Arturia MicroFreak Stellar Synthesizer

Allmänt

Early in 2019, the Arturia MicroFreak first dropped and has since grown into one of the most popular modern synths on the planet. The OG model was remarkable; looked nothing like other synths; and worked like a synth-based fever dream. A few years have passed, so it's high time for a very special, very limited edition: the Stellar. Newly fitted out with a black finish and astronomy themed graphics, the Arturia MicroFreak Stellar takes things back (or forwards?) to the space age. The artwork is packed with references, from a little mars rover to a detailed diagram of our own solar system, so when the keyboard player in the band says something about adding a bit more Spice to Uranus, you'll know what they're on about.

The Arturia MicroFreak Stellar

This is a synth that packs masses of potential, starting with the insane number of oscillator types: virtual analogue, noise, vocoder, wavetable, Karplus Strong modelling, 2op-FM, samples, granular and more - amounting to a total of twenty-one models. The analogue filter offers 12dB LPF, BPF and HPF, and an ADSR and cycling envelope (envelope or LFO) crams the sound with more than enough movement while, via the modulation matrix, everything can be linked to anything you want. In principle, this is a monophonic machine with four oscillators, but those four oscillators can also be set up in paraphonic and unisono and, to really complete the setup, you also get an arpeggiator and a sequencer.

The Keyboard

Perhaps the most striking feature of this synth (Stellar edition or not) is the keyboard. This is no traditional set of piano-style keys but a big touch-sensitive, keyboard-like membrane which can be played like no other keyboard that came before it. Slide across the keys and you gain a similar response to sliding up the string of a violin, and that response is fully backed up by polyphonic aftertouch. Elegantly simple, it's exactly that off-the-wall approach to the controls that made the original MicroFreak so sought-after.