Just the Microfreak at that, seems cool though not my cup of tea. 1010music and the Blackbox. Lately, Roland is continuing development of their MC-707 groovebox. It just gets better with each update. I think that is mostly it lately outside of eurorack? More would rock.
@@Jason75913 -- Novation and Behringer also have provided free firmware updates to some of their machines that have been out there for a while. This is how decent companies keep their customers coming back.
@@lukaszratynski That's not what Arturia has done here. They're simply continuing to add functions to a very popular product. People were very happy to buy the original SW V1 MicroFreak because it was great value. Now at V4 it's a BEAST ! Imagine if VW was still upgrading the performance & handling of your car 3 years after you bought it !
Nick is always my "goto" guy when i want a "real", no nonsense review of something! - it always feels good and "secure" watching his reviews! - and though i am not english, i understand him quite well, greets, Levi
Not not purely digital! It's a hybrid! ;) Digital oscillator and digital controls, but analog filter and output stage! Having user wavetables was the feature, which decided over stay or return of the Korg Modwave. I love to make my own wavetables and using those to create sounds with my very own signature! this new feature put the MicroFreak on my "Never get rid of those" list. :) Same for my Novation Peak. Since Novation added user wavetables, the Peak is on that list as well.
Yes that is actually pretty huge, IMO. I sold my OP-Z and replaced it with a digit one, which is a great synth and has a better sequencer. Then i ran into some money trouble and decided to downgrade to the MF and a better sampler, and that analog filter sounds WAY better than any other digital synth ive tried thats even close in price range, and i have a pretty bad case of GAS, so i have tried quite a few over the years, and i was like REALLY surprised that this is the one i kept. I actually prefer it to the digitone in every aspect other than the sequencer. It really is like a crazy good deal. Noise engineering added 4 oscillator modes on the last firmware update i did, so I’ll have to check this out, but i just can’t recommend this thing enough, and i was ultra sceptical of the touch keyboard, but i bet most people watching this have some kind of midi keyboard anyway, and the tough keyboard is F’ing AMAZING
I was going to say.... What a fantastic way to continue the sale of a piece of hardware.... These updates just continue to add more and more value and usability. I've gotten rid of quite a few synths since acquiring the Microfreak. I love it. I have a Microfreak bug out bag with a power bank, headphones and a little speaker so that I can write anywhere.
the fast-knob-spin option is huge. Not only convenient, but it will save on encoder wear. I'm learning the hard way, from buying used gear: people wear out the encoders. so i always check those thoroughly now because that is the most common f'd up thing i see.. FWIW: as a MS-CDR70 performance idea for effects, try putting huge chorus after a delay or two which gave me a crazy like mutant shimmer-verb sound
Tbf it should have been there from the start lol, in fact I don't really know why there's a slow mode - changing the increment by 0.1 doesn't change the sound in a way you can actually hear
Love this synth, so flexible. Arturia needs to make a Superfreak that combines multiple Microfreaks with their Keystep Pro sequencer. Like a spiritual successor to the Elektron Monomachine.
That....would be the King. I have no doubt they will go that route...in time. They'll probably ride the wave of success on this unit first I'd say, given the amount of love for it and updates etc. I am looking forward to the future anyway.
Such an incredible synth. Highly recommended for anyone who makes music on any level. I wish they’d explain the graphics on it more. Maybe a comic book? Sticker sets? A short film tying them all in? They can’t just be random doodles... Can they? Arturia: what are the meanings behind the line drawings? Inquiring minds & all…
Life keeps stealing my “synth savings”, which is planned for the MicroFreak!!!!!!! It’s maddening to see everyone owning this, except me.......... One day, yes one day it will happen. Thanks Nick !!!!!!!!
@@paultorbert6929 I hope yours is fantastic as well!! And on a side note: life keeps getting in the way of my MicroFreak purchase too. I feel like Wayne looking at his "Excalibur" guitar in Wayne's World. :D
@@justbank5007 Thanks for the well-wishes !!!! You, me and Wayne (and Garth), are in the same flotilla of canoes on still water, with one paddle between the 4 of us. ... I am hopeful for You and i..... our MicroFreaks are probably anxious to be in our possession 😊 I DO have other Arturia gear in my little synth rig, if you get some time, stop by my YT channel and give a listen to the colorful live videos that look kinda trippy..... it's a good example of what one can do with Arturia gear and very little talent, they nearly play themselves.....
Any small cheap, yet insanely versatile synth like the Freak goes very well with Zoom FX. But thank you so much Arturia for yet another amazing update. Long may it continue until the Freak 2, Pro, Freak Poly or whatever comes next.
@@valdir7426 IMHO Arturia "needs" a better Keystep Pro version. I've tried it in a shop and was... kinda dissapointed. Rubber buttons are rubbish, keys feels like toy. My only reason I've wanted it... 4 CV out sets! :) If some other company will make a decent alternative for a similar price then I'll buy it for sure.
just got one of these on the used market, i wanted the white one which i got and was super pumped. this thing is freakin' beast, easily the strongest synth i got. Microfreak and Microkorg are my main synths now along with the East Beast/modular set up i got going. This wave tables part is crazy i love that you can add your own!
