Tutorials | MicroFreak - Episode 6: Vocoder Mode 

I wish I could get mine to work, the engine won't load I guess because it doesn't think a mic is inserted yet I have a TRS (don't think its TRSS) headset mic from Shure inserted.

@@evankeal There's a setting you have to switch off in the mic settings

And we will continue to add new features ;)

@@ArturiaOfficial It would be nice if we could import our own wavetables

@@1314Ruben Quick, request some more stuff

​@@1314Ruben that's a thing now! woo!

@@SpinalChamp hahahaha if they add some FX and a couple more voices of paraphony then this is the perfect synth!

Thanks, you helped me out on that!

Thanks man, thought it was broken or sth

Thank you! I had the mic in my mouth trying to get it to work.

I own a TON of synths. Mostly vintage analog that I spent thousands of dollars on. recently, I was looking to buy a vocoder and was seriously considering dropping nearly two grand on the old Roland SVC but stopped bc I didn’t want to spend that much. I saw the micro freak, was intrigued, and figured at the price I couldn’t lose. I have to say that all my expectations were blown away. Actually, that’s not totally true: I WAS slightly disappointed with the vocoder; it is not particularly sensitive and so it is difficult to discern ANY lyrics put through it. If you are thinking of buying for only the vocoder, my advice is to get something else. HOWEVER! In spite of being disappointed w the vocoder, it was more than made up for by the flexibility of this incredible little synth! While exploring its nearly endless parameters for sound construction, I had the notion that after spending nearly a hundred thousand dollars on synths and drum machines over the years, that all I ever really needed was a micro freak and an Akai MPC to accomplish everything I needed for sound construction. I’m totally serious: it’s THAT good. If you sample this thing, the possibilities are endless; there’s SO MUCH you can do with this little BEAST! And the three analog filters on it make everything produced by the digital oscillators so SO lush! The drum kits I’ve created from sampling the micro freak truly blow me away. I can’t recommend this synth enough. And really, I can’t recommend Arturia’s products enough. The micro freak is a great synth but for your FIRST hardware synth, I might recommend the Micro Brute instead, especially if you are thinking of getting into modular synthesis. The micro freak has so much that it might be a little over the head of a beginner who might get lost menu diving if they’re unfamiliar with the effects in the modulation matrix. The micro brute really does teach you how modular synthesis works, with its small (but great) patchbay, and easy to understand ADSR envelope. Either way, freak or brute, you can’t lose. And as far as bang for your buck goes, it just doesn’t get any better than arturia. Enjoy the journey my friend and try not to spend ALL your money 😜

Hey Ave, did you end up getting one?

I went through that too but honestly it's so good. It can do so dang much

Haha, the matrix for a new drum engine would be a freaking nice idea as well as a terrible deviation from the design philosophy :-)

hcb I’m fully confident to Arturia’s creativity combined with great logic. They always know how to surprise us. The matrix has 7 leds in 5 rows so I guess they would have to limit to 4 rows of 4 steps and use the other leds for more pages, settings and param locks :)

Yup, let's see how they'll do come surprise us again

They did it!!!!!

@@MS7.7 for the surprise (sampler/granular) they did it. But for the sequencer using the matrix. Not yet 😉

winner best comment

Oh the voice came. After the update one needs to switch of & on the microfreak. This is fun. Thanks for this lovely update

@@djtrainingacademynewdelhi Great, thank you for your feedback, have fun!

Yes you can already pre-order it on our retailers webstores, but there's very limited quantities. Cheers!

@@ArturiaOfficial I had no luck getting my TRRS headset Nubwo (N13) to work. I tested the microphone. It works fine but it won't send anything to the microfreak. With the adapter it works fine on my PC.

@@DavidJohnson-mc1yu That's weird, did you turn the Mic gain up in the utility section? If you have any problem, I suggest you to get in touch with our support team with this link: www.arturia.com/support/askforhelp I’m sure they will be able to help you :) Best regards.

