Dustbin

Name: Dustbin
Price: 1.19 USD
Author: Caelum Audio

by Caelum Audio · Reverb · Novelty convolution (dustbin IRs)

Not rated yet

Dustbin is a joke plugin from Caelum Audio that makes any track sound like it is playing inside a trash can, using impulse responses of a real bin and its built-in speaker.

Released for International Joke Day 2022, it is a cheap, tongue-in-cheek lo-fi space effect that can still be useful for deliberately degraded sounds.

Best for: Sound Design, Drums, Vocals. Genres: Lo-Fi, Electronic & EDM, Hip-Hop & Trap.

Keywords: impulse-response based, lo-fi, drums, vocals, convolution, sound design, colored, mixing.

What it does

Dustbin is Caelum Audio's International Joke Day 2022 release: "The Reverb/Amplifier you never knew you needed." It uses impulse responses recorded inside a dustbin to put your audio in the bin.

Impulse responses: captured from multiple microphones in multiple positions, covering both the bin's cavity and a speaker built into it.
Space and amp: acts as a small, boxy reverb or a speaker-cabinet style coloration, depending on the IR.
Humorous GUI: a hand-drawn, blueprint-like interface that matches the joke.
Lo-fi use: suits deliberately trashy, boxed-in textures on drums, vocals or effects.

It was free for a limited time at launch.

Source: Caelum Audio product page

When to use it

Dustbin is a novelty rather than a general reverb. Altiverb 8 and other convolution reverbs can load any space, and RC-20 Retro Color or iZotope Vinyl give broader lo-fi coloring, but Dustbin does one specific boxy, trash-can sound for about a dollar. Pick it when you want that exact joke texture without building your own IRs.

Best for: sound design, boxed-in lo-fi drums and vocals, and comic effects.
Genres: lo-fi, experimental electronic and hip-hop.
Look elsewhere if: you want a real room or hall reverb, or any serious control over decay and space.
Standout: IRs of an actual dustbin, including its built-in speaker.

What producers say

Coverage treated it as a joke with some real use for deliberately imperfect sounds.

Bedroom Producers Blog (2022) noted "there's nothing to say that a joke idea can't be useful" and likened the GUI to something the South Park kids would design.
Bedroom Producers Blog (2022) summed it up as "the sound of a dustbin with a speaker".

Caelum Audio's New Dustbin Plugin - Bedroom Producers Blog

Where to buy

Caelum Audio: $1.19

Tutorials and reviews

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