Arturia MiniFreak User Manual Download Page 9

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2. SETUP AND INSTALLATION

2.1. Powering the MiniFreak

The MiniFreak uses an external power adapter. Do not use any power supply or adapter

other than the one provided by Arturia. Arturia accepts no responsibility for damage caused

by use of an unauthorized power supply.

Do not place this product in a place or position where one might walk on, trip over, or

roll anything over power cords or connecting cables. The use of an extension cord is not

recommended. However, if you must use one, make sure that the cord has the ability to

handle the maximum current needed by this product (12V / 1A). Please consult a local

electrician for more information on your power requirements. This product should be

used only with the components supplied or recommended by Arturia. When used with

any components, please observe all safety markings and instructions that accompany the

accessory products.

2.2. Notice

The manufacturer’s warranty does not cover service charges incurred due to a lack of

knowledge relating to how a function or feature works (when the unit is operating as

designed); reading the manual is the owner's responsibility. Please study this manual

carefully and consult your dealer before requesting service.

2.3. Register your Instrument

Registering your instrument establishes your legal ownership, which entitles you to access

the Arturia Technical Support service, and to be informed of updates. Additionally, you

can subscribe to the Arturia newsletter to be informed of Arturia-related news as well

as promotional offers. Connect to your

Arturia account

, go to the section “My Products”,

and click on "Register New Product" to add the MiniFreak synthesizer by entering its serial

number and unlock code, as printed on the sticker located under the machine. It will also

allow you to download and activate your MiniFreak V software bundled with the hardware

unit for preset management and DAW integration.

Arturia - User Manual MiniFreak - Setup and Installation

Summary of Contents for MiniFreak

Page 1: ...USER MANUAL _MINIFREAK...

Page 2: ...RD Red Means Recording Solidtrax Yuli Yolo QUALITY ASSURANCE Arnaud BARBIER Matthieu BOSSHARDT Bastien HERVIEUX Emilie JACUSZIN Germain MARZIN Aur lien MORTHA Nicolas NAUDIN Benjamin RENARD Roger SCHU...

Page 3: ...t The software license agreement specifies the terms and conditions for its lawful use No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any purpose other than purchaser s pers...

Page 4: ...lifier headphones or speakers may be able to produce sound levels that could cause permanent hearing loss DO NOT operate for long periods of time at a high level or at a level that is uncomfortable If...

Page 5: ...g into the instrument as this could cause a fire or electrical shock Do not spill any kind of liquid onto the instrument In the event of a malfunction always take the instrument to a qualified service...

Page 6: ...0 6 2 Elements of filter design and their controls 41 6 3 Developing a feel for the filter 43 7 Digital Effects 44 7 1 The Digital Effects section 44 7 2 The Effects Types 46 8 The Modulation Matrix 5...

Page 7: ...2 The Arpeggiator 86 14 3 Sequencer 88 14 4 Modulation sequence lanes 94 15 The Utility Menu 97 15 1 Control and navigation 97 15 2 The Utility menus 97 16 External Control MIDI and Clock Signals 101...

Page 8: ...an extra three stage envelope or as a looping waveform with a variety of complex shapes This is in addition to a set of two Low Frequency Oscillators LFO with multiple waveshapes and the ability to sy...

Page 9: ...ts 2 2 Notice The manufacturer s warranty does not cover service charges incurred due to a lack of knowledge relating to how a function or feature works when the unit is operating as designed reading...

Page 10: ...firmware The MiniFreak s firmware contains the instrument s Operating System OS its brain Upgrades to the firmware allow Arturia to add new features or fix problems It s worth checking the latest firm...

Page 11: ...ue on the panel of your MiniFreak An encoder steps through specific settings one by one Usually encoders have a second click turn or click push function activated by pressing the encoder often these w...

Page 12: ...a modulation amount is set to anything other than zero since the LED for that connection will be lit Learn more in the Modulation Matrix chapter p 7 3 1 2 Oscillators These controls give you rapid ac...

Page 13: ...o more detail in the Analog Filter chapter p 40 3 1 4 Digital Effects The Digital Effects section is quite similar in operation to the Oscillators section Select chooses whether the controls affect FX...

Page 14: ...k to access the Scale p 77 configuration page on the display The Glide knob sets the glide or portamento time the amount of time it takes for the pitch to change between the last played note and the n...

Page 15: ...ter p 15 Panel makes all the parameters values jump to their current physical position Since digital knobs and encoders can automatically update their values when you change patches but analog knobs c...