@@ArturiaOfficial Thankyou! My bad. The mic gain was the problem. I wasn't too disappointed. Your MicroFreak is such a fun and versatile synth at such a great price that I was already pleased even without a vocoder but now that the vocoder is working it is even better!

Hi, here is her RU-vid channel :) ru-vid.com/show-UC1zc61--eu9fyoURQnnWF3A Cheers!

​@@ArturiaOfficial It would cost you only a minute to put that information into the video text, near to credits ;-) Besides, did you realize that she is quite a talented producer (aside from being a talented presentator) ? - I watched some of her vlogs and was astonished how good her own music sounds.

It's just a software upgrade to the synthesizer to provide the vocoder option.

You need the mini jack with the three stripes, as used with mobile phones

Yes you can!

You probably just need to crank up the mic gain - see above

Hi, yes you can pre-order the goosneck mic on our retailers webstores. Don't hesitate to send a message to our support service concerning the compatibility: www.arturia.com/support/askforhelp They may find a solution to help you :) Best regards.

@@ArturiaOfficial i will have a look on the website, i got my hands on a gaming headset and it didnt work, i even got a camera mic with trs and tried with my adaptors but still didnt work and even tried a trrs convertor in case the polarities were for different conventions and i could then hear my voice but without vocoder so i gues i was bypassing the machine. i will send an email to support to check this better thanks

@@Freakhealer Thank you for your feedback, I'm sure our support team will help :)

Bonjour Wilfrid, oui vous pouvez l'acheter séparément, il devrait être disponible en pré commande sur de nombreux sites. Vous pouvez aussi utiliser n'importe quel micro-casque ayant une connectivité TRRS. Vous n'avez qu'à mettre à jour votre MicroFreak pour profiter de la compatibilité :)

If you don't need the specific one there , you can use those splitters that give you a mic and headphone jack into single 3.5mm jack , or just a regular phone headset . Loopop did a good in depth look at this .

I’d like to buy that mic separately for my old one too

How could I do this?

@@littleanswers I heard a guy from Arturia at Superbooth23 say recently they are currently in the process of a major update for minifreak that will most likely include new custom wavetables and most likely vocoder expansion and granular sampling like the micro freak update. I'm trying to be patient myself! lol

Try going into the utility menu and turning up the mic gain. It’s turned all the way down by default.

​Joanathan is right! And don't forget to turn off and on your unit after updating it. If you face any issue, I suggest you to get in touch with our support team with this link: www.arturia.com/support/askforhelp I’m sure they will be able to help you :) Best regards.

Arturia thanks for your answer. I’ve left my Microfreak at home for some short holidays. Will try as soon as I’m back and revert to you or to support. Thanks for the great products and support. Loving every single hw/sw product I’ve bought from Arturia so far. Keep up the good work !

Thank your your advice, there were two issues actually : 1. Mic gain needed adjustment 2. all the 256 preset slots were taken with non-vocoder ones (so no init preset) and the ones present where locked ! So I unloaded a few of my custom presets, loaded the v2.1 ones and used either one of the vocoder type ones or an empty slot (init) Now it does work well, though I need to find the best setting for this to sound as clear as possible. Thanks Arturia for this update ! Now waiting for that next one with the drum OSC powered by a sequencer on the mod matrix :)

@@alexandrosroussos Thank you for your feedback, I didn't even know this issue, I hope you'll find the right settings and have a lot of fun :) Cheers!

Are you serious ? It's a fully featured sequencer with much more than 256 steps total; it's been in since day 1.

@@sirzebra Hi there, actually, I found the specs online and it says 64 steps sequencer. Which would be 16 counts before repeating the pattern. Which works for me. Mind you, I bought the Microfreak with the IK Multimedia UNO at the same time as a package deal and the UNO only has 16 steps in its sequencer which is useless for any actual music as it is only 1 bar long. I guess I never bothered to look into the seq of the Freak assuming it was the same. But as I had said, on 8/27/20, I woke up to surprises about my own instrument!

