D.A.N.U – Dolby Atmos Nulling Upmixer
If you’ve ever wrestled with trying to transform a plain old stereo track into a Dolby Atmos session, you know it can feel like teaching a cat to fetch. D.A.N.U (Dolby Atmos Nulling Upmixer) promises a cleaner solution by using nulling to isolate and place elements in 3D space—minus the usual upmixer headaches.
Tested with Reaper & Fiedler Audio Atmos Composer
I recently put D.A.N.U to the test in Cockos Reaper alongside Fiedler Audio’s Atmos Composer, using a vintage track where I only had a single stereo file. Setup was straightforward—just point it at your mix, tweak the separation settings, and let it do its thing. Surprisingly, it didn’t take much convincing for it to spread the sound neatly around the Dolby Atmos field, making it easy to pinpoint elements without rummaging for stems.
Why Nulling Is Cool
Nulling is basically taking two signals, flipping one out of phase, and subtracting them. This reveals hidden details by focusing on what’s different (stereo sides) or the same (center info). D.A.N.U harnesses these differences to re-map your stereo audio into an immersive format. It’s not magic, but it’s close enough if you’re short on separate tracks.
The Price Is Right
In the ever-growing universe of spendy plugins, D.A.N.U’s current price tag of 29 English Pounds is refreshing. You won’t have to rob a piggy bank to get your stereo mixes marching toward an Atmos workflow.
Upmix Tutorial
Another great Tutorial by Michael G. Wagner
Quick Pros & Cons
- Pros
- Impressively clean upmix for a plugin that doesn’t require stems.
- Straightforward user experience—even for older tracks.
- Budget-friendly.
- Outputs in 9.1.6 channel format.
- Will be expandable in coming updates to other formats.
- Cons
- Still not a miracle worker if your original stereo is a total mess.
- You may need minor touch-ups afterward to get that perfect Atmos spread.
Use Plugdata interface, which is free and can be found here for Mac, Windows and Linux.
Not For sale Atm.
Sam hocking has as of 24-1-2025 removed the sale of this plugin from his website temporarily.
Also the videos by Michael G. Wagner has been taken down from Youtube.
Official statement
“Dear Customers,
I wanted to inform you that as of today, D.A.N.U has been temporarily removed from sale on the demix.me website. Please rest assured, this is only a temporary measure, and it will not impact the planned updates, including AAX, VST, AU compiled releases, as well as Plugdata.
Your support has been incredible—far beyond what I anticipate. That said, if anyone prefers a refund I completely understand although I do suggest you wait it out a couple of weeks first.
I will share updates as soon as I have more information to provide on the future of this plugin.
Thank you for your understanding and support.
Kind regards,
Sam Hocking
