Arturia MiniFreak 49: the bigger keybed is the least interesting upgrade

Arturia has made a bigger MiniFreak. The MiniFreak 49 is still a 6-voice hybrid synth with two digital engines and an analog filter on every voice. The headline change is the keyboard: 49 full-size, semi-weighted keys in place of the original's 37 slim keys. But reading Arturia's spec sheet next to Peter Kirn's hands-on test for CDM, the keys turn out to be the least interesting part. This is a reworked instrument built around touch, not a stretched MiniFreak.

What stays the same

The sound engine is the same. Both models have two engines, which Arturia says cover more than 30 modes, from virtual analog to granular, with algorithms from Arturia, Mutable Instruments and Noise Engineering. The original's page counts 31 oscillator modes. Both have per-voice state-variable analog filters with low-pass, band-pass and high-pass modes, two LFOs, a cycling envelope, and three stereo effect slots with 13 algorithms each. Clock, MIDI, USB-C, an audio input and stereo outputs are on both.

CDM reports that the 49 can also play "retro" MiniFreak presets, so a patch library built on the 37-key model carries over.

What the 49 adds

Arturia lists the new hardware features on the MiniFreak 49 page:

• Keys. 49 full-size semi-weighted keys with velocity and mono aftertouch. CDM says it is the same keybed as the KeyLab 49 mk3.
• Wheels. Aluminium pitch and mod wheels in place of the original's touch strips.
• XYZ touch matrix. A pressure-sensitive surface for modulation routing, preset browsing, a visualiser and "Freak Control" performance macros. CDM says Arturia developed it in-house, that it tracks up to eight touches, and that its display is a 7×7 grid of RGB LEDs.
• Filter FM. Audio-rate modulation of the analog filter cutoff from either engine.
• Voice panning. All six voices spread across the stereo field from one control. CDM notes that this comes from the PolyBrute and is new to the Freak line.
• Dedicated engine controls. Type, Wave, Timbre and Shape knobs for each engine. On the original, a button switched one set of controls between the engines.
• Memory. 256 MB for samples and wavetables, which Arturia says is eight times the original MiniFreak's.

The price gap

Arturia's US store lists the MiniFreak 49 at $849 and the original at $649. CDM's review gave a price of $799 / €799. Check the price with your local dealer before you buy. On Arturia's own list prices the gap is $200.

What if you already own a MiniFreak?

You are not being left behind, at least not on sound. CDM points out that version 5.0, released last month, added up to 6 seconds of user sample import, user wavetables and new factory presets, and lets you export patches to the 49. Arturia has a habit of extending its products with free updates, as it did with AstroLab 2.0 this month.

One catch: the MiniFreak V plug-in that comes with the 49 only unlocks its 49-specific mode, including filter FM, after you enter a 49 serial number or connect the keyboard. CDM says that mode is not available to existing MiniFreak or MiniFreak V owners. Owners of the software alone cannot get the new sound features.

Who the bigger keybed is for

Players who play. If you use a synth with both hands, for chords in the left and lines in the right, 37 slim keys limit you. Arturia pitches the 49 at "chords, melodic lines and two-handed playing", and that is the honest case for it.

People who want one keyboard on the desk. With semi-weighted keys, MIDI in/out/thru, a sustain pedal input and clock in, out and reset, the 49 can be both the synth and the controller for a small studio. CDM calls it "a powerful input device alongside its own internal capabilities".

Not for anyone short on space or travelling light, or anyone who already has a good controller keyboard and mostly sequences the MiniFreak. For them, the original at $649 with the 5.0 update is still the better buy.

What we think

The bigger keybed is what Arturia leads with, but it is not the reason to buy the 49. What really changes is that you shape sound by moving your hands instead of programming it. Two engines with their own knobs and a surface you press, slide and hold mean you can change a patch while you play it, without a Shift layer or a menu. Kirn sums it up well: you can explore the synth "just by playing, not programming".

That matters to artists for a practical reason. A lot of synth programming is decisions made at the screen, away from the moment of playing. An instrument that lets you transform a sound in the same gesture as the note keeps you in the take. For live players and improvisers, that is worth more than any number of extra oscillator modes.

There are two things we would push back on. First, locking filter FM in MiniFreak V to people with the 49 serial number makes sense for hardware sales, but it is a step back from the platform-wide generosity that makes Arturia's update record worth praising. If the feature runs in software, software owners should be able to buy it. Second, CDM notes the touch matrix is not yet fully mappable, including to external gear. Until it is, the 49 is a superb instrument with a controller surface that only controls itself.

In a month when Teenage Engineering said it plans to stop making synths and Behringer keeps shipping cheaper clones of classic synths, Arturia is betting on something different: a new way to play, rather than a new copy of an old sound. We think it is the right bet. Whether it is worth $200 more depends on one question: do you play the keys, or program the sounds?