The Arturia MicroFreak is the Perfect Synth for Me (2021 Review)

I review the Arturia MicroFreak, detailing why I love it and what makes it unique among budget synthesizers. This thing is very capable of pretty sounds and complete musical chaos, and hopefully the included sound demos show that.
Subscribe for more electronic music!

00:00 Intro
01:48 Synth Engines
04:33 Modulation
05:44 Generation
07:41 Gripes
09:43 Outro

My current favorite music production gear:

Note that some of the above links are affiliate links, which give me a commission (at NO extra cost to you!) if you use them to buy something.

Social media:

[TheScreamingFrog]

MicroFreak is also the gift that keeps giving, with each firmware update, that adds new synth engines, and features.
I am new to the GrooveBox style of making music, and am enjoining it very much.
My entry into that world, started with Volca Drum, Volca Sample 2, and continues with the Elektron Model:Cycles. Love the compact nature of this gear, means I can play in the sunshine.
Thanks for the content you post, and best wishes for your continued success.

[Jamslerr]

It is a phenomenal synth especially with any type of external effects. Pairing a 70CDR Zoom pedal with mono in, stereo out with a comp & eq on the pedal REALLY opens up the synth sound. Also the multiple digital oscillators are really unique for creating one shots. I have a free microfreak sample pack in the description of my video I just posted & will definitely be tweaking more drums out of this Micro synth.

[CoenBijpost]

I’m absolutely in love with my Freak. I’m gonna buy a korg nts-1 for the effects (and the awesome extendable synth, should I want to). That combo seems to be killer!

[ToyKeeper]

I've talked to a lot of people who have a Microfreak... and virtually everyone loves it. It's little, cheap, expressive, versatile, and sounds great. I've been very tempted to get one, even just as a controller because I love the flat keybed... and the synth features would be a nice bonus.

Or perhaps instead of a Microfreak, maybe someday I'll get a Polyfreak. Er, I mean, a Hydrasynth. It was the Microfreak creator's next project, and in some ways is a lot like an upgraded Microfreak.

[TheScreamingFrog]

The synth so nice, I bought it twice. Yea baby! Twin Freaks!
As others have posted, it is great to pair with a ZOOM 70CDR.
It sounds good, and is way fun to work with, for live performance, as well as recording in the studio.
It is also very portable, and can be played on a park bench, or in the back yard, for sunshine jamming.

The keyboard and ARP, are also good, for controlling my modular gear, like O-Coast and Neutrons.
I play the piano, so I dig traditional style keyboards, but the MicroFreak keyboard is way cool, for synth use, and I can do expressive things with it, that are not possible with a "normal" keyboard.

I added Korg Volca Drum, and Volca Sample 2, for a complete setup.
Easy to combine with other gear, as it has analog sync in/out, CV, Gate, and Aftertouch outputs.

MicroFreak is a superstar performer, at a budget price.
Hope you all have a wonderful day, full of sonic adventures :-)

[otisflick]

“I like cheap gear” then shows an OP-1. :D

[HotStrange]

The Microfreak is such a stupidly good value. It can do so much for so little. Love mine.

[floidacroid]

If you're looking for some really crazy sounds, then you can use external devices with the Microfreak's vocoder function.

For example, the Rode SC4 adapter can be plugged into the headphone jack, which turns the jack into an audio input, as is otherwise done with Arturia's gooseneck microphone.

[LesProductionsZvon]

I don't have many hardware synths or keyboards because I mainly use software but I bought a MicroFreak because it's unique (inexpensive too). I do enjoy it and I too would appreciate polyphony and internal FX. When I play it in a DAW, I add FX, some internal FX, even only a simple reverb, would be helpful when it's played by itself. But it's incredible what it already does and it's a great value.

[richnewman]

As soon as I heard Mutable Instruments was involved with this synth I purchased it. And I haven't been disappointed. MI is the reason you are getting the modular bits that you're enjoying out of this instrument. And it seems that they are still introducing new oscillator types with updates which is awesome. I'd recommend the MF for anyone needing a portable song writing machine or small synth for noodling.

[bkt-n-spd]

Microfreak is perfect for me too, great selection of sounds and the slow rate s&h/random lfo is glitchy, generative paradise ❤️

[jdoodah]

Just played mine for the first time today (with a strymon bluesky pedal - i think a good reverb is necessary) and i was immersed playing around for like 4 hours, blew me away. I updated the firmware first and wiped the presets to install the lofi, ambient etc ones that Arturia have available for free, i have an sh01a and dragging in preset banks and updating firmware was so easy compared to the boutique, and like 370 plus slots?? i didn't even get past the first 30 in 4 hrs. I was very on the fence but so happy to have this, amazing value and infinite possibilities almost, i don't know when i last was so impressed by a synth.

[MediaMusik]

It also brings alive my stale vsti with that keyboard touch

[Oooo-bibi]

Mine came in the post this morning. Surprised how small physically it is, but that’s a good thing. It’s mind boggling and it’s going to be fun. . Working it out. Mine was £259 used including delivery. Well worth buying.

[jeanfredericmartin]

It's a very nice synth. I had one but I had to sell it ultimately because it did not registered my heavy callous fingers from bass playing, it would skip a note every so often I had to let it go.

[lundsweden]

Great little feature packed synth, most importantly- it sounds good!

[sandyturner]

I'm not really a synth player. But I just got a Werkstatt, and a keystep. Now I'm thinking I'd like a stand alone synth that I can use with the Moog, and a delay, for recording, without having to use a software synth, unless I want to use one. I don't speak synth language at all, but I keep seeing people say that this is a good starter synth. This looks like it would eliminate the need for more Modules, at least for me. Thanks!

[Old_Man_Jay]

I have my eye on the microfreak and the minilogue xd. Can't wait to get my hands on either of them!

[DashGlitch]

One of my favourite synths based purely on versatility.

[DylanParisMusic]

Picked one up almost 2 weeks ago, really enjoying it! kinda tempted to swap it out for a Minilogue XD Module though.