The knob thing is great. I don't really use my MF that much but I'm always nervous about the damn knob twisting because I'm paranoid about damaging it.
I bought the MicroFreak because of the out of this world look and I just love it...and I also have it combined with the Zoom for some stereo sound...also, great review
Was going to comment that the filter is analogue, but that had already been pointed out. It's a fantastic synth. I'm going to update the firmware this weekend. I'm looking forward to importing my own wavetables, and thinking that with the recent update on the Wavestate (which allows user multisamples) the two machines might compliment each other.
REALLY feel good standing behind arturia as they clearly care about their customers and stand behind their products in ways that other manufacturers let down. In this day and age, customers expect better than a bug fix or two over 5 years. Most products are not totally fully formed. Thats one of the reasons the Toriez Squid failed - that could have been a great platform if they evolved it
Vital is a pretty nice synth in its own right got the $ 20 version back when it dropped . Made by the the same dev who made Helm . Free version is nice too , but if you dig it a lot the $20 version is a lot of synth for a little developer support too 😉
I used Serum as my main synth for the last 7 years, but I am now using Vital on everything. It’s wavetable conversion is excellent, and the TTWT is too good.
Great review as usual. I'm using a Nux Cerberus with my Microfreak and the analog drive and distorsion makes the Microfreak a real beast. I know Zoom MS70 has a lot of FX but the Nux Cerberus imho blows It away.
The Zoom isn't about killing anything else, it is about versatility and convenience with decent quality and tiny footprint for a surprisingly low price. Getting something or another with higher-quality reverbs, compressor, delays, and so on, could not be easier to come by, but they won't have as much variety of effects, except for the few similar stompboxes.
I'd love to see a beefed up version of this synth with full dedicated filter per voice polyphony and some multitimbrality capabilities. Maybe built in fx section. Bump voice count to 6+. Keep the form factor, capacitive keys and wild design.
I am so looking forward to that idea coming to fruition. In the meantime I bought a second freak. Not the same but I really wanted two seperate parts not a doubling up...at least for now 😄
You and Nick obviously haven’t been using Serum for the last 7 years, or Vital in recent months. You can convert samples to wavetables, render oscillator modulations as wavetables and text to speech as a wavetable. The most fun in custom building a wavetable from scratch, normalising levels. And these are not niche synths or niche features. Tens of thousands of people have user wavetables, including myself. Folders full of their own user wavetables, more folders full of third-party wavetables. You may have laughed at what Nick said, but here’s me laughing at both of you. As Vital is free and likely the best synth on the market in hardware or software form. Serum is the some used synth on the planet, you both should be having a very basic awareness of these products and what they can do. Maybe I could say an over focus on hardware has lead to a lack of understanding how advanced software has become in the last 10 years.
@@watercolourmark Your on point here. It's just that I know several people that "Had to be able to make their own wavetables" and NEVER do it after getting said instrument. :shrugs:
@@ThatJerseyBloke - point taken. But it is hard to use Serum and Vital without making a wavetable. The process in to drag-n-drop a sample into the oscillator viewport, then you have a wavetable in a user folder to use anywhere. Sound design starting with your own custom modulating oscillator is where we are currently at, this is common and abundant modern sound design practice.
@@watercolourmark True but often, putting your own wavetables together is a meticulous process that is often quite contrary to putting together songs. I think more people get paid for songs than making sounds. A lot of times (from my own experiences) artists fiddling around for too long with creating wavetables, lose sight of their song vision. I personally think being able to morph or create user oscillator waveforms is a much better option. It's quicker and can be just as creative so more songs are made. Best example I can remember using is the DSI Polyevolver. I loved the sounds I created from trapezoidal waveforms and they always ended up in songs!
@@ThatJerseyBloke - I agree. I was going to say I wouldn’t recommend getting in building wavetables as it is time consuming in its true form, and is a distraction within workflow. But it is very rewarding. I often use waveshaping and morphing with wavetables. My fav in FMing a slow moving wavetable with a slightly modulating sine wave. Yet once you throw on some distortion then all the nuance is lost. And I think you are right that more people make money from making music rather than sound design. But the selling music market is saturated and the sound design market isn’t. It is far easier to market and sell presets and samples than it is to market and sell some music.
This little beast just keeps on working its way to the top of my wishlist. I wonder if it will be compatible with my Roland AE-30 - that would be a sweet combination.
I see your using a guitar pedal zoom, I have just got a Diito looper and Reecho and they dont seem to work, no lights, power supply is fine. Any ideas as to why? Any help would be great.Having no keys kinda reminds Me of using a tablet with keyboard app. I dont have a one of these.
Not everyone's into synths. I don't know why. I took some nice synths around to someone's house recently and they barely played with them. I need different friends.
I prefer the manufacturer leave out effects if they are going to be low quality, which is always the case with low cost gear. I've got plenty of external effects and a Zoom MS70CD, too, I prefer all development efforts stay focused on the synth engine and output quality.
