If you love that woozy early electronic sound, this one is a treat. Bucket Pops from Full Bucket Music recreates the Korg Mini Pops-7, a little analog rhythm machine from the late 1960s that ended up all over early electronic music. Yes, this is the same family of box behind that dreamy Jean-Michel Jarre Oxygene groove.
Here is the fun part: nothing here is sampled. All 15 drum sounds are modeled, so you can tweak them, and you get all 20 of the original rhythms built in. Want to mess with history a bit? The rhythm sequencer is editable, so you can bend those old patterns into something of your own. It is light on CPU, the interface resizes, and every knob answers to MIDI learn.
Download it free here: https://www.fullbucket.de/music/bucketpops.html
How to install it:
Windows: grab the ZIP from the download page, unzip it, and copy the plugin file into your DAW's VST folder (the .dll for VST2 or the .vst3 file for VST3). Restart your DAW or rescan your plugins and it should show up.
Mac: grab the PKG installer from the download page and run it. It installs VST2, VST3, AU, and CLAP versions, so just rescan in your DAW and you are good to go.
There is no Linux version for this one, it is Windows and Mac only, in both 32 and 64 bit.
Hear what this whole Full Bucket sound world can do in this demo track:
Honestly, for a free plugin, this is a lovely little time machine. Load up a waltz or a bossa pattern, slow it right down, run it through some delay, and suddenly you are soundtracking a retro sci-fi film in your bedroom studio. Give it a spin and let me know what you make with it.