this is one of the sickest analogs i've ever played, seriously. i have to say, the demos out there don't do this thing justice at all—someone mentioned that it was designed so that if you want a clean sound, you need to keep the oscillator faders fairly low in the osc. mixer and this is totally true. even at the half-way point they start to saturate the filter and fully up, they overdrive like a mother****er.
i think this is why all the youtube demos sound like shit (combined with people overusing the brute factor).
anyway, worth every penny and way more. i'd consider it a modern classic in every sense, and i can't wait to see what arturia releases next! finally a synth company THAT GETS IT!
this is one of the sickest analogs i've ever played, seriously. i have to say, the demos out there don't do this thing justice at all—someone mentioned that it was designed so that if you want a clean sound, you need to keep the oscillator faders fairly low in the osc. mixer and this is totally true. even at the half-way point they start to saturate the filter and fully up, they overdrive like a mother****er.
i think this is why all the youtube demos sound like shit (combined with people overusing the brute factor).
anyway, worth every penny and way more. i'd consider it a modern classic in every sense, and i can't wait to see what arturia releases next! finally a synth company THAT GETS IT!
Yeah the demos are pretty bad, just dry with eveything cranked up all
To hell.
this is one of the sickest analogs i've ever played, seriously. i have to say, the demos out there don't do this thing justice at all—someone mentioned that it was designed so that if you want a clean sound, you need to keep the oscillator faders fairly low in the osc. mixer and this is totally true. even at the half-way point they start to saturate the filter and fully up, they overdrive like a mother****er.
i think this is why all the youtube demos sound like shit (combined with people overusing the brute factor).
anyway, worth every penny and way more. i'd consider it a modern classic in every sense, and i can't wait to see what arturia releases next! finally a synth company THAT GETS IT!
Hey, you're an "older" guy.... Don't some of the sounds remind you of FM, even though the machine has no FM? Not too shabby for a cheap synth.
Interesting. Everything comes around again...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Don Solaris
Yes, Dirty Halo is an "older" guy, but still running fine:
Anyway, didn't know that FM synthesis was exclusively kept just for the "older" guys. I can program a DX-7 and I swear to you, i'm in my 30-ties.
.
I go away on the road for a few days and miss all the fun!
Hey, I'll call myself "older" if I could snag the women Heffner does!!!
Crap, am I really "older" at 41? (now I'm feeling... um... old)
Anywhoo... yeah, there is an FM vibe to the Minibrute or can be, from everything I've heard though, I'm impressed with it's range because it can have that metallic edge and then also get really warm and round (for lack of words to describe audio).
HOWEVER, I STILL do NOT have mine! Argh! Nova Music has just abandoned all hope, all help, and hasn't even bothered with their usual, "It's comming at the end of the month" line. I
I hung in with Nova Music as long as I could... off to track one down elsewhere.
One More Recording: Minibrute synced to tempest + MF 102; Minibrute Pitch Out to MF102 Frequency In, MF102 LFO Out to Minibrute Filter In (Wave is triangle with a little noise)
the arpeggiator on this thing rocks. Pretty easy to make cool patterns with a single line/track. Here's one that reminds me of old Skinny Puppy. Super loud!!!
again, just to reiterate, for you guys that haven't gotten yours yet—don't freak out about it sounding distorted when you first play with it. you literally have to keep the oscillator sliders BELOW 1/4 the way raised (i keep them 1/8th of the way up). i know this was an intentional design choice, but it does seem a little silly to me. any oscillator slider above that will distort the shit out of the filter, particularly when the resonance is in its sweet spot (about 3/4 the way up). it's slightly annoying to me, only because i don't get as much output gain as i'd like. but, thankfully there isn't any noise in the outputs even with the volume all the way up and the oscillators at a low output.
this is the reason all the youtube demos sound so distorted; it isn't actually the brute factor (which i've found to be really useful actually to fatten things up and add interesting nuances without really distorting things, like you'd assume).
again, just to reiterate, for you guys that haven't gotten yours yet—don't freak out about it sounding distorted when you first play with it. you literally have to keep the oscillator sliders BELOW 1/4 the way raised (i keep them 1/8th of the way up). i know this was an intentional design choice, but it does seem a little silly to me. any oscillator slider above that will distort the shit out of the filter, particularly when the resonance is in its sweet spot (about 3/4 the way up). it's slightly annoying to me, only because i don't get as much output gain as i'd like. but, thankfully there isn't any noise in the outputs even with the volume all the way up and the oscillators at a low output.
this is the reason all the youtube demos sound so distorted; it isn't actually the brute factor (which i've found to be really useful actually to fatten things up and add interesting nuances without really distorting things, like you'd assume).
I completely agree with atma. I received mine (luckily) a few weeks ago, and couldn't be happier with it, but it does take some finesse with the oscillator sliders to avoid a more aggressive sound, though I didn't find the distortion bad, just not the sound I always want (it can be aggressive sounding). You can really get some amazing buttery sounds from this thing, despite the YouTube videos showing otherwise, though as Automatic Gainsay said, you won't get a Moog sound, but that's fine. I've been messing with synths seriously for about eight years, and I can't get enough of this thing; you can sit with it for hours, just noodling about, which means I don't get as much work done, but I continue to get better at synth programming. It's especially fun when you add effects, as the Sweetwater video has shown.