Page 16: ...velopes chapter p 65 3 1 9 Envelope The Envelope section has controls for a traditional 4 stage ADSR envelope Attack Decay Sustain Release The Envelope defaults to controlling the VCAs for amplitude c...

Page 17: ...ety of other functions including LFO Edit p 57 Controls for sequence length and selecting pages of longer sequences as well as the Shapes for the LFO Edit p 57 There s a lot to go over here we ll save...

Page 18: ...lation source use shift touch to enable the vibrato Macros M1 M2 blue LEDs lets the strips control two Macros p 80 which collect multiple control movements into one shift touch takes you into Macro As...

Page 19: ...B Standard USB Type B Sustain Pedal Input 1 4 6 35 mm TS Clock In Clock Out Reset Out 3 5 mm TRS for Clock In Out TS for Reset Out Audio In 1 4 TS Audio Left Out Right Out 1 4 TRS stereo balanced Head...

Page 20: ...g you tools to quickly find the sounds you want 4 1 Preset controls The center of the MiniFreak s front panel has all needed controls for Preset management The Save button and the all important Preset...

Page 21: ...ave the following optional operations in this order Choose a new destination slot for the edited Preset leaving the current Preset as it was when it was last saved Change the Preset Type Rename the Pr...

Page 22: ...for other Preset designs For example if you create a great sweeping pad sound but you d like to try it with different effects or filter settings save the original as a Template so you can find it quic...

Page 23: ...ound Edit button gives access to a Preset function menu with two available functions View Snapshots shows a list of Snapshots of previous edits which can be reloaded to recover from mistakes you could...

Page 24: ...e previously copied settings into a Preset This menu also allows you to swap all the settings for any two of the Digital Effects p 8 without having to do it by hand Osc 1 or 2 FX 1 2 or 3 Sequence Mod...

Page 25: ...it s not only possible to use them as two oscillators but also for one Oscillator to modulate the other one or do even more cool tricks Osc 2 takes advantage of this by providing some extra models tha...

Page 26: ...cillator Type Just remember we re always describing Wave Timbre and Shape in that order This is especially important because a couple of the Oscillator models use the word Type and Shape but not neces...

Page 27: ...to a sawtooth wave 50 to a double sawtooth that sounds an octave higher 100 Sym When Morph 50 a pure sawtooth this control has no effect When Morph is set below 50 Sym changes the pulse width of the...

Page 28: ...harmonics that get louder or softer over time Every sound we hear whether natural or electronic is made up of a very large number of sine waves that change their individual volumes in relation to one...

Page 29: ...it Any drummer can tell you that striking the center of a drumhead vs near the edge will produce a very different sound Position simulates that effect This knob doesn t affect the Bow sound Decay cont...

Page 30: ...ered by Don Buchla in the 1970s does what it sounds like it takes the top and bottom of a waveform and folds it back on itself rather than simply clipping it off as one might hear on a wave being run...

Page 31: ...e two operators Ratios like 2 1 an octave or 1 5 1 a perfect fifth will produce relatively clean sets of harmonics while other ratios will create inharmonic timbres Amount changes the modulation index...

Page 32: ...sample A formant is a resonant frequency that remains fixed even when the pitch of the overall sound changes Formants are the reason why male and female voices sound fundamentally different and banks...

Page 33: ...be moved one octave higher to an E above the high C second inversion and so on The chord will always be a C Major but the order of the notes will change Waveform selects the waveform of the Oscillator...

Page 34: ...and sub libraries so you can simply choose what you want to speak sing Type chooses the library of sounds These include several sets of formants creating vowels and diphthongs ai ow etc followed by l...

Page 35: ...r creates sounds like this then adds the function of damping shortening the length of time the sound continues resonating after being excited Examples include a palm mute on a guitar or touching a dru...

Page 36: ...riangle wave to noise square wave 5 2 13 Bass The BASS Oscillator models a pair of waves a sine wave and a cosine wave a sine wave that s been moved in phase so that when the sine is at 0 the cosine i...

Page 37: ...ion Noise controls how much the noise signal modulates the sawtooth At higher values this adds a faint radio noise randomness 5 2 15 Harm The HARM Oscillator starts with a fundamental frequency and ad...

Page 38: ...ion and also follows the keyboard tracking Noise sets the level of added noise You can then adjust the audio input level in the Utility Audio Audio In Gain to avoid clipping When set correctly the Fol...

Page 39: ...he frequencies of two audio signals are replaced by sums and differences of their two frequencies For example if you put two sine waves at 200 and 500 Hz through a ring modulator you will hear two sin...

Page 40: ...g Filter is a common choice among subtractive synths However there are also steeper slopes 24 dB oct also a common choice 36 dB oct and so on One extreme example the anti aliasing filters used on digi...

