Arturia MicroFreak Review and Tutorial: Everything you need to know, including all 12 sound engines

[@iskariot3180]

i noticed that when i order something, like say a microfreak, i tend to watch your video about the product almost daily between ordering and arriving. It only takes 3-4 days on average, but by the time it arrives i have a decent idea about it, and this info is priceless. I can dive straight in, without reading that f'ing manual ^^ Thank you!

[@epprk]

exactly the same here. He‘s the real mvp

[@halcyøndrøne]

Can confirm, did the exact same thing with the Digitakt, and now I am doing it for the Microfreak...

[@wokeil]

Manuals are for quitters. six hours of youtube tutorials though..

[@psyeumel]

Same here

[@danskmacabre]

Haha same. This guide is great and I ordered one last night. Will probably watch it a few times.

[@ryangunwitch-black]

My fiancé bought me a Microfreak Vocoder bundle for my birthday and it just arrived yesterday. I love it. I plugged it in beside my bed and fell asleep with it last night.

[@Phillyfast]

It's a great time to be alive if you're into synthesizers

[@AI1983-r1k]

best...very lucky for who are into this to live in this exact time

[@Dubtee]

Yeah I'm building a modular system (kosmo) and have a microfreak coming on Tuesday. I can't wait - I'm moving in two months so I'm not gonna have as much space, but that just means I don't need as many speakers!

[@DarkMetaOFFICIAL]

no dude i'm pretty sure we died and this is heaven 😂

[@davidbanner9001]

Couldn't agree more. I had an old bedroom studio about 30 years go and have fairly recently gotten back into music production as a hobby. Yes, I had a few classics,101, 808 etc. But we just didn't have it so easy with MIDI/Non MIDI/CV/Gate etc. Now days synths like the the MicroFreak with a cheap FX pedal are so much easier and insanely more versatile for the price. Don't even get me started with free VST's etc.

[@iancain6647]

It's also pretty cool that John Mayer is helping us deadheads enjoy dead shows too. I agree great time to be alive, synths or otherwise

[@AI-Heaven-Hell]

A very thorough and knowledgable review. I 've had the privilege of using the MicroFreak for several months. I've seen go through many alterations and improvements. Personally what I like most is that you can modulate oscillator type. I made at least 15 presets based on that feature and the sonic potential of it is amazing. At one time during the development process modulating the oscillator type was removed because it caused problems in paraphonic mode. Fortunately, the developers managed to solve these problems. I'm very happy they did. The keyboard takes time to master but when you select maximum sensitivity in utility you can create crazy arpeggios by alternating soft and hard pressure/velocity. Done the right way you can create very interesting dynamics. The assign function works as you describe but does more. If you assign a column to a knob (by turning that knob) it will not only assign the current intersection on the Matrix to that knob but all knobs in that column. Another favourite of mine is transferring an arpeggio to one of the two sequencer patterns. I sometimes find it hard to come up with a good sequence, I find it easier to improvise an arpeggio and than quickly transfer it to a sequence pattern. The nice thing is that this option is somewhat intelligent; it will automatically adapt the arpeggio to the currently defined sequence length. It's a very flexible setup but you can change the length of the sequencers on the fly by pressing shift + the Rate encoder. (this only works in the very latest firmware edition). Thanks again for a brilliant review.

[@loopop]

Thanks for your comment! Where in the video did I say Assign only applies to the current intersection? Happy to add a "card" comment to fix that. Actually that would be cool! But confusing... so, yeah, Assign indeed applies to the whole column which makes sense. Shift + Rate changes the swing, not the sequence length - it would be cool to have a shortcut for that rather than going in the menu. Did I miss something? If they put sequence length there, where did Swing go?

[@AI-Heaven-Hell]

​@@loopop Hi Loopop, Shift/Rate does indeed change the sequence length, but the sequencer (A or B) must be in step mode for this to work. If it doesn't (yet) work, let me know...

