The Arturia Microfreak Patch Bay is WAY Deeper Than I Thought!

[@herbert264]

Excellent riff at 1:34. I was half expecting coins to start flowing from the machine.

[@FreeBeat]

Hahaha I mean I wouldn't complain!

[@billsoraparu9673]

Great tips for the Microfreak’s patch bay....thank you for sharing your finds!!

[@FreeBeat]

Thanks so much!

[@TheScreamingFrog916]

Great tip. I'm trying it now. Thanks for the upload. If you have not already dug into it, check out the 4 modulation tracks, that can control the movement of knobs, during sequencer playback. The Freak is a Beast, the Beast is a Bird, a Bird on the wing. lol I was so pleased with my MicroFreak, I bought a second one for dueling stereo arpeggios :-) The MFreak is so versatile, it can play more traditional sounds, or it can make the weirdest experimental space sounds, leveraging the touch sensitive keyboard, and crazy powerful Modulation Matrix. Never in my 60 years, have I seen a more powerful, great sounding synth, for the money. My other incredible synth discovery of late, is the Korg Wavestate. That thing is on a whole nother level, like having 4 stereo Microfreaks, on steroids, combined with killer effects, in one small package. Best wishes for your continued fun, with the MF

[@FreeBeat]

I haven't even begun to look into the modulation tracks haha, it's so overwhelming! The core wave state looks amazing too, why does there have to be so much awesome gear haha. Thanks for watching!

[@SjonSjine]

Please explain the 4 modulation tracks, controlling the movement of the knobs during sequencer playback! Thanks!

[@1bdcuda]

Also did the same...buying a Wavestate just after buying the MF. I can't get my head around how much synthpower is there left to be discovered in this universe hahahaha. These 2 both blew my mind.

[@kevinulrich9092]

Very cool. I've been intimidated by the patch bay enough to have left it alone so far. That changes today. MF seems to get as deep as one wants it to get. Also thinking it might be time to read the manual, if only to find out what else I've been missing out on. Thanks for this. Long time lurker finally subscribed.

[@FreeBeat]

Thanks so much for subscribing! The Microfreak can be an absolute time sink if you want it to be, there are so many different modulation options it's staggering haha.

[@eightcoins4401]

The patchbay is kinda the point of the MF. Most interesting sound design has to use it due to the limitations of the oscillator.

[@PaulBoos]

That's crazy... I'll have to play with this on my Microfreak. It is a crazy bargain of a synth....

[@FreeBeat]

Yeah, it's crazy how in-depth you can get!

[@luciano.armani]

thats a real nice tip man i didnt know i could do that!

[@FreeBeat]

Glad I could help!

[@vasil3089]

You can also modulate any modulation destinations in SEQ.

[@tezeta3725]

I knew that you could assign a matrix point as a destination but never thought to try making that its own destination. One thing I want to try out is making modulation feedback loops, so like assign the lfo speed to be controlled by the lfo for instance.

[@FreeBeat]

Oh yeah! I'm gonna have to give that a shot soon haha. Thanks for watching!

[@joshuamorganmusic]

Nicely done fam! Yr synthesis knowledge is coming along nicely. You might consider a make noise 0-coast since you have some cv/gate stuff. But if yr after a sequencer there’s nothing better than elektron, imho

[@FreeBeat]

Haha thanks man, I'm trying! I think I'm pretty set on the Samples or Cycles by this point

[@joshuamorganmusic]

@@FreeBeat yeah, I can dig it. Go for the M:C. The OP-Z is the best sampler/sequencer combo sub $600. Plus yr gonna REALLY like the elektron sequencer (just remember to RTF!!)

[@DjWuh]

This is awesome! Thank you!

[@FreeBeat]

Thanks for watching!

[@audeon_visual]

Oh my god. Thanks man.

[@FreeBeat]

Thanks for watching!

[@audeon_visual]

@@FreeBeat absolutely! This was such an amazing video.

[@tonywharton5220]

Sometimes the firmware is updated but not the manual. Might be worth looking at the Arturia site for an updated manual. I had the same thing with my Uno Synth. Hope that helps 😀

[@FreeBeat]

I don't need no stinkin' manual! But I should check that out lol

[@tonywharton5220]

@@FreeBeat That may be an idea for your next synth? Uno Synth or the Modal Skulpt are reasonable. They are in the UK anyway. Not sure about the US.

