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USER MANUAL

Содержание MICROFREAK

Страница 1: ...USER MANUAL...

Страница 2: ...US Cl ment BASTIAT Jean Michel BLANCHET Joey BLUSH Maxime DANGLES Ken FLUX PIERCE Simon GALLIFET Tom HALL Victor MORELLO Ed TEN EYCK TESTING Arnaud BARBIER Florian MARIN Germain MARZIN Benjamin RENARD...

Страница 3: ...ment 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 p...

Страница 4: ...ify any of the specifications without notice or obligation to update the hardware that has been purchased IMPORTANT The instrument when used in combination with an amplifier headphones or speakers may...

Страница 5: ...he sounds tweak a few controls skim through the features or dive as deep as you like you will never reach the bottom of it We are confident that MicroFreak will prove to be an invaluable companion as...

Страница 6: ...ding Digitally Controlled Analog 27 5 Making Connections 28 5 1 Control Signals 28 5 2 The Matrix and its encoder 29 5 2 1 Sources and Destinations 30 5 2 2 Assigning destinations 31 5 3 Freaky ideas...

Страница 7: ...63 11 1 The Key Hold Button 63 11 2 Sequencer and Arpeggiator 64 11 3 The Touch strip 65 11 3 1 Spice Dice 65 11 3 2 Bend 66 12 The Arpeggiator 67 12 1 Using Patterns 67 12 1 1 Creating Pattern Varia...

Страница 8: ...Control voltages Pitch Gate and Pressure 91 15 1 2 MIDI and CV Gate signals DAW configuration 93 15 2 Clock sources destinations 93 15 3 The MicroFreak and your Modular System 94 16 Cheat Sheet 95 17...

Страница 9: ...e performance synthesizer Last but not least the MicroFreak features two paraphonic sequencers each with four modulation tracks Paraphonic means that they can record and play back up to four voices sh...

Страница 10: ...te of your knowledge as something that needs to be maintained and expanded Reading a manual again and again causes a shift in what you absorb from it You are building a living model of the instrument...

Страница 11: ...er 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...

Страница 12: ...be informed of Arturia related news as well as promotional offers Connect to your Arturia account go to the section My Registered Products and add the MicroFreak synthesizer by entering its serial num...

Страница 13: ...te matrix modulation knob the connection indicator LED moves to different patch points Once you ve reached the last point on the last row then the LED cycles back to the first point of the matrix whic...

Страница 14: ...the Main Envelope Pressure the Keyboard and the Arpeggiator When you apply these polyphonic sources to polyphonic destinations such as the Oscillator parameters Type Wave Timbre and Shape each voice r...

Страница 15: ...maining presets are empty for you to fill with your presets When empty their default name is Init and the default category is Bass Note By default the Factory settings are protected against overwrite...

Страница 16: ...1 1 7 Master Volume The Master volume sets the Global volume of your MicroFreak If you need one preset to be louder than another you can set its relative volume in Utility select Utility Preset Preset...

Страница 17: ...nstant Turning this knob clockwise increases the glide effect For a more detailed explanation of Glide refer to chapter 10 p 60 3 1 2 2 Digital oscillator The Digital Oscillator is the heart of the Mi...

Страница 18: ...Filter LPF a Band Pass Filter BPF and a High Pass Filter HPF The Low Pass Filter attenuates weakens or removes frequencies above the cutoff frequency The Band Pass Filter attenuates weakens or remove...

Страница 19: ...sheet p 95 Toggle between Arp Seq activates either the Arpeggiator or the Sequencer Set a swing rate Control the shape of the Attack stage of the Cycling Envelope Control the shape of the Fall stage o...

Страница 20: ...later chapters Arp Seq lets you toggle between the Arpeggiator or the Sequencer Oct Mod sets the range for the Arpeggiator When the Sequencer is active it enables you to select one of four sequencer...

