Doepfer Dark Energy Patch Sheets
The instrument comes with a generous pile of sound sheets. Doepfer Dark Energy. Arturia MiniBrute - the new Roland SH-101? ARP 2600 Poster and Patch Sheet. Wanna study the panel of the ARP 2600 in every detail? Doepfer Dark Energy I and Dark Energy II - Forbidding Powers.
In many ways the Arturia MiniBrute is an exception to the rule. First, it’s French, a rarity on the analog synth market.
Second, it’s something really special. THE analog synth of the year 2012 (and probably also 2013). In the lower price segment, in any case Most remarkable is the fact that a product of this high quality could be produced with such an exceptional price-performance ratio without any great sacrifices.
Arturia, up to now primarily involved in the development of software synthesizers, seems to have managed the impossible. The MiniBrute is well-made, sounds great, is versatile and – at 500 Euros – very affordable. An analog synth with MIDI, USB and CV/Gate.
You might expect that you’d just be getting what’s absolutely necessary in basic sound design, but the opposite is true. The MiniBrute is full of little extras that total up to enormous flexibility. We’ll explain this in detail in the course of the following report.
We have also taken the liberty to compare the MiniBrute with the similarly designed Roland SH-101. But let’s start at the beginning On availability, the manual and other stuff The MiniBrute comes with a couple of suprises. First, concerning delivery times and availability: these can be sticky. Arturia has too few MiniBrutes available around the world. So, you may have to be patient at the moment. The MiniBrute comes with a generous pile of sound sheets Forget about the language.
The instrument comes with a generous pile of sound sheets nice, thick cardboard templates which fit perfectly over the control panel to visually record favourite sound positions. Analog in the truest sense! Arturia’s MiniBrute comes with 10 “presets” and 5 “blank sheets”. The quality of the handiwork is very, very good. The MiniBrute doesn’t look impressive, that’s true. But just pick it up. It’s a whopper.
Doepfer A 100
Absolutely solid, a thick chassis, high quality knobs and faders. Nothing wiggles. Arturia didn’t stint on the hardware and not on the sound, either, just to be clear on that. And you see at a glance that the MiniBrute is another wonderful product from Axel Hartmann’s Design Box.
The keyboard may indeed have its week points Something to watch out for on the keyboard: those metal plates under the keys may come loose. They were put there to enhance the playing feeling through additional weight.
But some of these plates have been known to go loose. In that rare case there’s even a danger of them falling inside the instrument in which event the MiniBrute shouldn’t be turned on. The manufacterer is indeed aware of this problem, so we are expecting a permanent solution in the very near future. Specifications The MiniBrute contains.
a Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO) with sub-oscillator. The VCO is well designed. It offers sawtooth, pulse, sine and noise, each individually mixable via fader (signal mixer), so, in fact, you end up with an endless amount of waveform possibilities. The sub-oscillator can be pulse or sine, 1 or 2 octaves below the original signal. The main waveforms (saw, pulse and sine) offer some extras: Ultrasaw, for example, builds two phase-shifted copies of the basic sawtooth signal. What you get is a very thick sound, something you’d expect from a 2-VCO synthesizer. It’s sort of a supersaw, similar to what we know from the (virtual) Roland JP-8000. PWM is possible via LFO and envelope and the unique metalizer function turns the sine-wave into non-harmonic waveforms, something very useful, as there’s no ring-modulator. The VCO is, strictly speaking, an extremely versatile analog oscillator.
a Steiner multimode filter. There’s lowpass, bandpass, highpass and notch. The filter resonance is very aggressive (maybe that’s the typical “Steiner” sound?), so the MiniBrute is perfectly usable for raw, dominant, hard analog sounds.
The VCF has its own ADSR and keyboard tracking is available from 0 to 200 (!)%. Filter frequency modulation is also possible by LFO (of course ), by modulation wheel, aftertouch (via MIDI or directly through the internal keyboard) and finally by an external CV-source. There’s an audio-input, too, enabling filtering of any external audio signal. If the gate source switch on back of the instrument is set to audio, you don’t even have to touch the MiniBrute keyboard the external signal will trigger the synth. a main LFO with lots of waveforms. Frequency ranges from 0.05 bis 100 Hz, so this LFO is perfect for very slow as well as for ultra-fast (ok, let’s say: fast) modulation purposes. 6 waveforms (including sample & hold) and multiple modulation destinations (VCO, VCF and VCA) turn the main LFO into a powerful sound design module.
Last but not least, it’s possible to synchronize LFO clock and arpeggiator clock something both useful and elegant. a second LFO for vibrato. The special vibrato-LFO is controllable by modulation wheel or aftertouch. The aftertouch factory setting is very strong, so the vibrato might be more “jumpy” than smooth. But no problem, there’s the MiniBrute Connection software. It allows for personal aftertouch adjustment and for other goodies (such as selection of the MIDI channel, ). two envelopes.
