Well I understand the sentiment but it’s pretty far from a Peak in reality, but it’s still a cool synth.
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Agreed. It’s definitely not on par with the bigger flagships out there as a complete package.
It’s incredibly powerful for the price, and some features do actually rival some features in “bigger” synths though. It’s quite impressive really. Slap a real keybed on there, and it would be another step closer.
The digital side of it is as good as most digital synths out there feature to feature.
While the filters sound good on the Freaks, I do think they could be made to have a little bit more character within the same topology. I’d be interested to know what type of integrators they use, what type of caps in the integrators, how the resonance loop is limited, if you can overdrive the input a bit, etc. It’s a nice filter, but on the uFreaks that I had, it seemed a bit tame. I like a clean filter, but I like it to be able to bubble and buzz a bit if pushed as well.
The industrial design isn’t BAD exactly, but it could also be a lot better IMO. That’s aesthetics though, and down to taste. Like some nicer knobs, cleaner panel layout, simple lines, etc. would go a long way.
Edit: Just watched AudioPilz’ video about the MicroFreak. He was getting some nice bubble and drive out of the filter, so it’s apparent that I didn’t push much when I had mine, or I just don’t remember. 
I think I was busier with the oscillators/generators at the time.
Anyway, that sort of negates my comments about bubble, grit, and drive above.
Pretty impressed actually. Would love to hear more of that, only with the polyphony on the Mini.
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Agreed, I’d much rather pair this up with my digitakt than the syntakt.
Stroh Freak incoming? 
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Seems not so deep though…
I’d love to take a crack at a poly.
The only thing is, I don’t (after numerous attempts at learning) code. I do know lots of excellent programmers, but they tend not to work on things like MCUs, or interfacing via a lot of A to D and D to A etc. I have begun partnerships with a few in the past that DO this type of programming, but something always happens where one side or the other can’t devote as much time to it eventually. So nothing has ever completely worked out on that front.
I’ve actually designed voice boards, (or voice sections for larger boards) with a poly synth in mind. At least for an analog poly. But would still need digital components to control everything, handle tuning, etc.
It would be really cool to do a complete digital/analog hybrid that not only had the digital tone generation, but also analog VCOs, analog mixing, filters and VCAs. Something that could do a bit of everything interchangeably. Maybe like a modern day Sunsyn.
That said, I can’t quite keep up with my current demand, so who knows if I’ll ever have time for something like this.
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Aesthetically, the industrial design is definitely more on the Cybertruck side of things. Well-executed with a strong voice that can be a bit polarizing. I’d love a Hydrasynth with that level of industrial design – ASM has some of the best UX design in the industry, but their visual design (especially with regard to panel typography) is sorely lacking.
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I like the Hydra design a lot. It’s basically a modern Oberheim Xpander. I think the color scheme could have been tweaked a little bit, but overall I like the organization and visual aspects. Maybe not the logo section of the Deluxe so much, but I always set things on that side anyway.
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Was browsing for Arturia videos, anyone remember Rebecca from Arturia? Come to think of it, some familiar faces at the Trade/Exhibition shows were not seen anymore.
an unlisted 17min YouTube presentation by arturia. At on point he mentions that you can even modulate the type of oscillator.
As there is some confusion: Osc 1 & 2 mostly share the same oscillator types, but OSC2 can also be configured to process Osc 1 like a filter, bit crusher or fm.
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Syntakt owner here who’s in total agreement. Love my syntakt and the song mode update is great, it now runs my bands live sets along with a sampler and a db-01. But most tracks where I’m using the the syntakts sound engine sound so weak. Big reason why I’ve decided to get this really. I do hope syntakt gets some distortion.
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Elektron becomes a little bit like Native Instruments. There is so much potential but they just don‘t listen to the user base enough.
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They’ve done some great things, I definitely bought that syntakt and it’s the hardest working member of the band for a reason. But for me I just can’t see why they didn’t add an actual distortion? I get a lot of people seem to love the warmth of the drive but it’s really not the same. So many of the sounds lean into this crunchy sound but they seem to be limited by the lack of actual grit.
Whilst I’m on the topic, the limited FX is kind of odd as well, assume its a future update?
This is all why I had to pull the plug immediately. The moment I heard the demos it was clear minifreak was made with those harsh industrial sounds in mind, endless amounts of distortion goes a long way.
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I saw xilinx dev boards arise, they emulated NES, Mega Drive etc, i thought such a board is providing low latency configurable hardware, where 16 bit isnt a problem, this as digital fx unit would be ace, or as digital voltage cintroller, with really low latency, they come in raspberry pi format, have usb /hdmi etc, combined with some dac would be really handy for such a project.
https://www.analog.com/en/design-notes/multiple-output-range-16bit-dac.html
And allows iterating the hardware process, the dev board comes with an arm core aswell, with digtal encoders, that would allow nano second latencys for the user interface, audio rate LFO etc
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I tend to agree with this, although as weve been through I didn’t get with the sound when I had the xpander as an alternative. Now I don’t (sadness) I may return to it…
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I’m on the fence on this. I like the MicroFreak, partly because of its diminutive size, but the amount of patches that are available, the general quirkiness, the different oscillators, and the overall flow.
At $600, that’s in ASM Hydra Explorer territory, or If quirky sound is sought I get that one of the FX on the MicroFreak is a Bit Crusher- That makes total sense). The other alternative is the Twisted Electrons MegaFM.
I am somewhat inclined to pick one up, but still thinking about it.
As a recent Hydra Explorer owner and a longer-term Microfreak one, I’m not rushing to buy the Minifreak, though I think it looks like a great answer to a lot of what people wanted from a follow-up. That’s for a few reasons beyond not being able to just get all the synths. While I like the variety of engines available (which increases with the mini), I always seem to want a little more control over each. I also have a few effects pedals around so the on-board effects aren’t a huge draw.
The things that draw me into using the Micro are its portability and the expressiveness of the controller in conjunction with the mod matrix, which are the things the Mini skips out on. So for my part, I don’t regret mixing things up a bit and going with the Hydra. The MegaFM also looks pretty neat, though I’d personally want more algorithms, it’s definitely a flavorful synth and a good way to expand the pallette of sounds you have available.
Anyway hopefully that helps you decide. If you want more of the same but improved and won’t miss the funky keys, it could be worth a trade but more variety might be a good thing if the Micro is a keeper.
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Thanks for this - your thoughts from an ASM user. are well described 
The gltchiness and the artifacts that seems to be what Arturia wants to be the signature character of the sonic pallet of the MicroFreak and MiniFreak product line. It’s actually appealing, and if you are a fan of Bit Crusher, and distortion pedals, this might be an obvious synth to add to your quiver. Kudos, it’s a well designed advancement from the product team at Arturia, But I think there are other candidates to consider.
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Has any body complained about this not having a built in sampler yet?
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