Arturia MiniBrute - analog monosynth

[Tymus]

I've read and heard that some stores in Europe now have the unit available...

At first I thought: I WANT THIS.
Now I"m doubtful and more eager to wait or even consider another synth (Spectral Audio Neptune 2).

anybody here who has it and willing to do a review? I've been looking on youtube where this dude (forgot the name but he has a greyish beard, black shirt and seems like he's doing the review in his toilet because of the echo:)) did a nice job, but he doesnt say anything bad and thats not normal, every type of gear must have a downside

[Automatic Gainsay]

I've read and heard that some stores in Europe now have the unit available...

At first I thought: I WANT THIS.
Now I"m doubtful and more eager to wait or even consider another synth (Spectral Audio Neptune 2).

anybody here who has it and willing to do a review? I've been looking on youtube where this dude (forgot the name but he has a greyish beard, black shirt and seems like he's doing the review in his toilet because of the echo:)) did a nice job, but he doesnt say anything bad and thats not normal, every type of gear must have a downside

The MiniBrute has a 12dB per oct multimode filter, and a lot of unique oscillator functionality... plus a keyboard. They are really quite different in sound and architecture.
You should probably listen closely to demos to see which one makes noises you like.

[Tymus]

You, gainsay, are the guy who did the review!

Must say, great review, havent seen all the vidz yet but you do not mention one single downside, which imho is odd since I believe every synth, how great it may be, has something of 'flaw'.

Its true that they are different: built, shape, controls, sound but they are both monosynths with lots of knobs and no menu diving and analogie. Let that be the things I am looking for right now and my choice is set on one of those two...

I've heard great noises from both, they can be harsh and smooth.

However, the Arturia appearq to be criticized a lot more than the Neptune2. Ill keep on looking and comparing but its not like they are two different worlds..imho anyway

[Computer Controlled]

I think the reason the Minibrute gets so much criticizing is because there hasn't been a synth that's been so hyped and has sold out before even leaving the factory in, well... not since i've been into synths. And that's been almost 20 years. It seems to have a lot to live up to. Some people are picky as all h**l and will nit pick the littlest thing.

I lucked out and got one the other day at the Guitar Center here in Seattle. I think it's a great little synth, and WELL worth the measly $500 they sell for. The build quality is excellent. The only niggles i've encountered so far are: the EG Amount pot for the VCF is looser in rotation that all the others. Also, one of the little white indicator inserts on one of the knobs popped off when it got caught on one of the overlays. Took me a few minutes to figure out what the h**l it was. Other than those 2 little things, it's solid. And i really like how the end cheeks feel. Almost like they have a light rubber coating on them.

[Roby31]

"Nearly solved"

[Bitexion]

That is way more news than I've seen in the past few months, so it's all good. I've been nagging on my local store since june and they haven't got a single mail or update from Arturia to help out.

[Sir Ruff]

Finally got to plug mine into the mixer and monitors last night and hear it properly. Here are some thoughts:

It really is a SOLID sounding synth, even at just a basic waveform level.... It does so much right, if it had come out 25 years ago, it would be revered today. The oscillators have a little more "bite" and high-end to them than you'd probably find in most vintage gear but not much, and it's to be expected.

The filter is definitely unique, and probably not to everyone's taste. It's definitely a blunt-force filter. But regardless, at least we're regarding it for what it is--a unique, fairly novel filter--rather than just another Moog/Korg knock-off. And it can still pull off your standard "soft" '70s monosynth sounds.

I've only come across a few ultra-minor issues: when using the square wave on the LFO for PWM, you get an odd glitch artifact every few cycles... Not sure how that's possible, but obviously something on the digital LFO side, and it's probably something I'll never use anyway. There is also some LFO bleedthrough when putting the metalizer knob in negative territory, even with no modulation, but that's subtle.

The last quibble is more architectural, and that is how the envelope delay goes from ultra-short to medium is a very tiny amount of fader travel. Given how long the decay can be in "fast" mode, I might have traded ultra-long decays for a more manageable "fast" decay range. I suspect swapping a resistor would solve this.

I am also not sure what's going on with the "random" arp. mode. It seems to only select the octave scale randomly, rather than the actual notes. But I also have it set to "sequencer" mode, so perhaps in regular mode, it will play the actual notes randomly. Anyone know? It's not mentioned in the manual.

Aside from that, it's fantastic. Does far more than it should for the price, really, and there's honestly nothing else like it out there.

[GuyaGuy]

"Nearly solved"

Our move to a new plant was done successfully, and even though it stopped production for a few weeks, we are confident that we will be able to deliver units to the stores on a regular basis.

AFAIK they didn't announce that they were moving plants. Or that production had stopped.
Might have been good to have announced that to calm down all the antsy-pants.

[meatballfulton]

the Arturia appears to be criticized a lot more than the Neptune2

I'm sure that's cause Arturia is more widely available.

The Neptune2 has been out for many years but at least in the USA they're only available at 2 or 3 dealers.

Arturia products can be found in Guitar Center (see post above).

[SSquirrel]

I spoke w/Nova Musik today (and they told me they have teamed up w/Kraft Music now), but I spoke w/someone who gave me the small bit they know. According to the latest from Arturia they are expecting their allotment (which will cover all their eixtsing pre-orders) in either October or November. He thanked me for being level headed and not biting his head off and I pointed out I've done a lot of customer service so I know it is rarely the fault of the specific person you have on the line. Plus I told him if I got the call today I don't have money so waiting isn't as big a deal, I was just curious what the current state of things is.

He did say that once Arturia tells them their order is actually in transit to them, they will start calling pre-order folks so they can turn Minibrutes around the same day they receive them. He said he didn't blame anyone who had gotten tired of waiting and found one elsewhere. I believe his name was John. Anyway, still no love for Novamusik, but they're entirely at the mercy of Arturia on this one.

[kvnvk]

"Nearly solved"

Our move to a new plant was done successfully, and even though it stopped production for a few weeks, we are confident that we will be able to deliver units to the stores on a regular basis.

AFAIK they didn't announce that they were moving plants. Or that production had stopped.
Might have been good to have announced that to calm down all the antsy-pants.

have to agree, if Arturia had just been up front with their customers about what was happening on the manufacturing side which was causing the delays they could have saved everyone all around a lot of grief. honestly don't see why that wasn't done from the start.

[Ashe37]

have to agree, if Arturia had just been up front with their customers about what was happening on the manufacturing side which was causing the delays they could have saved everyone all around a lot of grief. honestly don't see why that wasn't done from the start.

Its pretty clear that Arturia completely underestimated what they had on their hands and could not produce enough to meet demand. Based on that remark by them, they likely moved production facilities because the existing facility could not meet demand. I don't see any need to rag on them about it, if you pre-order something like that you take that risk. Just ask any Solaris owner.

[meatballfulton]

when using the square wave on the LFO for PWM, you get an odd glitch artifact every few cycles... Not sure how that's possible

Side effect of tempo synch-ability maybe...

[Sir Ruff]

when using the square wave on the LFO for PWM, you get an odd glitch artifact every few cycles... Not sure how that's possible

Side effect of tempo synch-ability maybe...

Possibly, but I didn't have arp sync on at the time... Not really a big deal anyway.

[Jorvik]

Via Music Radar, I found these interesting vids of Adrian Utley of Portishead with a Minibrute, so there is one in the UK

Short version


Full interview