Arturia MiniFreak 49 - SonicLAB Presentation

Tom from Arturia came to show us the brand new MiniFreak 49, the latest instrument in the company's Freak range.  Its as an evolution of the MicroFreak and MiniFreak line, keeping the hybrid synthesis architecture while adding a larger keybed, interface and more direct control.

MiniFreak 49 is a six-voice hybrid synthesizer with 49 full-size keys, 12-voice in paraphonic mode. It has a new capacitive touch matrix that works for modulation routing, preset selection, Freak Control modes, visualization, and custom LFO editing. Its a real step up in terms of UI and usability.

There are more knobs and buttons - separate oscillator controls, dedicated access to oscillator types, a sample loading page, physical pitch and mod wheels, and a KeyLab MkIII-derived keybed with channel aftertouch. 

The Minifreak 49 sample engine supports user samples up to six seconds via MiniFreak V software (the plugin version that comes  free with the hardware), with sample playback and granular modes. It also includes a dedicated filter FM front panel control, with oscillator one or two acting as the FM source for the analogue filter. Other sonic additions include true stereo voice spread, three effects slots, a vocoder, external audio processing, and oscillator two as a processor for oscillator one.

Connections include USB-C for data and MIDI, sustain, clock in/out with reset, audio input, headphones, MIDI in/out/thru, and external 12V power.

As with all the Freak range, Arturia will no doubt be adding features via their much appreciated, regular (and free) firmware upgrades, we understand that there's some headroom in memory and DSP to play with. 

Minifreak 49 should be in the stores imminently  priced at £699.

Key Moments
00:00:00 Introduction and MiniFreak 49 overview
00:01:37 Touch matrix and preset navigation
00:04:04 Direct controls, samples and firmware
00:05:22 Filter FM
00:08:01 Stereo spread, effects and vocoder
00:10:46 Freak Control modes
00:14:21 Custom LFO shaping
00:16:32 Aftertouch and effects types
00:21:14 Connections and oscillator background
00:24:02 Arpeggiator and sequencer workflow

More Info: https://www.arturia.com

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