BOOcast - Synth of the Month: Arturia MicroFreak
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.พ. 2025
- This segment comes from BOOcast #23 (bit.ly/boocast23). BOOcast is a monthly livestream about being in a DIY synthpop band. We answer your questions, play songs, meet guests, talk synths and share stories.
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I love my "plastic door wedge". Such a good value.
Isn't it!
Hands down the best introduction to MicroFreak that I've seen.
Thanks!
Totally agree 👍
Ive had mine for about a year, i tried to sell it awhile back but then changed my mind after trying running it through my zoom MS-70 multi-stomp guitar pedal. With layered delays & reverbs, it sounds huge, lush, and feels like a virtually unlimited sound palette.
I think you've done the right thing!
I sold it, in part for money, but also because I got spoiled from minilogue xd having some great built in reverbs... but I've since realized that using a pedal isn't really that bad.
On the verge of buying one again, but it's slow season in my industry so it's a debate. But I'm really being reeled in by some of the recent updates
Aaaah, I love this strange weird machine ❤ It's so unpredictable, has a strong personality, is really out of every cliché. Looks like me indeed. One day or another I'll buy it, just for a matter of affinity.
I'm sure you'll be very happy together when the great day comes!
@BOOelectric 💋
Microfreak in my opinion is the greatest synth under £500..its amazing what it can do and arturia gave it a ton of free soundbanks and keep surprising everyone with each update.
I got mine luckily when they first came out and I only paid £219
And this is Arturia's 25th birthday! Looking forward to Superbooth!
@@BOOelectric ..and there you go for 200 bucks maybe, its a different toy, but among all the features it has with merit it lacks the essentials on effects...300 bucks for experimenting with odd sounds is simply to expensive tho everyone says its cheap! Build quality is a bit dodgy...
Sounds are unbearable at times
Sharp and piercing through the mix
This is the first of you videos I've seen........SOOOO well done. Such great audio quality and video work, editing, etc.........truly masterful work.....Instant Sub........Haven't seen a presentation this good in a while................Can't believe that you don't have 10 or 100 times this many subscribers..........Cheers, from the Canadian Wilderness
Thank you very much! The Canadian Wilderness sounds like a wonderful place to be.
I literally just got mine today! I'm so excited! I was worried I may not like the touch keys, but once used to it... It's pretty versatile! I'm in love! I bought it to pair with Ableton and my Push, but it hasn't made it there yet! I was actually running this out of my Fender Frontman 65r and it sounded awesome! I love it can be usb powered via battery bank! Will be perfect for sitting outside with headphones when it warms up! For my first synth, I feel I made a good call! ❤️
I can feel your joy thru the screen!! Congratulations, and nice one shoving it straight into your amp. Wishing you a long and happy life together!
Lol I didn't make it to bed until 4am last night. Still hasn't made it to Ableton. Tonight. Also, this is one of the best in depth covers of the Microfreak I've found. Wonderful job! Thank you! 🤘
Nothing comes close in terms of functionality for the price. A true classic.
Add some inspiration from my experience using the MicroFreak and the MiniFreak V plugin together. Basically I use the MicroFreak to control all the knobs to the MiniFreak V plugin. My setup Using different midi channels on the MicroFreak . Ch4 controls ocs 1 and all the knobs on the MiniFreak V plugin.ch5 controls ocs 2 and all the knobs associated with osc2.ch6 to controls all the fx effects and sends on the MiniFreak V plugin. I think I got the MiniFreak V plugin at half price or a black Friday deal I know it wasn't the original price.
The minifreak v is awesome. I've had the micro and the mini and imo mini v and micro for physical keyboard seems like the move. The mini is really deep, especially with menus to dive, but the mini v feels easier to do those things. Plus the footprint of the micro is really nice.
Its great to finally have a synth of the month I have ! . Pairs up with a mod dwarf for effects !
Ive had one for a while and mustve skipped over the unison functionality. Thanks for showcasing that specifically!
No worries!
I'm wondering why it doesn't say "Unison" in blue, under the Paraphonic button, to match the other Shift functions. Did they add it after the first version? I would have guessed the panel markings matched whichever version it was sold with, but maybe not.
I forget how exactly you set this, but I think the unison depth can be set as a modulation target, as well. I like using it with the finger pressure
Thanks to my many years of edumacation, I understood all of your francish gibberish.
Haha! Please accept my heartfelt congratulations!
