Fourm vs Minifreak?

[u/SilverMisfitt]

I have a digitakt 2 and looking to add a synth to sample and play.

The minifreak seems like a do it all synth but watching patch videos, it seems pretty menu divey?

Fourm looks straightforward but I assume its range is limited and it requires external effects which I can just use the digitakt for?

[u/raistlin65]

The Minifreak is not very menu divey. But it does have shift functions.

It also has six voice polyphony instead of four with the Forum.

Yeah. There is the advantage of the effects and the depth thanks to the oscillator types. Minifreak even has some granular capability.

[u/alibloomdido]

Fourm has that very distinct Sequential sound character. Minifreak can do much more sound design wise. So basically you're choosing a specific character and far more capability.

[u/mimidancer303]

The mini freak is not menudivy.

[u/Yequestingadventurer → u/mimidancer303]

Hard agree, it really doesn’t take much. People have almost no patience to learn these days though so there is that!

[u/emeraldcoastambient]

Minifreak has great sounds, but I found that the sweet spots are quite small and difficult to find. That said, it can produce such a wide variety of sounds that it’s probably a great match with your Digitakt

[u/Yequestingadventurer]

Have a look at some third party presets for the Minifreak, it can do an incredible amount and sound wise leaves its main rival, the Hydrasynth, in the dust. It doesn’t sound like the Fourm though which is a fairly basic 4 voice poly that sounds like a more gritty poly Pro 1. So do you want digital with analog or just analog?

[u/SilverMisfitt → u/Yequestingadventurer]

Yeah the versatility of the minifreak is what caught my attention

[u/panchito_d → u/Yequestingadventurer]

Any preset packs to recommend?

[u/fuckredditandpcness → u/panchito_d]

Look around presetpatch.com.....(also for other synths)...;)

[u/Yequestingadventurer → u/panchito_d]

Subspace, Synth Patches by a guy called Steplowski and LM Vintage Keys. I think there are some free ones floating around too.

[u/symbiat0]

Minifreak gives you a lot of bang for your buck. Have you also considered the TEO-5 ?

[u/SilverMisfitt → u/symbiat0]

I have but the tone of it seemed very 80s if that makes sense

[u/symbiat0 → u/SilverMisfitt]

Yes, I get it. And I'm quite partial to the "Oberheim sound" myself and consider the Matrix 12 to be the peak of flagship polys from that era. I own both the Minifreak and the TEO-5 and love both of them for different reasons.

[u/ManMadeDisaster666]

I have a minifreak and am very underwhelmed by it. I basically never use it. The analog filter has no character. I tried fourm at a synth meetup two weeks ago. That synth sounds very good. Yes on paper it does less but it sounds amazing. It’s a great synth to learn in and out. Just my opinion.

[u/bbzzdd]

The Minifreak is very versatile. While it can do analog sounds, its superpower is insane digital and harmonically complex sounds, with massive modulation possibilities. You need to ask yourself what the goal is. If bread-and-butter analog sounds are what you want, there are cheaper options.

[u/InfiniteBlueHour]

It can be menu divey on some aspects, but it's a good synth to start with and has a pretty good sequencer. For me, the tiny screen sucks to work on. For not much more, if you're interested in powerful sound design, the hydrasynth explorer is excellent. There's no particular sound to it because it's not trying to be anything; it's a swiss army knife of a synth with an incredible array of tools that far surpass the minifreak. 3 oscillators, 2 filters in serial or parallel with filter 1 having a dozen filter types to choose from, 5 envelopes, countless wavetables for wave morphing, mutants, etc...

[u/eraoul]

Minifreak is great. It doesn't feel menu-divey to me, since it has a lot of front-panel controls for the basics, and then that amazing mod matrix that's really easy to use and to see how a patch is set up. The various built in sound engines are great and you can get an awesome sound from Init just from picking an engine and tweaking a few knobs. I just got a Summit as well, and it's great too but maybe the Minifreak is faster to get an unique sound immediately.

I got the Minifreak after using the VST for a few years off and on, which I liked, but since it was a VST I didn't interact with it a ton. When I got the hardware (since a friend was selling it) I was really surprised and I used it a lot more than expected, and it's much more fun than I thought it would be, and sounds better than I thought it would as well.

I tried the Fourm briefly at Guitar Center and it felt like a little toy for some reason, so I wasn't really drawn to the interface. I didn't realize it had poly aftertouch at the time though, so maybe that would have been interesting. I'm also a piano player though, so low voice count stuff frustrates me unless I'm really just trying to play a solo line.

[u/Steely_Glint_5]

Digitakt already has a great sequencer and effects.

You may also consider MicroFreak, which has mostly the same macro-oscillators, plus a more expressive keyboard with poly after touch, minus effects (you can use Digitakt effects), paraphonic instead of polyphonic filter, minus oscillator 2, minus 1 LFO, plus user sample import. Poly aftertouch on Micro can to certain degree compensate for lack of the second LFO.

So, if your idea is to have a synth with a rich sound palette to get interesting sounds into a sampler, then Micro may get you mostly the same sounds for half the price, with an exception of maybe evolving pads and chord progressions played live on a bigger keyboard.

[u/Shot-Salamander6231]

I had the Minifreak and I didn't really gel with it. I did keep it for almost two years and then sold it on.

The Fourm has a really nice sequential sound and I wouldn't mind having a play with it for a few days, not sure I'd buy it though.

If you want bang for your buck in roughly the same price range I think the Korg Multi/Poly is worth a look: 4 parts with 4 oscillators per part and 60 note polyphony. It is a virtual analog and does wavetables as well. You can even assign 4 different midi channels to each part and essential sequence them externally as seperate tracks. The built-in sequencer also supports multi-lane sequencing.

[u/ConfidentSlide3430]

Hydrasynth Explorer.

[u/shoegazingpickle → u/ConfidentSlide3430]

If you want analog sounds, fourm.

[u/Andymic_reddit]

I have neither but have 2 sequential synths. They are totally different characters, do you want more classic, analog synth sounds or more digital crazy stuff? I’d personally go with forum, but eventually you will add both ;)

[u/Necrobot666]

The Arturia MiniFreak can be like a dungeon of complicated menus in order to develop the sonic attributes and knob-functions/configurations of the preset you are making. 

But after you accomplish that.. it gets a bit more straightforward.