Arturia MicroFreak first impressions and quick tutorial 

The MF is my first hardware synth. I got it for the variety of oscillator types and mod matrix. To my fairly novice ears it sounds real nice and I feel like you get some pretty great features for something in this price range. So far the only thing that really puts me off is the plastic shell.

This synth deserves better. It's a total beast for the price point. But it's not going to give you what you want right out of the box. You gotta spend time and go deep.

This was unexpectedly soothing for a synth review

Thanks for bringing your perspective to this unique instrument. This helps me envision uses for the MicroFreak outside of the purely electronic genres. You've highlighted some of the more beautiful patches I've heard - cheers.

It felt like you couldn’t see outside yourself and how you would specifically use the synth. It’s of course important to share personal preference in a review, but in centering on that I think you failed to provide more well-rounded insight for a variety of users.

Arturia has updated this initial release already with another 40 or so more functional presets including pads, bass, leads and chords you can actually see yourself using. To judge it as a 'synthesiser' is off the mark. I am using it to add spice and fills to grooves made on my Deluge and eurorack. It provides the performance layer that makes the difference. For example its superb string sounds :-)

So basically the best synth ever.

Best demo of the microfreak i've seen on youtube yet, thank you !

I almost bought one of these until I found out there's no audio in... what a miss. It would be great to be able to process external audio using the analog filter.

One small correction, the Microfreak is actually pseudo-paraphonic in that each voice has its own envelope, but still share a common filter and LFO.

Plastic ridges? I’m a guitar player looking for a synth. I think it would feel right at home as you slide over frets, you slide over keys. I kind of love it?

Thanks for the video. At the start of the vid you mention it is running into ableton. Could you perhaps detail the setup you have for this? I have been unable to have the device run natively into ableton on a mac over usb. I have contacted arturia support and they have not been able to articulate how to setup the mac audio sources and midi devices to be able to create an aggregate audio source or a simple audio source to select as the audio input from preferences within ableton. By the sounds of it you have achieved this quite simply, which makes me wonder if I am perhaps missing something? I can see microfreak in midi devices on the mac but there is no microfreak audio device. I was expecting to set it up similar to say a Roland tr-08 as audio input channels on ableton. Thanks

Great demonstration! Just on an aside I think this is amazing synth as entry into hardware as it sounds great, has a bunch of generators and is 250. If youre big into synth it could be redundant ofc but im really impressed by it.

Wow that thing has some really impressive sounds for such a small unit. And even though it's out my personal budget but that's only cause I'm poor af. Because it is actually an awesome price for what I get.

19:45

Midi issues anyone? My set up , Digitakt master to microfreak in

Perfectly criticized it's limits. Thank you

21:25 > That actually sounds really good. I totally agree. :-) Actually such small instruments with a limited amount of direct control through nobs and more »in depth« tweaking through menus ... I think those do fire inspiration a lot more because one has to deal with such an instrument which in turn and maybe creates interesting results. I do own the first »Pulse« from Waldorf which also has very limited amount of control knobs and I am always impressed what you can do with such an instrument. Your review really made me think about buying one »MicroFreak«. Thank you so much for this nice in-depth review. :-)

Add microtuning arturia this is not fair

Its way to tinny for me, and the presets just don't cut it to make me what to play it. As far as technology goes, its quite compelling.

Easily the most ugly synth I've ever seen.

I don't like this Arturia .

Just bought one it’s awesome . It’s not a toy by any means. Watch the review by stimming. This does not do it justice at all.

We should remember that TB 303s were kind of "toy" like.

I just got one last night. They have something with this little thing. I found that turning off the sequencer in the presets (and usually adjusting the octave) I could use a lot more of the patches. And like you noted, add some effects and it rocks pretty hard.

Funny to see how personal a synth actually can be. You are not over excited. I honestly was excited when i ever saw the first review. I immediately bought it and i am so happy with it. And yes, i have some real analogue stuff at home, but i honestly love this one too! Great review by the way Thanks.

I don't use soft synths but software can replicate literally anything these days.+ It's not always good to judge a synth based on patches. In my opinion it sounds great . For the price this little box is more than enough of sound shaping capabilitiesIm waiting for mine

I've edited loads of my Presets to more lo-fi sounding, I find the touch keyboard works perfectly with very soft lo-fi ambient just touching them gently with the tips of your fingers brings about all kinds of beautiful patterns I love this machine for ambient arpeggiators and I run it through a korg nts-1 they are perfect partners

When i saw this a while ago i thought wow there are synths i can afford? Ended up getting a monologue instead (first synth), and so far i dont regret that decision

after you spend some more time with it, it would be nice to see one of your purely musical videos with the patches that resonate with you

Microfreak is awesome enough on its own, but it also makes for an excellent portable controller for iPad synths - Sugar Bytes Aparillo, Factory, etc. Very expressive if you assign the aftertouch to certain parameters.