Page 41: ...off or center frequency of the filtering Spread sets the width of the filter peak or cut from broad to very narrow Note that this parameter is only available when mode is BP and Notch Mode sets the fi...

Page 42: ...elays emphasize higher frequencies Note that unlike the other OSC s 2 filters the Comb filter is hard mapped to follow the Keyboard tracking Gain controls the amount of delayed signal mixed with the o...

Page 43: ...hat s available in the Digital Effects chapter p 8 but because the Phaser Filter only sweeps when and how modulated a wider variety of unusual effects are available Cutoff controls the frequency range...

Page 44: ...ten way cooler than clipping Decimate throws away more and more samples out of the digital data stream This produces crackling and other offensive noises especially at higher Fold settings Note that t...

Page 45: ...with multiple components arranged like the rungs on a ladder However doing this with transistors was a method patented by Robert Moog so other companies made this with diode ladders instead providing...

Page 46: ...d Pass Made by combining LP and HP circuits the Band Pass BP filter allows a certain range of frequencies through and attenuates above and below that range Like the original SEM filter the MiniFreak s...

Page 47: ...iny bit The steeper the slope the greater the possibility for high amounts of resonance which can be very useful for a variety of tonalities Resonance is sometimes called emphasis or simply Q an audio...

Page 48: ...tracking is adjustable when it s set to 50 the filter cutoff perfectly tracks the pitch of the played note A self oscillating filter can then follow what you re playing This is easily set up in the Mo...

Page 49: ...fect for example there are six presets of Distortion FX each with its own character Clicking the encoder lights the On LED and turns that particular FX on Click again to turn that FX off Time Intensit...

Page 50: ...FX or combinations of FX treat your original signal You get even more flexibility when you realize that each effect can have its own Dry Wet mix Note that you can t run two Delays or two Reverbs ther...

Page 51: ...ed with the dry signal the effect is a wider thicker version of the sound one that gives the impression of several instruments playing at once The MiniFreak Chorus has the following controls Rate the...

Page 52: ...e effect Dry Wet Dry Wet mix Subtypes Default Default Sync Space Space Sync SnH SnH Sync The Sync variations synchronize the Rate to the master Tempo set on the MiniFreak They also synchronize to exte...

Page 53: ...sing effect which records an input signal into a memory and plays it back after a period of time The delayed signal is mixed with the dry audio creating an echo like effect Time sets the timing betwee...

Page 54: ...storted signal Turning it to negative values controls the cutoff of a low pass filter whereas positive values do the same for a high pass filter Dry Wet Dry Wet mix Subtypes Classic Soft Clip Germaniu...

Page 55: ...Wide Mid 1K 7 2 9 Peak EQ This EQ differs from the 3 Band EQ in that it provides controls for only one EQ band but includes all three common parameters Frequency Gain and Width Frequency Sets the fre...

Page 56: ...and provides three useful User parameters for each The range of each User parameter depends on the Subtype Turning one knob controls various parameters at once with ranges and proportions kept to sca...

Page 57: ...x encoder will allow you to browse the routings row by row left to right from the top to the bottom row Using Shift Matrix encoder will allow you to browse the routings vertically while staying on the...

Page 58: ...the encoder for 1s in Mod Amount or Mod Browse mode will reset the currently selected Modulation Routing to 0 and exit Amount editing 8 4 Quick Amount Editing If you are in a hurry and wish to gain so...

Page 59: ...hold a Matrix Assign button The screen will change and show the current destination for as long as the button is pressed While the button is held you can turn the knob you want to assign Upon release...

Page 60: ...lets you modulate the modulation Let s say you want to control the Timbre knob on Oscillator 1 with LFO 1 That s easy there s a dedicated routing for it on the Matrix But once you ve set the amount o...

Page 61: ...Volume Filter Cutoff Filter Resonance Filter Env Amt VCA FX X Time FX X Intensity FX X Amount Envelope Attack Envelope Decay Envelope Sustain Envelope Release CycEnv Rise Attack CycEnv Fall Decay Cyc...

Page 62: ...ect how the LFO is triggered to start the beginning of its wave cycle We ll get into that in a moment Wave Load lets you choose the LFO waveform Shift turning this knob lets you load a complex wavesha...

Page 63: ...er Free The LFO runs on its own and doesn t retrigger Each voice will be affected by the LFO at exactly the same time in exactly the same way This to the exception of a sequence first play or external...

