Clearmountain Dance

Name: Clearmountain Dance
Price: 29 USD
Author: Apogee

by Apogee · Delay · Dual tape-head ping-pong delay

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Clearmountain Dance recreates the stereo delay Bob Clearmountain used on David Bowie's "Let's Dance", a cascading ping-pong delay with two tape heads.

A Degrade knob ages the repeats, and Offset and Skew vary the timing. It costs $29.

Best for: Vocals, Guitars, Keys & Synths, Drums. Genres: Pop, Rock & Indie, Electronic & EDM.

Keywords: tape, ping-pong, vocals, tape echo, electric guitar, mixing, warm, lo-fi, loose, synths, wide, corrective, drums, enhancement, flutter, hardware emulation, mono, rhythmic, snare, subscription, subtle, tempo-synced, wobble.

What it does

Clearmountain Dance is Apogee's recreation of the stereo ping-pong delay that Bob Clearmountain stumbled on while mixing David Bowie's "Let's Dance", the one heard on the song's guitars and vocals. It aims for the warm character of the original dual tape-head delay with a short list of controls.

Time and Tempo Sync: set the delay time freely or lock it to the host tempo grid.
Feedback and Mix: set the number of repeats and the wet/dry balance.
Ping-pong design: cascading repeats that bounce across the stereo field, and it turns a mono source into a wide stereo delay.
Dual tape heads: the character of two tape delay heads with analog-style warmth.
Offset: sets the timing difference between the left and right repeats.
Skew: adds rhythmic variation similar to swing, for the loose, unsynced feel of the original.
Degrade: tape emulation that simulates tape aging to tame harsh highs, add warmth or bring in subtle wow and flutter.

Released in September 2025. It is sold through Plugin Alliance, with a 14-day trial and inclusion in the CORE and PRO subscriptions.

Source: Apogee product page

When to use it

Clearmountain Dance does one thing: a wide, warm ping-pong tape delay with very few knobs, at a low price. Compared with EchoBoy and ValhallaDelay it has no choice of delay styles, filters or modulation section, but it gets a characterful stereo bounce in seconds. Next to Galaxy Tape Echo and Delay TAPE-201, which model a Space Echo in depth, it is simpler and built around stereo movement rather than a single unit's controls. Its Offset and Skew controls make the repeats deliberately loose, which suits parts that should feel played rather than gridded.

Best for: quick stereo tape delays on vocals, guitars, snares and synths.
Genres: pop, rock, new wave and dance-leaning styles.
Look elsewhere if: you want many delay modes, filtering or modulation (EchoBoy, ValhallaDelay or Timeless 3), or a full tape-echo model with spring reverb (Galaxy Tape Echo).
Tip: Bedroom Producers Blog notes that higher Degrade settings give a lo-fi, unstable sound.

Where to buy

Plugin Alliance: $29

Tutorials and reviews

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