Noizefield, in tandem with Swedish developers Infected Sounds, released Mini Bounce, a freeware virtual analog synthesizer in 32-bit VST plugin format for Windows (made with FlowStone).
As its name suggests, Mini Bounce is geared towards modern genres like Melbourne Bounce, Future Bounce, and other types of electronic dance music. Melbourne Bounce, in particular, is characterized by underground Melbourne house minimalism, a standard 128 beats per minute tempo, “bouncy” off-beat bass, and Dutch saw/vox leads. Stylistically, the synth’s built-in presets reflect that.
As for the features, Mini Bounce is a fairly complex synthesizer with four oscillator sections, each featuring 31 different waveforms, so there’s plenty of room for experimentation. Also, there’s one amp envelope (ADSR), two modulation envelopes, one filter (with low-pass, band-pass, and high-pass modes), a pair of LFOs for modulation, and four effects – reverb, chorus, decimator, and EQ.
With a robust arsenal of modules and a polished interface that’s easy to get around, Mini Bounce is a versatile synthesizer for creating modern electronic music sounds. The UI is somewhat reminiscent of Reveal Sound’s Spire, a paid synth that’s reasonably popular with EDM producers. Each oscillator has Drive and Phase controls for obtaining an overdriven and phase-shifted sound.
The modulation envelopes and LFOs can be freely routed to different controls using the built-in routing menus. The effects section is placed in the middle and allows for separate processing of the left and right audio channels. There’s also a dedicated mixer where each of the four oscillators’ volume level can be precisely adjusted.
Mini Bounce was developed in FlowStone, meaning that it will only work in 32-bit VST plugin hosts on Windows. Users running 64-bit digital audio workstations and Mac users won’t be able to load Mini Bounce.
In terms of sound quality, Mini Bounce is average, on par with other FlowStone creations. Don’t expect amazing sounding filters or oscillators here. But the individual blocks of its synthesis engine are sufficient for delivering some nice sounding patches with some careful programming.
Overall, Mini Bounce is a decent freeware synthesizer, a combination of essential synth features working together to deliver modern synth sounds. Even if you aren’t really into “bouncy” EDM genres, you can still coax plenty of quality sounds out of it with relative ease, thanks to the intuitive interface. It’s another interesting release by Noizefield and Infected Sounds, and if you like it, we urge you to check out the rest of their freeware synth catalog – Splash, Bounce, and Exotic.
Keep in mind that you’ll need to sign up for a free user account at Noizefield before downloading your copy of Mini Bounce. A valid email address is required to complete the registration process.
Mini Bounce is available for free download via Noizefield (3 MB download size, ZIP archive, 32-bit VST plugin for Windows, made with FlowStone).
Last Updated on December 21, 2017 by Tomislav Zlatic.
