Arturia MicroFreak

Arturia Microfreak is an experimental synth designed to be a quirky alternative to more conventional synths. It's got a touch capacitive poly-aftertouch flat keyboard which is unique to this device. Do note though that the keys can go a bit funny over time due to humidity and finger heat. Benn Jordan mentioned this in his gear tier list video where he says the sound from the Microfreak is amazing, but he'd never truly taken to the keyboard itself. I think it's fair to say it's an acquired taste. You sort of have to try it to know though.

It's four-note paraphonic, and whilst the construction is okay, I'd honestly take a bit more care with this than something more rugged. A Desksaver is going to be worth having for this one.

As I mentioned, the sound is really quirky and interesting - you've got a single digital oscillator with an analogue filter, and modes covering everything from wavetable to granular, formant, and way, way more. In my experience, the sound is a little thin and benefits massively from an effects pedal, as it doesn't come with any built-in effects. It's just a single raw oscillator, so it can sound quite dry.

It's pretty easy to use - you choose your oscillator type and play with three macro controls, which isn't the usual synth workflow. But actually, it makes experimenting with sound design straightforward, especially for beginners.

Overall, the Microfreak is a very solid, affordable option for anyone wanting hands-on synthesis or something genuinely different. It's not just for beginners - pros find that it has its uses too. The most obvious alternative I can think of has got to be the Minifreak, which has multiple oscillators, built-in effects, and a proper 37-key keyboard. If you want an all-in-one sound design workstation, that might be worth saving up for.

But for the money, it's very difficult to fault the Microfreak - and there's very little out there like it, especially if you like its quirks.

Lovely sounds, great depth of control, quick and easy to hook up over USB MIDI to work in Reaper, plays great alongside the Drumbrute Impact. The shell of the synth feels a little thin bit controls, keys, ins and outs all very sturdy. Using it for bass & pads in separate sections, sounds great for both. Spoiled with amazing presets and huge range of options to customise each sound or make your own from scratch. Built in sequencer takes a little getting used to but works well. Recommended keeping the manual handy while getting used to it. Only issue - no MIDI thru, nor does the in or out work as one. Would prefer normal MIDI connections and a thru, don't like the proprietary 3.5mm adapters for it, but if you're using USB MIDI for it then it makes no odds, it is completely functional that way instead.

the microfreak brigns a fresh look on fm and digital synthesis, with a different approach in terms of keyboard.

The synth has a ton of modulation options, and allows for a huge aray of sounds, including vowels and vocals.

The device is built well and handles accordingly.

The touch keyboard might take some getting used to but is very much to my liking. It can be played very fast and is really responsive.

On a down note the Microfreak lacks some punch at times in the overall mix, and the filter cut off seems to also lower the main volume of your sound too much.

Still this is a great deal, and for any synth enthousiast it is worth the money to give this little fella a try.

I'm still trying to getting use to it with everything.
not easy synthesizer for sound creation and sampling but that can work on different roles in your studio. first of all experiment with sound and signal path, very interesting modulation possibilities and of course sequencer to play with it.
sounds are not good that I expected maybe I expected more from this little beast. Pad sounds are great and very wavy nothing is stopping almost on this synth sounds are keep on moving every time some evolve happening. I need more time to use to this synth very small words to read and Arturia needs to create VST support like Moog did it to have more DAW syncronitize possibilities. Keys are strange and not too responsive as needed too, but maybe I should optimize sensitivities to more control over it.

Just about worth the money,

The good things are the wide range of sound generating models, the keyboard (suprisingly), the filter, the arpeggiator and the sequencer. The latter two being better than those found on synths costing 10 times the price. Its a lot of fun to play with too. Presets are good.

The bad things are the cheap and nasty plastic case which would have no chance of survival if dropped - the horribly tiny power switch which i think will wear out in time and the slightly flaky firmware which has forced me to reboot a couple of times since i got it.

It also seems to have an issue where it generates noise if I power it down when connected to an active audio channel on my mixer. This is probably an earthing issue which I dont have with any other gear I own. I can live with it - I just remember to deactivate the audio input on my mixer before i power down the microfreak.