One Kick vs A Sliding Bassline
A single kick, then a whole 808 line played on it — glides, drops and all.
New Case — Open
v0.11.1 · Mac + WindowsToken Drop
One coin. One hit. Every key. Drop any one-shot into the cabinet — a kick, a vocal chop, a texture you froze in Freeze Frame 47 — and it is instantly playable across the whole keyboard, root note found for you. Glide it, drop it, loop it, reverse it, and finish it through the Dust 12.47 lo-fi core built into the machine.
An instrument plugin — load it on an instrument/MIDI track.
macOS 12+ · Apple Silicon & Intel · Windows 10/11 (VST3) · AU + VST3 instrument
- AU + VST3 instrument
- macOS 12+ · Apple Silicon & Intel
- Windows 10/11 (VST3)
Map the panel — what's what on the interface
- The library column — every sample you've imported, by folder, with favourites. Double-click to load.
- The CRT screen — the waveform, big: drag trim, fade and loop handles; zoom and pan; root note and peak level read-outs.
- INSERT TOKEN — drop a sample anywhere on the cabinet, or click the slot to choose one.
- Prize Counter — step through factory and saved presets; PLAYER 1 is always your own session.
- Envelope — attack, decay, sustain, release.
- Performance — GLIDE (Off / Legato / Always), DROP, trigger mode, voices, velocity.
- Sound — the 12.47 core (bit depth, Hard Bits, sample rate), Drive, filters, DUST MIX, output.
- LOOP · REV · STRETCH — the chip row that changes how the sample plays back.
The problem it solves
Every producer has a folder of great one-shots stuck at one pitch. Turning one of them into something you can actually play means opening a full sampler, mapping zones, hunting for the root note, fixing the aliasing when you play it high — all for a single sound. Token Drop makes it one move: drop the token in, play.
- Turn a kick into an 808 bassline that slides.
- Play a vocal chop as a lead.
- Build a melody from a texture, a hit, or a found sound.
- Print the result as S2400-ready pads without leaving the plugin.
Hear the evidence
Three exhibits, one rule: the original one-shot, then a part played on it through Token Drop — named for the factory preset that makes it.
Vocal Chop vs Played Lead
One vocal syllable, then a melody played across the keys.
Clean Hit vs 12-Bit Keys
A clean bell hit, then chords played through the 12.47 core.
- Exhibit A — 808 · Dead Drop 808
- Exhibit B — Vocal · Fairlight Vox
- Exhibit C — Keys · First Crush Bell
The exhibits are being printed at the studio now — they land here as they're finished.
Inside the machine
One cabinet, six boards — from the operations manual.
Board · 01Every Key
Any sample, playable chromatically the moment it lands. The root note is read from the filename or detected from the audio itself — and when a take has no single pitch it says so instead of guessing. Pick your pitch physics: REPITCH speeds up and slows down like the classic machines, with an anti-alias filter that keeps high notes clean; STRETCH keeps the hit its original length all the way up the keyboard.
ROOT DETECTIONREPITCH · STRETCHANTI-ALIASTUNE · BEND
Board · 02Glide & the Drop
GLIDE slides between notes — Legato for slides only where notes touch (butt them together in the piano roll and they slide), Always for every note. DROP is the signature move: every hit pitch-falls into the floor, an octave over 300 ms at the defaults.
OFF · LEGATO · ALWAYSGLIDE TIMEDROPONE-SHOT · GATE
Board · 03Loop, Reverse, Trim & Fades
Drag the trim around the part you want, shape it with fade curves, flip it with REV for risers out of silence, and hold it forever with LOOP — the loop point is found for you where the sound still has body, or dragged by hand. None of it touches your original file.
TRIM HANDLES5 FADE CURVESREVAUTO / DRAG LOOPNON-DESTRUCTIVE
Board · 04The 12.47 Core
The lo-fi engine from Dust 12.47, built into the cabinet: bit depth with Warm or Hard Bits, sample-rate reduction, Drive, and filters. DUST MIX blends the crushed path under the clean one — clean sub, dirty top, no send needed.