Funny, I have my MicroFreak paired with a CDR70 too, I got them both together. The perfect combo. I just wish the Multistomp was a bit less "pedally" its very sturdy, but suited to the heavy touch of a guitarist's foot. If it accepted midi patch change it would be absolutely great. The MicroFreak of course is excellent value for money. Every time I think I'm gonna buy a Hydrasynth the Microfreak gets an update and I think "do I really need the ASM ?"
I think there is a way to get it to change patches over USB MIDI, but it's undocumented so the users had to figure it out. It's worth googling in case it helps you.
I just sold mine because I wanted a bro one as the bass for my setup...saw one used locally and got impatient and sold the microfreak to buy it. I never got along with it all that well, but I still occasionally think how much synth there is for 300, might have to get another one some day
Hey you scared me the way you popped over and said hello at the beginning. I like to use korgs nts-1 with the microfreak since better for messing with it live they go good together
So it replaces the Factory wave tables for both the Wavetable and wave user OSCs ? Meaning presets I’ve made with the original Wavetable OSC won’t work anymore ?
yes until you load the old one back in at least thats how I understand it. I guess you could (not sure if you can) copy the wavetables you use to a new bank, then put your own into the spares? Not exactly frictionless I guess
@@sonicstate Thanks for the quick answer Nick and or gang ! Appreciate what you do ! Ya know it might be worth making a yearly , bi annual , or quarterly video series about synths and music hardware that evolves like this as there are a few out there both to gets some views , some public education, and to support the trend so maybe more developers follow along . The Bass Station II for example is a completely different synth to where it started 8 yrs ago for example .
@@sonicstate @DeathByMedia The Wavetable Oscillator is separate from WaveUser, so your presets should be untouched after updating the firmware unless you also manually load the Factory presets to slots that overwrite yours. Just updating then firmware doesn't load any presets for the new WaveUser, at least they didn't for me, I had to copy them over.
I'd just prefer the same thing, but with full-sized keys with para/polyphonic aftertouch. I'd miss some of the subtleties of the current capacitance design, but would gladly sacrifice it. Full-on polyphony would be nice, though. Edit: and a four or five octave keyboard.
I’d love to see an arturia v collection standalone hardware synth. Maybe dual engine. Wonder if they could get a computer chip to handle the cpu. In the meantime I plan on getting a microfreak to go with my mono synth and drum machine hardware setup
Standalone digital hardware of any kind tend to use computer chips, they would not work otherwise. These days, ARM SoCs meant for smartphones amd such things are the popular choice.
I really want to buy one, but when will they implement a fucking tap tempo?? Is that hard? Why brands always forget this basic feature? I'm disappointed
that's a great little synth; and there's nothing comparable in software/plug-in form btw. I particularly love the NE algorithms. The only thing missing IMO; besides an effect section (you can add external effects just fine); is at least on CV input to interact with the modular world and be able to send audio rate modulation to it for example. As a controller it's a great MIDI controller with poly aftertouch (in ableton 11 you get an MPE controller of sort for free); and a great CV controller with pressure for modular gear.
User wavetables always seem like a great idea until you actually make them, and then they all sound horrible. On the Peak I’ve never made anything that sounds good.
Winner winner chicken dinner. We really only need THREE basic waveforms to do ANYTHING: square, sine and triangle ... ramp up and down sawtooth waves just skew the duty cycle on the triangle to 0% or 100% and when you vary the duty cycle on square waves you get PWM!!
@@HazeAnderson - it is far more nuanced than you are making out. You seem to be assuming all people do with wavetables is make heavy dubstep type sounds. You are also failing to see that you can do all the techniques you list on top of a cycling wavetable, that is called next level. The argument seems to be that more strings to a bow is worse. Plus, all that wavetable cycling can be used with MPE. And you could spend all day modulating a traditional oscillator shape to sound like a guitar pluck, or you could make one from a guitar pluck sample in seconds. What about Text-to-Wavetable? Good luck getting a oscillator to speak with a sine wave. And you fail to address why the most widely used software synths are wavetable synths. Do you think we have a good reason for that? Knowing what wavetables can do, I think we have good reasoning for that use. Are all these people deluded, including myself, or are you not understanding the nuances and power of wavetables?
@@watercolourmark I read in another comment where you said "You can convert samples to wavetables, render oscillator modulations as wavetables and text to speech as a wavetable." That's pretty cool. I am not here to debate but do you know electronics?
@@HazeAnderson - I ain't big on electronics. I am a computer based person, I don't have time to waste outside of that. I do stuff with Raspberry Pi and hats, borderline electronics - but only as a means to do computer based music. That is where the workflow is, that is where the best synths are, that is where the best effects are - I'd be doing myself a disservice to step outside of that.
I wonder if they can expand the paraphony to eight voices! And maybe a 4-op FM. It can be covered by using Shift knob + encoders. For me in the 1st place it's a very interesting MIDI controller. But hey... is it really that weak that it can generate four voices only?
