provider_name|Engadget

Look, there’s no shortage of affordable MIDI controllers out there. And if you stick to the big brands, it’s kinda hard to go wrong. Arturia itself even has multiple budget offerings that are all pretty solid in their own right. One of its most popular, the MiniLab is getting a pretty major update that includes changes to the controls, an arpeggiator, and the addition of a MIDI port – and full-sized one at that.

The MiniLab 3 doesn’t look terribly different from its MKII predecessor. Its corners are slightly more rounded and it ditched eight of its 16 encoders for four sliders. But otherwise, it keeps the same general setup. You still get 25 velocity sensitive keys, eight velocity sensitive RGB pads, as well as mod and pitch touch strips above the keyboard. And there’s still faux wood panels on the side that give it a little bit of a unique flair.

Terrence O’Brien / Engadget

The hardware itself is what you’d expect for $109. It’s plasticky, but not cheap feeling. The knobs and sliders have a decent amount of resistance and the keybed is slightly springy. All of this is basically par for the course, and other similarly priced controllers have their own pros and cons. The pads and keys on the MiniLab are better than the LaunchKey Mini MK3, but its arpeggiator isn’t as unique and its integration with Ableton Live isn’t as tight. While the Akai MPK Mini MK3 has far and away the best pads of the bunch, its keybed is nothing to write home about and its integration with DAWs is extremely basic.

The integration with DAWs has been improved on the MiniLab 3, though. Arturia has put additional effort into improving this over the last couple of years and we’re starting to see some of the fruits of that labor. The available controls have been greatly expanded for many apps with scripts that are customized for specific DAWs like Ableton Live or FL Studio.

Terrence O’Brien / Engadget

The arpeggiator is pretty solid. I don’t think it’s quite as interesting as the one on the LaunchKey Mini MK3, but it’s hardly barebones. It has six different playback modes, swing and gate controls, as well as your standard octave and time division options. There’s also a chord mode that lets you play full rich chords with a single finger.

If you’re tight on space and don’t plan to drag your controller out and about with you, the MiniLab 3 is an excellent option. While Arturia calls it portable, it’s just big enough to be a little unwieldy in a bag. And I have some concerns about how those faders would hold up getting jostled around with other stuff. If portability is your primary concern either Novation’s LaunchKey Mini or Arturia’s MicroLab are probably better bets. But if you just want the most controls in the smallest amount of space while also getting solid software integration – especially with Arturia’s Analog Lab – then the MiniLab is the way to go.

When people ask what their first hardware synth should be, I often recommend Arturia’s MicroFreak. Unless you absolutely have your heart set on an analog instrument, I think it offers the most versatility and the best bang for your buck. It has over a dozen different synth engines, an analog multimode filter, a mod matrix for putting together complex patches, plus it’s routinely updated with new features. Sure, it needs the assistance of external effects to really and its touchplate keyboard is a bit controversial, but there’s no denying it offers a lot for just $349.

The little digital weirdo has proven so successful that Arturia decided to make an even more powerful synth, built on the same core. The MiniFreak has double the oscillators, six voices instead of four, built-in effects and a more traditional keyboard. It’s a robust midrange offering with a reasonably low $599 price. That puts it right up against other offerings like the Hydrasynth Explorer ($599) and the Korg Minilogue ($530). But, as is usually the case with music gear, there’s no one right choice here. So let’s explore who might want the MiniFreak and why.

If you’re at all familiar with the MicroFreak, then you already have a pretty good idea of what to expect here – just bigger and more complex. The oscillators on the MiniFreak are the same, just now there are two per voice so your pads can be a little thicker. And you can add some evolution by layering two different engines – say Bass from Noise Engineering for some upfront punch, and a virtual analog voice that comes in after.

Just like its predecessor, the MiniFreak is a digital / analog hybrid synth that combines digital oscillators with an analog filter and digital effects. As solid as the virtual analog engine and analog filters are though, it’s not going to fool well trained ears. You can coax some decent warmth and instability out of it, but it’s decidedly digital. For some, that might be a deal breaker – those people are frankly wrong and missing out. But, if you’re 100-percent convinced only analog will do, feel free to bail out now.

Terrence O’Brien / Engadget

The multi-engine synth core of the MiniFreak is incredibly versatile, covering everything from basic FM, to Karplus-Strong string modeling, to vocal synthesis and rave-ready superwaves. There are a couple of notable omissions from the MicroFreak though, that will hopefully make their way over in a firmware update. As of now there is no vocoder or custom wavetables available on the MiniFreak.

That being said, it can process other instruments by connecting them to the audio in jack on the back and feeding that through the built in filter and effects. Plus there’s a wave folder and bitcrusher specifically built-in to the incoming audio “oscillator.” Oscillator two also has a handful of unique digital filters and effects that you can use to shape sounds from oscillator one, including Destroy, ring modulation, a comb filter and more. This makes the MiniFreak not just a versatile synth, but also a pretty solid effects processor. You could easily connect a Moog, a guitar, or even a microphone and create entirely new textures that weren’t possible before. You can go completely overboard too, using the bit crusher on the incoming audio, then use the destroy module to bit crush your signal further, then filling up all three effects slots with more bit crushers!