[@FreeBeat]

@@tonywharton5220 I've looked into them, but haven't been overly inspired by what I've heard. Maybe I just need to do more research haha

[@willswitchcraft]

very interesting.........................

[@FreeBeat]

Thanks for watching!

[@reinhardwolf2855]

This is a nice idea to create complex drone scapes 🖖👽🙏🏻

[@FreeBeat]

Absolutely, there's a ton of potential!

[@farbklangmaske]

Great Infos. Keep them coming. Inspiring!

[@dustyaudio]

Nice! Could you do a video about Assigning Cyc Env R/F/S times, then get weird. I would like someone else's perspective on what the hell is happening with a setup like that.

[@Tennisers]

i lost interest in microfreak for a while but this is neat, thanks

[@FreeBeat]

It's always worth a revisit in my opinion haha, thanks for watching!

[@gwb19]

Thank you for the shoutout!

[@FreeBeat]

Thanks for the support!!!

[@ndguardian]

Wait, so you can modulate your modulation? And then can you modulate that? WHERE DOES IT END?!

[@FreeBeat]

That was kind of my realization towards the end of the video lol. I guess technically you only get three custom slots, but something tells me there are workarounds lol. Thanks for watching!

[@Sadiquecat]

I will resist the urge to get a microfreak. But it won't be easy when they make products like this xD

[@knockoutcustoms7477]

Free beat or.......donation beat?🤔😁...........idk, now that I've watch this very informative video I'm thinking "good value beat".......thanks for figuring that out for all us non instructions reading noise makers 👍👍👍

[@FreeBeat]

Hahaha if you look at the name of the Patreon tiers we definitely had some fun coming up with them. "Good Value" beat is a good one though! Thanks for watching :)

[@trevord9811]

Some well kept secrets from Arturia. Man they sell this cheap for what you get. I wonder if they are developing a PolyFreak or something? I seriously need one of these little beauties so need to keep saving. Thanks for the great video BTW.

[@FreeBeat]

Thanks for watching!

[@trevord9811]

@Kevin Patz Yes I have seen some reviews, the PolyBrute looks great.. I was just imagining a PolyBrute/Freak hybrid or something else insane like that. Maybe I'll keep saving and get the Freak then add others piece by piece myself.

[@tothefinlandstation]

not sure about the microfreak since i don't have one, but on many synthesizers if you modulate an envelope's depth by that same envelope you can basically change the shape of the envelope's curve.

[@FreeBeat]

That should work on the microfreak just fine. Great tip, thanks!

[@walrtbstudios5430]

I’m sure there’s some seriously useful information in here, but I STILL cannot work out the patch bay. At all. If anyone can point in the direction of a patch bay 101 I’d be most grateful, but as it stands the ‘Freak is the one hard synth I regret buying.

[@FreeBeat]

What exactly are you struggling with? The patch bay is fairly standard, just digital. Hoping I can help

[@evankeal]

If there is a deeper $300 device I would be surprised.

[@FreeBeat]

Definitely! Although the liven xfm might give it a run for it's money haha.

[@eightcoins4401]

@@FreeBeat The Yamaha DX Reface is very nearby in budget too

[@tomfurstyfield]

nice but you should manually set your focus on your camera ;)

[@FreeBeat]

Haha I've gotten better(ish) about it.

[@chuckvicious]

Rad

[@FreeBeat]

Indeed!

[@rodcamp4472]

The problem with MicroFreak is that no matter what you do with it, it sounds crap. It's a pretty bad problem to have. You can spend an hour and end up with a terrible sound. That is your only option. If you enjoy fiddling around endlessly and not playing the MircoFreak is for you! But never expect to hear anything good come out of it. It is not capable of good sounds... at all!

[@eightcoins4401]

Its a synth based around very experimental sound design. Most of the synthesis engines usually only exist in modular synths due to being very "out there". If you're not into that its not for you. Its not a Minimoog. Its basically a modular system crammed into one tiny digital keyboard. If you're looking for experimental synth sounds and not bread and butter sounds and can get through the high learning curve of some of the engines it pays off. Its basically the best cheap option for granular synthesis.