and radio-dial moves, plus a Tone tilt to darken or brighten the character without reaching for an EQ.

SubtleGentle low-pass ages a source without announcing itself.

PushedBoth filters closed in = the voice on the other end of the line.

Best onWhatever The Dust just roughed up — Shape is what seats it in the mix.

Pairs withThe Dust — degrade first, then frame what's left.

HIGH PASSLOW PASSTONE

Core Panel · 05The Gate — Threshold, Range & Release

A full character gate that listens to the processed signal: threshold (manual, with an optional auto-track mode), range, attack, hold, release, hysteresis, and curve — keyed from five detector sources, including the noise bed. Gated texture that opens and closes with the performance is the signature move here.

SubtleShort release on a pad adds a breathing edge you feel more than hear.

PushedHard threshold on a full loop chops it into rhythmic fragments.

Best onPads, vocals, loops, noise beds.

Pairs withNoise (as sidechain fuel) and Delay for gated echo patterns.

THRESHOLD · AUTO OPTIONATTACK 0.1–50 MSHOLD · RELEASE 5–1000 MSHYSTERESIS · CURVE5 DETECTOR SOURCES

Core Panel · 06Machine Drift — Drift, Motion & Stereo

Modeled wow and flutter — not random jitter. Two smooth movements per channel (slow wow, faster flutter) bend pitch and time the way an aging transport actually does, with a genuine stereo stage that widens without breaking mono. At zero there is no movement at all.

SubtleLow drift, slow motion: the "is that tape?" shimmer on keys and pads.

PushedWide stereo drift turns a mono synth into a seasick, evolving bed.

Best onKeys, pads, guitars, sustained anything.

Pairs withQuality (Vintage) for full worn-machine character; works as a chorus substitute.

DRIFTMOTIONSTEREO 0–100

Core Panel · 07Level — Mix, Output & Delta Mode

Global wet/dry Mix, Output trim, and Delta Mode — solo only what Dust is adding. Delta is the honesty switch: hear exactly the dirt, movement, and texture being printed, nothing else. Gain Match (on by default) keeps the output RMS-matched so extra loudness never masquerades as extra character.

SubtleMix low across a bus = parallel texture without touching the balance.

PushedDelta printed to its own track becomes a layer you can mix like an instrument.

Best onBuses and full mixes.

Pairs withYour mix bus — this is the exit, and Delta is how you check what leaves.

MIXOUTPUTDELTA MODEGAIN MATCH

Folder Shelf · 08Stutter

Beat-synced speed-up recycle. Locks to host tempo from 1/64 to 1/1 — dotted and triplet divisions included — or runs free from 20 to 2000 ms, with its own blend amount and two blend modes (Depth / Mix).

SubtleOccasional 1/8 stutter at low blend adds hiccups that feel performed.

PushedFast triplet divisions at full blend fracture a source into a new rhythm.

Best onDrums, vocal chops, transitions.

Pairs withFilter for classic build-up moves; the faders for stuttered falls.

SYNC 1/64–1/1 · DOTTED · TRIPLETFREE 20–2000 MSBLEND: DEPTH / MIX

Folder Shelf · 09Delay

A character echo with four voicings — Drum, Tape, Rack, Modern — and four routings: Stereo, Ping Pong, Dual Mono (independent left/right time, feedback, and sync division, with a link switch), and Motion. Tempo sync, ducking, modulation, width, tone, and dedicated high/low-pass filters on the repeats.

SubtleTape voicing, low feedback: repeats that age instead of stack.

PushedDual Mono with mismatched times turns one phrase into a conversation.

Best onVocals, guitars, keys.

Pairs withThe Gate for gated-echo patterns; Shape to sink repeats behind the source.

DRUM / TAPE / RACK / MODERNSTEREO / PING PONG / DUAL MONO / MOTIONSYNC · DUCK · HPF/LPF

Folder Shelf · 10Filter

A resonant filter with three models — Ladder, Vintage, Sampler — its own drive, mix, and a self-animating Movement control, placeable at five points in the signal chain: before or after the dust, around the tone stage, or on a parallel blend.