Страница 21: ...switch When you press it the Sync LED will light up to indicate that LFO Sync is activated In synced mode the LFO rate is slaved to the Sequencer Arpeggiator tempo clock Seq In unsynced mode the LFO r...

Страница 22: ...also be used as a fully polyphonic MIDI controller for other devices via the USB and MIDI out connectors on the rear panel 3 1 3 7 The Icon strip Right above the keyboard you ll see a strip with eigh...

Страница 23: ...ck will improve the signal to noise ratio 3 2 2 Pitch Gate Pressure outputs These are typically used together to send electrical signals to an external device such as Arturia s powerhouse monophonic a...

Страница 24: ...patible devices 3 2 5 USB DC IN This connector provides the power and data connections to a computer It can also be used with a standard USB mobile phone charger 5V 500mA allowing you to use your cont...

Страница 25: ...MicroFreak are so low that you can power it with the same power bank you use to recharge your phone or tablet when you re in a place without power outlets 3 2 7 Power Connector The power connector co...

Страница 26: ...signal controls the VCA In Paraphonic mode with Amp Mod ON the envelope is duplicated several times depending on the number of voices you have specified in Utilty These envelopes control a number of i...

Страница 27: ...e encoder to load another preset you ll lose the changes you made to the original Preset So use the encoder with care by default switching presets clears any modifications done on the previously loade...

Страница 28: ...r To quickly scroll through the characters options hold shift and turn the encoder Click to make a letter selection final this brings you to the next field in the name where you can repeat your select...

Страница 29: ...set will always have the same length Changing these settings can make all the difference For example you ve created a sequence and used one of the modulation tracks to add a varying amount of glide to...

Страница 30: ...mode Aftertouch Velocity Selects Pressure mode x 0 Velo amp mode 0 10 Sets how much velocity affects volume output x 0 Glide mode Time Sync Rate Set either a time based a synced or a rate based glide...

Страница 31: ...with the sound you hear Or you can press the Panel button to copy all knob positions to reinitialize the preset with the current knob positions To give an example of updating a single knob You ve loa...

Страница 32: ...resents in Hook mode you must sweep the knob until it catches its actual position before it has any effect Jump mode means the voltage jumps to the knob position as soon as you move it and Scaled mode...

Страница 33: ...When you connect an envelope to the pitch input of the oscillator you will hear a sudden rise in pitch followed by a slow descent The Cycling Envelope can be set to repeat In this mode it becomes a s...

Страница 34: ...no exception here but there is one major difference Matrix enables you to break the standard connections and create new ones that override these connections The thing that makes a synthesizer flexibl...

Страница 35: ...the encoder This will change the screen to show MATRIX AMOUNT The amount value in the screen will highlight Turn the encoder to set a positive or negative modulation amount 3 To disable a routing and...

Страница 36: ...or Icon buttons Spice Dice etc An example You want to modulate the Shape of an oscillator with the LFO Wave and Timbre are already fixed destinations on the Matrix Shape is not To add Shape as a dest...

Страница 37: ...e CYCLING Envelope AMOUNT amount of CycEnv send to the Matrix Matrix Modulation Amount Sets the modulation amount of a Matrix point This last option deserves a bit more explanation Once you ve setup a...

Страница 38: ...create a complex envelope that can control the filter or arpeggio rate in unexpected ways Another summing idea When you sum two modulations to control one destination the result will usually be unexpe...

Страница 39: ...fore you get dizzy It s easy to make circular routings using the Matrix for example let the LFO modulate the Rise or Fall time of the Cycling Envelope and then let the Cycling Envelope control its own...

Страница 40: ...lters on the other hand have something special to them The MicroFreak offers you the best of both worlds a digital oscillator and an analog filter 6 1 The oscillator as a sound generator When you hear...

Страница 41: ...l list the oscillator types with their screen name in parentheses What makes it musically exciting is that you can select each of these parameters as a modulation destination in the Matrix Animating t...

