Arturia Minifreak Polyphonic Hybrid Keyboard Synthesizer

[Biome_Digital]

this sounded very cool.

[cryophonik]

So, it looks like the Mini will be shipping in 3-4 weeks, at which point secondhand prices for the Micro will probably hit rock bottom. Hmmmmmm..... might have to give it another go if they do.

[elxsound]

So, it looks like the Mini will be shipping in 3-4 weeks, at which point secondhand prices for the Micro will probably hit rock bottom. Hmmmmmm..... might have to give it another go if they do.

Yeah prices are going to be dumb.

I was thinking of off-loading mine but now I’ll just keep it. I don’t want to compete with the other low-ball prices.

I don’t really care much for the Mini just because of the size. It’s would take up more space than I’d like to give up. The micro fits perfectly on the shelf when not used.

[WatchTheGuitar]

I like the MicroFreak, it reminds me of my Sinclair ZX80.

[kritikon]

Dunno how I missed this thread. Looks very interesting. Korg Minlogue XD was next on my purchase list, so this one fits in some of the same specs. Firstly I like the 3 oct keyboard thing - I've quite got used to my Opsix/wavestate/Monopoly form and it means they don't take up huge space sideways. Arturia has kinda been on my backburner list that "I must try one day" but never got around to. The micro just didn't appeal, the Polybrute does, but too expensive and TBH I just don't need that kind of polyphony. But 6 voices in this MiniFreak against 4 on the MiniLogue gives it an advantage, though different sound obvs. Ah shit - I love these dilemmas. The full analogue MS20-ness of the Minilogue probably still wins for me, but I might have to properly investigate MiniFreak.

[flori89]

I don't need another hardware synth, but if it's reasonably different to Pigments I would be down to buy it as a VST. Or rather upgrade my V Collection if they put it there.

Edit: Just a thought, if they are smart, they will turn this into a dedicated controller for the V Collection. If they ship the V Collection if a custom mapping for each instrument this thing is going to sell like sliced bread.

[whyterabbyt]

But 6 voices in this MiniFreak against 4 on the MiniLogue gives it an advantage, though different sound obvs.

Ive not noticed it mentioned in this thread, but Sonicstate pointed out it can be 12-voice paraphonic as well, which might interest some people... presumably 1 filter per 2 voices.

[kritikon]

Watching some vids - unless they've all got really fat fingers, those knobs look pretty small. The joy of hw is the hands-on stuff, and not entirely sure MiniFreak looks all that engaging to tweak. Quite a bit more menu diving than I'd prefer too. But I do like some of the sounds and the raw harsh digitalness it can do...can't get enough of some digital wave width mod. Some synths I've just bought without demo, but this one I'd have to actually play it first, I think.

[kritikon]

But 6 voices in this MiniFreak against 4 on the MiniLogue gives it an advantage, though different sound obvs.

Ive not noticed it mentioned in this thread, but Sonicstate pointed out it can be 12-voice paraphonic as well, which might interest some people... presumably 1 filter per 2 voices.

Yeah, that's quite a plus point. And some of the sounds are big enough on one osc to make quite a noise with 12 voices.

[foosnark]

Watching some vids - unless they've all got really fat fingers, those knobs look pretty small. The joy of hw is the hands-on stuff, and not entirely sure MiniFreak looks all that engaging to tweak. Quite a bit more menu diving than I'd prefer too.

The Microfreak had pretty small knobs, though that part was okay. The real issue IMHO was the encoders had a sort of weird action to them, and sometimes it felt like you had to crank and crank and crank to bring a parameter from -100 to 100.

The menus were kind of unfun on the Microfreak but not that deep; I imagine with so many more options it's a bit worse on the Mini.

[BrainBeatMusic]

I am looking at this as my first and hopefully only (for a while at least) hardware synth as it looks to me like a good allrounder that will let me learn on and experiment but will be useful for music production for some time in the future. I do already have a 25-key controller but I am thinking the ability to work away from a PC sometimes will be useful but also as another controller at others. The mirrored VST sounds like a great idea too but not sure I would buy it separately as I hope I have enough already.
Local pricing here in Australia, however, is not looking great with preorder pricing sitting at $949AUD which while not unusual to pay an Australia tax price but it is not a cheap entry into physical synthesizers.

[solidtrax]

We created an in-depth review and have some unprocessed audio examples of a couple custom presets we created for the MiniFreak.

You are invited to have a read and listen here: https://solidtrax.nl/arturia-minifreak-review/

[BrainBeatMusic]

We created an in-depth review and have some unprocessed audio examples of a couple custom presets we created for the MiniFreak.

You are invited to have a read and listen here: https://solidtrax.nl/arturia-minifreak-review/

Thanks, Solidtrax for posting the review etc I just skimmed what you wrote (I will take a closer look later) and I think you seem to like it which is good as I just put an order in for one at a very good price ( a local shop let me have 10% off for the preorder for Black Friday). I spent at least half an hour today in the shop playing with a micro to get an idea of what it should sound like and found it to be good from what I could hear and the general controls (minus the keys) seemed good too.

Are you going to / are you able to keep your unit?

I wonder how far off it is from being released as I would love it before Christmas?

[solidtrax]

Thanks, Solidtrax for posting the review etc I just skimmed what you wrote (I will take a closer look later) and I think you seem to like it which is good as I just put an order in for one at a very good price ( a local shop let me have 10% off for the preorder for Black Friday). I spent at least half an hour today in the shop playing with a micro to get an idea of what it should sound like and found it to be good from what I could hear and the general controls (minus the keys) seemed good too.

Are you going to / are you able to keep your unit?

I wonder how far off it is from being released as I would love it before Christmas?

Congratulations BrainBeatMusic!

We have a MicroFreak and a MiniFreak here. Both will stay for sure. We didn't even mention that it is nice to have because it is so compact and forgot a lot since it has so much to offer! So the MiniFreak is ideal for all kinds of things soundwise but also size wise, since it will fit almost everywhere and you can bring it along on a holiday or use it in a jam with friends for example.

It seems to us that it is released at different dates for the different regions in the world. Hopefully you will get it before Christmas, that would be very nice!

[solidtrax]

There is way much more to say about this beauty, but perhaps there is something useful in it for our fellow KVRians =)