#86

The touch plate keyboard was fun to use on the instrument itself. But as a controller for other gear it was not reliable for me. It sometimes would not trigger notes correctly and the aftertouch was all over the shop. This was not the reason I sold mine and replaced it with Keystep and spectrum for iOS.

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#87

Thanks for the added info. If I ever get one (I need to overcome my distaste for what they did with the overall design of the thing) I wouldn’t get it as a controller, just as a self-contained instrument. So that woulnd’t bother me.

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#88

20 characters of “Can’t blame you” :slight_smile:

#89

I just had a free improv jam with a couple friends last night, one of whom used only the microfreak.
Despite Arturia’s marketing and presets (both of which are disappointingly bland and unimaginative), my impression is that some of the features make it a standout unit.
He just updated to the most recent firmware and, in init mode, he was coaxing some really rich and brutal sounds out of it. Lots of playing with taking the cycling envelope into audio-rate and modulating it with knob twists. He also really likes to do bassey kick things, and he got a real good one while we were playing.
I checked out the tactility of it – the feel is good, knobs are sturdy and responsive and performable. While interesting, the touch/pressure keyboard really needs to be mapped intelligently to be useful. Right now it’s still mostly a gimmick but I’m sure it has a lot of potential.
It could have been the monitoring, but the output does sound colored towards the low mids and above 3k. I’ll have to do more playing/listening to find out for sure.
I may try to borrow it for a couple days and get to know it better.

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#90

This. The presets are especially poor. I haven’t done it yet as I enjoy patching from scratch, but I will be wiping mine and replacing them with my own banks. For all the sound designers Arturia work with, it seems like such a missed opportunity not to get them involved. Noritaka Ubukata was involved with the V Collection and he has made some fantastic sounds for the Synthmaster apps - how hard would it have been to get him involved on MF presets?

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#91

Can any Microfreak users tell me which type 3.5mm to MIDI cable is used? Getting mixed info via Google, and Arturia customer support refuses to tell me for some reason. They just tell me I can purchase a very expensive replacement set. About to experiment with making my own!

#92

Wow that sucks. Arturia just keeps getting more evil.

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#93

If they use the same standard that they made with the BSP it will be opposite of Korg’s wiring.

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So you’d do it like this but swap tip and sleeve. Probably best to just test what works with alligator clips first. I don’t think any damage would happen from doing it wrong, it just wouldn’t work. All that said, I don’t have a microfreak. :slightly_smiling_face:

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#94

I think you’re correct cause I just tried the cable that came with my Korg SQ-1 and it didn’t work. Good to know. I’m gonna wire my own up! Thanks!

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#95

Any microfreak owners added the new vocoder firmware yet? I’m curious whether it sounds better or worse than the microkorg vocoder. If it does it’s likely an instant buy for me.

#96

It’s not the most amazing but I found it fun and easy. Don’t know the micro korg, but this sounds ok, even if not as intelligible as top tier vocoders.

#97

Pure speculation, but I wonder if it’s the vocoder from Mutable Warps ?

#98

https://minimidi.world is your friend here. (Type A/Type B has emerged, and largely, it’s down to what tip/ring are. Korg/Makenoise are on one standard, Arturia/Novation on the other. I believe the world is coming down on the Korg/Makenoise type).

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#99

Just to confuse things: Novation has recently switched to using the Korg / Makenoise type on recent products. My Launchkey Mini MK3 has 3.5mm MIDI out that I can plug directly into my 0-coast.
Converters are available on eBay, or you can wire your own if you have the tools.

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#100

It’s not referenced in the Microfeeak manual, like the use of the Plaits code is.

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#101

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#102

I love the knob-turn wrist flick. I’m guilty of that myself :smiley:

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#103

Its like the chef’s kiss of audio production.

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#104

You have to tweak the gain, hiss mode and volume quite a bit to get an intelligible sound, but it can certainly be achieved. Unfortunately, since it’s an “Oscillator type” and not a global feature, you can’t use it with any of the other algorithms.

Microfreak algorithms have three parameters (the oscillator itself that is, there are plenty of other sound design options); the vocoder oscillator uses 2 of those to set the vocoder pitch and bandwidth, so the underlying carrier wave only has one parameter (wave shape). Obviously there are other sound design options but this definitely limits the range of sounds you can achieve.

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#105

Hi! I just ordered a Buchla 208c and am considering the Arturia Microfreak as a touch-sensitive keyboard / CV controller. I think you’re one of the only forum commenters with the exact hardware combo!

How do you feel about using the two together after all this time?

Were you able to get proper Buchla gates out of it? Would love to connect pressure to timbre and set gates with the MF.

Thank you!

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