BOOcast - Synth of the Month: Arturia MicroFreak 

Isn't it!

And this is Arturia's 25th birthday! Looking forward to Superbooth!

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.

Haha! Please accept my heartfelt congratulations!

Thank you very much!

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!

Thank you! I'm very happy to have been of service, and congratulations on your new instrument. You won't be disappointed. 😊

Cheers! Mine's a scotch.

It's gorgeous to play, isn't it! Thank you!

I'm not sure! Some of the engines have filters of their own, maybe it's that?

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

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.