[@loopop]

It works! Nice one!

[@syrupcore]

"change the length of the sequencers on the fly by pressing shift + the Rate encoder" is very very good news! Question if you don't mind: If you cut it from 20 to 5 steps, mess with those 5 steps and then set it back to 20 steps, does it remember the step values you had before? Or duplicate whatever is 1-5 to fill the new length?

[@AI-Heaven-Hell]

@@syrupcore I checked. It retains the content of the long sequence in memory. As long as you don't erase the sequence it seems to stay there

[@SendyTheEndless]

As someone who compulsively finger-drums on any hard surface available, I'm finding these touch keys absolutely great to play. Something about the instant response makes playing funky grooves a lot easier than on a "proper" keybed.

[@camdoe49]

the quickness is something else isn't it

[@Mr.Marbles]

same. people whining about the volca touch bars. thats the main reason i like jamming on the volca beats so much. its just so... instant.

[@tylerallen6435]

This ended up being my first hardware synthesiser, thanks for your thorough explanation of how it works!

[@winddealer1]

Loopop again sets the high bar on format, quality, objectivity and value in his content. The best review to date on this product. Thanks for the level of effort you invest into your viewers and content.

[@loopop]

Thanks :)

[@richnewman]

Every single synth fan should buy one of these. It's chock full of inspiration, functionality, and fun.

[@DonSmiths]

I'm only posting this because I'm sure others can relate. I watched this review months ago and KNEW I'd be getting it at some point. When I decided to watch it again tonight, I wondered, "will I be able to get to the end of the video before I order it?" I knew the answer ahead of time, and I was right. I didn't make it to the end before ordering it. Picking it up tomorrow. Tomorrow is going to be a good day. Long time fan of Loopop and current Patreon supporter. A true legend in the synth world. Ziv, thank you for all you're doing for us.

[@loopop]

Thanks Don for taking the time to write and for supporting on Patreon - it's what makes the madness on this channel possible :)

[@yeahrosheechabanina6357]

Well that's what I call In depth review. You really squeeze a lot in those 40 minutes. Very informative. This is how reviews should look like. Great job!

[@imgointardhard]

I know this is an old video of yours, but seeing this vid in the past few days inspired me to finally take the plunge from softsynths into the world of hardware synths. Your video was just so concise and motivated me to venture out of my comfort zone. Thank you, your content is top notch.

[@loopop]

Thanks! Be sure to watch the vocoder video too, as read up on the other firmware updates - plenty of new great features

[@detrechter5416]

The 1 thing I always do before buying.....wait for the Loopop review 🙂

[@digidope]

Looploop is the new Nick Batt :)

[@JavascriptJack]

yeah saved me the price of the purchase (looks cool on paper, but not impressed enough to spend cash on it)

[@fortheloveofnoise]

@@digidope it's sad nick does not really review synths often anymore

[@rodrigolaporte274]

@@digidope Both are great!!! I always check reviews from each, though I think soniclab seems to be focusing less on these reviews lately.

[@rodrigolaporte274]

@@JavascriptJack Same for me :(

[@gkillmaster]

I can't imagine an overview being better than this. Thanks so much for the conciseness and thoroughness and clarity!

[@loadreadyrun]

This comment is on point! Great in-depth review - thank you for this!

[@kgreggbruce1552]

AutomaticGainsay: hold my beer...

[@st0rmchild]

@@kgreggbruce1552 Marc goes into incredible depth in his excellent series, but Loopop does better, more concise overviews. Start with Loopop…if you like what you see, dive into Marc's videos.

[@st0rmchild]

It doesn't get any better! Despite being 30-40 minutes, Loopop's videos have really high information density. He makes it look easy, but it must take a lot of hard work to explore every feature of the synth, make an outline of all the talking points, and edit all the clips into a coherent piece. Love the timeline overlay. This is some of the best content on KZbin. The book for Patreon members is amazing too!

