On top of announcing KeyLab Essential 88 and KeyStep Pro at NAMM 2020, French audio pioneers Arturia have also revealed a surprise update to their incredibly popular MicroFreak digital synth.
The MicroFreak 2.0 update adds several exciting new features and functions, refines some existing ones, and fixes a few minor bugs.
New Features
- New Noise oscillator: morph between particle noise, white noise, and a metallic noise that’s reminiscent of a synth cymbal. An exciting new voice that will open up powerful new
drum and percussion possibilities in MicroFreak. - Chord Mode: by holding the Paraphony button and playing some notes, you program the chord, then replay the shape with a single key.
- Scale quantization: In the Utility settings, you can activate scale quantization to your favorite scale. When activated, the “white notes” on the keyboard play whichever scale
you have selected. No more wrong notes! - Sequencer streamlining: in 2.0 firmware update, you’re now able to easily copy
- Pattern A to Pattern B in an instant.
- Matrix initialize: before 2.0 firmware update, if you wanted to clear the Matrix of all routings, you’d have to manually do it. Now you can just hold the Shift and perform a long
press on the encoder, and it will clear! - 64 New Presets: Loads of exciting sounds to explore using the new oscillator and features.
Improvements
- MicroFreak now displays visual feedback even when Local Control is off.
- The synth’s Local Control now also translates USB to MIDI Out.
- The release of currently playing presets are now cleared when switching to a new one.
- The Record LED now blinks on each beat, instead of on 16ths.
Thanks to MicroFreak’s digital mind, the team at Arturia will be able to offer more exciting updates and improvements like this over time, ensuring that MicroFreak is always fresh and relevant. To update your synth, simply connect it to your computer, load up the Arturia MIDI Control Center, and hit the “update” button for MicroFreak.