Speaking of wavetable synths, will SonicState be reviewing the Sonicware Liven Bass & Beats when it drops early next year? th-cam.com/video/NS0rSw0uYWE/w-d-xo.html Have sonicstate reviewed the Liven Warps and Liven XFM yet?
hard to know about the new one as its not shipping yet, suspect most projected shipping dates may be optimistic. But no, we've not looked at the other models
I like Arturia a lot, but kudos to them should perhaps be tempered a bit in this case. Assuming their use of the Mutable Instruments open source codebase significantly reduced their development expense for the MicroFreak, they should be well able to release a stream of updates (as they have done) while still making money in the bargain.
The MicroFreak is a great synth and great sounding, for the price.... Most synths sound a bit “flat earth”, without some kind of reverb or delay.... Or, in my opinion, All synths on a basic sawtooth waveform sound crap until you add reverb or delay. Both the MicroFreak and ms-70cdr are fabulous devices, paired or on their own in a rig. No content on your channel Richard, so how can you make a comment like this to musicians.... I find it disingenuous for people to comment without a little provenance on their skill level.... this is intended to be an online forum where musicians Help Guide each other, where those with experience Help the “initiates”.
The irony of a synth called “microfreak” that has zero support for microtuning. If your musical instrument doesn’t support full control over timbre, amplitude, and pitch, then it’s not much of a musical instrument now is it?
@@zoeherriot and the music could be even greater once manufacturers finally catch wind of the way the 21st century is going to be tuned and bring it to the masses.
@@lordsharshabeel the way it is tuned... yeah, I'm not quite sure what you mean there. It feels like there is some underground uprising against tuning devices that I have missed out on.
@@zoeherriot there are more than 12 notes available to you. The circle of fifths is a lie - in reality is it a spiral. If you’ve never hear a pure 5:4 or 7:4 interval, you simply do not know what you’re missing. 12 tone equal temperament is a tyrannical compromise that no longer serves.
Why? Part of the beauty of the Microfreak is its touchplate keyboard. More expressive than a normal keyboard, faster as well. If you must have a regular keyboard, luckily it also has MIDI In. But many people like to have a different way of expressing our musicality...
![CAMPปลิ้น | EP.83[1/2] เปิดแคมป์หลอนต้อนรับ 2 ตัวพ่อแห่งวงการผี!](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/2uPuHYHgwiI/mqdefault.jpg)
![ตีสิบเดย์ [FULL] | เปิดใจ "อาจารย์ เบียร์ ฅนตื่นธรรม" นักสนทนาธรรมสายดุดัน!](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/vqaBI_mnoDk/mqdefault.jpg)
I love when companies continues to develop their products like this!
Props to Arturia.
Just the Microfreak at that, seems cool though not my cup of tea.
1010music and the Blackbox.
Lately, Roland is continuing development of their MC-707 groovebox. It just gets better with each update.
I think that is mostly it lately outside of eurorack? More would rock.
Much as I love arturia products, it took them a few missteps to do this. Ask the Origin owners
@@Jason75913 -- Novation and Behringer also have provided free firmware updates to some of their machines that have been out there for a while. This is how decent companies keep their customers coming back.
@@lukaszratynski That's not what Arturia has done here.
They're simply continuing to add functions to a very popular product. People were very happy to buy the original SW V1 MicroFreak because it was great value. Now at V4 it's a BEAST !
Imagine if VW was still upgrading the performance & handling of your car 3 years after you bought it !
Arturia is really showing us that they care about making their products great.
The MicroFreak is an Arturia labor of love that just keeps giving!
And YES it does PWM. 🤘
Nick is always my "goto" guy when i want a "real", no nonsense review of something! - it always feels good and "secure" watching his reviews! - and though i am not english, i understand him quite well, greets, Levi
Not not purely digital! It's a hybrid! ;)
Digital oscillator and digital controls, but analog filter and output stage!
Having user wavetables was the feature, which decided over stay or return of the Korg Modwave. I love to make my own wavetables and using those to create sounds with my very own signature! this new feature put the MicroFreak on my "Never get rid of those" list. :)
Same for my Novation Peak. Since Novation added user wavetables, the Peak is on that list as well.
Yes, we realised that snafu - sorry about that.
Yes that is actually pretty huge, IMO. I sold my OP-Z and replaced it with a digit one, which is a great synth and has a better sequencer. Then i ran into some money trouble and decided to downgrade to the MF and a better sampler, and that analog filter sounds WAY better than any other digital synth ive tried thats even close in price range, and i have a pretty bad case of GAS, so i have tried quite a few over the years, and i was like REALLY surprised that this is the one i kept. I actually prefer it to the digitone in every aspect other than the sequencer. It really is like a crazy good deal. Noise engineering added 4 oscillator modes on the last firmware update i did, so I’ll have to check this out, but i just can’t recommend this thing enough, and i was ultra sceptical of the touch keyboard, but i bet most people watching this have some kind of midi keyboard anyway, and the tough keyboard is F’ing AMAZING
its also not really just a mono synth , its paraphonic , up to 4 notes at once
I'm sooo glad i bought one, it's awesome in every aspect
Arturia is an impressive company. I love the updates they send out, monumental, and they tend to give us a new lease on life for our synths.
