Arturia Microfreak

With Serum you can do a lot soundwise. Sometimes having hardware available implies there is a certain tactile experience that may help you get inspired to program your own synth programs. It works like that for me. But in essence -in a mix- from the POV from your clients and the trailer’s audience- it won’t make any difference. They won’t hear you use hard- or software. Ever.

So it is mostly a workflow / inspiration thing. And maybe even more importantly: it is FUN!

As for the sound of the Microfreak: Arturia have the plugin version of the Minifreak, so that could be an extra benefit. Either for you to check relatively cheaply *) whether you and the Microfreak’s engine “click”, or for convenience when you use the hardware to program stuff and then use the plugin in your DAW.

*) the Minifreak V regularly appears second hand in the Buy / Sell section of this forum and Knobcloud for fair prices

SampleHoarder said:

With Serum you can do a lot soundwise. Sometimes having hardware available implies there is a certain tactile experience that may help you get inspired to program your own synth programs. It works like that for me. But in essence -in a mix- from the POV from your clients and the trailer’s audience- it won’t make any difference. They won’t hear you use hard- or software. Ever.

So it is mostly a workflow / inspiration thing. And maybe even more importantly: it is FUN!

As for the sound of the Microfreak: Arturia have the plugin version of the Minifreak, so that could be an extra benefit. Either for you to check relatively cheap whether you and the Microfreak’s engine “click”, or for convenience when you use the hardware to program stuff and then use the plugin in your DAW.

Click to expand...

Thank you, that’s exactly what I needed to hear. I guess what I would like to know the most. I’ve noticed a lot of the Audio Imperia or Keeoforest Drones aren’t the exact sound or don’t have the control I’m looking for. What type of synthesis should I study to come up with good trailer drones? FM synthesis?

For drones you're probably covered if you have Zebra or Repro-1 or Novum or Abyss or Kult. But there is this very cool new inexpensive analog hardware box that I will probably buy:

bradleyswaff said:

Thank you, that’s exactly what I needed to hear. I guess what I would like to know the most. I’ve noticed a lot of the Audio Imperia or Keeoforest Drones aren’t the exact sound or don’t have the control I’m looking for. What type of synthesis should I study to come up with good trailer drones? FM synthesis?

Click to expand...

Drones can be made using both wavetable synthesis (like Serum) and FM. Both are going to work. Of course what is also excellent, is sampling the Microfreak and then further manipulate that sample in your DAW.

SampleHoarder said:

Drones can be made using both wavetable synthesis (like Serum) and FM. Both are going to work. Of course what is also excellent, is sampling the Microfreak and then further manipulate that sample in your DAW.

Click to expand...

Now this sounds like the microfreak would be worth the money for something like this!

bradleyswaff said:

Thank you, that’s exactly what I needed to hear. I guess what I would like to know the most. I’ve noticed a lot of the Audio Imperia or Keeoforest Drones aren’t the exact sound or don’t have the control I’m looking for. What type of synthesis should I study to come up with good trailer drones? FM synthesis?

Click to expand...

The MicroFreak is a great and deep synth but it does not have an internal fx section, so for drones you might want a reverb and delay and maybe a distortion pedal. Many people combine it with a Zoom MS50G which is like an all in one effects pedal.