Experimental Hybrid Synth

I was ready to spring for my first Behringer clone...the 2600, when I realized that I was about to pay a lot of money for something that I already had...mono analog synths. I love the old Arp sound, but it is a nuance that I consider nonessential at this point. And, quite frankly, I miss being able to save my sonic creations to memory. Polyphony would be nice too. So, after watching tons of Youtube videos, I decided on the Arturia Microfreak...and I'm glad I did! It has a LOT of sound design potential, and using the Mod Matrix is a joy. The arp and sequencer are very fun and flexible, and the whole design seems catered to evolving and expressive sounds. The capacitance keyboard is odd, but just adds to the quirky expressiveness of the instrument. The firmware updates are awesome and easy to install. And btw...with a little patience, the vocoder works surprisingly well! And yes...besides being a decent four voice polyphonic synth, it now has a powerful unison mode. Thick! No onboard effects though. :( For a great video that covers all the features in detail, I recommend "Loopop" on Youtube. Very informative! I'm very happy with my Microfreak. I love my analogs, but adding a digital synth to my audio arsenal filled that void perfectly and opened up many new avenues of sonic exploration for me. There are literally years of tweaking sounds in this amazing yet inexpensive synth! And it's nice knowing that all my careful crafted sounds can be stashed safely away on my computer for future use...no more use it or lose it programming sessions! Five stars!

First, let me say I own 6 professional synthesizers, so I am able to offer comments with extensive knowlege of how this product measures up against other synths. I've not yet spent much time with the Microfreak, but wanted to share my excitement over it should others be shopping for this type of product for Christmas. I was leary of the touch-sensitive keybed, expecting it to be less satisfying than real keys that move when depressed. To my amazement, these keys are actually amazing. They seem very reliable and functional. I love them. I wasn't crazy about this synth having a mono ouput with no built-in effects, but when I played it through my DAW (Logic Pro X) and added a slight chorus and reverb, I was super impressed with the sound. This synth is the most versitile synth I've seen to date and I've been playing synths for 40 years! The wide array of sounds is creamy and rich. I can't imagine that any synth enthusiast wouldn't love this synth. I'm amazed that it is so affordable. Before this, the Microkorg was THE affordable synth to have. But, this just might be in the same league! I'm happy to say I have both! YAY! I will post an update when I spend more time with it.

Initial review as a Hip Hop producer (boom bap) who is primarily sample based. I'm fairly savvy with the use of VST synths but never tried hardware synths. I've used Ableton, FL, Maschine and MPC and have about 7 years of experience. I paired this with my SP 404 Mk2 using a single 1/4" patch cable into the mono input of the SP. Endless, let me repeat...ENDLESS sound sources! Endless inspiration. I have ZERO use for anything else in order to get absolute bangers, and that's not even consciously designing sound. When tweaking sounds, I'm literally like a kid unconsciously scribbling anything on paper and then turning it into my favorite tracks ever. The sounds are rich and offer lots of sonic possibilities when chopping, pitching and reversing. Perfect size and weight and right at home in a backpack. My only gripes thus far are (1) It's packaged without the cable to connect to your computer. This is a requirement if you want to download the latest firmware (although NOT necessary to get up and running) Luckily I had plenty of cords lying around from other midi gear. (2) The power cord is long and bulky. (This might be a pro for others, but not for me...I will switch to a power bank.) Best purchase I've made in a very long time. Thrilled with this product and I'm not easily impressed.

Legendary synthesizer, Arturia knocked it out of the park with this one. It's different enough from Minifreak that I think you should collect both. Fun to explore all the different methods of synthesis it has to offer. It's very portable as well, really phenomenal synth.

Great buy. Good price.

This turned out to be much better than expected. I’ve owned several Arturia products, but just felt like this was too good to be true. First the negatives: the case is less robust plastic than the micro brute. The on/off switch is so small and fragile, that I bet you’ve never seen anything like it. It’s the type of micro switch companies use on the internal pcb’s of some products. Really stupid... in fact, the entire unit has a much cheaper feel than the brute series. I would have paid another $100 to have it with a higher build quality. Now on to the good: the sounds are incredible. So much better than the Korg mini/monologue. It’s very easy to manipulate even if you don’t know what you are doing. It was easy to update the firmware once the desktop software was installed. It has a logical progression of workflow. The keys function perfectly. I love this synth. I wish they had charged a little more and made it more substantial. The korg has this beat in that regard, but for sound quality, and fantastic presets, this wins.

This little thing is an incredibly versatile synth. You can do so much with it, and Arturia keeps adding more to it through firmware updates years after its release. It does have a relatively steep learning curve if you are new to hardware synths (as I am, but I have a lot of experience with software synths), but you can always just start with one of the hundreds of presets without knowing anything. The presets are pretty interesting and many are unique. I don't think you could buy a better synth for the money.

Very cool little synth. Took me about an hour to figure everything out. I wish it had a different USB interface for updating, but the synth itself is solid. It's conveniently small, seems to have louder output after the 5.0 update, and it's just fun.