I was going to say.... What a fantastic way to continue the sale of a piece of hardware.... These updates just continue to add more and more value and usability. I've gotten rid of quite a few synths since acquiring the Microfreak. I love it. I have a Microfreak bug out bag with a power bank, headphones and a little speaker so that I can write anywhere.
the fast-knob-spin option is huge. Not only convenient, but it will save on encoder wear. I'm learning the hard way, from buying used gear: people wear out the encoders. so i always check those thoroughly now because that is the most common f'd up thing i see.. FWIW: as a MS-CDR70 performance idea for effects, try putting huge chorus after a delay or two which gave me a crazy like mutant shimmer-verb sound
Tbf it should have been there from the start lol, in fact I don't really know why there's a slow mode - changing the increment by 0.1 doesn't change the sound in a way you can actually hear
Love this synth, so flexible. Arturia needs to make a Superfreak that combines multiple Microfreaks with their Keystep Pro sequencer. Like a spiritual successor to the Elektron Monomachine.
That....would be the King. I have no doubt they will go that route...in time. They'll probably ride the wave of success on this unit first I'd say, given the amount of love for it and updates etc. I am looking forward to the future anyway.
My money is waiting.
Such an incredible synth. Highly recommended for anyone who makes music on any level. I wish they’d explain the graphics on it more. Maybe a comic book? Sticker sets? A short film tying them all in? They can’t just be random doodles... Can they? Arturia: what are the meanings behind the line drawings? Inquiring minds & all…
Thank you Nick! You is my favorite foreign channel ❤️🙌Hello from sunny Tallinn
Life keeps stealing my “synth savings”, which is planned for the MicroFreak!!!!!!!
It’s maddening to see everyone owning this, except me..........
One day, yes one day it will happen.
Thanks Nick !!!!!!!!
Damn straight it will. Don't give up the dream! :)
@@justbank5007 Thank You for the encouragement !!!!!!!!
I hope your Thanksgiving is filled with satisfaction and Happiness !!!!
@@paultorbert6929 I hope yours is fantastic as well!! And on a side note: life keeps getting in the way of my MicroFreak purchase too. I feel like Wayne looking at his "Excalibur" guitar in Wayne's World. :D
@@justbank5007 Thanks for the well-wishes !!!!
You, me and Wayne (and Garth), are in the same flotilla of canoes on still water, with one paddle between the 4 of us. ...
I am hopeful for You and i..... our MicroFreaks are probably anxious to be in our possession 😊
I DO have other Arturia gear in my little synth rig, if you get some time, stop by my YT channel and give a listen to the colorful live videos that look kinda trippy..... it's a good example of what one can do with Arturia gear and very little talent, they nearly play themselves.....
Any small cheap, yet insanely versatile synth like the Freak goes very well with Zoom FX. But thank you so much Arturia for yet another amazing update. Long may it continue until the Freak 2, Pro, Freak Poly or whatever comes next.
I hope that Freak 2 will be with a wider keyboard + some standard FX included (it's a cheap option usually). The update was a surprize for me :)
@@KiR_3d are there rumors of a new synth or is it speculation?
@@valdir7426 on my own it's just thoughts.
@@KiR_3doh ok. I'd be curious for a new synth like this; but they are enough synths in the world to buy (and never enough money)
@@valdir7426 IMHO Arturia "needs" a better Keystep Pro version. I've tried it in a shop and was... kinda dissapointed. Rubber buttons are rubbish, keys feels like toy. My only reason I've wanted it... 4 CV out sets! :)
If some other company will make a decent alternative for a similar price then I'll buy it for sure.
Great additions to an already great synthesizer. I had one and sold it, then bought it again. I won’t make the mistake of parting with it a 2nd time!
just got one of these on the used market, i wanted the white one which i got and was super pumped. this thing is freakin' beast, easily the strongest synth i got. Microfreak and Microkorg are my main synths now along with the East Beast/modular set up i got going. This wave tables part is crazy i love that you can add your own!
You got some great early 80s TD style timbres out of it at the end, Nick; truly lovely PPG style sounds 👍
you need to peep some other artists. dont limit yourself to germany...
I don't know who named this little synthesizer the microfreak but it is rightfully named
The knob thing is great. I don't really use my MF that much but I'm always nervous about the damn knob twisting because I'm paranoid about damaging it.
I'd actually consider buying one now
I bought the MicroFreak because of the out of this world look and I just love it...and I also have it combined with the Zoom for some stereo sound...also, great review
Digital engine but analog filter - worth saying
Analog VCA also.
@@HotStrange and output.
That last patch was awesome as well as the sequence.
Arturia are leading the way!
Everyone I know who owns one of these seems to love it. Not sure why I haven't grabbed one yet.
Great little mini that stole our hearts! Amazing stuff again Nick! So much engines to choose from. What will Arturia have next...?
Was going to comment that the filter is analogue, but that had already been pointed out. It's a fantastic synth. I'm going to update the firmware this weekend. I'm looking forward to importing my own wavetables, and thinking that with the recent update on the Wavestate (which allows user multisamples) the two machines might compliment each other.