Page 64: ...ooth On the other hand a cycle that begins with a gradual rise followed by a vertical drop at the end of the cycle is known as a ramp wave or rising sawtooth If you want to use a ramp wave as a modula...

Page 65: ...sounds thanks to some clever editing tools Make sure you are in Shaper edit mode by pressing and holding shift and clicking the Select Edit button Each step in the Shaper Pattern has three properties...

Page 66: ...ter a step has been edited you can tap its pad to turn it on and off purple vs dark Long pressing the pad will cause the LED to flash white and then you re editing again 9 2 2 3 Editing a given step W...

Page 67: ...you can select is lit by default ramp down saw The Sound Edit button will be lit dim white to allow you to exit this mode when pressed Hold down the Last Step pad and touch the Sequencer Step pad tha...

Page 68: ...but the Preset Shaper Wave you just created remains in the menu and you can always get back to it Now what if you want to use that Shaper Wave in another Preset You can save it in one of the 8 User Sh...

Page 69: ...being a good example If you re sidechaining modulations and the overall effect isn t working the way you think it should remember that you ve got two modulation amounts to adjust Messing with one mig...

Page 70: ...a value that holds steady for as long as a note is held down Release which drops from the sustain value back down to 0 when the note is no longer pressed Note that the attack decay and release are al...

Page 71: ...10 2 1 The VCA The Envelope has one hard wired modulation destination the Voltage Controlled Amplifier VCA which controls the volume of the audio signal It can modulate other things but those modulat...

Page 72: ...ave for the previous two Velocity modulations Velo Time controls how much velocity adjusts the Decay and Release of the Envelope higher velocity extends the Decay and Release times 10 2 4 Retriggering...

Page 73: ...ay allowing conventional notes and chords Para activates Paraphonic mode See below for an explanation of this mode Uni Unison mode where a single note can trigger multiple voices This can create simpl...

Page 74: ...se are the envelopes that are used as sources in the Modulation Matrix In addition each Voice Pair shares a Master Envelope It s an AHR in case you were wondering why we explained AHR envelopes early...

Page 75: ...old or Fall but the Hold stage is at 0 This choice means that instead of a series of conventional RHF shapes the Cycling Envelope creates a series of Rise Fall spikes separated by the Hold time like a...

Page 76: ...n is the same for all of them and only requires the Preset Edit Filters encoder next to the Display The Sound Edit button is also used to cancel a Save operation as well as to exit the Shaper edit Mac...

Page 77: ...etrig Mode Attack Curve Decay Curve Release Curve This set of functions is deeper than what s common for other sections of the MiniFreak and they need a detailed set of explanations You can find all t...

Page 78: ...or a combination of both is used in the Modulation Matrix Kbd Src determines how keyboard notes p 74 are presented as modulation information in the Modulation Matrix Bend Range sets the range of pitc...

Page 79: ...rce for various synth parameters For example if the filter cutoff tracks the keyboard in a linear manner a self oscillating resonance can play in tune See the Analog Filter p 40 chapter for more Howev...

Page 80: ...to heavy Log Logarithmic provides a lighter touch you can play very lightly and still get louder notes but soft playing can sound uneven because small variations can yield big changes Expo Exponential...

Page 81: ...Allocation defines how the MiniFreak looks for which voices to play next The options are Cycle The MiniFreak takes the next voice available regardless of what has been played previously Reassign If yo...

Page 82: ...as long as a glide of two semitones for example Sync Sync Legato Same as Time mode but glide time is quantized to subdivisions of the Tempo In each of these Legato means that releasing a note complet...

Page 83: ...cted it cannot be edited to be able to do so add new notes first 12 6 Chord Mode The MiniFreak offers a Chord mode which allows you to play multiple notes from a single key press To enter this mode pr...

Page 84: ...mation on this special LFO and how to set it up can be found in the Vibrato p 63 section The Bend strip works the same way as before By the way the Sound Edit Keyboard menu has a Bend Range parameter...

Page 85: ...estinations Each of the changes works as follows When the Macro is at 0 the parameter is at its stored setting in the Preset When the Macro is at 100 the parameter is offset by a certain amount from t...

Page 86: ...it that way or simply use the knob or encoder on the front panel that controls that parameter Modulation amounts can be set from 0 to either 100 or 100 Remember that is an offset to the stored value...

Page 87: ...l between modulation slots 13 3 1 Adding a modulation with no knob to a Macro Some worthwhile modulations don t have front panel control You can still add them to a Macro While in Macro Assign mode sc...

Page 88: ...ows you to set the internal tempo of the MiniFreak if no clock is provided The range of the supported tempos are from 30 BPM to 240 BPM When using an external clock source do note that the tempo canno...