[@AI1983-r1k]

yeah always ,... i think this is the best audio hardware channel on YT

[@kabood777]

man so many demos or reviews on this thing, none of them give you even half as much as loopop covers here...thank you so much for this video.

[@viktorf3911]

Finally I Buy a MicroFreak today, got back to the video just to remind myself what was in the manual ! Best reviews on the internet for sure! Carry on the amazing work! :)

[@warboats]

Thank you so much mate, this is my first proper synth and I was a bit intimidated by it but I think the way you went over everything has made it much less so! Looking forward to playing with it now, nice one!

[@music-maker2505]

Fantastic example of your always unbiased reviews, mixed with your “always amazing” Video overly of an oscilloscope and frequency equalizer for us tech nerds. Thank you and keep them coming 🇮🇪

[@VictorSteiner]

This thing is so fucking amazing but the pricepoint is what will make it a total classic of our time.

[@michaelscottpettis]

VictorSteiner I'm truly getting excited wth some of the new synths for the first time in years, the minilogue xd is brilliant, can't wait to add this synth to the family too!

[@Strepite]

nope, it looks cool but I don't see why it's special sound wise...

[@locksh]

Your reviews are a blessing. I hope you realize this.

[@chrisconley7181]

You're a treasure of the Internet. Hats off to you loopop

[@Baby_boodle]

My goodness you make 40 minutes fly by, this video was terrific to watch. Now I'm just that much more excited to play around with this as my first synthesizer. c:

[@stupidbeetle]

I bought it just because of this review and now the Microfreak is probably my most used hardware synth.

[@markmiller2949]

Great review!! The MicroFreak definitely demands to be explored. Kudos to Arturia for something that isn’t another analog recreation. Not sure I’m sold, but still intrigued. Once again, thank you for your hard work.

[@eavids128]

By far the best Arturia MicroFreak tutorial, better than the Arturia tutorial series imo

[@suibian33]

Fantastic review / tutorial, very helpful:) I am curious how you were able to get the two Oscilloscope displays (especially the one on the left which appears to show the wave form without processing)? I would like to have that displayed as I work with mine. Thanks again for a very helpful video:)

[@zrizzrall]

Same question here! I'm dying to find this one out!

[@sivoltage]

Same question here too.

[@happyjessus]

Also been wondering

[@totally_not_a_bot]

It's been ages, but he would be running the audio to a DAW and running the processing there. Hopefully this will help people in the future :)

[@stateazure]

Fantastic review as always, thanks!

[@7177YT]

You're becoming so thorough and methodical, it's actually a little getting a little intimidating. lol. (:

[@fortheloveofnoise]

Dont let that stop you, the more reviews a synth has the better. Its nice to see multiple viewpoints and presentation styles.

[@st0rmchild]

@@fortheloveofnoise Agree 100%

[@philfazer]

A video still useful in 2023, thank you for all the work you do on synthesizers, Merci from Paris ( France )

[@LemureDeiCampiElisi]

Your reviews and tutorials are prolly the best around.

[@MsCellobass]

Thank you much for your thoughtful display of this magic machine. Some KZbinrs are ANNOYINGLY ALL TALK without showing anything.

[@templemu]

really clever synth, takes on many softsynths with one hand behind its back

[@jayceelewis_]

Microfreak arrives tomorrow. My first synth. Thank you!

[@stuffnuns]

The base waveforms are really good and the filter & the resonance sounds smooth. Many cheaper (esp digital) synths sound thin and the resonance is harsh. It’s hard to believe this little thing sounds so good. This is what the Juno 60/106 was to us in the ‘80’s. A great synth at an affordable price. Thanks, Arturia.

