Arturia has released MiniFreak firmware 5.0, a free update that opens the hybrid synth up to user samples and custom wavetables. Users can now import their own audio, bring across wavetables from libraries including Pigments, and use that material within MiniFreak’s existing synthesis architecture.
Key Features
- Import WAV, AIFF and FLAC samples up to six seconds long
- Samples are converted to 12-bit / 32 kHz for MiniFreak’s sample-based engines
- Import custom mono 24-bit, 512-point wavetables
- Wavetable compatibility includes content created with Arturia Pigments
- Factory Bank v5.0 adds 23 new sample and wavetable-based presets
Sometimes the best firmware updates are the ones that simply give you more interesting stuff to throw into a synth.
That’s essentially what MiniFreak firmware 5.0 does. Rather than adding another collection of synthesis modes, Arturia has opened up the existing architecture so users can start feeding their own samples and wavetables into it.
Bring Your Own Samples
MiniFreak can now import WAV, AIFF and FLAC files up to six seconds long, with samples converted to 12-bit / 32 kHz for use within the synth.
The interesting part is what happens once those sounds are inside. Samples can become source material for MiniFreak’s sample-based engines, including its granular synthesis tools.
This has already got us thinking. We’re lucky enough to have a coveted KORG PS-3300 in the Noisegate studio, and the idea of sampling a few choice sounds from that enormous vintage polysynth, loading them into MiniFreak and then pulling them apart with its granular engines, effects, modulation and sequencing sounds like a very good way to lose an afternoon.
And that’s really where this update gets exciting. It doesn’t turn MiniFreak into a conventional sampler; it lets you use your own recordings as raw material for everything MiniFreak already does well.
Custom Wavetables Arrive Too
Firmware 5.0 also adds user wavetable import, supporting mono, 24-bit wavetables with 512 points.
That includes compatible wavetables from Arturia Pigments, creating a handy bridge between Arturia’s software and hardware sound-design worlds. Once loaded, your custom material can be manipulated through MiniFreak’s Wavetable engine before heading into its modulation, analogue filters and effects.
Arturia has also included Factory Bank v5.0 with 23 new presets demonstrating the new sample and wavetable functionality — a handy place to start before disappearing down the inevitable sound-design rabbit hole.
A More Personal MiniFreak
Previous MiniFreak updates have already expanded the instrument with features like granular synthesis and vocoder processing. Firmware 5.0 feels particularly useful because it lets users decide what goes into some of those engines in the first place.
For existing MiniFreak owners, it’s a free update that could make the synth feel considerably more personal.
We’ll be over here figuring out which PS-3300 patch gets sampled first.