Страница 42: ...between the two copies of a sawtooth wave There is no effect when Wave is at 50 sawtooth Sub Adds a sine wave sub oscillator Tip If you need a sine wave you can use the filter to remove all harmonics...

Страница 43: ...e the wave parameter with the LFO or the Cycling Envelope This modulation technique is called wavesequencing 6 3 4 Harmonic OSC Harmo Description Harmonic oscillators recreate sound by creating and su...

Страница 44: ...e creates a decaying tone Position This controls where and how hard the resonator is struck it has no effect on the bowed part of the sound Decay Sets the amount of resonance by controlling the decay...

Страница 45: ...avefolder A waveshaper acts on the rise and the fall stage of a wave It can make the rise time of a triangle wave steeper turning that triangle into a falling Saw wave It can also change the curve of...

Страница 46: ...ll capable of creating a wide range of sounds It consists of two sine wave oscillators each modulating the phase of the other Ratio Sets the frequency ratio between the oscillators Amount Sets the mod...

Страница 47: ...re voices to a chord you are essentially fine tuning and shaping the minor and major feel further Note If you want to know more about this fascinating subject search for music theory on a search engin...

Страница 48: ...en through libraries of colors numbers letters and words Timbre The timbre knob will act on the speech itself It shifts the formants up or down Word The shape knob will scan through subsets of words t...

Страница 49: ...behavior of real world instruments The extraordinary thing about the Modal Resonator is that it can change the shape it mimics on the fly when you turn a knob or modulate it externally with the LFO t...

Страница 50: ...s are even some are odd The mix of odd and even harmonics largely determines the characteristic of the sound A filter is a circuit that allows frequencies harmonics to resonate in specific ways It wil...

Страница 51: ...to pass will become smaller In the clockwise position the filter will start to self oscillate and can be used as a sine wave oscillator In that position it will block all sound from the Digital Oscill...

Страница 52: ...a roll off that is much steeper than two pole filters The MicroFreak filter has a roll off of 12dB per octave The Cutoff knob enables you to control the filter cutoff point manually In its fully count...

Страница 53: ...Filter Amount knob the corresponding point on the Matrix will light up As an alternative you can also fine tune the filter amount on the Matrix 7 2 2 Emphasis Resonance Modulation With the Resonance k...

Страница 54: ...square random sample hold and random gliding or smoothed random Note The square wave has a 50 duty cycle which is tech talk for saying that it is on high for 50 of the time The last two LFO waves are...

Страница 55: ...k could either be the internal clock of the MicroFreak the clock of your DAW or an external MIDI source The most common way to count time is 24PPQ 24 pulses per quarter note 4PPQ is the smallest count...

Страница 56: ...ising Sawtooth can be useful to modulate the decay time of the Standard or Cycling envelopes It will add realism to drum or bell like sounds Remember that you can change the shape of the envelope atta...

Страница 57: ...set the Cutoff to minimum and Resonance to maximum set Amp Mod on the Envelope to ON on the Envelope set attack to 1 7s decay to 7 7s sustain to 90 and filter amount to 70 You should now hear the fil...

Страница 58: ...Release adjusts the time again from 0ms to 13 seconds that it takes the voltage to go from its attack level to the sustain level after the attack stage is completed 9 3 3 Sustain The sustain stage sta...

Страница 59: ...rator is a great tool for generating complex modulation signals Unlike a standard envelope that cycles through its stages only once the cycling envelope can retrigger itself after the last stage has f...

Страница 60: ...Note To get a feel for the effect of changes you make to the stages of the envelope connect it to the pitch of the Digital Oscillator Move the selection point on the Matrix to the CycEnv Pitch point...

Страница 61: ...will seem reluctant to end the Fall stage 9 6 3 Using the Legato options Legato is the name for the most common keyboard playing technique It s when you put your fingers down on the keyboard one by on...

Страница 62: ...complex dynamic envelopes An intriguing option is to use the Cycling Envelope to control stages of the Main Envelope Controlling the Attack will change the attack slope Controlling the Decay will vary...