[@robertpastorella]

Love the full depth of these reviews, along with the scopes and little zoom in views, crazy helpful. Thank you 🙏🏻

[@TheIlike2playminecra]

This is a fantastic video! It serves both of the purposes in its title: A review and a tutorial. After watching this video, I felt confident enough to make my investment for my first physical synth as this one, and now I feel confident that when it arrives (which is supposed to be today, but Sweetwater hasn't even shipped it out yet) I will already know enough about it's functionality that I'll be able to get right into the creative process with it. Thank you very much for making this informative video!

[@turquoisevibrations5649]

These tutorials are absolutely fantastic, loopop - I've just recently bought a Microfreak and your videos are really insightful - especially for someone as ignorant as me, who is a real novice when it comes to hardware synths. I have been able to understand how this lovely instrument works really well thanks to this video. THANK YOU!!

[@smguy7]

I am in the process of composing a CyberPunk album. I am going to buy a MicroFreak because I can see and hear that it is going to inspire me a lot. Thank you for this great run through of this instrument.

[@pianokeyjoe]

So today I bought my Microfreak! It is nice to play with alot of nice synthy effects but the real power and meat and potatoes is in the basic template presets starting with 129! These allow you to hear the SYNTH for what it actually IS and with no fancy arp or patterns to throw you off your playing. I love IT! I did not know what paraphonic meant until I played 4 notes and found out. NICE! I honestly thought it was two note poly with mono legato.The pads are a pain to play for real music BUT they do for demo purposes. U need to cut your nails when playing this.

[@moontrills1]

Excellent review! Very clear and thorough, as always. It’d be amazing if they made something like this with the Rings engine.

[@jc3drums916]

Rings plus Clouds - what everyone wants without having to pay the big Eurorack bucks to get. The MicroFreak is tempting, but that would be an insta-buy.

[@valdiskrebs566]

Another great demo... you get such great sounds out of this synth... great filter! Your videos are so full of information/insights that I watch them several times.

[@loopop]

Thanks!

[@roysutton577]

Such a great review that I ordered one today. One bug (or feature) that will irritate me is the excessive amount of turning on the encoders. I would program the encoders with coarse response, say 10s, at high speed and revert to finer units with a slow rotation.

[@user-hl5xj2qh8q]

This video is really amazing, the walk-through, the information, the waveform oscilloscope, really high-quality content! Two thumbs up!

[@FeelRealRacing]

That's a really powerful Arp/Sequencer! I should've known the beatstep pro guys were gonna give us something inspiring again. Love the review/tutorial, it's got me really excited to get mine when they finally ship

[@krazywabbit]

It's almost 3 years later from this video and you sold me on this. I've heard others sing its praise. Thank you for this and everything you do to help us decide. Cheers and Happy New Year!

[@NoPhonesOnTheFloor]

Amazing review. I am considering getting this as my first synth. Cheap, small and looks like a lot of fun

[@victordl9492]

After reading the manual, it's kinda nice to have a demo overview like this to see how it works ! thanks :)

[@ConwayBob]

This is the first review of MicroFreak that got me thinking that maybe I should get one. Thanks, Lou Pop.

[@SuperOssi]

more stuff with new firmware Added a new “WaveUser” Oscillator with 16 embedded Arturia Wavetables Load your own wavetables using Midi Control Cente Three new Oscillators types from Noise Engineering : BASS, SAWX and HARM Unison mode available for all Oscillators, with control on the voice spread. as always thanks for your effort on these reviews

[@LaughingBubba]

Ah Loopster another awesome Vid. The 1st 20 mins I swear was channelling Kraftwerk. Thanks again.

[@TheNimasan]

best review channel on whole internet....no doubt!!!

[@LarsBjerregaard]

Fantastic, thorough in-depth and informative review loop, thanks! Well done.

[@scartinmorsese7723]

This video is exactly what I've been looking for. Your demonstration has made me decide the microfreak is right for me. Thanks for making and posting this and for helping me spend my money where I want to spend it.

[@PaulBoos]

Excellent review - def interested in this synth, even more so now.