REALLY feel good standing behind arturia as they clearly care about their customers and stand behind their products in ways that other manufacturers let down. In this day and age, customers expect better than a bug fix or two over 5 years. Most products are not totally fully formed. Thats one of the reasons the Toriez Squid failed - that could have been a great platform if they evolved it
Loved the outro!!
Pro tip: Use free Vital VST synth to create wavetables and drop those in to the MicroFreak. IMO Vital creates best sounding wavetables.
Vital is a pretty nice synth in its own right got the $ 20 version back when it dropped . Made by the the same dev who made Helm . Free version is nice too , but if you dig it a lot the $20 version is a lot of synth for a little developer support too 😉
I used Serum as my main synth for the last 7 years, but I am now using Vital on everything. It’s wavetable conversion is excellent, and the TTWT is too good.
Cool trick with changing the sequence using paraphonic mode chord
Great review as usual. I'm using a Nux Cerberus with my Microfreak and the analog drive and distorsion makes the Microfreak a real beast. I know Zoom MS70 has a lot of FX but the Nux Cerberus imho blows It away.
The Zoom is half the price and a quarter of the size. The Cerberus does look nice though. I think we all know what the best solution is... ;)
@@mattsmith1440 Yeah but everybody got a Big Sky now :D I got the Ocean's 12 instead.
@@HazeAnderson I love the Oceans 12. There is something to its sound that it is missing, however, versus the Cathedral.
The Zoom isn't about killing anything else, it is about versatility and convenience with decent quality and tiny footprint for a surprisingly low price. Getting something or another with higher-quality reverbs, compressor, delays, and so on, could not be easier to come by, but they won't have as much variety of effects, except for the few similar stompboxes.
I'd love to see a beefed up version of this synth with full dedicated filter per voice polyphony and some multitimbrality capabilities. Maybe built in fx section. Bump voice count to 6+. Keep the form factor, capacitive keys and wild design.
I am so looking forward to that idea coming to fruition. In the meantime I bought a second freak. Not the same but I really wanted two seperate parts not a doubling up...at least for now 😄
Nick was spot on about all the want to be able to make user wavetables. That had me cracking up! :D
You and Nick obviously haven’t been using Serum for the last 7 years, or Vital in recent months. You can convert samples to wavetables, render oscillator modulations as wavetables and text to speech as a wavetable. The most fun in custom building a wavetable from scratch, normalising levels. And these are not niche synths or niche features. Tens of thousands of people have user wavetables, including myself. Folders full of their own user wavetables, more folders full of third-party wavetables. You may have laughed at what Nick said, but here’s me laughing at both of you. As Vital is free and likely the best synth on the market in hardware or software form. Serum is the some used synth on the planet, you both should be having a very basic awareness of these products and what they can do. Maybe I could say an over focus on hardware has lead to a lack of understanding how advanced software has become in the last 10 years.
@@watercolourmark Your on point here. It's just that I know several people that "Had to be able to make their own wavetables" and NEVER do it after getting said instrument. :shrugs:
@@ThatJerseyBloke - point taken. But it is hard to use Serum and Vital without making a wavetable. The process in to drag-n-drop a sample into the oscillator viewport, then you have a wavetable in a user folder to use anywhere. Sound design starting with your own custom modulating oscillator is where we are currently at, this is common and abundant modern sound design practice.
@@watercolourmark True but often, putting your own wavetables together is a meticulous process that is often quite contrary to putting together songs. I think more people get paid for songs than making sounds. A lot of times (from my own experiences) artists fiddling around for too long with creating wavetables, lose sight of their song vision. I personally think being able to morph or create user oscillator waveforms is a much better option. It's quicker and can be just as creative so more songs are made. Best example I can remember using is the DSI Polyevolver. I loved the sounds I created from trapezoidal waveforms and they always ended up in songs!
@@ThatJerseyBloke - I agree. I was going to say I wouldn’t recommend getting in building wavetables as it is time consuming in its true form, and is a distraction within workflow. But it is very rewarding. I often use waveshaping and morphing with wavetables. My fav in FMing a slow moving wavetable with a slightly modulating sine wave. Yet once you throw on some distortion then all the nuance is lost. And I think you are right that more people make money from making music rather than sound design. But the selling music market is saturated and the sound design market isn’t. It is far easier to market and sell presets and samples than it is to market and sell some music.
The chord mode is pure Detroit Techno vibes!
Nick is an absolute pro.
i have to say this is the most bang for your buck synth
This little beast just keeps on working its way to the top of my wishlist. I wonder if it will be compatible with my Roland AE-30 - that would be a sweet combination.
I see your using a guitar pedal zoom, I have just got a Diito looper and Reecho and they dont seem to work, no lights, power supply is fine. Any ideas as to why? Any help would be great.Having no keys kinda reminds Me of using a tablet with keyboard app. I dont have a one of these.
How’s the Poly AT over MIDI out? I was just looking at one of these to replace the CME XKey for that purpose.
I think it works great (with ableton live it's auto-converted to MPE)
Hello! Cool video ^^ Where is this preset you are using from, at the end of the video?
"Let's not get carried away." Please carry us away. Take us to Batz Country.
Luv it!
Nick approves this PWM.....I want that t-shirt !!!!