SubtleParallel placement filters only the texture layer, not the source.

PushedResonant Ladder with Movement is an instant motion machine.

Best onSynths, loops, sound design.

Pairs withStutter for transition builds; The Dust for placement experiments.

LADDER / VINTAGE / SAMPLERCUTOFF · RES · DRIVEMOVEMENT · MIX5 CHAIN POSITIONS

Folder Shelf · 11Tone

Five color models — Punch, British, Console, Ladder, Dust — each a distinct harmonic and EQ character, with the saturating shaper placed before the EQ and calibrated makeup gain. At zero it is transparent, and automation is zipper-free.

SubtleConsole at low amount is a finishing color, not an effect.

PushedDust model stacked on the degradation core doubles down on the wreckage.

Best onBuses, drums, final coats.

Pairs withShape — tilt first, color second, or the reverse; both are legitimate.

PUNCH / BRITISH / CONSOLE / LADDER / DUSTAMOUNTCALIBRATED MAKEUP

Folder Shelf · 12Quality

Three reconstruction characters for the fader engine — Vintage, Smooth, High — plus recovery controls (Body, Anti-Thin, Recover, Transient) that decide how much fidelity survives extreme speed and pitch moves. Vintage keeps the un-clean sampler artifacts; High cleans up after them.

SubtleHigh mode makes big pitch moves usable on lead material.

PushedVintage at extreme down-pitch is the deliberately broken sampler sound.

Best onAnything using the faders hard.

Pairs withThe Faders — this folder is their engine room.

VINTAGE / SMOOTH / HIGHBODY · ANTI-THINRECOVER · TRANSIENT

Folder Shelf · 13The Vault

A capture recorder built into the plugin. Record up to 60 seconds of the final output per take, straight into a WAV library with waveform view, region editing, fades, and loop audition — then re-process a captured loop back through the whole Dust chain. Sounds you stumble into stop escaping.

SubtleCapture happy accidents while you tweak; audition them later.

PushedRe-process a capture through the chain again — generational decay on demand.

Best onSound design sessions, sample making.

Pairs withThe faders and Stutter — the moves worth keeping are the ones worth filing.

60-SEC CAPTUREWAV LIBRARYREGION EDIT · FADESRE-PROCESS

Using them together

Dust 12.47 isn't a rack of separate effects — the sections are built to interact. Six field techniques, straight from the operations manual:

Technique 01

The Parallel Destruction

Duplicate the source, push The Dust hard on the copy, keep the original clean, and mix the wreckage underneath. Texture without casualties.

Technique 02

The Musical Drop

Musical Mode plus a long glide: pitch falls that land on intervals instead of between them. Drops that are in key.

Technique 03

The Noise as a Modulator

Key the gate from the noise bed — the hiss drives the gate, and the noise floor becomes rhythm.

Technique 04

Drift as a Chorus

Machine Drift on a duplicate, tucked under the original: width and motion that read as an instrument, not an effect.

Technique 05

Delta Layering

Flip Delta Mode, print only what Dust adds, and mix that layer like its own instrument — texture on a fader.

Technique 06

The Grid Chop

Grid Mode speed ratios plus the gate: rhythmic re-pitching that stays locked to the track's pulse.

The Vault — catch the inspiration

Every sampler player knows the moment: you're riding the speed fader, the loop folds into something better than the song you were making — and it's gone by the next bar. The Vault exists for that moment. It sits at the end of the chain, always ready to record up to 60 seconds of exactly what you're hearing, straight into a library inside the plugin.

Catch itOne button while you play. The take lands as a WAV in the Vault library — no bouncing, no re-recording, no "what was that setting?"

Shape itWaveform view, region editing, fades, and loop audition — trim the keeper out of the take without leaving the machine.

Re-process itSend a captured loop back through the whole Dust chain and print it again. Generational decay, on purpose — each pass ages further.

Build from itCaptures are plain WAV files: drag the keepers into your session, your sampler, your pack. What you catch is yours to use anywhere.

The Vault is the Sound Detective house system for keeping ideas: as the plugin family grows, the Vault inside each one catches sounds you can reuse in the session — or anytime later.

