MINIFREAK (hardware) Review
You can read my full review of the MiniFreak V software here: https://www.databroth.com/blog/minifreak-v-review
You can read my review of the MicroFreak here: https://www.databroth.com/blog/arturia-microfreak-review
If you’d like to purchase a MIniFreak from ZZounds, consider using my affiliate link: https://www.zzounds.com/item--ARAMINIOFREAK?siid=254966
With Arturia’s latest update to the MiniFreak, I decided to break it out again and finally give it a video. With this new update and having spent a couple days using it again, I figured I should finally write this review as well. Seeing as I’ve already covered the MicroFreak and the MiniFreak V software.
I bought the MiniFreak anticipating this update, so I’m glad it is finally out. You can now import user samples and wavetables and play them back from oscillator 1. This is a lot more common now than it used to be, but from what I can tell, granular synth engines are still somewhat rare in hardware at this price point, especially when you consider all the other engines included in the “freaks”. User wavetables combined with the built in OTT effect (also rare for HW) will make this a pretty killer bass machine.
As for the physical unit, the MiniFreak uses a “wall wart”, at this price and with this form factor I’d have preferred an in-line power supply. Luckily I have almost no gear that requires wall warts, but still, it takes a bit of the magic away for me. Also, none of the outputs are labelled on top, which does look nicer, but you forces you look completely behind to see where to plug things. With how slim this synth is, it’s actually kinda difficult to see around back. The mini keys are fun, this is the main reason I went for the "mini instead of the micro, they just feel a bit more natural than touch strips. I will say, the “pressure” on the touch strips was really fun, and I actually completely forgot that the MiniFreak even has aftertouch, I wish I’d have explored that in my video.
The knobs all feel great, not particularly amazing, but they don’t feel bad by any means. The encoders also all feel good. I don’t mind the touch buttons, I always prefer physical buttons, but at least these are silent compared to the few physical buttons that are found here. I really like the mod matrix, it’s incredibly visual and the three assignable slots are actually pretty fun to use. I also really appreciated having a “hold” button, which allows you to hold a chord and play around with the various controls using both hands.
I chose to lean into more experimental sound design, playing with samples from my various sample packs. I found the grain cloud engine to be a lot of fun. Loading in textural samples with the grain cloud made for some very dynamic and interesting textures that I’m used to hearing only in software. Speaking of the software, I actually did most of my sound design using the software and transferring everything over to the hardware. I did this mainly because I didn’t want to manage sample space on the HW, so I did all my sample experimentation “in the box” first. I’ll have to spend more time with it before I can speak of the storage size and the hybrid integration, but for what I needed it for, it worked great.
I will say, don’t get your hopes up too high with the grain modes. Most of them are very similar, playing more on the micro-looping style grain sound. The grain clouds and freeze are very much the main attractions here. Some of the other modes are cool, but end up more useful for rhythmic design. What’s really fun though is running the grain engine into the comb filter. The second oscillator (which doesn’t have grain or wavetable modes) has a few engines that actually process oscillator 1. Running a fun textural grain cloud into the comb filter acts as a really cool exciter/resonator pair.
I also played around a bit with the vocoder, which I think was added already in a previous update. enjoyed the “self” mode, which gives just a touch of spectral processing to the MiniFreak.
I think when you consider just how much modulation the MiniFreak gives you, the fairly robust FX section that includes a vocoder, all the various oscillator modes including wavetable/granular, the fact that osc 2 can act as a processor, and a full fledged built in sequencer, the MiniFreak really becomes quite an interesting hardware synth. It packs so much into a small package. I don’t have much space for hardware, really I don’t have any space for a hardware setup at all, so it’s rare for me to actually want to keep hardware around. I find a lot of hardware to feel quite limited compared to software, I get really used to the wide variety of sound design potential that plugins offer, and I feel the MiniFreak not only replicates this variety very well, but even offers enough unique stuff to be cool software in its own right.