Electronic Musician

Arturia MiniFreak

$630

arturia.com

Strengths

  • Multitudeofexcellent digital synthesis engines
  • Digitaleffectshelp bring sounds to life
  • Canbeused as a processor for external audio (with some very fun results!)

Limitations

  • -Lacksthedepthof some rival digital synths, in places

Launched in 2019, Arturia's MicroFreak was a bit of an outlier – a proudly digital instrument arriving at the end of a decade dominated by affordable analog. The same can't be said about the MiniFreak. Between the likes of Korg's Wavestate, Opsix and Modwave, Modal's Cobalt and Argon synths, and Elektron's Digitone, we're arguably in the midst of a new golden age of digital hardware synths. Whereas MicroFreak undercut much of the competition, the Mini's price sees it going head-to-head with all the instruments mentioned above as well as the likes of ASM's Hydrasynth Explorer.

Despite this increased competition though, Arturia's latest Freak still feels like a unique entity. The marketing

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from Electronic Musician

Electronic Musician2 min read
Effects
Out of all the modules available, effects units are possibly the most widely varied. These come in many styles and types, so let's deal with a few of the most common here. Perhaps the most widely used is reverb. Spring reverbs, whether digital emulat
Electronic Musician1 min readMusic
The Brothers Nylon – Funk & Soul Variations 2 $37
New York's twin bro funkateers are back with a badass follow up to their debut deep funk sample pack. Fans of the first and its vintage tape-warmed grooves will be hopping on that good foot over this latest instalment of heavyweight live playing and
Electronic Musician1 min read
Splice – MXXWLL Sounds Vol. 1 From $7.99/month
Maxwell Bidstrup, known in his native Sydney as MXXWLL, delights with his G-funk friendly rap compositions. Outside Oz, his beats have turned heads of US OGs like Snoop and Jazzy Jeff, thanks to his slick synth skills. On this, the first of his new a

Related