Faster to hear it than read it — the trial is the whole machine for 14 days.

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What can you do with it?

DrumsAge a clean kit into a record; tighten a loop's pocket with gated grit; fracture a break with stutter and grid moves.

VocalsSeat a polished lead into a sampled beat; gated texture that opens with the singer and closes behind the line; tuned pitch-drop throws off line endings.

GuitarWorn tape-style echo; drift that reads as a weathered amp; low-bit fuzz on a duplicate for parallel attitude.

BassDrive and crunch for weight that stays controlled under Gain Match; subtle sample-rate reduction for old-machine midrange.

SynthsSet static patches in motion with drift and filter movement; full sampler-character conversions with the faders and Quality set to Vintage.

PadsBeds that pump under the gate; noise-glued width; slow filter movement that keeps ten bars interesting.

Loops & samplesRe-pitch against the grid, chop with the gate, and walk a familiar loop somewhere it has never been.

One-shotsAnimate a single hit — fast speed fall, a breath of drift — and file the printed variations in the Vault.

Foley & textureDamaged-media character for post and game work; noise beds gated by the source.

TransitionsStutter builds, filtered decays, tuned drops — the section-change toolkit in one insert.

Buses & full mixesLow-mix parallel texture for glue and age across a group — or the dusty final coat that makes a clean bounce sound like a record.

Three ways into the case

Route A

Fast Character

Insert it, open a factory preset close to the job, shape The Dust and Shape to the source, ride Mix to taste. Two minutes, done — Gain Match keeps your judgment honest the whole way.

Route B

Rhythmic Movement

Start with the Gate and Stutter synced to the track. Add Delay's gated repeats. The machine plays the rhythm; you steer threshold, division, and blend.

Route C

Deep Sound Design

Faders in Grid or Musical mode, Quality set to taste, Filter placed mid-chain, drift wide — then capture everything worth keeping into the Vault and re-process the best takes.

Fifteen factory presets ship in the box — each one a named starting point (Vocal Case Drop, Drum Machine Fall, Full Mix Dust, Destroyed Loop…), built in real sessions, meant to be bent.

Real-world recipes

Dusty drum busWarm bit depth first, then a touch of Tone (Console). Listen for the kit gluing into one instrument — stop before the cymbals complain.

Vocal into a sampled beatNoise low, gentle low-pass, 12-bit Warm. The goal: the vocal stops floating above the beat and joins it.

Moving padDrift slow and low, Filter on Movement, Stereo wide. Listen for motion you feel across eight bars, not wobble you hear in one.

Worn guitar echoDelay on Tape, repeats low-passed via the delay's own filters, feedback shy of self-oscillation. Repeats should age, not stack.

Lo-fi transitionAutomate the low-pass closed while Stutter tightens its division — release both at the downbeat.

Subtle mix-bus dustEverything gentle, Mix low, judge with Delta Mode: if the delta layer sounds like air and grit, you're in the right place.

Animated one-shotSpeed fall with a long glide, capture the takes in the Vault, keep the best three as new samples.

Every recipe above runs in the trial, today — full machine, no card.

Take It In for Questioning

Why one connected machine?

You could build most of this from six separate plugins, a bus, and an afternoon of automation — that's exactly the workflow Dust 12.47 replaces. One window means faster experiments: the gate already listens to the noise bed, the filter already knows where it sits in the chain, the faders already glide in key, and Delta Mode already tells you the truth about what you've added. Fewer windows, less routing, one undo history, one preset that recalls the whole state — and a path from light texture to full transformation that never requires rebuilding the chain.

Open the case

Dust 12.47 · Full License

$97

One-time purchase. No subscription.

Try It Free for 14 Days Buy — $97

One-time purchase, no subscription. Your licence code arrives the moment payment clears and works on two computers. 14-day refund.

