Arturia Minibrute Manual de usuario

Arturia MiniBrute – the new Roland SH-101?

| 1

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.

Arturia MiniBrute – the new Roland SH-101?

| 2

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.

Arturia MiniBrute – the new Roland SH-101?

| 3

The original user manual is written in English, French and Japanese

Second, the manual: well organized – good printing quality, very informative … everything’s great, except … you’re

limited to English, French and Japanese! For other languages (German, for example), please put on hold. They’ll get

there in the long run. In any case, this is a manual you can browse in, great bedside reading.

Arturia MiniBrute – the new Roland SH-101?

| 4

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. Absolutely solid, a thick chassis, high quality knobs and faders. Nothing wiggles. Fantastic!

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 …

Elegant design … bearing the signature of Axel Hartmann

It goes to say that a whole arsenal of people were involved in its realization. The following list reflects an intensive

French-Japanese-German cooperation.

Product and Project Management

Frédéric Brun

Romain Dejoie

Electronics

Yves Usson

Bruno Pillet

Francois Best

Laurent Baret

Robert Bocquier

Antoine Back

Design

Arturia MiniBrute – the new Roland SH-101?

| 5

Axel Hartmann (Design Box)

Daniel Vester

Morgan Perrier

Industialization

Nicolas Dubois

Suzy Zhu (Huaxin)

Manual

Yves Usson

Craig Anderton

Antoine Back

Yasu Tanaka

Noritaka Ubukata

Yves Usson, above all, deserves mention. He is a senior scientist responsible for creating some of the most amazing

analog modular systems. He started designing and building his first modular analog synthesizer back in 1977. Today,

he freely shares his acclaimed designs and indepth knowledge with the worldwide community of SDIY (synthesizer

do it yourself).

A wide playing range which you wouldn’t expect with a 2-octave keyboard

But let’s get back to the MiniBrute. That it has an external PSU is not suprising considering its small size

(recollections of the Roland SH-101). Signs of the times. The 2 octave keyboard may seem minimalistic at first

glance. But: the keys are normal sized (“big” – not kid-sized à la Micro-Korg) and, thanks to the octave range

switches, you really have access to a full six octaves. So – minimalistic, yes, but also well thought through.

Arturia MiniBrute – the new Roland SH-101?

| 6

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. Compliment!

Arturia MiniBrute – the new Roland SH-101?

| 7

… a Steiner multimode filter. There’s lowpass, bandpass, highpass and notch. Not bad! 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.

Arturia MiniBrute – the new Roland SH-101?

| 8

… 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.

Arturia MiniBrute – the new Roland SH-101?

| 9

… 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.

Arturia MiniBrute – the new Roland SH-101?

| 10

… 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.

Otros manuales para minibrute

Tabla de contenidos

Otros manuales de Sintetizador de Arturia

Arturia

Arturia DRUMBRUTE IMPACT Manual de usuario

Arturia

Arturia MiniFreak Manual de usuario

Arturia

Arturia PolyBrute Manual de usuario

Arturia

Arturia PROPHET-5 V Manual de usuario

Arturia

Arturia CZ V Manual de usuario

Arturia

Arturia minibrute Manual de usuario

Arturia

Arturia Matrix-12 V Manual de usuario

Arturia

Arturia ACID V Manual de usuario

Arturia

Arturia Wurlitzer-V Manual de usuario

Arturia

Arturia minibrute Manual de usuario

Arturia

Arturia DrumBrute Manual de usuario

Arturia

Arturia JUP-8V Manual de usuario

Arturia

Arturia MatrixBrute Manual de usuario

Arturia

Arturia modular v Manual de usuario

Arturia

Arturia MICROFREAK Manual de usuario

Arturia

Arturia MINIBRUTE 2S Manual de usuario

Arturia

Arturia Minimoog V Manual de usuario

Arturia

Arturia microbrute connection Manual de usuario

Arturia

Arturia minibrute Manual de usuario

Arturia

Arturia Microbrute Manual de usuario

Arturia

Arturia CS-80V Manual de usuario

Arturia

Arturia Prophet V Manual de usuario

Arturia

Arturia minibrute 2 series Manual de usuario

Arturia

Arturia Jupiter-8V Manual de usuario

Manuales populares de Sintetizador de otras marcas

Kawai

Kawai MP7 Manual técnico

Joranalogue

Joranalogue Contour 1 Manual de usuario

Full Bucket Music

Full Bucket Music Mono/Fury Manual de usuario

Kawai

Kawai PH50 Manual de usuario

IK Multimedia

IK Multimedia UNO Synth PRO X Manual de usuario

Behringer

Behringer DEEPMIND 12 Manual de usuario

Roland

Roland Gaia SH-01 Manual de usuario

Roland

Roland GR-30 Manual de usuario

Gotharman

Gotharman Gotharman's anAmoNo-box Manual de usuario

Yamaha

Yamaha DX21 Manual de usuario

QuStream

QuStream HDFS-550 Manual de usuario

Modal Electronics

Modal Electronics ARGON8 Manual de usuario

Roland

Roland GS-500 Manual de usuario

Octave

Octave Cat SRM Manual de usuario

Dreadbox

Dreadbox Murmux Initiate Manual de usuario

neutral labs

neutral labs ELMYRA 2 Manual de usuario

Waldorf

Waldorf KYRA Manual de usuario

Tubbutec

Tubbutec Juno-66 Manual de usuario