[@ScottBrio]

Awesome tutorial dude. Better than the manual every time! *EDIT* the sequencer data does save with the presets. This things insane!

[@AndyVonal]

Hi Loopop, thanks for this...the best vid I have yet seen on this little beastie. Great stuff.

[@dstevemixes]

Best Microfreak tutorial I've found!

[@iiaaiiaannaaiiaaii]

What an excellent review! Thank you!

[@thedrumunkey]

With that display, all the synthesis options, and the hands on, and the seq... This could be a great educational tool for teachers and schools.

[@thedrumunkey]

Sold. This thing appears to be the best “wireless” modular yet. I love the “idea” of modular. I love thinking about sound design in a modular way. But after dipping toes in modular, I’ve come to realize I fucking hate all the wires. 🤪 This thing feeding into crazy fx setups in AUM on iPad should be fun!

[@kwaping]

Get a Matrixbrute! 😁

[@epprk]

I love your videos so much but what I love even more is the well deserved appreciation and love you get in the comment section of every video!!!

[@loopop]

🙌🏻🙏🏻

[@aurelhollowgram]

thank you I buy it! it's a real "idea box" and I love Arturia, I have the Microbrute and the Keystep, both are really great! ;)

[@matthewtunnicliffe201]

Utterly superb review. I wasn't even that arsed about these but now I'm probably going to buy one.

[@DavidDeLuge]

This seems to be a lot of synth, with great sounds, for a good price. It seems too good to be true... 👍🏻

[@UNSCPILOT]

Got it as my starter to learn with, a day and a half in and I'm already having a blast just testing stuff out

[@Oooo-bi7bi]

Thanks so much for taking the time to share your knowledge. I’ve had mine 4 months and have just learnt what the other three orange knobs are for and exactly what the last one does.thanks. I’ve had a brain injury and struggle to understand stuff. You have helped me no end . Cheers man. I’m off to play with it again now I know what you’ve shown me.

[@holotropik]

A no-brainer purchase :-)

[@UNSCPILOT]

Watching this while experiment with my own, I have no idea what I'm doing but it's hecking fun

[@russianvoodoo]

Seems like this is what I'm buying as a companion for my minilogue xd.

[@paulyvinyl2361]

Was on the fence till i watched this video. Just bought one making sure to use your link. Oh yeah it even has a vocoder now!

[@EannaButler]

Great! Always hoped that loopop would do his thing with this interesting newbie to the market..

[@keytar00]

What an astonishing synth! And Daniel Fisher is the best tester for it!

[@zroeder]

Great review as always! I was wondering how the poly AT was going to function with the PCB keyboard. It seems like it will be fantastic for pads.

[@matzer8846]

Great intro to this little beast! Absolutely like the scope subscreens. Thanks a lot for sharing this!

[@synthmage00]

The only thing I wanted to know that wasn't 100% demonstrated in this video: How noisy can it get? It seems like the mod matrix and all the synthesis engines onboard would make it fairly simple to get some harsh, atonal noises out of this. Has anyone here tried dialing in the most grating, noisy sound possible to see what it's capable of?

[@IpfxTwin]

I know without a doubt this is gonna be my next purchase. Great tutorial / demo as always!

[@ultra8380]

this synth is insane

[@dianamiino7391]

This is the best microfreak review by far. This is exactly the right way to do a synth review. Five stars and thumbs up, and a very, very interesting machine.

[@bci3937]

It is a very cool innovative Instrument but Arturia sucks in interacting with Users/ Improvements/Ideas...so you need close look what u buy. And this is a good Examples Vid...to buy it finally.

[@theNickRYG]

yeaaaaaaaap. i was really unsure hearing the convention demo; not a good representation. Yet, These full overviews are really getting me hyped now.

[@chrislynch9364]

Great unbiased review. I’m very impressed with this synth and getting ready to pull the trigger.

