Arturia - MicroFreak Synthesizer Keyboard - 25-Key Hybrid Synth with PCB Keyboard, Wavetable & Digital Oscillators, Analog Filters Blue

Product Information

This out-there little music machine features a versatile digital oscillator so you can create rare and interesting sounds with ease. Modes like Texturer, KarplusStrong, Harmonic OSC, and Superwave give adventurous musicians the chance to explore totally new, unheard possibilities. Like having dozens of synths in just one instrument, both wild-eyed newcomers and seasoned professionals will fall in love with MicroFreak's flexible, powerful synth engine. Record up to four automations, edit notes per step or use the innovative Spice and Dice sequencer functions to find happy accidents. Add randomization to create evolving, original pat-terns, and virtually rewire and reconfigure its signal chain and controls with the 5x7 modulation matrix. That’s a funny looking keyboard… The Savebutton will save the changes you made to the patch, including any utility settings. Spice and Dice settings will not be saved. Please note that you will need to turn off Memory Protectionto overwrite factory settings. This is found in the Miscmenu of Utilitymode.

Some complain about the CV Connectivity. It's offered but it's a bit underwhelming, though not an issue for me. With tons of excellent, affordable analogue synths to choose from (not least Arturia's own MiniBrute and MicroBrute) I for one have been keen to see something different. The MicroFreak is a clever idea. Take a multi-algorithmic DSP sound engine, like Mutable Instruments' Plaits or Braids modules or Teenage Engineering's OP‑1/OP‑Z, and build it into a classic‑style synth like the MicroBrute.

It received a limited edition white Vocoder design in 2020. [5] MicroFreak Vocoder (in white) is located on top of MatrixBrute (leftmost synthesizer) Reception [ edit ] Inspired by the trailblazing 12-dB Oberheim SEM filter, you can make MicroFreak's filter scream or whisper to taste. The filter is state-variable, and can even auto-oscillate! You can use this is any way you like, from taking the edge of the razor-sharp wavetable sounds, or automating the cut-off by modulating it with keyboard pressure or the in-built sequencer. Connect the MicroFreak to your computer and make sure the firmware is up-to-date. If your firmware is out-of-date, update itbefore moving forward. No Built in Effects. A simple Reverb, Chorus or Delay would be nice but again no big deal for me, I feed it into my ZOOM MultiStomp Effects Box like I do my other Analog Synths that do not have any built effects.

Willit let you be expressive? Of course, it’s not only pressure-sensitive but also offers poly-aftertouch. This means each key can control parameters in a different way depending on how much you touch. The headline features of v5 are aquartet of sample synthesis modes. The first of these, simply named Sample, is the most straightforward. This turns the digital oscillator into alooping sample player – making use of one-shot samples, as opposed to the existing wavetable modes. As with other modes, the sound can be shaped using the Wave, Timbre and Shape dials, which here control sample start and end points and looplength, respectively.Arturia made available user installable firmware updates for the MicroFreak with additional features and improvements in the years after the original release. [8] [9] The synth have ability to create analog- style sounds, but i doubt, what they so cool, as true analog. Anyway the synth sounds a very cool in digital sonic style. The hybrid nature of the MicroFreak Stellar allows you to blend digital sound engines with a resonant analogue filter inspired by the classic Oberheim SEM. Experiment with low-pass, band-pass and high-pass modes to make your synth sounds whisper, scream and launch into self-oscillating orbit. Complex Sound Design Possibilities Almost every time there’s something that we missed, or we overlooked, or the workflow is not perfect, but it’s also why prototypes are here. So you see how you can refine it. You try to not change it too much because the mechanical design is kind of a constraint. You don’t want to completely change the concept. It’s more on details that we need to refine.

Since I'm a fan of digital gear, I'm really fond of MIDI functionalities (works great when paired with a sampler - Elektron Digitakt in my case) and possibility of saving your own presets. If you create an interesting preset but you want to experiment a little bit, you can always save what you adjusted as a new preset, without overwriting the previous one. The OLED screen might seem a bit small at first but it does exactly what it needs to and helps to navigate through the menus without any issues. Also it's hard to estimate all possibilities with only dry sound. I was thinking, good additional effects will make the sound very awesome, but wasn't too sure. Sound demos, what i found in internet almost all was with dry sound or slightly slurred to me. New firmware update (26th October 2021) *** Arturia are happy to announce another major new firmware update for MicroFreak, bringing massive new creative functionality for users free of charge. For more complex wave scanning, there’s a Wavetable oscillator; the Harmonic oscillator, complete with Chorus, is useful for dialling in additive, bell-like timbres; the Karplus-Strong mode is a physical-modelling oscillator that facilitates the creation of bow- and string-like sounds; and the Modal Resonator replicates the tuned ringing of real instruments and drums.Added sample and grain engines, 128 more preset slots, and a sample and hold mode for keybed modulation. The Stellar edition released with this firmware. [3] a b Rogerson, Ben (2020-08-25). "Arturia releases MicroFreak Vocoder Edition, and there's a pleasant surprise for owners of the original synth, too". MusicRadar . Retrieved 2022-10-25.