Terrence O’Brien / Engadget

The digital engine does have its strengths and weaknesses. It can handle bass and leads just fine, but it really shines on keys, plucks and weirdo sound effects. The MicroFreak was a passable pad machine, but it always sounded a bit thin. By adding a second oscillator, the MiniFreak is able to beef those up and pads become one of its strong suits. It can get a little muddy at lower frequencies, but in general it sounds great, especially if your tastes err towards cold and gritty textures.

The new digital effects section really helps complete the package. Whereas the MicroFreak often sounded a little lonely without some external effects, its big sibling is able to create thick epic atmospheres right out of the box. There are three independent effect slots, with 10 effects to choose from including multiple reverb types, several distortion styles, chorus and compression.

In general Arturia plays things pretty conservative here, sticking to bread and butter effects. You won’t find crazy pitch shifting delays or super sparkly reverb. But that’s ok. My one wish is that there was some sort of equivalent to the lo-fi effect found on the Hydrasynth. You can create something similar by patching up a random LFO to the chorus and or pitch, and messing with the EQ, but having it as an easy-to-use one stop effect would be great.

The ability to patch all these various parts together is another thing that makes the Freak line easy to get lost in. The mod matrix on the MiniFreak is quite powerful, allowing you to quickly connect either of the two LFOs, two envelopes or various other modules to each other. In addition to the seven sources and four standard destinations in the mod matrix there are nine assignable destinations that can be almost anything. You can use the LFO to change the ratio in FM engine, or the delay time, for example.

The patching and modulation possibilities aren’t as robust as they are on the ASM Hydrasynth with its five LFOs and envelopes, but they’re still pretty robust. And definitely more flexible than what you’d find on most analog synths in this price range (at least ones with a keyboard).

Building patches from scratch and connecting things in the mod matrix is incredibly straight forward. Arturia’s interface feels intuitive and rarely overwhelming, even with its large collection of shift functions. Most things are labeled clearly and laid out in a way that (mostly) makes sense. There are a few head-scratchers though, like the lack of an obvious way to unassign parameters from the two macro controls, or what in hell the images of increasingly large frogs have to do with the octave range of the arpeggiator.

Terrence O’Brien / Engadget

The arpeggiator is excellent, by the way, with a host of different modes, the ability to repeat or ratchet notes in the arp, and a mutate function for adding a dash of randomness. The 64-step sequencer feels more polished than the one on the MicroFreak, but I do wish that you could access the mutate, ratchet and repeat functions. At least there’s still Spice and Dice, which also randomize certain elements of your sequences and arpeggios. These are really great ways of coming up with new melodic ideas when you’re feeling stuck. Just play in a simple arpeggio, then start rolling the dice, pressing mutate and messing around with the various modes until you have something new and unique.

While not unimportant, I did save the physical hardware itself for last because, well, I can forgive a lot if the sound engine is satisfying. For the most part, the MiniFreak looks like what you’d expect from a super-sized MicroFreak. The white, dark gray and orange motif is here, though some of the graphical flourishes have been subdued – there’s no floral pattern over the keyboard. While the case is mostly plastic, it feels solid and is actually a little heavier than I anticipated. I remain indifferent to touchstrips in place of actual mod and pitch wheels, but I’ve learned to accept them.

Terrence O’Brien / Engadget

One of the most obvious changes for the MiniFreak though, is graduating to a 37-key traditional keyboard, as opposed to the touch plate on the MicroFreak. I know that I’m probably in the minority here, but I’m a little sad to see it go. Sure, it made it a little tougher to play just by feel, but it was a unique playing experience and I really enjoyed its implementation of polyphonic aftertouch.

The MiniFreak’s keyboard is fine. It feels similar to the KeyStep Pro, but a little springier. It has aftertouch, but not polyphonic aftertouch. And with the move to a traditional keyboard, Arturia decided to ditch the CV controls on the back of the synth. So you’re not going to be integrating this into your Eurorack rig. There are full-sized five-pin MIDI In / Out / Thru ports on the back at least. And stereo outs for taking full advantage of the digital effects.

One last thing to mention: There is going to be a MiniFreak V – a dedicated VST plugin that integrates the instrument into your DAW. At least at first though, it won’t be available separately. It will only be available to owners of the MiniFreak.

The MiniFreak is, at the end of the day, a beefed up MicroFreak. And there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s a quirky digital synth with a ton of versatility and multiple sound engines. If you want to get lost in sound design and want as many modulation options as possible, then the Hydrasynth might be the better choice for you – though the MiniFreak is certainly not lacking in those departments. And if you simply must have an analog synth, then go for Korg’s Minilogue. But if you’re looking for the broadest range of sounds, and a little instant gratification, then the MiniFreak is certainly a strong contender for your synth dollar.