Classic: two ADSR. Basic envelope time may be switched from fast to slow. That’s great, since it allows you precise control over a sound’s shape. This feature would do credit to a lot of analog synthesizers on the market. the Brute factor. The Brute factor is an extra knob that enhances the filter resonance.
It makes the sound more aggressive and wild if that’s what you’re looking for. a versatile arpeggiator. An arpeggiator is generally a useful tool. And this one is comprehensive as well. The MiniBrute arpeggiator has various playing modes (including random!) and octave range settings. The basic note length is selectable (quarter, eighth, sixteenth, ) and a swing factor gives you various groove options. The arpeggiator has its own internal clock, but may also be synched to MIDI clock.
You can even tap in your own tempo just hit the TAP button to adjust. Ah yes arpeggio lines are transmitted via CV/gate to any external synthesizer to your Roland SH-101 or ARP Axxe, for example. glide, bend range and audio in. Glide (portamento) is always welcome.
It’s that little extra that turns your simple arpeggios into groovy patterns or gives your solo lead lines that special human touch. Adjustable pitch bend range.
Another feature that would do credit to a lot of the analog synthesizers currently on the market. Finally, there’s audio-in, for processing stuff like vocal lines, drum patterns, polyphonic synth pads.
lots of INs and OUTs. Flexibility is one of the MiniBrute’s key words. This little monster can be hooked up to any modular system, to any (1V/octave) analog keyboard, any step sequencer, MIDI keyboard, computer (via MIDI and USB). Its connections are just as versatile as its sound design potential.
Connections:. audio in / out. headphones out. CV/gate in / out. MIDI in / out. USB.
Doepfer Dark Energy Synthesizer
CV-in for pitch, VCF and VCA Sound There is no question about it. The MiniBrute is a stunner. Small and beautiful. Just consider that low-budget aspect – 500 Euros – for which you get a new analog synthesizer with all those extras and a convincing sound to beat. That’s a completely different picture to the used vintage synth market (those monophonic machines from the 70s and 80s are definitely overpriced).
It’s very gratifying to find a low-priced new instrument with excellent sound. To be honest, Doepfer Dark Energy, the, tomoberheim SEM and the were quicker on the draw here. But none of them has a keyboard. Lots of in- and outputs ideal! In any case, the MiniBrute sound is excellent. Rich oscillator waveforms, versatile filter modes, snappy envelopes it’s all there.
Basically, the MiniBrute sound is cheeky and aggressive. Filter resonance overdrives quickly, so sounds with higher resonance settings tend to be very similar in character.
This is no criticism. As a matter of fact, for cheekiness, the MiniBrute tops the Roland SH-101 (?) Whereas the 101 sounds are meaty, they are more mild than aggressive. Which also means that the Roland SH-101 is a perfect fit in a mix. This is a small (a very small) sore point with the MiniBrute. It tends to want to be the center of attention.
Which is not to say that this isn’t exactly what modern musicians are on the look-out for: a sterling stand-out in a crowd. Arturia MiniBrute and Roland SH-101 Comparisons can be misleading. And it was just out of curiosity that we ended up comparing the MiniBrute with the SH-101. So it wasn’t at all suprising to determine that they actually can’t be compared.
They do have a lot in common, theoretically speaking a single VCO with mixable waveforms and sub-oscillator, a lowpass filter, an arpeggiator But in reality, the Arturia MiniBrute beats the legendary Roland SH-101 in many ways. Which is not to say that we’re about to kick the 101 over the edge. It’s really a draw: each of the synths has its assets, a character of its own. The Roland SH-101 is not the MiniBrute, but it’s certainly not scrap iron either. Arturia MiniBrute and Roland SH-101 Arturia’s MiniBrute is a remarkable synthesizer. Versatile, performance- and sound-design-oriented, flexible, good sounding, well-made.
The compact monophonic may lead to temptation, at least in your dreams: “Wouldn’t it be nice to have two of this synths right next to each other? Side-by-side?” You’d get the equivalent of a 4-octave keyboard while having two complete and independent analog synthesizers (with all those MIDI- and CV/gate possibilities) in one package. For just under a 1000 Euros unthinkable a few years ago. MIDI and USB We can congratulate Arturia – and all those involved in the development of the MiniBrute – on the realization of this exemplary musical instrument. A surprising step for a software producer. Let’s hope that Arturia keeps its sites set on the development of unique hardware. We’re looking forward, one day, to THE Brute!