Страница 63: ...ing in Utility Preset Press mode A capacitive keyboard creates a sense of connectedness with the instrument that a standard keyboard cannot When you put your finger on the keyboard that finger becomes...

Страница 64: ...e mentioned above To change from Aftertouch to Velocity or vice versa go to Utiliy Preset Press Mode and select either Aftertouch or Velocity Changing this setting will result in a different dynamic r...

Страница 65: ...ure Range The selectable range is 0V to 10V The keyboard voltage is available at the back of the MicroFreak at the Pressure output You could use it to open up an external filter modulate the speed of...

Страница 66: ...glide shape applied to it Increasing or decreasing the LFO rate will cause the LFO to sync to varying rates of the internal clock This will also affect the speed of the glide effect Freaky tip Glide...

Страница 67: ...of your finger is in contact with the keyboard more contact will result in more pressure voltage and vice versa To achieve this with the MicroFreak define one of the Assignable destinations on the Mat...

Страница 68: ...Freak with both hands Note The HOLD state is not saved with the preset Pressing it once activates Key Hold Whatever keys you hold down on the keyboard will remain active even after you lift your finge...

Страница 69: ...an automated way without the use of a sequencer for example by modulating pitch with several sources simultaneously such as the LFO and the Cycling Envelope If the LFO and Cycling Envelope each have a...

Страница 70: ...he touch strip You can also do this the other way around set an amount of Spice then select Dice and roll it by tapping on the touch strip Repeatedly tapping on different positions will change the kin...

Страница 71: ...h different from bending with a wheel Unlike with a wheel you can place your finger directly on another point of the strip The pitch will then jump instantly to that pitch Another thing that makes the...

Страница 72: ...oard Up will play the notes of your chord from left to right or bottom to top depending on your point of view The order in which you press the keys does not matter The arpeggiator will always play the...

Страница 73: ...ou lift your fingers from the keyboard the pattern is gone forever 12 1 2 Transferring Arpeggios to the Sequencer Arpeggios are great for discovering melodic grooves that work The MicroFreak has a nif...

Страница 74: ...n tempo divisions The Division Rate tells you how the arpeggiator is currently synced to the clock For example if it reads 1 2 one over two it will play a note with a length of two beats If the displa...

Страница 75: ...ix straight notes with swung notes To activate Swing hold the blue SHIFT button and press Rate The swing range goes from 50 75 By default it is 50 12 5 Arpeggio Range By default the Arpeggiator will p...

Страница 76: ...n arpeggiator s best friend 12 6 1 Spicing up your Arpeggios Use the Bend strip to change the pitch of your arpeggio Note If you need strong pitch variation you might want to change the default bend r...

Страница 77: ...e has been implemented in many DAWs and now also in the MicroFreak More about the modulation recording tracks p 77 later The sequencer of the MicroFreak allows you to record two patterns A and B In pl...

Страница 78: ...uring step recording to extend gate time of a note or enter a silent step A B Select one of the two sequencers O Turns on step recording when seq is stopped Toggles between Play and Stop stops step re...

Страница 79: ...show Sequence X Loaded on the display You can play sequence pattern A and B alternatingly When play is active you can switch from pattern A to B by pressing the A or B icon The two pattern will alway...

Страница 80: ...then advance to the next step without recording note data To hold a note or a chord over several steps hold the note chord and press the Tie Rest icon The sequencer will advance to the next step and...

Страница 81: ...ts blinking the track is ready and waiting for you to play notes or knob movements into it Note When recording notes will run continuously and record whatever you play replacing what you have recorded...

Страница 82: ...ou want to record events Make certain play is off and turn on step recording by pushing the record button Turn the Sequencer Rate knob until you are on the first step of the sequence or select another...

Страница 83: ...ates the cutoff frequency of the filter Filter Resonance modulates the bandwidth of the filter Envelope Attack modulates the attack stage of the Standard envelope Envelope Decay modulates the decay st...

