Experimental Hybrid Synth

I was ready to spring for my first Behringer clone...the 2600, when I realized that I was about to pay a lot of money for something that I already had...mono analog synths. I love the old Arp sound, but it is a nuance that I consider nonessential at this point. And, quite frankly, I miss being able to save my sonic creations to memory. Polyphony would be nice too. So, after watching tons of Youtube videos, I decided on the Arturia Microfreak...and I'm glad I did! It has a LOT of sound design potential, and using the Mod Matrix is a joy. The arp and sequencer are very fun and flexible, and the whole design seems catered to evolving and expressive sounds. The capacitance keyboard is odd, but just adds to the quirky expressiveness of the instrument. The firmware updates are awesome and easy to install. And btw...with a little patience, the vocoder works surprisingly well! And yes...besides being a decent four voice polyphonic synth, it now has a powerful unison mode. Thick! No onboard effects though. :( For a great video that covers all the features in detail, I recommend "Loopop" on Youtube. Very informative! I'm very happy with my Microfreak. I love my analogs, but adding a digital synth to my audio arsenal filled that void perfectly and opened up many new avenues of sonic exploration for me. There are literally years of tweaking sounds in this amazing yet inexpensive synth! And it's nice knowing that all my careful crafted sounds can be stashed safely away on my computer for future use...no more use it or lose it programming sessions! Five stars!

First, let me say I own 6 professional synthesizers, so I am able to offer comments with extensive knowlege of how this product measures up against other synths. I've not yet spent much time with the Microfreak, but wanted to share my excitement over it should others be shopping for this type of product for Christmas. I was leary of the touch-sensitive keybed, expecting it to be less satisfying than real keys that move when depressed. To my amazement, these keys are actually amazing. They seem very reliable and functional. I love them. I wasn't crazy about this synth having a mono ouput with no built-in effects, but when I played it through my DAW (Logic Pro X) and added a slight chorus and reverb, I was super impressed with the sound. This synth is the most versitile synth I've seen to date and I've been playing synths for 40 years! The wide array of sounds is creamy and rich. I can't imagine that any synth enthusiast wouldn't love this synth. I'm amazed that it is so affordable. Before this, the Microkorg was THE affordable synth to have. But, this just might be in the same league! I'm happy to say I have both! YAY! I will post an update when I spend more time with it.

Initial review as a Hip Hop producer (boom bap) who is primarily sample based. I'm fairly savvy with the use of VST synths but never tried hardware synths. I've used Ableton, FL, Maschine and MPC and have about 7 years of experience. I paired this with my SP 404 Mk2 using a single 1/4" patch cable into the mono input of the SP. Endless, let me repeat...ENDLESS sound sources! Endless inspiration. I have ZERO use for anything else in order to get absolute bangers, and that's not even consciously designing sound. When tweaking sounds, I'm literally like a kid unconsciously scribbling anything on paper and then turning it into my favorite tracks ever. The sounds are rich and offer lots of sonic possibilities when chopping, pitching and reversing. Perfect size and weight and right at home in a backpack. My only gripes thus far are (1) It's packaged without the cable to connect to your computer. This is a requirement if you want to download the latest firmware (although NOT necessary to get up and running) Luckily I had plenty of cords lying around from other midi gear. (2) The power cord is long and bulky. (This might be a pro for others, but not for me...I will switch to a power bank.) Best purchase I've made in a very long time. Thrilled with this product and I'm not easily impressed.

Legendary synthesizer, Arturia knocked it out of the park with this one. It's different enough from Minifreak that I think you should collect both. Fun to explore all the different methods of synthesis it has to offer. It's very portable as well, really phenomenal synth.

Great buy. Good price.

A steal for $300, this little synthesizer is limitless. What it has: 14 oscillator settings, including a vocoder, each with its own infinite range of variations and modulations, arpeggiator, sequencer, randomizing elements, a "modular" patch matrix, 160 presets and the ability to craft and save any sound you can imagine. Also outstanding sound quality, paraphony, and multiple interface options. What it doesn't have: onboard effects, a "real" keyboard, although the capacitive touch keyboard is actually pretty nice and intuitive. Excellent choice for beginners, experts and anyone in between. Loads of fun to play or play with.

