Arturia MicroFreak Hybrid Synthesizer Ex-Display

Arturia MicroFreak Hybrid Synthesizer Ex-Display Overview

Arturia MicroFreak Paraphonic Hybrid Synthesizer

Experimental Hybrid Synth

A digital synth like no other, MicroFreak is a peculiar, exceptional instrument that rewards the curious musician. It blends wavetable and digital oscillators with analog filters. It features a unique poly-aftertouch flat keyboard. It adds controlled randomness to sequences. This isn’t a revolution, it’s a mutiny.

A touch of madness This out-there little music machine features a versatile digital oscillator so you can create rare and interesting sounds with ease. Modes like Texturer, KarplusStrong, Harmonic OSC, and Superwave give adventurous musicians the chance to explore totally new, unheard possibilities. Like having dozens of synths in just one instrument, both wild-eyed newcomers and seasoned professionals will fall in love with MicroFreak’s flexible, powerful synth engine.

While it can be fun to play with yourself, things can get more exciting when there’s two.

We love to collaborate, so we’re exciting to bring you the first collaboration between Arturia and acclaimed modular synth pioneers Mutable Instruments. Among the multiple modes of MicroFreak’s synth engine, you’ll be able to select the much-loved Plaits oscillator and with added paraphony.

Now you can enjoy the same otherworldly sounds, the same modes, and with the same parameter controls as the iconic Eurorack module, but from a self-contained, performable hardware synth.

Inspired by the trailblazing 12-dB Oberheim SEM filter, you can make MicroFreak’s filter scream or whisper to taste. The filter is state-variable, and can even auto-oscillate! You can use this is any way you like, from taking the edge of the razor-sharp wavetable sounds, or automating the cutoff by modulating it with keyboard pressure or the in-built sequencer.

Record up to four automations, edit notes per step or use the innovative Spice and Dice sequencer functions to find happy accidents. Add randomisation to create evolving, original patterns, and virtually rewire and reconfigure its signal chain and controls with the 5x7 modulation matrix.

That’s a funny looking keyboard That’s right, it is. It isn’t really even a keyboard. It’s a PCB. Super-flat, with no moving parts. Will it track lightning-fast synth solos? You bet. Better than a traditional keyboard, actually. Will it let you be expressive? Of course, it’s not only pressure sensitive, but also offers poly-aftertouch. This means each key can control parameters in a different way depending on how much you touch. You can also use its USB, MIDI, and CV outputs to control instruments in your DAW and modular synths. This also means that you can also use MicroFreak as a controller to experience polyphonic aftertouch with cutting edge software instruments.