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iOS synth that comes close to Arturia Microfreak?
What would be your choice of iOS synth if want to replicate the synth engine (s) from Microfreak?
Comments
There's not one app that can do 'all of them' but we have MiRack and Spectrum to cover the mutable-instruments oscillators and a bit more than what the Freak can do.
I'd also take a look at Lagrange from IceGear as it offers plenty of different oscillator with a somewhat easy to tweak UI.
+1 to what @Samu said, but more importantly that’s reminded me I haven’t got my Microfreak out in months!
Agreed with @Samu Lagrange is fantastic for the range of oscillators it contains.
When I think microfreak, I think lots of oscillator choices, strong routing matrix, and a digital sound.
I think Factory by Sugar Bytes has a similar feel. Lots of different oscillator options (LOTS... FM, formant, sync, sample, classic waveforms and more). A very flexible routing matrix where almost everything can be modulated. But it has 3 fx slots with about 10 fx options ranging from shimmer reverb to modulation and delays.
Another synth with a bunch of oscillators and a strong routing matrix is Mela 2/3. This one even has a phase distortion option, which is rare. Mela has a more analog sound to my ears. Mela 2 is free.
Synthmasters 1/2 also have lots of oscillator choices with nearly everything available for modulation and a strong fx suite. It feels less intuitive to me, but also has a lot of free presets to get you to a good starting place.
All the synths are fantastic and offer more sound design potential than the microfreak imo (think both sound thicker and also have fx for more options). Otherwise, Spectrum has the mutable instrument oscillators for free... If you are missing the chords oscillator, this is where you'll find it, but you'll need to add fx.
Also! Using the microfreak keyboard with after touch mapped to different modulations on IOS synths is really fun.
Same here're actually...
...did some major clean-up a few weeks back tucked everything away and I decided I'll pick stuff out when I need it.
Having a 'clean desk' is so nice for a change
Flynth?
I heard someone saying it’s something like the freak
well being that the microfreak stole liberally from the open source mutable instruments algorithms created by the brilliant Émilie Gillet...
there is the oft overlooked (and free!) Spectrum bundle that I find to be one of the finest sounding synths on the ios platform. Aside from the lack of Steiner Parker filter, you can get some similar sounds to the microfreak. And I've found that pointing a Mosaic cc randomizer at it can result in some truly excellent results.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/spectrum-synthesizer-bundle/id1467384251
also, I imagine one could build a microfreak in mirack with a bit of elbow grease
How do you steal open source material?
Isn’t that like stealing lunch from a free soup kitchen?
It is kinda like stealing when you sell the free lunch for actual money.
But there is a bunch of hardware stuff coming with the free code too.
Most of Emilie's modules are part of miRack anyway 😊
And indeed, the Spectrum bundle is fantastic, maybe it's often overlooked because it has no fancy UI?
Although my personal choice would be Drambo because it's so easy to not only have most of the the Microfreak's oscillators but also up to 16 voices polyphony 😊
No synth on a tablet would replace the hands-on feel of the sweet little toy though.
Oh that can really make a difference.
One synth at a time, but then dive in extensively without any distractions.
Also, if you want the Noise Engineering oscillators from Microfreak, you can now buy those as VSTs directly from NE. And they are really something else. Prefer those to having a microfreak.
FWIW the Microfreak has a SEM filter rather than the Steiner Parker that they used on the Brute series.
Pairing Spectrum with Mozaic is an excellent shout. Thomas (who ported Spectrum) also ported the Turing Machine to Mozaic too, which yields some fantastic results.
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I’m not sure your analogy holds water.
It’s not the lunch being ‘stolen’ as you say (and it’s not stealing, by the very definition of ‘open source), it’s the recipe for the soup being freely published for anyone to make their own.
If all these people and companies were ‘stealing’ freely available open source information and designs, then why aren’t people being sued?
Answer - because it’s not stealing.
It’s open source.
Well unfortunately it's not as simple as that @kgreggbruce, especially when using open source intellectual property in a commercial product. I wouldn't call it stealing either in this case but from what I remember, there was a discussion about how "fair" Arturia dealt with it in that case.
Anyway, there are many different licensing options regarding open source and it can be worth reading about them.
Just look at the patchstorage options to choose from when uploading something: 🤪
Open source doesn’t mean take and use however you want. Open source creators choose what license to use. Arturia respected the license requirements .
Arturia did not steal anything as Emilie has made clear:
https://forum.mutable-instruments.net/t/about-the-microfreak/14878
Her only objection was that when the microfreak was released the promotional language implied that Mutable Instruments collaborated on it which was not true in a meaningful way.
So instead of Emilie being gracious and taking the high road, and congratulating Arturia for using the technology, they complained and had to make statements.
Got it!
???
Her statement seems gracious to me…particularly given Arturia’s marketing people having used language that implied that she was actively involved in a way that she wasn’t. It isn’t ungracious for her to clarify that she wasn’t a collaborator and was not a consultant on the project.
She had customers making noise about boycotts and she said “ chill out. Arturia honored the license. Buy microfreak if you’d enjoy it.”
Exactly. Emilie was incrediblt gracious about the whole thing. Arturia used her code and her name - the former with permission; the latter without permission or even consultation - and when her supporters rightfully lambasted Arturia for this she calmed them down and said she was completely fine about it.
I think Emilie was gracious
but
I disagree that the MI fans that talked about boycotts and theft were rightful in their lambasting. Some MI fans were, in my opinion, out of line (and some continue to be)…wrongly accusing Arturia of theft..the outrage was out of line … which, it seems, is why Emilie felt it necessary to calm things down.
No, I agree that some of them went too far. I was just meaning that Arturia were clearly out of line using the MI name in their early marketing and suggesting that it was some form of collaboration.
Emilie was gracious and an example to us all.