MiniFreak as controller for Analog Lab / V Collection X / DAW

Hi. I’m a dabbler who mostly wants to make music and other assorted noises for his video and game dev stuff, and earlier in the year I bought a KeyLab Essential 49 Mk3. Then just last week I snapped up V Collection X for a third its normal price in the Black Friday sales. :blush:

Out of all the incredible softsynths included in that, what I’ve been most taken with is the MiniFreak V… so much so that I’m considering getting the hardware MiniFreak to use as a controller for it, (though also as a standalone synth to get away from my computer screen, and maybe even join a band once I’m feeling more confident!)

However, before I take the plunge, I’d like to know what it’s like to use as a MIDI controller for all the other softsynths in Analog Lab / V Collection, and general usage within a DAW (using Logic Pro on my Mac, though have been tinkering with Ableton Live on my PC too).

How is it for knob-twiddling in other softsynths beyond basic controls? Will I have to do a lot of setting up and mapping of functions per synth?

I like the KeyLab, but would probably resell it as I feel it would be surplus to requirements if I got the MiniFreak, which obviously has the added bonus of having aftertouch, and being more desk-friendly. (I might miss having one less hardware octave on the key bed a bit though, and maybe the transport controls).

Anybody have any experience of this, or thoughts?

Thanks.

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Hi @axolocelotl and welcome to The Sound Explorers Forum!

In a nutshell, no not really.

I have a MiniFreak hardware unit and it’s FANTASTIC! Probably my favourite digital synth out of all the synths i own. It works beautifully with the MF-V and is continually being updated with new functionality.

Depending on which DAW you use, i use Cubase, you can easily assign midi mapping to the controls, but you’ll have to do this yourself. Some people are happy to do this and spend time doing so, and some; like myself just want to get on with making music.
I don’t think it will handle DAW transport controls iirc too.
For my own personal needs, i use a Midi controller to control soft synths or desktop hardware synths with no keyboard.

Obviously though YMMV as we all have different needs and wants.
HTH!

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Thanks so much for your welcome and your thoughts.

I’ve never done manual mapping before, which is why I was initially so drawn to the Keylab and Analog Lab - I am a tech-savvy person but also old and tired, and my brain is already chock full of web dev, game dev and video production stuff :wink:

I guess what I would hope is to easily be able to map some controls on MiniFreak so they work with the macros for every synth in Analog Lab.

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That’ll work fine, and for all the available parameters in AL, not just the macros. I just tested it here. It only took a minute using the learn function in the Analog Lab controller setup.

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That’s great to hear. Thanks for letting me know.

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Well, I got me a MiniFreak delivered today, and I’m already in love with it. I spent my first hour with it just tinkering with the first preset! My morning coffee went cold - unprecedented!

Anyway, I successfully got it set up with the MiniFreak V softsynth, and have laid down some noodlings in Logic, but I’m wondering why there’s not a listing for it in Arturia’s MIDI Control Center - I can see MicroFreak but no MiniFreak.

Have I done something wrong or do I need to do something more? Or have Arturia not released a specific MiniFreak entry in MCC? I have the latest version of MCC installed on my Mac.

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Congrats on the MiniFreak! :slight_smile:

The MiniFreak uses “MiniFreak V” exclusively as its host software. It’s the librarian as well as the softsynth counterpart, so MCC is not needed. The MiniFreak and the PolyBrutes are the ones that have dedicated software - all the other Arturia synths and controllers use the MCC.

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Hi DrJustice!
I nead to control other soft Arturia synths with MiniFreak, but I can’t do this.
There is nothing happened wheb I pressed Lern and somthing on MiniFreak, I don’t know.

The MiniFreak has to have MIDI output enabled for the knobs.
This setting is in the Utility menu:

  • Press Shift + Sound Edit
  • Select the MIDI sub menu
  • Select Knob Send CC and set it to On
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Thank you for the info! Apologies for the slow response.