Arturia MicroFreak
The MicroFreak is a synthesizer manufactured by French music technology company Arturia and released in 2019. Described as a "Hybrid Experimental Synthesizer", it uses 22 digital sound engines to synthesize raw tones. This digital oscillator is then fed into a multi-mode analog filter, giving the MicroFreak its hybrid sounds.
Sound engines
The MicroFreak has 22 distinct sound engines, which are:- Basic Waves – a standard synth voice using traditional waveforms
- Super Wave – a group of detuned waves,
- Harmonic – a form of additive synthesis where you set volumes of frequencies individually,
- Karplus-Strong – a physical modelling system to replicate string sounds,
- Wavetable – a method of synthesis where the waveform transitions through a table of different waveforms,
- Noise – various types of noise and static.
- Virtual Analogue – a standard subtractive synth voice,
- Waveshaper – a triangle wave that is repeatedly wavefolded,
- Frequency Modulation – a method of synthesis where a wave modulates the frequency of another wave,
- Formant – a form of granular synthesis,
- Chords – an engine that plays groups of notes paraphonically,
- Speech – a vocal synthesizer,
- Modal – a physical modelling engine that replicates the sound of hollow objects,
- Bass – another waveshaping algorithm specifically for basslines,
- Harm – a mixture of waveshaping and additive synthesis,
- SawX – a supersaw being phase modulated,
- Vocoder – a voice transformer similar to a talkbox,
- User Wavetable – an engine to use your own wavetables,
- Sample – an engine that plays back loaded samples,
- Scan Grain – a granular synthesizer that scans through a whole sample,
- Cloud Grain – a granular synthesizer that creates overlapping grains from a sample.
- Hit Grain – a granular synthesizer that creates percussive sounds from a sample.
Firmware updates
Arturia made available user installable firmware updates for the MicroFreak with additional features and improvements in the years after the original release.- 1.0 – MicroFreak released with this firmware
- 2.0 – Added noise engine, chord mode and scale quantisation
- 2.1.3 – Added vocoder engine. Vocoder edition released with this firmware.
- 3.0 – Added noise engineering oscillators, unison mode and more preset slots
- 4.0 – Added user wavetable engine and 64 more preset slots
- 5.0 – Added sample and grain engines, 128 more preset slots, and a sample and hold mode for keybed modulation. The Stellar edition released with this firmware.