Whether you’ve got the hardware keyboard, the software plug-in, or both, Arturia has dropped a major V2 update with an all-new wavetable engine, new effects, and more. This is also part of today’s V Collection X update.
Arturia has dueling small ‘Freaks now, and the problem (if it’s a problem) is that they’re both pretty excellent. MicroFreak, the original and smaller of the two, is up to a V5 update as of May. V4 in 2021 added custom waveables to its already nice wavetable engine.
Now the bigger MiniFreak gets its own wavetable engine, and since it’s available in both hardware and software, you can get the new goodies in both. Here’s what’s in Mini V2, and I if I don’t confuse “mini” and “micro” in the first draft of this story, I get a cookie. (My past record is – mega-notgreat. I’m concentrating.)
New engine: Wavetable. 32 wavetables, with 64 patches, on oscillator 1. No user wavetables at this point, but that’s added to a ton of engine possibilities already onboard.
New FX: Super Unison. Start with any patch and turn it into a supersaw, by stacking six copies on top of a dry signal. (Come to think of it, I may separately patch this up on a software modular; it’s a nice idea.)
Custom LFO enhancements. Set LFO rate to a single step or the entire Shaper curve – so the latter opens up some ambient-ish and larger morphing possibilities.
Hardware access to favorites. (Hardware only) Now hit SHIFT + SAVE to bring up a favorites panel, where you can save top picks (save + sequencer slot to save). Then step sequencer buttons pull up your favorite patches.
New Sound Store. (Software only.) There’s now an in-app preset patch – you get three free banks of 32 patches total at launch, and can opt-in to buy two paid banks.
I’m not sure everyone will love in-app patch purchases or not, but the other features look great. Additionally:
- Macro Edit enhancements
- Osc Freerun OFF
- Clock Send / Transport Send with toggles (hardware only)
- MIDI CC7 now assigned to volume
I’ll be honest: I am still kind of on Team Micro rather than Team Mini – it’s just so darned cute, and I love all its extra weird features, plus now user wavetables and granular options. But you do get a ton of engines in this thing already, as well as deep modulation and stereo effects. The new additions are welcome, and they’ve reminded me to fire up the plug-in again. Plus at 599 (USD/EUR), this remains one of the better values in synths, full stop. That would come without any caveats at all, were it not for the delicious sibling rivalry with Micro.
And … oh, I think I did win a cookie. I’ll wait a few minutes, though, to see if someone corrects me on something.
Solid overview of what’s new:
MiniFreak is available from Perfect Circuit – including a little bit of savings if you opt for their demo sale, available as I write this:
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MiniFreak Hybrid Polyphonic Keyboard Synthesizer
MiniFreak Polyphonic Hybrid Keyboard Synthesizer – demo sale
And they’ve got a Decksaver for it as well.
Or there’s the Micro:
MicroFreak Digital / Analog Hybrid Synthesizer
Oh, uh, yeah, I actually should gift myself the vocoder mic, which they have for MicroFreak, too.