I LOVE ! 💜
Not everyone's into synths. I don't know why. I took some nice synths around to someone's house recently and they barely played with them. I need different friends.
🤣🤣
Would be nice if it came with delay/reverb. But oh,well. Its nice with an h9
I prefer the manufacturer leave out effects if they are going to be low quality, which is always the case with low cost gear. I've got plenty of external effects and a Zoom MS70CD, too, I prefer all development efforts stay focused on the synth engine and output quality.
I spent years just buying anything affordable that got my interest... (wasted time) the microfreak will never leave my collection.
Funny, I have my MicroFreak paired with a CDR70 too, I got them both together. The perfect combo. I just wish the Multistomp was a bit less "pedally" its very sturdy, but suited to the heavy touch of a guitarist's foot. If it accepted midi patch change it would be absolutely great. The MicroFreak of course is excellent value for money. Every time I think I'm gonna buy a Hydrasynth the Microfreak gets an update and I think "do I really need the ASM ?"
I think there is a way to get it to change patches over USB MIDI, but it's undocumented so the users had to figure it out. It's worth googling in case it helps you.
You might find my TH-cam demo interesting, using the MF as a poly keyboard for the Hydrasynth.
I just sold mine because I wanted a bro one as the bass for my setup...saw one used locally and got impatient and sold the microfreak to buy it. I never got along with it all that well, but I still occasionally think how much synth there is for 300, might have to get another one some day
Hey you scared me the way you popped over and said hello at the beginning. I like to use korgs nts-1 with the microfreak since better for messing with it live they go good together
So it replaces the Factory wave tables for both the Wavetable and wave user OSCs ? Meaning presets I’ve made with the original Wavetable OSC won’t work anymore ?
yes until you load the old one back in at least thats how I understand it. I guess you could (not sure if you can) copy the wavetables you use to a new bank, then put your own into the spares? Not exactly frictionless I guess
@@sonicstate Thanks for the quick answer Nick and or gang ! Appreciate what you do ! Ya know it might be worth making a yearly , bi annual , or quarterly video series about synths and music hardware that evolves like this as there are a few out there both to gets some views , some public education, and to support the trend so maybe more developers follow along . The Bass Station II for example is a completely different synth to where it started 8 yrs ago for example .
@@sonicstate @DeathByMedia The Wavetable Oscillator is separate from WaveUser, so your presets should be untouched after updating the firmware unless you also manually load the Factory presets to slots that overwrite yours. Just updating then firmware doesn't load any presets for the new WaveUser, at least they didn't for me, I had to copy them over.
What about a polyfreak ?
I'd love one of those, but i suspect it'd be a must have only if it were multi-timbral, as you can get 4 mote paraphony out of the regular version.
"Megafreak"
I'd just prefer the same thing, but with full-sized keys with para/polyphonic aftertouch. I'd miss some of the subtleties of the current capacitance design, but would gladly sacrifice it. Full-on polyphony would be nice, though. Edit: and a four or five octave keyboard.
Superfreak
Y'all are thinking too small.
MatrixFreak.
im glad it doesent have built in effects , I got really sick of the reverb and delay on the novation circuit and the mininova
I’d love to see an arturia v collection standalone hardware synth. Maybe dual engine. Wonder if they could get a computer chip to handle the cpu. In the meantime I plan on getting a microfreak to go with my mono synth and drum machine hardware setup
Standalone digital hardware of any kind tend to use computer chips, they would not work otherwise. These days, ARM SoCs meant for smartphones amd such things are the popular choice.
Check their history. They already did this and it didn’t sell.
Do get carried away. 👍😊
I really want to buy one, but when will they implement a fucking tap tempo?? Is that hard? Why brands always forget this basic feature? I'm disappointed
Nice
Can we get the patches demoed in this video? Many of them were very nice and unconventional
You answered my question at 12:15 cheers
that's a great little synth; and there's nothing comparable in software/plug-in form btw. I particularly love the NE algorithms. The only thing missing IMO; besides an effect section (you can add external effects just fine); is at least on CV input to interact with the modular world and be able to send audio rate modulation to it for example. As a controller it's a great MIDI controller with poly aftertouch (in ableton 11 you get an MPE controller of sort for free); and a great CV controller with pressure for modular gear.
Midi in not working with latest update, Arturia if you see this please fix.
is it possible to program the sequencer in the editor?
Yes, I think so
Price and performance aside, Preset navigation with a wheel and a tiny window to see what preset your on is torture.
anyone know how to fix the midi problem in fl studio with this synth???
User wavetables always seem like a great idea until you actually make them, and then they all sound horrible. On the Peak I’ve never made anything that sounds good.
It is easy in Serum or Vital.
Winner winner chicken dinner. We really only need THREE basic waveforms to do ANYTHING: square, sine and triangle ... ramp up and down sawtooth waves just skew the duty cycle on the triangle to 0% or 100% and when you vary the duty cycle on square waves you get PWM!!