Page 89: ...er enable it from the Utility Sync Metronome Or use Shift click the Tempo encoder to activate it To set the metronome level use the utility menu 14 1 6 Hold The Hold function can allow you to have the...

Page 90: ...bal amount that gets applied at the end Dice is like throwing dices on the affected parameters playback It generates a new random sequence whenever activated that said it is only applied on the playba...

Page 91: ...rm random pick Order First to Last Note pressed Walk First to Last starts on 1st note 25 chance to play the previous or current one 50 chance to play the next one Poly Plays all held notes simultaneou...

Page 92: ...eat Repeats the content of the arp playing each note twice in a row Ratchets Doubles the triggers while pressed Rand Oct Adds random octave variations 75 chance to play the correct octave 15 chance to...

Page 93: ...ually capable sequencer allowing you to integrate the Freak in a live setting as well as facilitate its operation in larger setups Running from either internal or external clock the sequencer offers m...

Page 94: ...nce The currently selected page of the sequence will be lit in red while the active pages in the sequence s length are dim white Finally the currently playing Page is blinking in sync to the tempo Now...

Page 95: ...eys and the sequencer will move to the next step Repeat the operation until you have entered notes for all desired steps To create a silent step press the Hold Tie button The sequencer will then move...

Page 96: ...Editing your sequence Once your sequence has been recorded or programmed you can still manually edit it Action wanted To do Results Enable a step Press an unlit step button If the step was empty the...

Page 97: ...e Step With no Notes selected on the current step long click the Preset Encoder The step is turned off and all notes are erased Edit one Note Length With one note selected on the current step Touch th...

Page 98: ...eared only in area where new notes are played Any note that begins while a note is being recorded gets killed Overdub ON Rec LED is lit in blue Notes are added to the existing content If a note that i...

Page 99: ...ble Seq Mod Slot or you turn a parameter that was already part of the four Modulations From there while in step record mode turn one of Seq Mod recordable parameters This will create an offset to the...

Page 100: ...e Once you have edited the step click on the encoder again to get back to browsing the destinations When recording the transitions are smoothed by default You ll find a setting per modulation lane in...

Page 101: ...Oscillator X Shape Oscillator X Volume Filter Cutoff Filter Resonance Filter Env Amt FX X Time FX X Intensity FX X Amount Envelope Attack Envelope Decay Envelope Sustain Envelope Release CycEnv Rise A...

Page 102: ...o access then click the encoder to select it Turn the encoder to scroll through the menu to the function you want to edit and click the encoder to access it Turn the encoder to set the function as you...

Page 103: ...Control p 101 15 2 2 Utility Sync Metronome turns the Metronome on and off Can also be activated using Shift Click on the Tempo knob Rec Count In sets whether recording begins immediately or after a...

Page 104: ...how a parameter will react if its stored value doesn t match the physical setting of an analog knob and the knob is turned Options include Jump As soon as the physical knob is turned the stored param...

Page 105: ...You can personalize your MiniFreak which will label any patches you create with your name as Sound Designer and give you a personalized hello when you power it up Setting your name is just like settin...

Page 106: ...determine which resolution they re expecting 16 1 1 Clock and Reset jack settings The Utility Sync menu p 98 is where these settings can be found They offer the following options Clock In Type The de...

Page 107: ...DI features work the same way on both On the Utility MIDI menu the MIDI From and MIDI To settings control whether the MiniFreak accepts and transmits MIDI data via the USB port the 5 Pin DIN jacks or...

Page 108: ...are routed to and from the keyboard synthesizer and Arpeggiator Sequencer There are two options MIDI Synth External MIDI is routed directly to the synthesizer MIDI ArpSeq External MIDI is routed dire...

Page 109: ...Presets are organized in MIDI terminology into four Banks of 128 Programs each They can be selected externally by sending the MiniFreak an appropriate MIDI Bank Select message immediately followed by...

Page 110: ...alue is Here is the MIDI implementation chart Section Parameter CC MIDI Mod Wheel 1 Pedals Sustain 64 Glide 5 OSC 1 Tune 70 Wave 14 Timbre 15 Shape 16 Volume 17 OSC 2 Tune 73 Wave 18 Timbre 19 Shape 2...

Page 111: ...C sets whether or not the MiniFreak s front panel knobs send MIDI Control Change data when they re turned Incoming Control Change messages are always accepted unless the MiniFreak is currently in comm...

Page 112: ...all the installations If this product is found to be the source of interferences which can be determined by turning the unit OFF and ON please try to eliminate the problem by using one of the followin...

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