I haven't read every page of this thread, but if anyone has concerns about construction, I can say that it is very solid. The case is made of aluminum, and the knobs and sliders feel durable. My glide button was not secured properly, so if I turn it upside down, the knob falls off. I suspect it wasn't glued at the factory; I e-mailed Arturia and have not gotten a response. I consider that a minor issue. Some of you may notice the Pulse Width envelope knob feels different than the others, but per Arturia, this is normal: "By design, the PWM Env Amt knob is different from others, so it ineluctably has a different feeling. However it is as reliable as others, unless you use an hydraulic press to move the knobs. To say it other way: it is not a bug, but a feature."
Other little issues: After warming up, I had to adjust my fine tuning almost all the way left to get it in perfect tune. This could be due to my living in a hotter area of the U.S., and my model only came with a chord that fits in euro outlets, but I had a spare, so no biggie. The only other issue I had was updating the firmware took a few tries.
This is a fun little synth to use, and I especially enjoy that I don't have to menu dive to access its features. The buttons and switches are all there. The more I play it, the more fun it is to use and discover. For those us us still learning synthesis, this is a great teaching tool. A synth without presets, and a myriad of creative options, is a blessing; it forces you to learn.
I would recommend this synth to anyone; it is a terrific bargain. I hope I helped a little and didn't rehash anything that may have been said already. Cheers!
I completely agree with atma. I received mine (luckily) a few weeks ago, and couldn't be happier with it, but it does take some finesse with the oscillator sliders to avoid a more aggressive sound, though I didn't find the distortion bad, just not the sound I always want (it can be aggressive sounding). You can really get some amazing buttery sounds from this thing, despite the YouTube videos showing otherwise, though as Automatic Gainsay said, you won't get a Moog sound, but that's fine. I've been messing with synths seriously for about eight years, and I can't get enough of this thing; you can sit with it for hours, just noodling about, which means I don't get as much work done, but I continue to get better at synth programming. It's especially fun when you add effects, as the Sweetwater video has shown.
I haven't read every page of this thread, but if anyone has concerns about construction, I can say that it is very solid. The case is made of aluminum, and the knobs and sliders feel durable. My glide button was not secured properly, so if I turn it upside down, the knob falls off. I suspect it wasn't glued at the factory; I e-mailed Arturia and have not gotten a response. I consider that a minor issue. Some of you may notice the Pulse Width envelope knob feels different than the others, but per Arturia, this is normal: "By design, the PWM Env Amt knob is different from others, so it ineluctably has a different feeling. However it is as reliable as others, unless you use an hydraulic press to move the knobs. To say it other way: it is not a bug, but a feature."
Other little issues: After warming up, I had to adjust my fine tuning almost all the way left to get it in perfect tune. This could be due to my living in a hotter area of the U.S., and my model only came with a chord that fits in euro outlets, but I had a spare, so no biggie. The only other issue I had was updating the firmware took a few tries.
This is a fun little synth to use, and I especially enjoy that I don't have to menu dive to access its features. The buttons and switches are all there. The more I play it, the more fun it is to use and discover. For those us us still learning synthesis, this is a great teaching tool. A synth without presets, and a myriad of creative options, is a blessing; it forces you to learn.
I would recommend this synth to anyone; it is a terrific bargain. I hope I helped a little and didn't rehash anything that may have been said already. Cheers!
My only concern are the keys, they are so long they have a tendancy to
Bend at the ends if pressed hard, seems like they could have made them
A bit stronger .
the arpeggiator on this thing rocks. Pretty easy to make cool patterns with a single line/track. Here's one that reminds me of old Skinny Puppy. Super loud!!!
oh yeah, the pw knob is something i noticed and couldn't figure out—it has a much smoother 'ride' to it then every other knob. i would've figured they'd have used that for the filter cutoff vs the pw.. weird.
was also happy to find that the USB connection can be used for midi. and the software allows you to make a few useful changes to things like the aftertouch curve and input style of the arp (note stacking vs pitch).
and i agree—it's a synth you can get lost in for hours. the filter is REALLY different than what i'm used to; it seems difficult to get the resonance to effect deeper bass frequencies.
I got my Brute yesterday! Only had time to unpack it due to work, but tonight I'll hook it up and do some exploring!
It was one of two models in the GC center stores nationwide, and the only one of the two boxed and not open. Got it shipped from a Texas shop to me direct thru a local GC. Its good to have friends on the inside. Grand total wait time, 2.5 weeks.
In other good news my Tempest fund jumped to $1600, well in advance of my target purchase date. But I'm committed to really learning the Minibrute and Factory Experience before I get the Tempest. Excess cash from the Tempest fund will instead get me an electric guitar (probably a Gretsch) and Orange amp for Xmas.
I got my Brute yesterday! Only had time to unpack it due to work, but tonight I'll hook it up and do some exploring!
It was one of two models in the GC center stores nationwide, and the only one of the two boxed and not open. Got it shipped from a Texas shop to me direct thru a local GC. Its good to have friends on the inside. Grand total wait time, 2.5 weeks.
In other good news my Tempest fund jumped to $1600, well in advance of my target purchase date. But I'm committed to really learning the Minibrute and Factory Experience before I get the Tempest. Excess cash from the Tempest fund will instead get me an electric guitar (probably a Gretsch) and Orange amp for Xmas.
Sweet Marc. Fill us in on your experience when you have a chance. Thanks dude.
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Grand total wait time, 2.5 weeks. 
