Freak of the Week! – Sounds and Presets
Plus sounds for the Subsequent 37 and Waldorf Iridium
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Arturia’s line of ‘Freak’ synthesizers gets a lot of love, and rightly so. This week, we have a bank for each version, one of them free, along with patches for Moog’s Subsequent 37 and the Waldorf Iridium.
Freaky Sounds and Presets
Mirage for Arturia MiniFreak by Mark Sound Design
I love the MiniFreak. I mean, REALLY love it. It’s one of my most favourite synths ever for so many different reasons, not least the fact that nothing this small should sound this huge, but boy does it. I just wish they’d make a full-size one!
I was secretly hoping that Arturia would announce something at Superbooth, but it’s all been very quiet in Grenobles so far. Anyway, to sate one’s appetite, why not whack a bunch of great sounds into the synth and start noodling around.
Marco Meyer, he of Mark Sound Design, has just released a new bank of patches for the MiniFreak, both hardware and software varieties, which will also work in Analog Lab. As the name implies, you’re in for some quality cinematic, immersive, ambient and atmospheric sounds.
Spread across 60 presets, there’s something for everyone here, and they really show off the sonic power of the MiniFreak’s hybrid engine. Check out the video demo and head on over to Marco’s site to buy these sounds for just €15.
_Micro Refractions for Arturia MicroFreak by Arturia
Before the MiniFreak, there was the MicroFreak, and it instantly garnered a considerable following of people who absolutely loved its bonkers hybrid engine that was capable of such a wide range of timbres. In a masterstroke of marketing, they then released the Vocoder edition, which had been secretly hiding inside all along.
All of a sudden, MicroFreak owners got that rarest of benefits, a hardware upgrade, for zero dollars down! It’s capacitive keyboard also boasted polyphonic aftertouch. It was quite the package! And now, Arturia continue to give it some love with this new free bank of sounds.
Entitled _Micro Refractions, Arturia claim that this bank will have you stepping into a world of the strange and beautiful. There are microscopic tinkles and blips, as well as big pads and harmonious voices, all of which make good use of the MicroFreak’s modulation matrix and the aforementioned keybed.
Sadly, there are no demo videos for this, hence the performance video shown here, but if you head over to the Arturia website, you can both check out some demos and download the pack for free directly. Enjoy!
Performer Essentials Vol.1 for Moog Subsequent 37 by Roberto Macrì
The Moog Subsequent 37 is getting rather long in the tooth now, being nearly nine whole years since it morphed out of the Sub 37 and the limited Subsequent 37 CV edition. And yet, as all good synths dom it has continued to be popular and is still available to buy new today.
Many consider it to be one of Moog Music’s finest synths, and its longevity is certainly a testament to that. The beauty of the Subsequent 37, over and above its classic Moog tone and eminently usable interface, is that you can hook it up to a computer and, subsequently (pun absolutely intended), use an editor and librarian.
Now, Roberto (my namesake and fellow Italian) has crafted a collection of 32 new presets into a bank he calls Performer Essentials Vol.1. His focus for this collection was sounds that sounds great “out of the box”, whether played live or in the studio.
Because of the Subsequent 37’s storied past and its DNA with the Sub 37, these patches, in theory at least, should also work on that synth, but Roberto advises that he hasn’t been able to test them on one. Your mileage may vary, and you may need to tweak them, but if they do, let Roberto know!
Harmony of the Spheres for Waldorf Iridium/Quantum by Otto K. Schwarz
Otto K. Schwarz continues to pump out quality sound banks for various synths, this time tackling the marvellous Waldorf Iridium. Harmony of the Spheres (which is a great name, BTW) is a collection of multi-layered pads, sequences, arpeggios, leads and keys patches.
In ancient times, it was strongly believed by some that the movement and position of the stars and planets, through mathematical calculations, displayed perfect harmony, a concept known as musica universalis.
It is this concept of celestial harmony that inspired this bank from Otto, which features 50 multi-layered presets. It uses 30MB of external samples, which will need to be installed into the synth prior to using these patches.
Otto, who is a sound therapist and film composer when he’s not designing sounds, has brought his knowledge and experience in these fields to bear on this bank, and they make excellent use of the wavetable, sampling and granular engines of the Iridium.
Harmony of the Spheres is compatible with both the Mk.1 and Mk.2 Iridium, as well as the Iridium Core and the mighty Quantum and will require v3.1 of the OS to function correctly. You can buy the bank for €20 at Otto’s online store.
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