Having just gotten one myself, your comments really resonated. I wish they had a few less “freaky” presents and a few more mellow but evolving. It is a great value as a compliment to other tools

БОЛЬШЕ ИГРАЙ ТЫ МНОГО ГОВОРИШЬ А Я ТВОЙ ЯЗЫК НЕ ПОНИМАЮ Я ИЗ ДРУГОЙ СТРАНЫ И ПОЭТОМУ ТВОЙ РАЗГОВОР ВПУСТУЮ ТЫ МНЕ НИЧЕГО НЕ СКАЗАЛ ТЫ РЕКЛАМИРОВАЛ СЕБЯ НО НЕ ИНСТРУМЕНТ КОТОРЫЙ ЗАСЛУЖИВАЛ Я ДУМАЮ БОЛЬШЕ ВНИМАНИЯ ЧЕМ ТЫ ХОТЕЛ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Got it last weekend and was wondering how nice it sounds, if i make a track in cubase, by just using MicroFreak as synth for all tracks. Here my video about that: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-0amqTbh34II.html

Love this thing

Whoa! Loving this around 19:15!

I really love this synth. It grabbed me immediately but the keyboard and lack of pitch and mod wheel kind of turned me off, but after spending a lot of time with it, it’s become one of my favorite synths I own. It’s so quick and easy to dial in a good patch and you can get experimental very quickly, which I always love.

Funny I've watched about 50 video reviews of the micro freak and yours was the first fairly negative one 🤔

I just got mine and I am sort of in the same boat as you are. Mining for the potential. I would have mot minded to pay a bit more for decent internal effects on this. I want this keyboard for both, live and studio setting. Tap tempo button also sorely missed.

Just connect a midi controller to it. Doesn’t have to be anything fancy, but it’ll ask least get you better keys to play with.

20:20 sounds like Depeche Mode circa A Broken Frame. Great sounds.

It should theoretically be possible to change the velocity of a digital encoder's action with a firmware update. Software controls the voltage output change per degree of rotation. Well designed encoders even have dynamic response based on acceleration, so a 30% twist will change the value more drastically if performed quickly than via a slow, deliberate turn. I imagine a cheaply implemented encoder has some physical limitations that may make the action hard to improve with a software update - like if the knob is literally just stiff - but this is not inherent to digital encoders in general. I'm sure you were at least partially aware of most of these points, but I kind of got stuck on one semi-throwaway comment somewhere in your video and thought it may be worth pointing out to other viewers. Digital encoders seem to get a lot of shade, perhaps unsurprisingly since the bad ones can be really bad (I've got a couple of older Behringer MIDI controllers that take way too long to sweep and are generally quite unsatisfying). But good digital encoders can be fantastic, with more than enough range to avoid noticeable "steppiness". Good video btw - glad to hear a little honest criticism of this device. Not every new piece of gear is necessarily great, folks.

Thanks for watching! The quick tutorial starts at 11:11. What do you guys think about this synth?

I really like those MI algos, for me at £230 it's an absolute no brainer. Even if you were to buy softube modular and then braids you'd be looking at £100. This for £230 with the sequencer, no cpu usage and the kb + the portability...

Most of the basic preset come with prerecorded sequences that are on by default and transpose to the key you press, you should disable the sequencer if you wanna hear just the sound, or start from 129 where there are templates for basic sounds. Yet it kinda needs a reverb, delay and some kind of overdrive if you want something sounding warm.

Does your finger position on the key send modulation to an effect? In other words, can you slide your finger up the key to , say, open up the filter?

Oh and it has poly aftertouch. And there is an Andrew Huang video with 4 tracks by RU-vid music ppl where they used this exclusively.

You said that it doesn't impress you much but you reviewed it like you really loved it , better than any other review online ,thanks

I like OUAS but this felt rushed. The synth deserves more time

funny, i was just going to go out buy one when i saw the vid haha :)

cool review thank you !

great video as usual! any chance you found a way to adjust tempo? seems like a well hidden feature

Nice review! I thought it had a 64 step sequencer?

Blah blah blah

Cringe thumbnail. Not watching. Do not recommend channel

I bet you're making use of this VOCODER synth now... coatseller!?

Does it have a speaker?

You seemed bothered to do this, and rushed... also your demo note choice seemed, unmusical and atonal. Impressed with the Microfreak, not you at all tho.

arrogant.