is the Verge’s weekend editor. He’s covered the tech industry for complete 18 years and knows a item or two concerning synths.
Arturia is adding to its Freak row of proudly weird digital synths alongside the MiniFreak 49. Under the hood, it’s nearly identical to the current MiniFreak, but it adds a figure of additional expert features and several interface improvements.
The most noticeable alter is that, fairly than the MiniFreak’s 37 minikeys or the MicroFreak’s 25 “key” touchplate, the MiniFreak 49 has (as you may have guessed) 49 full-sized, semi-weighted keys. Though it’s slightly disappointing that they characteristic lone mono aftertouch alternatively of polyphonic aftertouch. It additionally trades the touchstrips of the another Freak instruments for appropriate aluminum throw and mod wheels.
The MiniFreak 49 additionally has a larger LCD than its siblings and dedicated controls for its two audio engines, so you don’t have to toggle between them. Like the MiniFreak, it offers complete 30 digital oscillator types, all alongside analog filters. It additionally adds audio-rate display FM for equal freakier appears and has 256MB of retention for person samples and wavetables, which were fair added to the first MiniFreak in a firmware update final month.
Lastly, there’s a new XYZ touchpad that not lone replaces the mod matrix’s intuitive but dilatory knob-based interface, but additionally adds achievement features and speeds up preset browsing. You can rub through presets, authority macros, manipulate the filter, and more.
MiniFreak 49 is accessible now alongside an MSRP of $849, although the street cost is apt to be lower.
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