Full Bucket Music has announced the release of the Bucket Pops, a software instrument that simulates the classic 1966 Mini Pops-7 Rhythm Machine from KORG.

The plugin brings the drum/percussion sounds heard on Jean-Michel Jarre’s classic Oxygene and Equinoxe music albums.

Why should one want to recreate the Mini Pops-7 as a software instrument? Because itis so much fun – not only the playing (well, you just can select a rhythm and press “Start”…) but the doing (sorry that I cannot share this kind of experience with you!).

It took me some time to decipher the rhythms from the diode matrix and it would have taken even longer if the KORG engineers had not put some hints into the schematics. I also simulated the 15 individual instruments using LTspice to get the sound right. I don’t ask you to understand my motivation.

Mind that each original Mini Pops-7 sounds different due to various internal trimpots, tolerances and aging of the electronic components etc. In the Bucket Pops you can tweak the instruments beyond recognition, and you can change the rhythm patterns themselves, too!

Bucket Pops features

  • 20 original rhythms.
  • 15 modeled drum instruments (no samples).
  • Tweakable instrument parameters.
  • Tweakable rhythm sequencer.
  • Resizable user interface (not “N” version!).
  • MIDI Learn – all parameters can be controlled by MIDI CC.

The plugin is a free download in VST and AU formats for Windows and Mac.

More information: Full Bucket Music