Страница 84: ...of knobs parameters that can be recorded in a modulation track refer to the table in the step time recording paragraph above 13 2 3 Smoothing Smoothing also called slew makes modulation transitions l...

Страница 85: ...the Matrix for that The fun starts when you also connect the LFO to the pitch input The two control signals now share the same input to the oscillator and will be summed If you select a rectangle wave...

Страница 86: ...equencer to step mode by pressing the record icon Turn a knob of your choice to record a modulation Repeat this with other knobs if you want to apply multiple modulations Use the Rate knob to advance...

Страница 87: ...quence snappier Try changing the settings at Utility Preset Envelope legato Will changing the sequence smooth settings create a different mood Change the settings at Utility Preset Seq 1 4 smooth The...

Страница 88: ...Mod 0 10 Determines how velocity will affect volume output x 0 Glide mode Time Sync Rate Defines whether the Glide knob introduces a time based a time synced or a rate based glide effect x 0 Seq Lengt...

Страница 89: ...Clock Auto defines the tempo source of the MicroFreak x x Clock One step 2PPQ 24PPQ 48PPQ allows you to adjust the Tempo setting to other PPQ standards x x Global Tempo Off On When set to On the temp...

Страница 90: ...ription Utility MCC Misc Mem protect Off Factory only On Off enables you to overwrite all presets If set to Factory only you cannot overwrite factory presets If On your presets are also protected agai...

Страница 91: ...r to settings specific to the MicroFreak 14 2 1 MIDI Control Center settings The MIDI settings are all using the MIDI Control Center s Device tab Again download the software from www arturia com MIDI...

Страница 92: ...ming MIDI data echoes to the MIDI Out port Knob sends CCs ON Off Defines whether knobs send CC data CC data enables you to control external synths MIDI Merge USB KBD MIDI KBD BOTH KBD Defines how keyb...

Страница 93: ...nt setting to catch hook it before sending anything Scaled increases or decreases the actual setting regardless of the knob position So if the actual value is 12 and you move the knob from 3 to 4 the...

Страница 94: ...nse across the dynamic range Log requires the least amount of force to play louder notes but it s harder to control the dynamics at lower levels Exponential is less jumpy at lower dynamic levels but i...

Страница 95: ...own that there may be times when you want to use it without a computer attached In this case you can use a standard USB mobile phone charger or a power bank to power the unit and connect everything el...

Страница 96: ...ch Gate and Pressure The pressure voltage can either be velocity or pressure depending on what you have selected in the Utility section or the MIDI Control Center Some analog synthesizers have unusual...

Страница 97: ...the control voltages that appear at the output adhere to the 1v per octave standard It s a standard defined in the early days of electronic music history It simply means that it needs one Volt to mak...

Страница 98: ...ay the information it receives on MIDI channel one and send the things you play on the MicroFreak keyboard to the DAW on MIDI channel two This is set in Utility Midi Input chan and Utility Midi Output...

Страница 99: ...or complex Ambient music you ll find Eurorack modules to match your music style Arturia has recently created a high quality Eurorack case the RackBrute With each new product generation Arturia added i...

Страница 100: ...Creates a routing between the assign2 column and the selected knob Assign3 any knob Creates a routing between the assign3 column and the selected knob AssignX matrix point Creates a routing between th...

Страница 101: ...old repeatedly if you want to clear all modulation tracks Shift Key Transpose sequence Shift A B Reload pattern A B as it was previously saved in the memory Sequencer Step record mode active Shift Rat...

Страница 102: ...s other than storage purposes You shall have no further right or interest to use the software other than the limited rights as specified in this Agreement Arturia reserves all rights not expressly gra...

Страница 103: ...apply to you All programs and accompanying materials are provided as is without warranty of any kind The complete risk as to the quality and performance of the programs is with you Should the program...

Страница 104: ...in all the installations If this product is found to be the source of interferences witch can be determined by turning the unit OFF and ON please try to eliminate the problem by using one of the follo...

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