Micro-modular
The Microcosm and MicroFreak meet the modular!
I’ve had the Arturia MicroFreak for a few years. It’s an amazing little synth which has received many free updates over the years to expand its capabilities. It’s a stretch to call it semi-modular as while it does have a single cv/gate/pressure output and clock in/out, the patching matrix is digital only and not available for external patching. But it comes with the same sonic DNA as modular and has a range of Mutable Instruments (Plaits) and Noise Engineering voices as well as new granular and sample based options, a great filter and lots of modulation possibilities.
I’ve tended to use it mainly for evolving gritty/noisy sounds that form the backdrop to some of my tracks and I’m interested to see how it fits in with the modular.
The Befaco CV Thing allows me to convert CV to MIDI and send note/pitch info to the MicroFreak, I can then pipe the audio back into the modular. Here are the somewhat convoluted details of how I set it up for anyone who is interested…
Because the MicroFreak doesn’t have a tuning knob, unlike the modular synths, I initially struggled with getting the right pitch ranges from Marbles as I don’t have a scale/transpose module. After failing to use CV Thing and Pamela’s New Workout to do this I found a solution by using the USB out of the CV Thing into Ableton Live and triggering the MicroFreak as an external instrument which allows me to use the MIDI plugins to transpose the pitch—a Live tuning knob! I think this is working without too much latency but we shall see!
The Hologram Microcosm has become an important tool in my music making, along with the Boss RC-600 looper it forms the core of the setup I’ve been using to make ambient music for the last year or so. When you dial it in it has just the right balance of controllability and instability to add interest within acceptable parameters! It’s currently on AUX send 1! I’d like to try out some other creative pedals at some point—Chase Bliss Habit Blooper Mood, Red Panda Tensor Particle, Meris Hedra, Soma Cosmos, Zoia… there’s a lot!
I’ve got it clocked from Pamela’s New Workout via CV Thing.
Here’s an initial patch involving the MicroFreak on FM duties layered with Elements in full acoustic bow/blow/strike mode with some delayed 2hp Hats and Microcosm sprinkles, sequencing provided by Marbles…
#ModularMay