PS: December 2013 Arturia just released the new MicroBrute synthesizer. We tested it and really fell in love with it!, listen to the soundfiles and compare the Mini- and the MicroBrute! One special note concerning the sound files (to be found not only here but also in the Listening Room). Compare the MiniBrute to the SH-101 and you’ll see that both instruments have their worthy assets. Arturia MiniBrute and Roland SH-101 Despite their similar architectures, each has its own distinctive sound. We’ve set up the files with the MiniBrute first in each sample.
Update 01/2018: Arturia releases MiniBrute 2 and MiniBrute 2S. These synthesizers are a mixture of MiniBrute, MatrixBrute and DrumBrute. They are slightly more expensive than the original MiniBrute – 649 USD / Euros is the price – but come with a huge patch field and many other cool features.
Arturia MiniBrute Price: 399,– USD / Euros (01/2018) Website: Further links:. Just took delivery of my Minibrute and after one days solid playing I have to congratulate the Arturia team. It sounds are thick and can be very easily made aggressive but importantly there is control there. Its the sum of the small details that make the MB such a good machine, like syncing the LFO with ARP, aftertouch to cutoff, brute factor distortion all makes it more than a sum of its parts. The only minor gripes I have is that the octave switch doesnt activate until the next key is pressed, I would like it to work instantly on the sound thats being produced and I found that the wait for 5 mins to warm up almost unbearable when I want to get going!:D These are very minor factor to major plus points, if you can get one it is worth the £400 of anybodys money.
You’re right. Prices of the SH-101 are crazy. I never understood why the blue coloured version costs twice as much as the grey model. Anyway it’s hard to compare the MniBrute and SH101. Just discovered the extremly wonderful 101 pulse with modulation sounds. Very elegant, very soft, very human. But the Arturia has tons of interesting possibilities and a character of its own.
And it’s a very good buy regardings the low price. I’d go for two MiniBrutes, sitting side by side playing them in stereo, guess that might sound absolutely stunning.
Yves is a great designer and an all around great person, very friendly and eager to help those in the DIY synth community with any questions regarding his designs (I know because he’s helped me with my minimoog VCF build). Although I’m not crazy about the aggressive sound of the minibrute (Team 101 here), it’s pretty awesome to see Arturia teamed up with him to make a high-quality, low-cost & versatile true analog synth for the masses. They couldn’t have picked a better person to work with. Thumbs up to Yves! I’m going to say, when I first got it I was little confused what was the fuzz all about. Let’s just say that when I played it in parallel with my other synth, the minibrute would sound a little thin. I guess I’ve got over that problem (happened to buy a synth module to complement my “main synth”, also a module lol).
The only big problem I have right now is, I cannot use the arpeggiator to arpeggiate my main synth, atleast not midi because arpeggiator doesn’t send midi notes. If arturia can address this with some firmware update it would be nice. Alternative would be to sequence my main synth with some sequencer, but that’s not the same deal as an arpeggiator.
Announced in January 2012, the MiniBrute created quite a buzz at Winter NAMM 2012 and in the electronic music world. Not only was it the first new mass-market analog VCO synth in quite a while, it was also from a company known for its soft synths. Highly affordable at a street price of $499 and filled with great features, the (almost) all-analog synth filled the desire for a new hands-on analog synth that could compete in price and sound with the well-loved vintage synths. Smartly designed, the unit can neatly fit into an all-vintage, modern MIDI, or modular setting with its CV, USB and MIDI DIN connections. Built in an aluminum body with rubber end caps, the MiniBrute is rugged, with only the knobs feeling a bit on the wobbly side. Sonically, the MiniBrute is aggressive. Its tone can be tamed for softer textures, but it seems to gravitate toward the raunchy, with its 'Brute Factor' control adding rich distortion.
The multimode Steiner-Parker filter provides versatility beyond what most vintage mono synths deliver. Taking things even further, Arturia provide 'Ultrasaw' control over the saw waveform and 'Metalizer' over the triangle wave, allowing the user to create unique new sounds for a VCO mono synth. To make the sound even larger, the MiniBrute's VCO wave mixer lets you combine the waveforms with dedicated volume sliders per waveform, allowing for sounds similar to a polyphonic synth's unison mode. Many of those who were initially unconvinced by the single VCO were quickly swayed by the sonic flexibility of the waveforms and the sub-oscillator. With a multimode arpeggiator, aftertouch, velocity-sensitivity, multimode Steiner-Parker filter and many more features, the MiniBrute has few vintage competitors in terms of functionality.
And it also holds its own in comparing its sound with that of beloved mono synths of yesteryear, and it even goes beyond the limits of the architecture of most 1970s subtractive synths, making the MiniBrute both a unique homage to the past as well as a new and creative interpretation of it. No menus, no presets. Just a straightforward, hands-on, 'knobby' analog mono synth. Related Forum Topics.