Arturia just released Microfreak 4.0

The Lounge Other Gear
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no fx :cry:

I gather thereā€™s never gonna be, would be so good tho.

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OMG!! USER WAVETABLES YASSS!!!11!1!1!1oneone!!

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Holy moly

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(from the manual)

MicroFreak works some magic when you import Wavetables. Its Wavetables each have 32 cycles (individual waveforms), and each cycle is 2,048 samples long. When you import a WAV or AIFF file, MicroFreak resamples it and converts it to an MFW file the MicroFreak can use. Here is what happens during that process:

  • MicroFreak counts every set of 2,048 samples as a cycle.

  • The first and last cycles of the source file remain unchanged, and become cycles 1 and 32.

  • If the source has more than 8 cycles, MicroFreak builds a continuous Wavetable with all the cycles evenly spread out, with linear crossfading between them. This means the resulting Wavetable will represent the original content from beginning to end ā€” MicroFreak does not simply stop resampling when it hits the end of 8 cycles.

  • If the source has fewer than 8 cycles, MicroFreak uses a custom algorithm to spread them across all the slots. This ensures that the Wave knob will reach all the cycles as you turn it to scroll through the Wavetable.

Musically, all this means that you donā€™t have to perform editing surgery to make audio files work as MicroFreak Wavetables. You certainly can if you want, but you can also just grab files you think offer creative possibilities and let MicroFreak take care of the rest.

@Jukka (might shed light on our discussion from months agoā€¦ :slight_smile:)

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Cool update!

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Pound for pound, one of the best buys Iā€™ve made. The additions to this synth since original release have been phenomenal.

G

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I just dropped a jazz loop into this. Sounded like shit. I assume the results will get better with shorter wave files.

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V 4.0.1
New Features

Added a new ā€œWaveUserā€ Oscillator with 16 embedded Arturia Wavetables
Reworked ā€œWavetableā€ Ocscillatorā€™s audio engine
Load your own wavetables using Midi Control Center
Import any WAV or AIFF file into Wavetables using Midi Control Center
Octave Led Blinking can now be disabled from Utility menu
Oscillatorā€™s encoder speed can be modified from Utility menu
Sequencer can now play with the Chord mode and Unison
Removed ā€œUser Preset Eraseā€ feature

Bug Fixes

No more clicks when modulating wavetable position on ā€œWaveTableā€ Oscillator
Screen doesnā€™t randomly focus on parameters anymore
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Thanks for that paoertiger.

From what Arturia describes there, it sounds like they do a nice job of converting any old WAV or AIFF file into a proper wavetable file ( MFW = MicroFreak Wavetable file ) for use. Obviously results are generally not as intended if you just use any old sample as a wavetable directly without conversion. You want each separate wave to be a single cycle waveform, with the frequency of that waveform exactly filling the 2048 sample points.

It was a while since i wrote the code to generate wavetables for the Arturia Pigments software. In my case i generated each wave in the wavetable from a spectral description.

Jacob Johnson of Perfect Circuit, in his recent Hydrasynth Deluxe video, talks about creating wavetables that sound as you scan through them like a filter sweep on a more complex waveform. Indeed it is possible to simulate other effects with a wavetable. Filter resonance, overdrive distortion, wavefolding, etc, are all possible to simulate in a wavetable.

There are other tricks possible when using wavetables and it sounds like the MF is up to the task.

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Be careful, you may have just invented and then abandoned a genre. :sunglasses:

Iā€™m excited about this update. I was about to pull the trigger on the Live Suite upgrade, but now Iā€™m considering moving my November synth spend over to a Microfreak.

A combination of limited studio space, the A4 ā†’ AK upgrade, this update, and enhanced frugality has me pushing the Hydrasynth way down on the list and the ā€˜Freak to the top.

Now I want to put all the stuff that doesnā€™t belong in MF wavetables into the wavetables.

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Agreedā€¦ with built-in fx it could be a must-have synth

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I donā€™t mean to make assumptions, but this is not a sample playback update. Itā€™s a wavetable oscillator for very short wavetables (this isnā€™t Serum or Nave :)).

You theoretically ā€œcanā€ play back certain drum loops with certain wavetable oscillators, but thatā€™s not the point of this update.

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great explanation for how wavetables work and how to create them here - specific to this new update : (app 15 mins onwards)

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tagging @taro because maybe he will bless MicroFreak users with some MicroFreak-format wavetablesā€¦ :smiley:

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Jeremy @RedMeansRecording has pushed it to another levelā€¦

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:open_mouth:

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my MF just sits there next to the Hydrasynth, giving me dirty looks, wishing it got used more.
maybe this update will get me to use it moreā€¦

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Another great update :slight_smile: The stock wavetables plus a bunch of modulation and some spice and dice are already a ton of fun. Sequencing/arpeggiating chord shapes is a nice feature as well.

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as much Iā€™m excited for wavetables, I have to say Iā€™m also very happy about the unison/chord function to be available on the sequencer - I really like the sequencer for happy accidents and wished those feature wouldnā€™t get lost when recorded as a sequence