[@geronimofrezzini2504]

Excelente, muchísimas gracias por tan valioso aporte. un abrazo!

[@palegobit]

I has been said many times before, but I still have to do it again. Rewatching this video taught me more about my own synth than I have taught myself by playing it. All @loopop videos are full of this type of comments, so it should not be surprise to anyone. But it still kind of blows my mind every time it happens.

[@MatthewMouras]

Ugh. I didn't want to have to buy this thing. You've made it look too interesting to miss. Thanks

[@LesProductionsZvon]

Very informative and clear video! I like the editing with the smaller windows showing the enlarged Microfreak displays.

[@madmac66]

Not sure if shipping one with a Keystep ‘board is of much value compare to shipping a desktop version with NO ‘board that can be paired with the Keystep you already own. I mean, everyone already has at least one controller keyboard. And that capacitive touch ‘board looks like a gimmick to me, but I’ll reserve judgement until I actually play one

[@st0rmchild]

This makes sense to me. I have my MicroFreak sitting next to a KeyStep and it's nice to have the option to play it with either one. I do find the capacitive keyboard a little bit gimmicky but it's more usable than I expected.

[@morganwebster6636]

Stoked! Sold. Can’t get more covered in tutorial area than this video. Thank you. Again. ❤️⚡️⚡️⚡️🎛🎚

[@maw9406]

Yesss! I needed this :D

[@___Benedetto]

I was going to get a dafm for my b-day, but now i know what i want this (Arturia MicroFreak).

[@urbannpa]

Nice....Just waiting on Loopop to do the Behringer Crave.

[@xenostim]

Will be picking up a microfreak soon as my first hardware synth. Very excited and confident that it will be a wise choice

[@dvdny]

7:01 - no steps on the filter. Nice job, Arturia.

[@electriceyeslide5959]

Don’t need them

[@DEG_fan]

Just discovered your channel. What an incredible, clearly articulated, in depth review/tutorial! I'm very impressed and definitely subscribed. I am thinking about picking on of these up one day, but even after getting one of these I will definitely be referring to this video a whole bunch!

[@grapesodas]

What are you using to put the waveform on the screen?

To the left is definitely some type of oscilloscope. Hardware or software kind, it's hard to say. To the right is freq analysis, quite similar to what you can see in software EQs

[@loopop]

Hey - I use software scopes by Melda

[@НатальяГолуб-и7м]

That’s the best review on micro freak in KZbin! Definitely! Thank you!

[@artisanone]

Man I'm so conflicted between this and the microbrute D:

[@aaroncarter8845]

I sunk hours into my microbrute, really enjoyed it, and always liked the sound it put out. Given it to my older brother to learn synthesis, not as many bells and whistles but a good introduction to synthesis and whenever I need a badass line, extra LFO or funnily enough, something to mangle a signal, the microbrute is really handy for that. Once I even passed a video signal through it and it came out the other side.

[@hanstaagen2066]

Following 23:30; I had a problem with the osc type scroll. It would get stuck cycling the last 3 osc types and would take a minute to stop glitching. Bought a 12v power bus and it solved it

[@tonhueb]

Maybe they'll release a MiniFreak with a "normal" keyboard. That would seem logical. And then a DrumFreak. And a MatrixFreak

[@jasonlambert5552]

Wake me when the FluteBrute comes out

[@jimlarson123]

@@jasonlambert5552 I've got a MuteBrute... for free!

[@reintje58]

THE MICROFREAK IS A BEAST. :)

[@tehnik333]

Thank you for not adding reverb ;)

[@loopop]

Ha! I really wanted to... but of course realize you want to hear the synth. I snuck it in for 20 seconds in the thx part at the end though...

[@martinlopez2955]

Awesome review! So glad I found your channel, your reviews have helped me out on my last 4 purchases!

[@syrupcore]

"Suck it, Uli." - Frederic

[@vladpopescu7776]

Really sick review and nice editing!