Bucket Pops
Manual
Page 3
Introduction
Bucket Pops
is a software instrument plug-in for Microsoft Windows (VST) and Apple
macOS (VST/AU) simulating the classic KORG
®
Mini Pops-7 Rhythm Machine
from
1966. It is written in native C++ code for high performance and low CPU
consumption. The main features are:
●
20 original rhythms
●
15 modeled drum instruments (no samples)
●
Tweakable instrument parameters
●
Tweakable rhythm sequencer
●
Resizable user interface (not “N” version)
●
All parameters can be controlled by MIDI controllers
●
Plug-in supports Windows and macOS (32 bit and 64 bit)
Bucket Pops
is based on the new
iPlug2
framework maintained by
Oli Larkin and
the iPlug2
team
. Big thanks, guys!!! Without your work it would not have been
possible to create a resizable
user interface.
To resize the plug-in you just grab the yellow triangle at the bottom right of the
Bucket Pops
window and drag it. You can save the current window size using the
menu entry “Save Window Size” in the
.
The KORG
Mini Pops-7
If you have no idea what the
Mini Pops-7
is or how it sounds, just put Jean-Michel
Jarre’s classic
Oxygene
or
Equinoxe
long players on your turntable, press “Play” and
wonder what has produced most of those funky drum/percussion sounds – this is it!
You are not fond of Rumba? Well, I never heard a more impressive “Rumba” pattern
than that at the very beginning of
Oxygene Part 6
where the
Mini Pops-7
slowly
blends into the artificial sound of sea waves, bird cries, and
Eminent
strings.
Released in 1966 (!) the
Mini Pops-7
was not the first but became one of the most
iconic rhythm machines – not a drum computer because there is no computer inside.
The twenty different rhythm patterns are fixed (although it is possible to combine
them) and hard-coded into a
Diode Matrix
, the early version of a ROM (Read-Only
Memory). You won’t find any integrated circuits inside the clunky box, everything is
realized using discrete electronics.
The
Bucket Pops
Why should one want to recreate the
Mini Pops-7
as a software instrument? Because it
is 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