@@pianokeyjoe 64x16 = 1024 but i guess you were talking about single patterns

@@sirzebra yes, I was talking about in one pattern. On most drum machines even the very old toy Mattel Synsonics Drums, you get 64 steps(16 counts)worth of beat recording. Old Casio and Yamaha keyboard custom drummer sections gave you 8 counts or 32 steps worth. I am still reading more on the MF in the new revision of the manual. I bought a power house and actually didn't know it!

@@pianokeyjoe Small tip: If you're in the step recording mode, you can press shift and turn the Rate/swing knob to quickly change the pattern length.

isn't it up to the taste of the creator? you have settings to make it more or less intense to taste. its all about timber whether you want to be perceptible or not its interactive either way.

I agree. Everytime i hear a vocoder i just cannot understand a word! But hey maybe thats the reason they are so dope! For me at least because i have nothing special to say! Ahah

Just dont have it on 100% wet?

You clearly mix up vocoders, harmonizers and autotuners in your head. Vocoder were never really "legible" or "audible" they just use voice as an input to produce different sounding (and human like) bits fo sound, it was never meant to "robotize" an understandable human voice.

There are harmonizers that don't modify the voice that much, it's mostly the other way around (if I'm not mistaken). Jacob Collier uses a harmonizer, and there's a vst from izotope too. Idk about the name of the harmonizer Collier uses tho.

it seems they will (read it on FB)

@@VictorSteiner I did find it at my local synth dealer. It should be shipped with you vocoder edition of the microfreak

@@anthonyrodriguez2747 I won't buy the vocoder edition of the Microfreak because I already own one. You find the Microphone as an item in your dealer's online shop?

@@VictorSteiner yep. My local shop sale they will be getting the microphone as a separate fro. The micro freak for $29 US dollars

You can also use any headset/microphone that is equipped with a TRRS connectivity!

Why don't you be more specific about your problems' and were might be able to help. Otherwise it can come across that you're trolling or trying to put people off buying the product

Hi, I'm sorry if you've sold everything because there's no new MicroFreak coming anytime soon :/

@@ArturiaOfficial finally u guys made a polybrute ... Curious about the price tag. In euros

​@@ArturiaOfficial That is not a very smart decision. Microfreak is a very interesting, feature-rich, unconventional little synth, with an attractive price tag. Look at ik, they made a "pro" version of their messy uno synth. Combine two Microfreaks (8-voice then) with a Keystation kbd and make it a crude workstation of some kind. Integrate something like a siple but working theremin controller and an FX processor like zoom multistomp ms-70. That could still be under 500 Euros, and would sell like warm bread (as we say here for good sales).

@@pontram Hi and thank you for your message, that's something we now have in mind and I'll share your message with our product team. Cheers!

@@ArturiaOfficial Thx !

I was a little concerned about reliability with these but I've been using them daily for 7 months and no issues. The adaptors come with the synth, btw.

Midi is just an audio signal passed through those DIN plugs, so many manufacturers have been moving to 3.5 with adapters as a new standard. The transition might feel awkward, but it frees up useful space on the UI and in circuit design. I felt a little uncomfortable at first also, but it’s more than fine in practice. Patchbays of similar size have been in use without drama for more decades than we’ve even had MIDI. Give it a try with an open mind.

the 3.5mm jacks and wires are prone to failure. much of the equipment I use runs on 3.5mm jacks, stereo soundcards for example. I recorded 7 full CD records using mostly 3.5mm, rca, and 1/4 inch jacks. rca was the most reliable and 3.5mm was the least reliable. I resoldered and used deoxit plenty, and I'm moderately gentle with my gear. what they are doing is selling you a $150 product for $400, without the respect of putting in decent audio and midi jacks. I have an associates in electronics and I've designed and built my own circuits. By using the cheap jacks, they are saving themselves about 5 dollars in manufacturing, and garanteeing that the unit will prematurely fail, so they can sell you the next thing.

5 pin din never breaks.

yes, I agree. 5 pin din is very reliable

You think just because she’s female she’s there just to be “woke” ?