@@HazeAnderson - it is far more nuanced than you are making out. You seem to be assuming all people do with wavetables is make heavy dubstep type sounds. You are also failing to see that you can do all the techniques you list on top of a cycling wavetable, that is called next level. The argument seems to be that more strings to a bow is worse. Plus, all that wavetable cycling can be used with MPE. And you could spend all day modulating a traditional oscillator shape to sound like a guitar pluck, or you could make one from a guitar pluck sample in seconds. What about Text-to-Wavetable? Good luck getting a oscillator to speak with a sine wave. And you fail to address why the most widely used software synths are wavetable synths. Do you think we have a good reason for that? Knowing what wavetables can do, I think we have good reasoning for that use. Are all these people deluded, including myself, or are you not understanding the nuances and power of wavetables?
@@watercolourmark I read in another comment where you said "You can convert samples to wavetables, render oscillator modulations as wavetables and text to speech as a wavetable." That's pretty cool. I am not here to debate but do you know electronics?
@@HazeAnderson - I ain't big on electronics. I am a computer based person, I don't have time to waste outside of that. I do stuff with Raspberry Pi and hats, borderline electronics - but only as a means to do computer based music. That is where the workflow is, that is where the best synths are, that is where the best effects are - I'd be doing myself a disservice to step outside of that.
We all spend our lives making wavetables…. “Not really” speak for yourself!! 🤣 😂
And yes, it’s doing PWM :D
skip to 5, 00 wavetables... then go back
I am gonna buy one. but I want the white one. Never gonna find one . but still
I wonder if they can expand the paraphony to eight voices! And maybe a 4-op FM. It can be covered by using Shift knob + encoders.
For me in the 1st place it's a very interesting MIDI controller. But hey... is it really that weak that it can generate four voices only?
Arturia products are big enough to actually use. 🤓
Speaking of wavetable synths, will SonicState be reviewing the Sonicware Liven Bass & Beats when it drops early next year? th-cam.com/video/NS0rSw0uYWE/w-d-xo.html Have sonicstate reviewed the Liven Warps and Liven XFM yet?
hard to know about the new one as its not shipping yet, suspect most projected shipping dates may be optimistic. But no, we've not looked at the other models
Some people (like me) prefer hardware and dont wanna bring a computer setup to the gig
Looks way more exciting than the Hydrasynth and it isn’t priced like it’s 1998.
It's a pity they can't move the touch strip with a software update, or replace it with pitch/mod wheels by magic download from the interweb...
so use another MIDI controller that has that then ...
@@HazeAnderson OK, I'll use my Microbrute....oh no! - it's only got MIDI in....
@@andyq9669 🤣
Listen to it during the intro it's clearly broken. Send it to me, I will fix it.
I like Arturia a lot, but kudos to them should perhaps be tempered a bit in this case. Assuming their use of the Mutable Instruments open source codebase significantly reduced their development expense for the MicroFreak, they should be well able to release a stream of updates (as they have done) while still making money in the bargain.
I want one but they kinda have a bad rep for abadoning their products. Glad they're making more effort.
Which products did they abandon?
Nothing without the Zoom Multistomp though, is it?
Zoom is nothing without a sound source, is it?
Clearly not, but the video is about the Microfreak, no, not the Zoom..
Of course it is
@Wilderness Music Indeed, yes, I have often recommended these Zoom stomp boxes. Great value for money.
The MicroFreak is a great synth and great sounding, for the price....
Most synths sound a bit “flat earth”, without some kind of reverb or delay....
Or, in my opinion, All synths on a basic sawtooth waveform sound crap until you add reverb or delay.
Both the MicroFreak and ms-70cdr are fabulous devices, paired or on their own in a rig.
No content on your channel Richard, so how can you make a comment like this to musicians.... I find it disingenuous for people to comment without a little provenance on their skill level.... this is intended to be an online forum where musicians Help Guide each other, where those with experience Help the “initiates”.
PWM ;)
The irony of a synth called “microfreak” that has zero support for microtuning.
If your musical instrument doesn’t support full control over timbre, amplitude, and pitch, then it’s not much of a musical instrument now is it?
And yet I hear people make great music with it...
@@zoeherriot and the music could be even greater once manufacturers finally catch wind of the way the 21st century is going to be tuned and bring it to the masses.
@@lordsharshabeel the way it is tuned... yeah, I'm not quite sure what you mean there. It feels like there is some underground uprising against tuning devices that I have missed out on.
@@lordsharshabeel it's gonna be tuned slightly flat or slightly sharp?
@@zoeherriot there are more than 12 notes available to you. The circle of fifths is a lie - in reality is it a spiral. If you’ve never hear a pure 5:4 or 7:4 interval, you simply do not know what you’re missing. 12 tone equal temperament is a tyrannical compromise that no longer serves.
without the zoom fx it would have been better...
That is a realy thin sounding Synth
If only the keyboard was normal. Or at least a desktop module version.
Why? Part of the beauty of the Microfreak is its touchplate keyboard. More expressive than a normal keyboard, faster as well. If you must have a regular keyboard, luckily it also has MIDI In. But many people like to have a different way of expressing our musicality...
Then it wouldn't be a freak
If you want a desktop module version then just detach the keyboard...
@@urmumsbaps agreed - or just use over midi... Silly comment
First
nah fam