Arturia Matrixbrute [compiled topic]

The Lounge Other Gear
#92

It would be sad if they discontinued it. It’s such a great synth for sound design, but also for straight up jamming with the sequencer.

There are a lot of flagship monos out there, but I’d argue that the Matrix is still fairly unique, at least in its approach and UI. With its two filters, matrix, and modulation options, you can really get diverse sounds out of it. It challenges how far you can take a mono synth these days.

Arturia has also had some very nice firmware updates and added features for the Matrix in its lifecycle, and I don’t think they’re done.

Agreed that its biggest drawback is its size. I’ve thrown out my back moving mine around the room. I’ll never sell it. Partially because I’d need a truck to take it Fedex, and partially because it’s fucking awesome.

#93

Excellent points… although I don’t think there’s another model center in the market that has anything close to the ease/customization of the modulation matrix.

I really think it is kind of strange that they didn’t have the same depth of controls on the poly brute since it’s already got the size thing going on…. I mean once you hammer out all of the customizations it’s really a question of having enough memory save them so as to apply them individually to six voices… seemed like a natural next step… but then again maybe the poly brute does that as well (but in a different way)… I don’t really know that much about it.

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#94

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So have had one for a couple of days… a few thoughts:

It really is built like a tank. Its bulk and dimensions make it want to be on its own stand, not with another synth tier above or below it. I was going to sell the Rev2 but they are so different in sound and application that I think I’ll be rearranging things to keep both as my main synths.

My favorite things are the dedicated audio rate mod knobs, and the overdrive and feedback options for each filter. Four different colors of noise are really useful as mod sources too. I wish you could pan the filters independently (ala Pro2) and a few more LFOs and/or envelopes, but I’m just spoiled from Sequential stuff. Also like the A4 and other synths gain staging the oscillators going into the filter section is important… easy to make everything sound smudgy and indistinct if you’re not mindful.

I still haven’t fully dug into the mod matrix yet, just got through half the presets and made a bunch sound more to my liking. You can really make it sound huge. Basses, leads, drones, weird paraphonic stuff, Ae-style glitchiness…

Sequencer seems powerful, need to explore further. It might be easier to just sequence it from an Elektron box. Or maybe in conjunction? :thinking:

5 Likes
#95

Also the “paperwhite” screen above the matrix is kinda weird. Why not a nice hi-res OLED?

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#96

I think it’s charming for some reason.

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#97

Someone is selling one near me for 900 bucks. Very hard to say no to that. I’ve had one in the past, heavy as can be…but that price!

#98

Hi guys!
Is there a way to use the audio mod (fm) section without just making unharmonic noise?
I haven t been able till now no matter what I tried (vco sync included).
Thanks!

#99

Shot in the dark here on an older thread.

Is there a secret handshake I’m missing, that will allow CV in to be routed to the assignable mod slots?!

I was sort of surprised when I first got the MB, to realize all the CVs are fixed to the first 12 mod destinations. I overlooked that, but given it was touted as having such robust modular integration, I assumed you’d just be able to route incoming CV like any other parameter in the matrix. I think the answer is apparent, just hoping that somehow I’m overlooking something. Anyone else consider this an odd omission?

#100

The answer is as you figured out, CV I/O is fixed.

Here’s slightly more info regarding how the I/O is handled: Link to Gearspace.com

#101

Thanks 4517. That’s a serious file to pull on that link, haha. Very specific and also helpful. Much appreciated.

#102

If it is to heavy and takes too much space :slight_smile:

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Edit: Another angle.

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#103

I got a sales format email from a retailer showing these new at like 60% off or something, I guess it’s not a big seller?

#104

Well this one is a local sales listing. I dont know where he got it. The same guy also have a chopped HSE up, and recently sold a chopped Behringer MonoPoly :slight_smile:

#105

I think they’ve traded around $1500 for a while. Great synth, but I think most of the people who want one at this point have one.

Mine is old enough that I just replaced the gooey rubber stock knobs with aluminum ones (not unlike the job in bignill’s photo above, though I went more colorful).

#106

I mean, I like it, but I don’t like it so much I feel like I need to have a spare around.

#107

Yes, he have swithed to alu knobs from Love My Switches

#108

I got mine from the same place. They were one of the only ones that can do adapters to the very strange angle of d-shaft that arturia use.

EDIT: and their pricing is really fair. It’s not cheap, but it is not that much more than something plastic/rubber from someone like chroma caps.

1 Like
#109

This one is listed at €1130, or bids.

#110

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I didn’t go mono-chrome, I chose a teal with contrasting orange for anything that affects output levels/drive. I left the original encoders for mod amount and joint filter cutoff as they didn’t have any issues on my unit. Unfortunately, since doing this I have noticed the buttons have the rubber coating coming off of them now. I’ll put up with it for a year or two before I get frustrated enough to take this all apart so I can replace them, probably with solid plastic buttons like DSI use on the rev2 (I think they’re about the same size).

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#111

The Matrixbrute always did need a tiny bit more colour, looks nice and playful there.

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