Ses ve özellikleri bakımından beni bayağı tatmin etti. Tam olarak Synth'lere 0'dan girecek insanlara önerilecek bir ürün olduğunu düşünüyorum. Firmware 5 güncellemesinden sonra 300'ün üzerinde preset ile birlikte kullanabiliyorum ve Ableton üzerinde de Minifuse 2 ile birlikte muhteşem çalışıyor. +'ları +Boyutu acayip iyi ve kompakt, +0'dan kendi sesinizi yapmak çok kolay, +Ses kalitesi çok iyi, DAW ve Efekt kullanmadan bile bass amfime takarak çok iyi ses alabiliyorum, +Klavyesi çok iyi, fiziksel olarak tuşa basmak yerine parmağınızın ucu ile basarak ya da direkt olarak parmağınızı koyarak aynı ayarda farklı seslere erişebiliyorsunuz (Bazı tonlarda bildiğiniz LFO'lu gibi geliyor ses) +Aşırı ilham verici, eğer boşta durup müzik ile ilgili fikriniz yoksa bile bu cihazı kullanarak yeni sesler keşfedesiniz geliyor. +16 notaya kendi art arda kendi basışlarınızı bir sekansa çevirebiliyorsunuz ve bunu mevcut BPM'e göre yaptığı için kulağa her türlü hoş geliyor. +Eğer USB-B'den USB-A'ya bir kablo alırsanız ürünü prize bağlamak ve bilgisayara takacağınız zaman MIDI-IN VE MIDI-OUT kablolarını takmak yerine bir kablo ile iki dertten birden kurtuluyorsunuz. (Tabii ki sesi bilgisayarınıza vermek için Audio Interface(Ses Kartı) ve enstrüman kablosuna ihtiyacınız var.(Gitar Jackı) Malesef Vocoder'ını kullanma şansı bulamadım. -'leri -İçerisinden USB-B'den USB-A'ya bir kablo çıkmadığı için güncelleme yapmak için böyle bir kablo satın almanız gerekiyor. Ben ürünü severek kullanıyorum ve bayağı beğendim. Bence başlangıç için çok iyi bir Synthesizer ve fiyatına göre aşırı iyi.

El Arturia MicroFreak es un sintetizador súper divertido si te gusta experimentar con sonidos. Tiene 25 teclas y una combinación de osciladores digitales y filtros que te permite crear una cantidad infinita de sonidos únicos. En serio, podrías pasar horas jugando con él y siempre encontrar algo nuevo. El teclado PCB lo hace único, las variaciones de sonidos que puedes crear según cuanta piel esta tocando la tecla se siente genial. Es uno de mis sintetizadores favoritos porque te da mucha libertad para explorar y ser creativo. Ideal si buscas algo versátil y fuera de lo común.

Lmad/crazy sounds, gets freaky..

I bought one of these just after they came out a few years ago. As I was just starting out in my Synth Music career I didn't really understand what it was all about and sold it on, something I've regretted a few times. When I saw this one the page I couldn't resist ordering (it was on a special deal) and I'm really just now coming to terms with what a great little beast it is. My recommendation can only be tempered with my own experience - as a starter synth be wary, but once bitten and twice shy - embrace the foibles and you'll get some great stuff out of the little box with the funny keys.

It's not very often that I get a piece of gear that's completely novel. I got the MicroFreak mostly out of curiosity and figured it would be a fun toy to noodle around with from time to time but it's turned out to be so much more. This thing makes a massive variety of different sounds and with the poly-pressure sensitive keyboard it can be played very expressively. It's well built for it's price and despite being mostly plastic it feels solid. I needed to consult the manual to figure out all the sequencer features but besides that the thing is very intuitive. I've spent hours just creating patches and sequences and the novelty just isn't wearing off. Arturia took a chance on this thing and I'm glad they did. It doesn't really fill a defined niche but instead kind of creates its own little space in the industry which has been drowning in vintage re-issues and analog nostalgia. The interface seems to be taking some cues from the Teenage Engineering OP-1 with it's cute little icons and animations. It's not perfect though. I would say not including some onboard DSP effects is a bit of a shame because the Microfreak really comes alive when you add some reverb/delay/chorus. In order to get the keyboard pressure to respond well with my fingers I had to turn the sensitivity up and change the response curve. Strangely, the midi implementation was not included in the manual but it was on the online Arturia FAQ. I will say that the 3 "chemistry flask" parameters in each engine respond much better when they're mapped to faders so if you're going to do a lot of editing add a midi controller to save yourself from knob twisting fatigue. One other slight omission (maybe fixable in a firmware update?) is the ability to set up custom phrases in the "speech" engine. I hope that Artirua will continue to make interesting products like this and perhaps adopt the great update and feature adding mentality of Novation. With the flexible digital engine inside the MicroFreak I bet they could do a lot more to make this awesome little box even better!