killer update that opens up whole new worlds
minifreak is sick as hell and punches way above its weight
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Cool early Crimbo present this! Look forward to trying it out.
More engines suits me, as stated above I do use the minifreak to scroll through random presets looking for inspiration then blindly tweak from there so this update should work well for that.
I find the minifreak can just do abit of everything and usually I use it to kick off my inspiration for tracks then I bring in my DT, DN and or ST to the minifreak party.
Agree with comments on the filter it just hardly ever brings anything, either itās just wide open or it shuts down the sound way to much, has no interesting sweet spot. Most synths, you get a sound you like, then filter down and it makes it more awesome, on minifreak the filter never manages this very often.
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Posting here in case others run into this. I somehow managed to upgrade my minifreak without it installing the samples. It had one sample of a hi hat but nothing else. Fixed by updating Minifreak V through the Arturia Software Centre and then connecting the synth. It flashed up with a message that said āinstalling sample libraryā after that.
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If I remember correctly, I had a similar experience when updating the new wavetable engine last go ā round. It got a bit confusing at the end.
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Yeah I had to do the same before it would light up the update button.
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You can update the Minifreak through the VST software as well. I think the intended processes is:
- Update Minifreak app through Arturia Control Center.
- Plug Minifreak into computer with USB and update hardware through the Standalone app.
- After your Minifreak hardware updates itāll reset. At this point turn the power off and then back and and the application will transfer the samples.
edited for accuracy
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I believe you have to use the standalone app. And then it updates and installs the samples in a second step.
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Yeah thatās probably right. Thatās how I did it, I said VST but standalone app is more accurate.
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Huh, I feel like Iām alone on this. I think itās a great resonant filter. I get some very full and wide sounds with a lot of resonance and sweeps, especially for fx, pops, and bass. Donāt really care about the lack of distortion or overdrive tbh
Agreed with others that itās kind of a lot to have so many oscillators to cycle thru. Would be neat if you could hide oscillator types you never want to use or something. But its not that big a deal to me. I get a lot less analysis paralysis with this synth than I do with some others. For instance, trying to figure out which of the 40 oscillator types to use for a monosynth on the analog rytm is a lot harder.
Agreed that granular stuff all kinda sounds the same at least in demos. Iāll prob use this for some background texture and ear candy but i dont see myself using it very prominently. shrug
Love that arturia just keeps cranking out good firmware updates though. Its nice to have something get a lot of love over the years.
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has anyone had any luck downloading the manual for the hardware version?
itās not a pdf but has some other weird file extension instead
Worked fine for me last night - have you tried just changing the extension to .pdf?
thatās weird, just tried that but it still didnāt work
I can post it later this eve since I definitely downloaded it.
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For me itās just clear that they can emulate it 1:1 in software as the VST version shows.
So it would have made more sense (to me) to not limit the digital side of it with an analog filter and instead use that filter (ideally with more filter models) and have full polyphony instead. Not only does the analog filter limit voice count it also limits the oscillators from being panned, or the use of stereo samples for the sample engines.
At the end of the day it is what it is, I just donāt think the filter being an analog filter should be viewed as a selling point. It feels like to me that the use of the analog filter was more as a bullet point in the back of the box rather than a practical use. Cuz without overdriving it we just have a filter that sounds as good (and to me arguably worse) than a digital filter while also providing a bunch of limitations to the synth and its corresponding VST because of it.
I do also acknowledge though that the complex oscillators are wild enough that often filtering isnāt even necessary for sound design the way I would normally use one in a standard subtractive synth though.
It sounds like user samples are coming down the road and if / when that happens I can load up samples that have filter sweeps from other synths into it.
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Hereās the v3 manual for the Minifreak V:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1a9hkxbAN_fW0jCJzXKHCesdhcqgWWEDd/view?usp=sharing
And hereās the v3 manual for the hardware version:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iAh21oz5kJnlOfF-h26pi6a-V_DLT5Z7/view?usp=sharing
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Got you, you got a point. But my guess is, its better to embrace the Minifreak like it is, it leads you to cool sounds, instead of searching for like analog style of making sounds. Say, if you want a sync-type of sound, then its better to just take an analog synth with sync and do it. And yeah you have to look in the manual to know what the heck is the difference of lets say BasicWaves, VAAnalog and SawX. But again thats only for the idea of āi want a copy of an (eastcoast) analog style of making a soundā, and thinking āwhat the heck is this and what i can do with itā is the way the Minifreak makes more sense.
But Arturia does think of people like you, i mean they got a clear description with the new engines (āthis engine is more for that type of soundā etc) to make it a little bit easier to know what makes sense for what.
In the end, dont let us forget: They updated the Mini now even more for no costs, and you can get one used for about 400ā¬, thats a bargain for what this polyphonic machine can do. You just have to embrace how it works and not thinking in terms of like classic subtractive synth or so, but thats his character other wise it would be boring or lets say just another analog subtractive synth like there are already a lot of out there. Its his own thing which i think is cool.
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FYI, I go to (counterintuitively) Waveshaper or Bass for that 
but I understand itās not self-explanatory.
I feel the same way when I have to sort through samples to find a certain sound. I think once you use it more often, these things become second nature.
Yeah that was more of just a hypothetical example of how Minifreak can actually create some option paralysis. I actually find formant to be one of the most organic sounding oscillators.
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One approach Iāve explored is to create several of my own custom INIT patches for different starting points with custom modulations setup, but with zero value so I donāt have to continuously set that upā¦ e.g I like sweeping the wavetable with cycling envelopes, or have S&H type randomness from the keyboard mod source etc, so Iāve setup a few INIT patches with some of those modulations pre-set, and with my most common choice of oscillator combos saved and ready to go.
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Iāve ālearnedā to embrace the Minifreak as it is, but its layout, and the 3 controls on a UI concept does keep me from using it much. Itās my fault in a sense for not really getting it that it is its own thing when I demoād it.
It doesnāt map well to any of the other synths I use, so I canāt, for example, hear a sound in my head and make it happen on Minifreak no matter what I do, nor can I have a sound on Minifreak and āmap itā to something else, even something powerful and fully capable of getting into the same territory, like Peak.
I like Minifreak, and Iāll update it and put it back in the setup to see if it gels more and to check out the update. I do enjoy its āhappy accidentā abilities.
I think Iām just a classic āsubtractionistā ā and Minifreak just isnāt.
Though it is perfect for some bizarre happy accidents. In this sense, it reminds me of playing with Buchla (Arturiaās plugin version of Easel) but at least āsomewhatā subtractive. I canāt actually program Easel at all, but it sounds good and does happy accidents well also.
Iāve gotten more ideas on how to use it from this thread than anywhere else, so thanks for that. I like the ācustom init patchesā idea a lot.
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