Full Bucket Music has released Broken Mini, a free Minimoog emulation (of sorts) for macOS and Windows.
If you read the title and wondered what the name is all about, there’s no mystery; it is quite literally broken.
Let’s clear that up straight away; it’s missing knobs, it’s missing keys, and it behaves in all manner of strange ways.
It’s straight-up janky; there’s no getting away from that.
November is a crazy time of year. We just had Halloween at the end of last month, and we’re at the start of a month when developers are gearing up for the year’s biggest sales.
Björn, the man behind Full Bucket Music, has given us plugin emulations of vintage synths before, like Six-Traq (Sequential Circuits Six Trak) and NY Polyphonic Ensemble (Korg Lambda ES-50).
It’s not unusual to see unexpected offers or developers thinking outside the box, but Full Bucket Music has gone one step further than most.
This time, the creative developer has virtually reproduced the experience of a damaged synth.
Most of us will have experienced playing a broken synth at one time or another—the kind that maybe has a few settings you can’t change, settings that don’t work, keys that stick or just aren’t there.
Ironically, old synths patched up with tape and DIY fixes are often the defining element of whatever setup they are in.
Typically, bringing such synths into the virtual realm is a chance to remedy any real-world problems, but thanks to Full Bucket Music, we now have a fully-fledged broken virtual Minimoog.
When you load Broken Mini and hover over controls, you’ll see little messages from Björn that guide you in the right direction. It reminded me a bit of a puzzle you’d see in old games like Silent Hill.
In true Full Bucket Music fashion, Broken Mini produces some lovely sounds, especially bass tones reminiscent of the great Bernie Worrell.
More good news: the GUIs missing keys don’t mean missing notes; you can play them on your controller.
I mentioned strange behaviour, which occurs in a few areas, but particularly with the Noise controls; I’ll leave the rest for your discovery.
What’s a broken Minimoog without a user’s manual? Well, it’s still broken, but Björn has taken the time to draft a manual that tells us nothing and provides multiple safety warnings. Proceed with caution!
Broken Mini is available in AU, VST2, VST3, CLAP, and AAX formats for macOS and Windows.
Download: Broken Mini (FREE)
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