BIT DEPTH · HARD BITSSAMPLE RATEDRIVELP · HPDUST MIX
Board · 05The Library
Import a folder once and everything in it is browsable inside the plugin forever, by category, with favourites. Drag samples in from Finder, Cubase MediaBay, or the Cubase project window. COLLECT SAMPLE copies whatever you're playing into your own library with its root, trims and loop saved. Moved a file? The missing-file service finds it again.
FOLDER IMPORTFAVOURITESFINDER · MEDIABAY · PROJECT DRAGSCOLLECT
Board · 06The Vault
Record a performance straight to disk with VAULT REC, print the current sound at its root with PRINT TOKEN, or PRINT KIT: eight pitched files in a folder, ready to load as pads 1–8 on an S2400. Always 48 kHz; 16-bit stereo by default.
VAULT RECPRINT TOKENPRINT KITS2400-READY
The Prize Counter — factory presets
Eight factory tokens ship in the cabinet, each built on a royalty-free sample made for Token Drop and each showing off one move: 808 Bass, Dead Drop 808, SP1200 Kick Bass, Linn Snare Lead, Chip Pluck, Arcade Organ, Fairlight Vox and First Crush Bell. Scroll the Prize Counter past either end and PLAYER 1 — your own session — is waiting where you left it.
Field techniques
From the manual
The Butt-Joint Slide
808 slides without overlapping notes: Legato glide, notes butted together in the piano roll.
From the manual
The Dead Drop
DROP on, trigger One-Shot: every hit falls an octave and rings out regardless of note length.
From the manual
The Parallel Lo-Fi Bus
DUST MIX at 30–50%: the crushed signal sits under the clean one — instant grit without a send.
Eight field techniques ship in the manual, from “The Butt-Joint Slide” to “Collect Before You Archive.”
Open the case
Token Drop · Full License
$29
One-time purchase. No subscription.
One-time purchase, no subscription. Your licence code arrives the moment payment clears and works on two computers. 14-day refund.
- Formats: AU + VST3 instrument, 64-bit
- Platform: macOS 12+ · Apple Silicon & Intel · Windows 10/11 (VST3)
- Activation: a licence code — no iLok, no account; two of your Macs
- Offline: checks in once a month; works offline in between
- Installer: signed & notarized on Mac, 18 MB
- Support: direct line to the studio
The dossier — where it stands
Statusv0.11.1 — running in real sessions now; a public trial follows
FormatsAU + VST3 instrument — macOS 12+ · Apple Silicon & Intel · Windows 10/11 (VST3)
VoicesPolyphonic; mono last-note priority when GLIDE is on
LatencyZero in REPITCH; STRETCH adds about 25 ms to attacks
Vault outputWAV, always 48 kHz — 16-bit stereo by default, mono and 24-bit as settings
Price$29 one-time
Cross-examination — FAQ
Is this a full multisampler?
No — on purpose. Token Drop plays one sample at a time across the whole keyboard, the way the classic one-shot machines did, and makes that one sound as playable as possible. Your library of one-shots becomes a library of instruments.
Is it only for 808s?
No. The 808 workflow is one use — kicks, vocal chops, textures, bells, found sounds all play the same way. The root note is detected for you, and the anti-alias filter keeps high notes clean.
Can I drag samples in from my DAW?
Yes — from Finder, from Cubase MediaBay, and from the Cubase project window. Project-window drags need the project’s audio folder imported into the Token Drop library first, because Cubase only sends the file’s name.
Will there be a trial?
Not yet — a public trial follows the same road as Dust 12.47, and the case file list hears first. At $29 it’s also covered by the 14-day refund.
What formats will it support?
AU and VST3 instrument for macOS on Apple Silicon today. Anything beyond that gets announced when it’s true.
Where can I read more?
The full operations manual is already published — read it here.
Insert coin.
Token Drop is running in real sessions right now. The case file list hears new evidence and every update first — $29, one-time.