Great job and incredible little synth for all the season
I’ve just bought one of these on your recommendation and it’s a tiny little thing of beauty. And your tutorial is by far the best I’ve seen. Really easy to understand and it’s helped me hugely with understanding how this thing works. Thanks Chris. Much appreciated.
Thank you, I'm so glad the video is helpful!
Love it so much, I bought 2! ❤
My mate did too! Mmm looks at 2nd one🤣🙌
Since the BS2 has been showing signs of crapping-out, I'm seriously considering getting another one too...
@@BOOelectric much fun to be had syncing the two together, and having dueling arpeggio/sequences, then change the time division on one of the clocks…etc. have a great day!
When I heard this all during your live, I was amazed! This is breaking the rules of normal business! I guess the world is so saturated with plugins, that fighting back with gear is getting real ;) Definitely can now say it's a great synth. I've got gear already so I'm not watching gear stuff, but this was great, thanks.
Thank you very much!
I little bit late to the party with this video, but a very welcome guest. Come on in, Sir.
Cheers! Mine's a scotch.
The form factor, interface and workflow are the true miracles in my opinion.
Functions are very easy to describe and clearly accessible. No sub menu crap, useful screen .
It's so small you can use it anywhere and you can plug it to anything.
Yeah, it's a great synth. Surely a future classic?
ABSOLUTELY ABSORBING AND BRILLIANT TUTORIAL On the Incredible Sounds of the,,Microfreak🎉 My Personal Favourite in my large studio, ive had it for 3 years now, .. STILL Don't know Synthesis, but it Doesn't seem to Matter when it comes to the,,Freak,, 😅 Just SOOooh Easy to Create Beautiful Tones ❤❤😊Jaffa Jenkins Dawless jams 😊
it's great isn't it... Will check your channel out. Thank you!
@@BOOelectric /
Thanks a million Bro......Remember to type in "" jaffa Jenkins jams "" as this is my Old Logo I can't seem to get rid of 🤨🤒
Is the Minifreak being played thru an effects unit in the demo, sounds like reverb added. Not used mine much but will get it out of its box and get the upgrade to version 5? Installed. Great sounds and demo 🎉
Cheers! Yes, there's a touch of reverb
Thanks Chris, its a really good synth, I love the keyboard too!
It's gorgeous to play, isn't it! Thank you!
It’s neat, I have one but I find it much more overwhelming and hard to get into compared to my first synth, the Korg Minilogue. I would need to spend a long time in the documentation for the vco engines or something
It's true, there's a lot more going on under the hood than simple subtractive synthesis,what with all the various oscillator engines, but you can get a long way simply playing around with an engine at a time, and once you get comfortable enough to predict what the oscillators going to do, after that is the filter and envelope, just like the minilogue. I hope you can make friends with your freak, and wish you luck!
I L❤VE IT , I L❤VE IT , I L❤VE IT 😊
Jaffa Jenkins Dawless jams 😊jaffa
Cheers!
Question: - What features would you like Arturia to add in future firmware updates?
Big question! It's already flexible enough for me, but sampling directly into the synth would be incredible.all my other requests would probably involve hardware upgrades, like more modulation ins and outs...
@@BOOelectricit’s already there but then again you said this four months ago
Hi, do the latest models come with updated firmware. Thank.
I'm not sure, but the updates are very easy to apply.
Thanks for the video! : ) Can I use the Microfreak as a sequencer for Behringers Proton?
Yes, it has midi out.
Does anyone have any advice about what a beginner should buy? I've been looking at the Chompi but doing research has brought up hardware like the MPC One, the OP-Z, the EP=133 and others... I am just a humble wordsmith with an ear for rhythm and want to have fun creating music. ive seen the microfreak as well...
I want to sample my voice and my kazoo and then play around with them and make beats with them.
Maybe a P6 would be just right for you? th-cam.com/video/olrA0TJJ6sM/w-d-xo.htmlsi=6RrosW8YzP0GxKhw
Or there's the Kiviak WoFi, which looks like fun. I'm just assuming from your comment that sampling is the thing you most want to do! th-cam.com/video/Jaew4_ycf6U/w-d-xo.htmlsi=wniyz-ZFvmdQl7c3
@@BOOelectric thanks for your response, you are definitely appreciated! I'm going to take a look at your suggestions and do some research. My friend is a gear head so I always heard him talk about this world being a rabbit hole of information and WOW SO MANY OPINIONS 🤣🤣 but I've been diving in. Creating music is like... The final frontier of creativity for me. I've pretty much created every other art form I'm a fan of
Elektron Digitakt 👍
How are you traveling? 😎
Do you know how to get it to trigger a new envelope on each note, while playing the Modal oscillator monophonically but with legato? This is driving me nuts, and googling isn't helping. There's a legato setting, but that apparently only applies to glide.