Formats: AU + VST3, 64-bit
Platform: macOS 12+ · Apple Silicon & Intel · Windows 10/11 (VST3)
Trial: 14 days, fully functional, no card — one email unlocks it
Activation: a license code — no iLok, no account
Installer: signed & notarized on Mac, 39 MB Mac · 12 MB Windows
Support: direct line to the studio

Take it in for questioning — the free trial

Fourteen days, fully functional, no card and no account — one email unlocks the download and puts you on the case file list. Install the notarized package, enter a trial code, and the machine is yours: every module, every preset, every capture. A trial code activates on one machine. When the clock runs out the audio path locks, but your sessions and settings survive — enter a full license code later and everything wakes up exactly where you left it. Reinstalling doesn't restart the clock.

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The dossier — specifications

Not sure? Download the 14-day trial and check it in your own session.

FormatsAU + VST3 — macOS 12+ · Apple Silicon & Intel · Windows 10/11 (VST3)

PlatformmacOS 12+ · Apple Silicon & Intel · Windows 10/11 (VST3)

Intel Mac / WindowsBoth supported — Mac (Apple Silicon + Intel, macOS 12+) and Windows 10/11 64-bit (VST3).

Pro Tools / AAXIn progress — not yet available, and no date until it is real.

Tested inLogic Pro · Cubase · Ableton Live · REAPER · FL Studio · GarageBand

Processing32-bit float internal · 44.1–192 kHz host rates · stereo in/out

LatencyFully compensated — the plugin reports its delay to the host, no manual nudging

InstallerSigned & notarized .pkg, ~39 MB, Apple Silicon + Intel, macOS 12+ · current version 12.47.17

Copy protectionLicense code only — no iLok, no account, offline after activation (7-day re-check grace)

Presets15 factory presets

Cross-examination — FAQ

What is Dust 12.47?

A vintage sampler degradation processor for macOS: one plugin that adds movement, grit, gated texture, filtered decay, delay, stutter, drift, and sampler-style character to any source — from a subtle final coat to complete transformation.

Is it only a lo-fi or tape effect?

No. Bit and sample-rate reduction are one section of a larger machine. The gate, stutter, delay, filter, drift, and the speed/pitch faders make it as much a movement-and-rhythm tool as a texture box.

What kinds of sounds can I process?

Drums, vocals, guitars, bass, synths, pads, loops, one-shots, foley, buses, and full mixes — insert it on a stereo track (the plugin is 2-in/2-out). The Best-on notes in the walkthrough above are a starting map.

Can I use it on a full mix?

Yes — Full Mix Dust ships as a factory preset for exactly that. Keep Mix low, judge with Delta Mode, and let Gain Match keep the loudness honest.

Does it include presets?

Fifteen factory presets, each named for the move it makes — Vocal Case Drop, Drum Machine Fall, Breakbeat Tightener, Full Mix Dust, Destroyed Loop, and ten more.

Is there a free trial? Does it need a card?

Yes — 14 days, fully functional, no card, no account. One email unlocks the download (it also joins you to the case file list), then enter a trial code and you're in.

What happens when the trial ends?

The audio path locks, but nothing is deleted: sessions keep their settings. Enter a full license code and everything wakes up where you left it. Reinstalling does not reset the trial.

Which plugin formats are included?

AU and VST3, 64-bit. AAX for Pro Tools is in progress but not yet available — no date promised until it's real.

Which Macs and macOS versions are supported?

Any Mac on macOS 12 or later — Apple Silicon and Intel, one universal installer. On Windows: 10 or 11, 64-bit, VST3.

Is there a Windows version?

Yes — Windows 10/11, 64-bit, VST3. Grab it from the trial page.

Which DAWs have been tested?

Logic Pro, Cubase, Ableton Live, REAPER, FL Studio, and GarageBand — the full matrix ran in August 2026 on the shipping build.

Do I need an iLok or an account?

No dongles, no account. Activation is a license code checked against our server, then the plugin runs offline (with a 7-day re-check grace window).

Machine count, license delivery, and updates?

A trial code activates one machine. A full licence activates two — say your studio and your laptop — and the code is shown the moment payment clears and emailed to you. Lost it? Get it emailed again.

Where can I find the manual?

Right here: the Dust 12.47 operations manual — the same case-file dossier the plugin's Manual button opens.

How do I get support?

Through the support page — questions land directly with the studio that builds the plugin.

Your mix is clean. Leave some evidence.