Pockey2
TL;DW: Pockey2 is more efficient, more intense lo-fi hiphop in a plugin.
So this is pretty rapid iteration. I’d been struggling with getting Pockey to willingly do 12 bit: the algorithm didn’t seem to like it, even crashed when I tried to go for 16 bit. Turns out it was counting bit by bit in order to do the analog bitcrushing thing. And there was another way to do it… but then other things had to change… and then other ideas started to happen…
Suffice to say, it earned its new version number.
Pockey2 takes the basic concept of Pockey and brings in an entirely fresh character, while running way more efficiently. Instead of analog-style floating point bitcrushing, it’s integer… but you’ll find the difference between 5037 ‘stairsteps’ and 5038 ‘stairsteps’ will amount to about the same thing, just way more easy on the CPU. Still uLaw, still a big sampler-esque texture, now letting you go from 4 bit all the way to 16 bit at no CPU penalty. There’s not a lot of point running 16 bit here as it’s still uLaw, but in case you’re looking for just the lightest possible ‘sampler’ touch on your 24 bit DAW track, you’ve got it.
Instead of analog-style floating point frequency crushing, that’s integer too… which means the adjustability of the super-bright frequency crushing will be ‘steppy’, not allowing fine adjustments especially if the DAW’s at 44.1k. But if you’re running 96k, you get a much broader range of adjustment! And you get to frequency crush down way lower than before… and the tone! Another reason Pockey2 is a new version number is that, while the tone of the frequency crush on Pockey was interesting and vibey, the stuff you can do with the different-sounding Pockey2 is beyond belief. Experiment with the DeFreq control and see what you get. There’s a little bit of the ‘sweep the digital sampler cutoff point’ still there, especially at deeper frequency crushes, but Pockey2 shines when finding just the right spot to entirely transform a sound into pure lo-fi hip hop classic sampler madness. Even more than the original Pockey, this one can completely transform a sound into retro digital.
You can use both. If you like Pockey and find its CPU use too heavy, DeRez it more, it struggles to get to high bit depths. If you like Pockey2, it doesn’t struggle with anything except sometimes with slowly sweeping a frequency crush way up high. I hope you like both Pockeys and find your best use for them :)
download StarterKit.zip for just the basics
download 64 Bit Windows VSTs.zip
download Signed M1/Intel Mac AUs.dmg
download Signed M1/Intel Mac VSTs.dmg
download LinuxVSTs.zip
download LinuxARMVSTs.zip for the Pi
download Retro 32 Bit Windows VSTs.zip
download Retro PPC/32/64 Mac AUs.zip
download Retro PPC/32/64 Mac VSTs.zip
Mediafire Backup of all downloads
All this is free and open source under the MIT license, brought to you by my Patreon.
I tried this on some drums and …Wow!
Perfect classic crunch!
Awesome!
I love it on drum sounds and on FM synth oscillators to give that Synclavier low-bit touch! Another banger, Chris!
If it’s okay to suggest something: I love synth noise oscillators to create weird new drum and effect sounds, but struggle with getting the noise oscillators to sound organic. Complex combination of basic filters, allpass, notch, combs, equalizers are cumbersome and time-consuming to patch and sometimes they just can’t get the ‘synthness’ out. I feel like surely some all-in-one solution is there to “organicalize” synth noise. Any ideas?
I had to come and comment that this did wonders on a really obnoxious under-snare mic that I had basically given up on. I had like 3 plugins stacked to tame the harshness of it before, and this guy did the trick within 10 seconds of trying it. Brilliant stuff as always Chris!
I really love how this affects the top end. I’ve been looking for something that captures the magic of my e-mu esi 2000, in particular the interpolation and how it remains somewhat bright, even at lower sample rates! I’ve tested against many plugins, this definitely stands apart in a very pleasant way. As I slide the DeFreq from left to right, am I moving from 44khz to 8khz or something along those lines?