El arte
del diseño de sonido
Aevus Aeternu
Solidtrax
This pad sounds uses the M1 and M2 macros, velocity, pitch bend and mod wheel. My goal with this preset was to create a pad sound that can be either smooth, but also digital and artificial sounding and makes use of all three effect slots.
Solidtrax - on MiniFreak
Being involved as a sound designer in the early stages of development of a product like the MiniFreak gave me a lot of time to get to know this beautiful instrument inside out. I really like the compact size, the per-voice keyboard source settings, the customizable shapers, the 2 macros that can modulate up to four destinations each, the grown matrix and the effects. These features make it an affordable sound designer dream!
I wanted to let the MiniFreak shine in all its areas. To me it seems a bit like a symbiosis between a MicroFreak and a PolyBrute. So for sound design I tried to focus on one particular feature at first and then build it from there with these new and inherited features of the aforementioned synthesizers. Sometimes the excellent distortion guided me, sometimes something simple, but powerful, like playing over time with the mix between the oscillators.
DFame
Red Means Recording
I wanted to try and make a sequence that spoke to the Moog DFAM’s particular brand of analog percussion synthesis, and that was really playable with the macros, mod wheel, and front panel controls. I used the Noise Oscillator engine, which can be balanced between different flavors of noise while still retaining the body for a “kick”.
Red Means Recording - on MiniFreak
The Minifreak took everything I liked about the Microfreak and added everything I wanted in an upgrade. The effects complement the engines extremely well and bring sounds to life in a wonderful way. The mod matrix is powerful enough to get really weird with, and I love that. Finally, the sequencer is absolutely bonkers and lets you pull off everything from classic chord and mono sequencers to modular-esque probability-driven wonkiness. On top of all that it’s easy to use.
I always start with pads! I go through the engines, looking for sounds that will get me deep, interesting pads, and see how far I can push them. After that, I started exploring the sequencing capabilities and went off the deep end crafting really weird and fun stuff. I also challenged myself to make some more traditional, useful, and recognizable presets that would fit into a variety of genres.
Big Dipper
Simon Gallifet
This preset is based on a vibrato movement using a square LFO. This movement increases until the modulation becomes too fast to be perceived. The downward movement of the filter with a long release gives the impression that the preset is drowned in reverb (while no reverb is used). Macros allow you to add chorus, delay and flanger effects as well as stutter movement.
Simon Gallifet - on MiniFreak
The modulation possibilities, the 3 effect slots, the 2 oscs that can be made to interact together are features that allow you to go very far in the sound design process. Nevertheless, we keep the philosophy of the Microfreak with very simple oscillators to use, which makes it a synth as suitable for beginners as for master jedi.
I really like the sound scapes: digital with lots of little artifacts that bring it to life while keeping an organic and cold side.
I was inspired by albums such as: Diistemi - Tomat; Act - Koreless; The Digging Remedy - Plaid.
Impale
Victor Morello
During my initial research of the sound capabilities of the machine, I knew I wanted to try a couple of over-the-top bass sounds with generous (almost comical) amounts of distortion. Impale is one of them. The technique used is inspired by the sound of artists like Emptyset, Shapednoise and Mick Gordon. It involves using simple sounds at the beginning, followed by extensive processing chains involving several clever distortion stages. Then sometimes heavy dynamic processing is used again at the end. These intricate chains make any change of dynamics, any background noise added earlier in the chain have a drastic impact on the final sound. The ability to stack effects on MiniFreak (here, a Chorus followed by two Distortion effects at the end) allows to emulate this kind of chain to some extent.
Victor Morello - on MiniFreak
Given the size of the product, I was impressed with how many different oscillators/filters/effects you get, and how well they felt fine tuned. I feel like this is the kind of unit that you can keep along for years and continue to discover new sounds and ideas as you go. The ability to stack effects of the same type also allows you to create sounds that are less instantly recognizable and more personal.
I had a tight personal schedule, so I started by creating a base of modern sounds that I liked, suitable for several different genres, then studied the feature set of the machine to add a little something that made it special to each sound. I was especially curious about the shapers LFO shape, which allows you to write complex modulation sequences right on the synth, so I created several presets that revolve around this feature.
Zuper Sceau
Florian Marin
This detuned poly lead preset gives a nostalgic 2000's vibe to your rave tracks, using the multiband compressor to glue the oscillator's sound with the reverb and the inherent analog noise of the machine.
Florian Marin - on MiniFreak
In my opinion, the main strengths of this synthesizer are the mod matrix with its 9 custom destinations, giving incredible modulation possibilities, the sequencer and its four automatable parameters, the shaper LFOs, and the audio input, giving a way to process external signals, or even perform feddback with the synth itself!
As i started working on our instrument kind of early during devlopement, i tried to test and use modules one by one and see what I could get out of it. Obviously I still have not found all the things I could do and the available modulation combinations!
Seet
Yuli Yolo
I always feel in love playing with tiny, organic percussive keys. I build a simple Fm keys sound with the Two OPFM algorithmic oscilliator. The sound can morph from an imaginary hammer hitting a tine to a kind of bell organ via the M1 & M2 macro. The 2 macros control the osc mix and the Fm ratio. The velocity is an important part of the sound modulation too, i like when my fingers are connected to a sound.
Yuli Yolo - on MiniFreak
The main strenght of the Minifreak is, for me, the versatility. The 2 algorihmic oscilliators, the analog filter combine with the easy to use, powerfull modulation matrix give to us a robust polyphonic system to explore.
A lot of the Minifreak features surprised me, like the ability to send or insert a reverb or a delay effect,to draw my own lfo shape or the two macros as a modulation destination. Programming sounds for the minifreak was really a pleasant experience. All is here, with the touch of a finger, or two!
My approach regarding sound design was simple: making some usefull, playable sounds and exploring the Minifreak long list features. Mixing the different algorithmic oscilliators open a fantastic playground for sound design. Finally, i ended up with a vast palette of colors, from cinematics bass, evolving pads, to smooth keys and lead, chill sequences and agressive or hybrid synth sounds.
KIK
Maxime Audfray
MiniFreak is my new favorite digital synth, it can be so versatile and can be used in every genre I can think of. The biggest plus compared to regular synth is the different engines, each with its own character and strength.
Maxime Audfray - on MiniFreak
The quality of the fx is the icing on the cake, especially the gain compensation of the distortion and the noise gate of the Multiband compressor.
This saturated drum kick preset represent the energy of the youth that can be expressed with the MiniFreak. The macro and mod wheel can change the sound in very subtle ways.
A lot of my presets are happy accidents. I like to experiment a lot, to tweak sound, to do unconventional routing, and sometimes the result sounds good. From there I polish the preset until I am very happy with it, and voilà !
Harp
Matthieu Bosshardt
I was trying to get away from the classic synth sounds that we hear on pretty much every synths on the market. For this, i played extensively with the Comb Filter. Here i use a Noise with a very sharp envelope to make some clicks, then it goes into the Comb Filter with a little bit of damping, then after hours of fine tuning the values, i've got this cute harp sound.