Apogee Electronics has released Clearmountain Dance, a $29 delay plugin for macOS and Windows that recreates the chaotic stereo delay Bob Clearmountain accidentally stumbled upon during the mixing of David Bowie’s Let’s Dance.
Clearmountain Dance is the latest entry in the Clearmountain plugin series, offering an inspiring delay effect packed into a conveniently compact form factor.
I’ve always been a fan of creative effects inspired by specific songs, artists, or albums. They give your tracks a stylistic identity and a starting point that can lead to some really fun experimentation.
Clearmountain Dance is exactly that kind of plugin. It doesn’t just replicate a sound but instead encourages you to make it your own.
This isn’t your standard tape delay, either. It captures the wild, “unsynced and too loud” ping-pong delay that defined the guitar and vocals in Let’s Dance. It adds stereo chaos that feels more like an instrument than an effect.
The cascading ping-pong delay comes with built-in analog tape emulation for added color. The Degrade knob lets you dial in the imperfections of aging tape, including wow, flutter, and a warmer tone that helps soften harsh delays.
At higher settings (and this is my favorite way to use Clearmountain Dance), it can get lo-fi and unstable in all the right ways.
Another excellent addition is the Offset and Skew control duo, which lets you add rhythmic irregularities to your delays.
Instead of locking into the grid, Clearmountain Dance lets you pull against it, pushing and pulling the stereo field for more groove and movement. You can easily use it on drums, vocals, or even synths to add unpredictable textures and go well beyond what was done in the original song.
The routing is also smart: stereo sources retain their dry balance while the wet delay signal is summed to mono and hard-panned for that signature ping-pong effect. Mono inputs get instantly widened by the stereo delay.
At $29, it’s reasonably priced and doesn’t require iLok, which is always a plus. It runs on macOS 13.7.5+ and Windows 11+, supporting AU (Mac only), VST, VST3, and AAX formats.
If you’re looking to inject some vintage flavor and creative delay into your tracks, Clearmountain Dance might just be your new secret weapon. I can definitely see myself using it in ways Clearmountain and Bowie never imagined.
Get the plugin: Clearmountain Dance ($29)
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Last Updated on September 23, 2025 by Tomislav Zlatic.
