Update Microfreak Firmware

[Kum Verna]

MicroFreaknow comes armed with a Vocoder oscillator engine. In this tutorial episode, Lena takes the new mode for a spin, demonstrating its combination of wild vocoding capabilities and complex digital sonic palette. There's new controls to explore, new settings to tweak, and a tonne of spicy new sounds at your disposal. Enjoy

In this quick overview, Guy covers the cool new features you'll find in the free firmware update of MicroFreak version 2.0. Cool new presets, a powerful new Noise oscillator, Chord mode, Scale quantization, and more. This is why we love digital synths: free, awesome updates!

Decimated waveforms, scanned sonic surfaces, and evolving 3D soundscapes - yours for free. Firmware V4.0 takes MicroFreak on a sonic expedition to the edge of wavetable synthesis, with a brand new engine, user wavetable compatibility, new presets, and more.

Lena gives you the guided tour of MicroFreak's explosive V5 firmware update, bringing sample import, a new Sample engine, 3 new Granular engines, and more - for free. Hear the new features in action and discover how they'll work for your Freaky flow.

Installed the 3.0.6 update on my Twin Freaks, today.

Love the new oscillators, great tone shaping options.

These are very good synths, even more so, at the price they sell for.

The mod matrix is so easy to use, and so powerful.

I ended up getting two, for stereo fun.

Sadly, I need to return my Arturia MicroFreak for a replacement. I have not had much time to evaluate the MicroFreak until this weekend, in spite of its arrival a month ago. The touch keyboard is very unresponsive before and after the firmware update. When notes do play, the sound is delayed by a few seconds regardless of the attack setting. Via MIDI with a controller, as I will mostly use the MicroFreak, it works fine.

One thing I would like to see in a future update is a way to move the sequence left and right by 1 step (similar to Elektrons with FUNC + arrows)

Also hoping they allow for unison mode on sequences - currently if you copy the ARP to SEQ, you loose the unison, which is unfortunate

Double the oscs? interactions between those two oscs? more complex filter? polyphonic filters? more extensive mod-matrix? integrated fx-that can be extensively addressed through the modmatrix? 3 octave?

Arturia have announced an upcoming firmware update for the MicroFreak which will introduce a range of new features including a new Sample Engine, three new granular synthesis engines and a new set of factory presets.

The new Sample Engine will come with a collection of factory samples which are ready to use, as well as allowing users to load in their own, supporting up to a maximum length of 24 seconds. It will also be possible to reverse samples by inputting a negative length value in the Sample Engine menu. Additionally, a whole host of new sonic options will be added with the update thanks to a trio of new four-voice granular synthesis engines: Cloud, Scan and Hit.

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Arturia has put a lot of love into the synth with constant free updates over the last few years. With these, the developer has massively increased the creative value of the synth. For Superbooth 23, the freak journey continues. Arturia probably shows the most significant and impressive update so far its MicroFreak. With firmware 5.0, they bring a 4-voice sampler engine with granular synthesis to the firmware and much more.

Before questions arise, the MicroFreak you see in the picture is the new Stellar special edition that will also be presented at Superbooth 23. A very nice, playful, and funny design. Just like the new firmware 5.0.

It adds four new engines to the algorithm list. First, you get a more or less traditional 4-voice sampler with the ability to tweak the sample length, etc. Powerful is that you can modulate everything and route it through the Oberheim-style analog filter. So you get a sampler plus an analog filter.

Next, you get three new granular engines you can explore with the built-in content or your custom samples. It offers a scan grains engine that goes in the direction of vintage time-stretching. Then, the cloud grains is more the classic granular engine with an addition chaos generator. Third and last is the hit grains engine which is made for percussive and clicky sounds. Very unique.

It took me 3 tries to be able to update the firmware on my black Freak. It would always freeze, until I unplugged the power cable and left only the USB connected. Not sure it was mentioned somewhere on the manual.

If you have issues with updating try that.

Thanks! However, unless I am missing something, this only displays the Patch Preset but not the Digital Oscillator > Type page. I was hoping there was a way to pull up the Digital Oscillator Type page without it advancing to the next Digital Oscillator Type.

Hi all ,

Sorry if Im posting in the wrong place but hopefully you can help. I ran the output from a microfreak into

audio in on my Norns Shield( no midi ) and with no script running . When I pressed a key on the Microfreak the sound was all over the place. I tried it on its own thinking it may be the actual keybed but that was fine . Its almost like mulitple notes are being triggered, like a sequence is running ( it definately not a sequence running) Any ideas?

This soundbank contains 20 patches for the MicroFreak and 21 patches for the MS-70CDR. All the MicroFreak patches use the Cloud Grains oscillator that was introduced in MicroFreak firmware version 5.0, loaded with one of the 12 custom-made morphing samples that are included in this soundbank. The Cloud Grains oscillator uses granular synthesis to play small loops from the sample, with different timbres depending on the grain position, which can be tweaked and modulated.

Each MicroFreak patch is designed with its own MS-70CDR effect patch, treating the two boxes as one integrated instrument. Those who own both the MicroFreak and the MS-70CDR can load the matching patches on each box and play them together. The MS-70CDR effect patch will also work well with other synths, so if you don't have a MicroFreak, you'll be able to have fun with just the effects. The effect chain for each patch is described in the booklet, so if you have a MicroFreak but no MS-70CDR, you can have a go at recreating the effect chain using other hardware or software effects - or just play with the MicroFreak patches as they are.

Since its 2019 debut, the hugely popular MicroFreak has evolved exponentially, with special editions, numerous firmware updates, and brand new sound engines - now, MicroFreak Stellar combines all three in the biggest update yet.

With a bold & quirky new aesthetic inspired by all things space, this special little synth will launch with exciting new firmware that introduces granular processing and sampling to the Freak ecosystem!

Arturia has announced a limited-edition version of the MicroFreak Stellar which will be on show at Superbooth 23. This new addition to the MicroFreak family features a bold and quirky new aesthetic inspired by all things space and cooky synth design, along with new firmware that introduces granular processing and sampling to the Freak ecosystem.

This update brings forward the ability to load user samples onto the MicroFreak. While there is already a factory library of samples to use, users can easily browse through them by clicking three times on the preset encoder and using the Type knob to navigate the Sample Engine. Once in Sample Browsing mode, users can try out the Wave (start point), Timbre (length/reverse length), and Shape (loop length) controls on the Sample Engine to create unique sounds.

In addition to the new sampling engine, the update also includes three new granular engines: Cloud, Scan, and Hit modes. Each engine offers a unique way to explore granular synthesis, with controls for grain start position, density and size of grains, and chaos control, among others. Users can have endless fun experimenting with different samples and engines to create new sounds.

The new firmware also includes several other features to play around with, including 64 new factory presets and the ability to import your own samples up to 24 seconds using MIDI Control Center. Users can also try out random per-key modulation, snappier envelopes, and modulating sample start to create expressive patches.

The Cloud engine looks to be mint for creating lush pads, while the Scan engine allows for vintage time stretch effects that sound straight out of a sci-fi movie. The Hit engine is great for building percussive or clicky patches, while reversing samples using the Sample Engine can lead to interesting and unexpected results.

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Despite the new look, the MicroFreak Stellar Edition still offers the same great features that musicians have come to love. The touch keyboard with 25 keys and polyphonic aftertouch is still there, along with the orange knobs and small OLED display. The synth still boasts various digital oscillator engines and an analog state variable filter that can be switched between low-pass, band-pass, and high-pass characteristics.

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