BOOcast - Synth of the Month: Arturia MicroFreak

This segment comes from BOOcast #23 (bit.ly/boocast23). BOOcast is a monthly livestream about being in a DIY synthpop band. We answer your questions, play songs, meet guests, talk synths and share stories.
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[@mk1st]

I love my "plastic door wedge". Such a good value.

[@BOOelectric]

Isn't it!

[@88keyz]

Add some inspiration from my experience using the MicroFreak and the MiniFreak V plugin together. Basically I use the MicroFreak to control all the knobs to the MiniFreak V plugin. My setup Using different midi channels on the MicroFreak . Ch4 controls ocs 1 and all the knobs on the MiniFreak V plugin.ch5 controls ocs 2 and all the knobs associated with osc2.ch6 to controls all the fx effects and sends on the MiniFreak V plugin. I think I got the MiniFreak V plugin at half price or a black Friday deal I know it wasn't the original price.

[@djjuno106]

Microfreak in my opinion is the greatest synth under £500..its amazing what it can do and arturia gave it a ton of free soundbanks and keep surprising everyone with each update. I got mine luckily when they first came out and I only paid £219

[@BOOelectric]

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

[@andrewmorrow7472]

Ive had one for a while and mustve skipped over the unison functionality. Thanks for showcasing that specifically!

[@BOOelectric]

No worries!

[@TooSlowTube]

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.

[@smileyartproductions]

I’ve just bought one of these on your recommendation and it’s a tiny little thing of beauty. And your tutorial is by far the best I’ve seen. Really easy to understand and it’s helped me hugely with understanding how this thing works. Thanks Chris. Much appreciated.

[@BOOelectric]

Thank you, I'm so glad the video is helpful!

[@jernaugurgeh451]

So glad I watched this, as you’ve come up with the sort of warm and bloopy ambient sounds I am wanting to make, and I’ve been holding off smashing the buy button on one of these since first investigating it a few weeks ago, as I was mostly hearing fairly cold and harsh and hollow sounds in reviews and overviews elsewhere… I’ve now got one being delivered in a few days

[@BOOelectric]

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

[@adeevision1297]

Its great to finally have a synth of the month I have ! . Pairs up with a mod dwarf for effects !

[@barryjefferies3201]

ABSOLUTELY ABSORBING AND BRILLIANT TUTORIAL On the Incredible Sounds of the,,Microfreak🎉 My Personal Favourite in my large studio, ive had it for 3 years now, .. STILL Don't know Synthesis, but it Doesn't seem to Matter when it comes to the,,Freak,, 😅 Just SOOooh Easy to Create Beautiful Tones ❤❤😊Jaffa Jenkins Dawless jams 😊

[@BOOelectric]

it's great isn't it... Will check your channel out. Thank you!

[@DaraM73]

Thanks to my many years of edumacation, I understood all of your francish gibberish.

[@BOOelectric]

Haha! Please accept my heartfelt congratulations!

[@TheScreamingFrog916]

Love it so much, I bought 2! ❤

[@InkyDaCaT]

My mate did too! Mmm looks at 2nd one🤣🙌

[@BOOelectric]

Since the BS2 has been showing signs of crapping-out, I'm seriously considering getting another one too...

[@TheScreamingFrog916]

@@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!

[@SamiJumppanen]

When I heard this all during your live, I was amazed! This is breaking the rules of normal business! I guess the world is so saturated with plugins, that fighting back with gear is getting real ;) Definitely can now say it's a great synth. I've got gear already so I'm not watching gear stuff, but this was great, thanks.

[@BOOelectric]

Thank you very much!

[@i_never_asked_for_an_alias]

I little bit late to the party with this video, but a very welcome guest. Come on in, Sir.

[@BOOelectric]

Cheers! Mine's a scotch.

[@barryjefferies3201]

I L❤VE IT , I L❤VE IT , I L❤VE IT 😊 Jaffa Jenkins Dawless jams 😊jaffa

[@BOOelectric]

Cheers!

[@InkyDaCaT]

Thanks Chris, its a really good synth, I love the keyboard too!

[@BOOelectric]

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

[@XtianApi]

Edit: comment deleted because apparently it applied to this video rather than the previous. But yes, I also love my microfreak and your tutorials.

[@BOOelectric]

It's cheaper.

[@TooSlowTube]

Do you know how to get it to trigger a new envelope on each note, while playing the Modal oscillator monophonically but with legato? This is driving me nuts, and googling isn't helping. There's a legato setting, but that apparently only applies to glide.

[@TooSlowTube]

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?

[@88keyz]

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

[@TooSlowTube]

@@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.

[@88keyz]

@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

[@88keyz]

@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

[@ricgl84]

Is strange, in your synth the filter amount is not always mapped or attached to the cutoff filter, how did you do that?

[@BOOelectric]

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

[@windspace7582]

👌👏👍👍👍👍

[@RebeccaTurner-ny1xx]

I had one of these. I hated it so much I sold it after a few months. What kind of synth designer insists on using non-standard MIDI CCs just to be quirky? The MIDI implementation on this is worse than on many first-gen MIDI synths from the 80s.

[@BOOelectric]

I only ever play it by hand, and never use midi on it, so I couldn't possibly comment. Anyone else have these problems?

[@djjuno106]

Shame you sold it..there's a great vst editor out that lets you automate it's parameters.

[@TooSlowTube]

@@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.

[@boriscat1999]

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.

[@RebeccaTurner-ny1xx]

@@djjuno106 I wasn't enamoured of the sound either, no matter how much I tweaked.