Arturia is expanding its Freak line of proudly weird digital synthesizers with the MiniFreak 49. Under the hood, it’s almost identical to the current MiniFreak, but adds a number of more professional features and some interface improvements.
The most notable change is that, instead of the MiniFreak’s 37 mini-keys or the MicroFreak’s 25 “key” touchpad, the MiniFreak 49 has (as you might have guessed) 49 full-size semi-weighted keys. Although it is somewhat disappointing that they only include mono aftertouch instead of polyphonic aftertouch. It also swaps out the touch strips on the other Freak instruments for proper aluminum pitch and modulation wheels.
The MiniFreak 49 also has a larger LCD screen than its siblings and dedicated controls for its two sound engines, so you don’t have to switch between them. Like the MiniFreak, it offers over 30 types of digital oscillators, each with analog filters. It also adds an FM audio rate filter for even stranger sounds and has 256MB of storage for user samples and wavetables, which were added to the original MiniFreak in a firmware update last month.
Finally, there’s a new XYZ touchpad that not only replaces the mod matrix’s intuitive but slow knob-based interface, but also adds performance features and speeds up preset navigation. You can cycle through presets, control macros, manipulate the filter, and more.
MiniFreak 49 is available now with an MSRP of $849, although the retail price will likely be lower.
