Dusted Tape — every control

Tape saturation, wow and flutter.

9 parameters, generated from the parameter registry and checked against the plug-in on every build — so this page and the software cannot describe different instruments. It says what each control does, not what it sounds like.

Version 0.9.1 · Windows x64 · VST3, CLAP and standalone · offline activation, no account, no telemetry.

Dusted Tape — $17

Tape saturation with transport error that never quite repeats. A modulated delay line gives it real wow and flutter: Wobble is the periodic half, a capstan slightly out of round; Drift is the aperiodic half, a random target held and glided between. It reports its latency so the host compensates.

Input

Input Gain

Level into the chain. Saturation follows, so this is also a drive control.

Range 0 to 2 · default 1 · automatable · inputGain

Used for: pushing the tape.

Transport

Wobble

The periodic half of the transport error, 0.08 to 0.5 Hz - a capstan slightly out of round.

Range 0 to 1 · default 0.3 · automatable · wobble

Used for: tape character, seasick pitch.

Drift

The aperiodic half. A random target held for 2.5 s to 0.4 s, glided between.

Range 0 to 1 · default 0.2 · automatable · drift

Used for: stretched tape, unrepeatable movement.

Colour

Haze

A one-pole lowpass, 8 kHz down to 20 Hz. A tilt, not a wall.

Range 0 to 1 · default 0.4 · automatable · haze

Used for: age, radio, removing air.

Saturation

tanh drive, applied before the transport - what the electronics did on the way to the tape.

Range 0 to 1 · default 0.3 · automatable · saturation

Used for: warmth, overdriven tape.

Dust

Sparse impulse noise added after the transport, so it is not pitch-modulated with the programme.

Range 0 to 1 · default 0.1 · automatable · dust

Used for: vinyl crackle, age.

Macro

Age

Raises Wobble, Haze, Saturation, Drift and Dust towards a floor. Never turns anything down.

Range 0 to 1 · default 0.5 · automatable · age

Used for: one knob decay.

Output

Mix

Dry/wet. The dry path is delay-compensated internally, so this does not comb.

Range 0 to 1 · default 1 · automatable · mix

Used for: parallel age, subtle movement.

Output Gain

Final level after the mix.

Range 0 to 2 · default 1 · automatable · outputGain

Used for: matching bypass level.

How this page is made

Every parameter above comes from metadata/dusted-tape.yaml, the single definition of this instrument. The build refuses to publish if the C++ registrations, that file and this reference describe different instruments — and it refuses if any declared parameter fails to change the output, because a control that does nothing is the failure that passes every other test.