Hi, I wanted to share some ideas for features that I would love to see on the Minifreak : )
Shift-Function for Knobs: I think it would be great to have a similar function as the Elektron machines where you can hold shift while turning a knob to instantly get to the middle or the 0 and 100 values. It could also be useful for certain engines to have easy access to some musically relevant values that one can skip through while holding shift. also there are a lot of engines where especially the wave-parameter detunes the sound a lot, sometimes the start position being 30, sometimes 23 or another value - it would be nice to get back to these start/ middle positions more easily.
Arpeggiator/ Sequencer: as a another person in this forum proposed already - a combination of arpeggiator and sequencer where the arpeggiator is led by the tones of the sequencer would be amazing. also the ability to use arpeggiator functions like mutate and octave within the sequencer would be a great improvement. there are so many great things about the arpeggiator but the moment one transforms it into or programs a sequence, most of these features are gone. an option would be to change the way the sequencer and its editing is accessed, where similar to the electron sequencer the steps are only shown when record is pressed which would free up the arpeggiator buttons outside the step editing mode.
Mod-Matrix: another huuuuge improvement would be to have mutate/ octave/ splice & dice as destinations within the mod-matrix so one could create generative sequences. i hope its not too difficult to achieve that which would allow for octave and dice to be controlled with an lfo or aftertouch. the mutate-function on the other side would need a trigger. if its not supposed to be triggered with every step but once in a while, another kind of trigger (maybe an end of cycle trigger from the lfo or cycling envelope?) would be needed.
A deeper implementation of mutable instruments plaits/ noise engineering virtl iter algorithms: the algorithms from both manufacturers sound quite different from the eurorack modules and the engines seem to me like they are lacking a lot of their power and sharpness when it comes to the sound - maybe its possible to improve that? also a resonator like rings would be a great addition to the engines of oscillator 2.
Oscillator Parameters: Related to that I think it could also be helpful to have a wider range for some of the parameters of the oscillator engines. They often stay within a nice sounding range where i wish i could make them a bit more freaky, crank them up and sound more dirty/ aggressive. i get that digital clipping is not the same as analog clipping but it would be amazing to push them a bit more.
Stereo Image: it would be great to have some more options when it comes to the stereo image aside from the effects. I dont know if thats possible hardware-wise but i would love to have stereo oscillators or filter or the possibility to perhaps spread the oscillators within the stereo image. im also missing the possibility to have pan as a destination within the mod-matrix.
Round-Robin: another idea would be a moog matriarch inspired round-robin mode for the oscillators or engines where triggered notes alternate between oscillators or engines.
Oscillator Sound Variety: one last thing for which i dont have a clear suggestion is my impression, that a lot of the engines sound quite similar in their core sound. they have different timbres but compared to mutable plaits or the elektron model cycles they all share a quite similar character – maybe its me who is lacking to tweak the minifreak in the right way but i would love to see a further refinement of the engines to make them sound more different from each other and also more dynamic and raw/ edgy.
HI elicious and welcome to the new Sound Explorers forum!
There are some really nice suggestions in there, we’ll be sure these get to the Dev team, obviously can’t guarantee they’ll be implemented though, but of course it’s always worth asking
don’t own the minifreak but lack of stereo voicing options (either unison pan spread or voice spread) is a bit of a dealbreaker honestly.
Overall the microfreak has a very strong identity and every choice seems very deliberate and coherent. The minifreak adds features but seem to stay in a weird inbetween between full fledged poly and quirky weird synth.
Another feature I’d really like to see on every synth; hardware or software; is some sort of sustenuto option; or an option to control the pitch shift only for the last note.
Also I have this issue with the microfreak but when holding notes I’d like the lowest note held to stay allocated in priority (I know some synths have this feature).
One last thing; I’d like either some of the oscillator (mainly basic / virtual analog) to explicitly show which waveform is produced. Or maybe get a “super basic” oscillator that only produce one waveform but with a very explicit display. you could add an “analog drift” function (it would be waveform (sine/triangle/saw/square); pulse width; drift for example).
(sorry to hack the thread; delete if you have to)
yeah panning of OSC’s would be awesome…
specially the SuperSaw types and maybe just the whole OSC for some nice detuning widthness
but as a side note, ive noticed that ALL the Minifreak sounds i use in actual productions just freaking cut through the mix like butter, specially on big mono systems.
so for big, BIG festival speakers, Minifreak really rocks!
Since we have some really good suggestions in here already i’ll just add a few more thoughts, mostly quality of life improvements.
-shift & tune/oct snaps to 0 or ±12st instead of just adding or substracting 12 semitones. I’d love a toggle in the pitch menu so we can quickly go up or down octaves while playing live with detuned oscillators.
-maybe we could also get pitch quantize to scale/user scale if possible? ridiculous arpeggios are waiting to be unleashed
-save & step 1-16 to assign 16 favorite patches for quick access by holding preset encoder + step 1-16
-velocity to amp shouldn’t be 0 by default, thats usually the first thing i have to change when starting a new patch.
-when the sequencer isnt running but contains notes we can trigger the sequence and transpose it by playing a key on the unit. However i haven’t been able to trigger the sequence with an incoming midi note regardless of the local / midi / keyboard settings i tried.
I own this synth over a year and love this little beast To absolute perfection for my purpose Minifreak missing just 3 things:
Adding Multi Filter into Digital Effects slots: So, you can use (for example) 24dB LPF Filter without sacrifice second oscillator.
Disconnecting ADSR Envelope from VCA (Gate mode): So, you can disconnect the Amplifier Envelope completly from controlling VCA ADSR stage and then using it for shaping VCF (not shure but think Microfreak has this mode). Because the problem now is, when you want using ADSR Envelope for filter (in MOD Matrix), it automaticlly affecting VCA shaping aswell.
Would be Great adding wavetable oscillator also in second slot (using both oscillators as wavetable)…and would be absolutely dream, if we can add own wavetables into user slots
Midi output of the forced scale from the global scale settings please - great for layering sounds, and/or using it as a controller for other synths whilst remaining in key/scale…
I would like that by having audio input and a “rec” button we could record small fragments of audio (5 or 10 seconds) directly from the audio input and then be able to process those samples with granular synthesis .
Also, taking advantage of the Minifreak’s polyphony, it would be nice to have more grain overlap to get really nice ambient and drone sounds.
To absolute perfection for my purpose Minifreak missing just 3 things: