Microfreak

A synthesizer like no other, MicroFreak is a peculiar, exceptional instrument that rewards the curious musician. It blends wavetable and digital oscillators with analog filters. It features a unique poly-aftertouch flat keyboard. It adds controlled randomness to sequences. This isn’t a revolution, it’s a mutiny.

Making sense of madness
It might sound a bit wild and crazy, but MicroFreak is easy to understand and quick to master.

Every feature is clearly marked and simple to access and control, letting MicroFreak enhances your creativity rather than standing in its way. On this page, we’ll cover a few of the things that make MicroFreak a truly unique specimen.

Hearing voices
The multiple modes of MicroFreak’s digital oscillator can be easily switched and directly controlled with the 4 dedicated knobs in the Digital Oscillator section. The Type knob switches between the engines, while the Wave, Timbre, and Shape controls let you refine the oscillator to suit your taste.

MicroFreak currently contains 12 oscillator types, but we’ve left room for more to be added in the future!

We’ve also integrated the open-source Plaits oscillator developed by Eurorack legends Mutable Instruments to bring you 7 additional synth modes. While all of the oscillators in MicroFreak are naturally monophonic, you can choose to enable paraphony to play up to 4-voices at once.

Filtering voices
The combination of digital oscillator and analog filter is a powerful one, and the often sharp, crystalline sounds of the oscillators can be beautifully tamed or shaped using the tasty 12-dB per-octave filter, based on the legendary Oberheim-designed SEM filter.

Take it step by step
Despite its small size, MicroFreak has a modulation matrix and advanced functions that make even giant synths jealous.

With 5 sources and 7 destinations available, you can virtually rewire components within MicroFreak to create totally unique sounds, especially as 3 of the destinations are user-assignable!

With easy programming using the clickable Matrix knob, a clear light-up display, and extra detail shown in the OLED screen, you’ll never be left guessing what changes you’re making. To route any modulation source to one of the destinations, just browse, click, and define an amount. It’s easy, fast, and fun, and gives you super-powerful results that you’d expect from a synth ten times the price.

Happy accidents
MicroFreak’s sequencer isn’t just any old synth sequencer, it’s a dual mode arpeggiator/sequencer with innovative features that will keep your creative juices flowing.

Spice
Adjusting the level of Spice in your sequence literally spices it up, altering the parameters of the pattern without changing the pitch, and creating something new.

Dice
When Dice is selected, using the touchstrip randomizes your sequence by the amount you choose, letting you find inspiration from the unexpected.

The magic touch
MicroFreak’s tactile interface is like nothing you’ve ever used before. A flat, touch-sensitive keyboard with no moving parts may seem alien, but it feels so natural to use.

The 25-key printed circuit board not only track the notes you play with lightning-speed, but can also detect pressure or aftertouch on each note individually. This has some exciting applications within MicroFreak itself, but also for polyphonic aftertouch-enabled virtual instruments when MicroFreak is used as a MIDI controller.

The touch-controls above the keyboard also give you access to the key parameters of the sequencer, while the touch strip can be used as a pitch bender, or to control the amount of “Spice” and “Dice” in your sequences.

So much, for so little
Just as our debut synth MiniBrute set new standards for affordable analog instruments back in 2012, MicroFreak is set to redefine what low-cost digital synths can do.

Exciting presets
While exploring a new synth’s capabilities yourself can be hugely fun, it’s nice to be able to quickly flick through some presets to get inspiration. MicroFreak contains 128 preset patches, and lets you create, edit, and save your own, too! The clickable Preset knob makes selection, assigning, and renaming a breeze.

Classic synth features
With two unique envelopes and a syncable LFO, you can truly get hands on with MicroFreak with a dedicated control for each parameter. The Cycling Envelope lets you create an advanced looping mode, twisting it into LFO with variable rise, hold, and fall times, with exponential, linear, or logarithmic curves.

Amazing connectivity
It features CV outputs, letting you send pitch, gate, and pressure signals to any outboard or modular synth that’s CV/Gate compatible. You can also hook it up to your DAW via USB, or use the included MIDI break-out cables. This lets you hook it up to your favorite controller keyboard, or use MicroFreak’s sequencer to control a different synth, for example.

Powerful modulators
“Yo dawg, we heard you like modulators, so we let you put modulators on your modulators”

That’s right. Working hand-in-hand with the modulation matrix, the modulators can be assigned to each other, letting you get really experimental. This is unheard of in a low-cost synth.

Remember, this isn’t some vast, obscure, and expensive synth we’re talking about. This is a super-affordable digital upstart, and it can’t wait to meet you.