Vintage Synth Explorer Forums

dustinh wrote:I agree. I think Arturia knows exactly what they are doing. When is the last time you've seen a brand new analog synth with keys and a knob for every function at $500? The last thing I can even think of for this cheap was the Novation Bass Station and that was nearly 20 years ago and it wasn't nearly as cool as what I'm hearing from the minibrute.

that's how I see it- basically a replacement in the market for vintage monos. hopefully it'll bring the price of those down, too.

Kidney05 wrote:

dustinh wrote:I agree. I think Arturia knows exactly what they are doing. When is the last time you've seen a brand new analog synth with keys and a knob for every function at $500? The last thing I can even think of for this cheap was the Novation Bass Station and that was nearly 20 years ago and it wasn't nearly as cool as what I'm hearing from the minibrute.

that's how I see it- basically a replacement in the market for vintage monos. hopefully it'll bring the price of those down, too.

I concur fellas

So far from what I'm seeing in Marc's videos and others...the Brute looks to be outdoing it famous predecessory brethren, and then some. Sure the name Arturia is new comparatively, and that will detract some purists (I'm guilty of this to some extent as well), but I'm totally freaked the f**k out by this thing....in a good way! Huge bang for the buck (as we Yanks say) this thing screams big time bargin. I've pretty excited to see what dreams may come in the future from Arturia. I can remember when brands like Lexus & Hyndai came on the auto scene and everyone one thought it was just other c**p-lemon import trash bucket. Change is tough, good or bad, and to me this little b***h looks like a sizzling piece of gear.

Now if their peers stand up and take notice - looking @ you Korg, Yamaha...do we even bother with Roland anymore? Maybe we could see some real "Space Race" s**t take off!

P.S. Dear manufacturers, please build us synth nerds a 6-8 voice poly with all the attention and foresight of the miniBrute, make it stable, intuitive and price-point effective...please!

Kidney05 wrote:that's how I see it- basically a replacement in the market for vintage monos. hopefully it'll bring the price of those down, too.

It does more than vintage monos. It doesn't sound like a vintage mono (or at least not like the vintage monos that people who truly crave vintage-sounding monos want). It's a modern mono which gives analog fans a lot of cool analog aspects while at the same time creating some innovative new analog sounds. You don't just go and recreate a Steiner-Parker filter in combination with some interesting and new waveshaping options never having been seen on a vintage synth and then pursue the "vintage synth market." This is a MODERN analog mono which, while being able to give you some vintage sounds, also gives you sounds vintage monos didn't and couldn't do.

bhrama wrote:take notice - looking @ you Korg, Yamaha...do we even bother with Roland anymore? Maybe we could see some real "Space Race" s**t take off!

Amen, would be great to see Yamaha release an updated CS-01 (CS-01 III?) out of the blue.

Automatic Gainsay wrote:

Kidney05 wrote:that's how I see it- basically a replacement in the market for vintage monos. hopefully it'll bring the price of those down, too.

It does more than vintage monos. It doesn't sound like a vintage mono (or at least not like the vintage monos that people who truly crave vintage-sounding monos want). It's a modern mono which gives analog fans a lot of cool analog aspects while at the same time creating some innovative new analog sounds. You don't just go and recreate a Steiner-Parker filter in combination with some interesting and new waveshaping options never having been seen on a vintage synth and then pursue the "vintage synth market." This is a MODERN analog mono which, while being able to give you some vintage sounds, also gives you sounds vintage monos didn't and couldn't do.

Thanks for the analysis. Can't wait to try it myself.

Automatic Gainsay wrote:

Nice vids. Thanks for doing those.
They definitely give you a feel for what the synth is all about.




"That sounds just like noise."

Nice demo AG. Very solid synth by the looks/sounds of it. I'm glad you went over the OSC section thoroughly. This thing seems like the perfect synth for dissonance, metal hits, and crunch arps. The LFO goes really fast, and can modulate the metallizer...that itself is incredibly unique on something analog.

The thing I like it that it has that almost polivoks like bizarre noisy aggression everywhere on it. It just sounds loud, brash and saturated all the time. The filter is distorted and noisy and not at all refined. It's just perfect for the music I make.

(made a pretty sweet DnB reese in AG's second video, Which according to him would be a genre he would be interested in making).

AG is now a neurofunk producer.

tekkentool wrote:

I LIKE this.

That video reminds me some recent Amon Tobin productions.

Well, I've watched the Minibrute review by AG and I really enjoyed. I feel ashamed but I never thought of using a [edit] HPF for bass with the resonance set at low frequencies. Will try this on my SEM.

The res on the minibrute lpf quite harsh, but in a good way; almsot MS20-esque as AG mentionned.

I don't feel lik I need the synth, but it gained some respect in my personnal opinion.

You mean an HPF, right?

The thing I like it that it has that almost polivoks like bizarre noisy aggression everywhere on it. It just sounds loud, brash and saturated all the time.

Yes, but not only that.
Something very important is the level at the input of the filter. And with the faders of the oscillator section, if not set "full" all the time, you can have very smooth sounds if you want.

About the choice of the filter, in this video (in french, sorry..) you have the MiniBrute explained by his father:



The talk about the filter start et 5'45.
Enjoy !

tekkentool wrote:The thing I like it that it has that almost polivoks like bizarre noisy aggression everywhere on it. It just sounds loud, brash and saturated all the time. The filter is distorted and noisy and not at all refined. It's just perfect for the music I make.

Push-Pull wrote:Something very important is the level at the input of the filter. And with the faders of the oscillator section, if not set "full" all the time, you can have very smooth sounds if you want.

He's right! In my demos, I really sort of focused on distinctive sounds... sounds that weren't... well, rehash. I mean, you guys know how much I love traditional analog sounds... but I wanted to show that the MiniBrute has an aggressive MS-20-like character because to be honest, Moog already does Moog. Y'know? But definitely... there are some nice, warm, smooth traditional sounds in this device.

Gotta say thanks for the vids AutomaticGainsay. Hearing all of these sounds you're pulling out of this thing has me even more excited. And you still have two videos left! Super rad.