For example, as an easy test, if I have a Modal patch in Mono mode, press and hold down a key, then play other keys, the sound dies away over a few notes. Most mono synths have a setting to do that, but they also have a retrigger setting to STOP it doing that, so each note starts the envelope. Have they really not provided a way to do that, after all these years, and all these updates?
I think in the settings there maybe and Retrigger setting I'm not sure at the moment my MicroFreak isn't in front of me at this veey moment. If I understand you correctly
@@88keyz All I can find is the Legato setting. The 5.0.0 manual describes it as Envelope Legato, and it does work as I'd expect for the other oscillator types, but not for Modal - which would be my favourite one, otherwise.
@TooSlowTube my bad I apologize its lfo Retrigger I thought it was for Envelope also i was wrong under utility.this got me thinking if the mini freak has Envelope Retrigger I am going to check the MiniFreak plugin version I have it also so I could have gotten it confused with the MicroFreak again I apologize for the misunderstanding.👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾
MiniFreak v manual
@TooSlowTube The Retrig Mode setting under the display controls how the Envelope is triggered by the keyboard, depending on how you play:
• Env Reset: Every time you play a note, the Envelope restarts from the beginning. This is often termed multiple triggering.
• Env Continue: If you play a note while another note is still playing, the envelope will start from the current value of the old note's envelope, rather than dropping back to 0 first. This is often termed single triggering.
The distinction might seem kind of strange - how can playing one note affect another note's envelope? That depends on the Voicing Mode [p.51].
It's true that in Poly mode, where notes don't retrigger unless you play one more note than the number of voices you have (and the MiniFreak has to "steal" one of the voices from a previous note), retriggering might not seem important. However, Retrig Mode is vitally important in the Mono, Unison, and Para modes, as it has a powerful effect on what the sound does as you play.
Clicking on the wrench icon brings up this settings menu:### yeah I got it confused with the mini freak plugin I have been using both lately reading the manuals### 👆🏾👆🏾👆🏾this is from the MiniFreak plugin aka MiniFreak manual
Is strange, in your synth the filter amount is not always mapped or attached to the cutoff filter, how did you do that?
I'm not sure! Some of the engines have filters of their own, maybe it's that?
Edit: comment deleted because apparently it applied to this video rather than the previous. But yes, I also love my microfreak and your tutorials.
It's cheaper.
Pity it’s only mono.
Buy the mini
It's 4 note poly/paraphonic.
Just add stereo effects 👍
Far from the only (or biggest?) difference between them … Poly AT, Wavetables, Samples, Granular, CV in/out/trigger, Small & light, USB power-able … all lost with the move to the Mini (though obviously some other things are gained/change … Polyphony, FX/Stereo Outs, FS MIDI/thru, MiniKeys …).
👌👏👍👍👍👍
I had one of these. I hated it so much I sold it after a few months. What kind of synth designer insists on using non-standard MIDI CCs just to be quirky? The MIDI implementation on this is worse than on many first-gen MIDI synths from the 80s.
I only ever play it by hand, and never use midi on it, so I couldn't possibly comment. Anyone else have these problems?
Shame you sold it..there's a great vst editor out that lets you automate it's parameters.
@@BOOelectric I tried to play mine with a Casio DH-100, which sends aftertouch from the breath sensor. It works, but there's no way to change the octave the synth is playing in. I've never come across another MIDI controlled synth where I couldn't set the footage on the synth. Presumably they thought leaving it to the MIDI controller to set that was fine, but it's not always good enough - the DH-100 has no way to do that. The octave buttons on the synth only affect the build in keyboard, not MIDI notes.
it's a mixed bag to be sure. There are some things about the Minifreak that are so carefully considered and work really well. And other things are wrong, broken, or clumsy like the MIDI implementation.
MIDI on my 20 year old Alesis Micron works fine with the original firmware. MicroKorg is from a similar era and price, and also works fine. Back in the old days we expected our compact synths to work over MIDI.
@@djjuno106 I wasn't enamoured of the sound either, no matter how much I tweaked.