With the release of the new MiniBrute 2, ARTURIA has provided one of the highlights of this year’s NAMM 2018. It can not only score with it’s new semi-modular analog architecture but also with the advanced sound engine, a Eurorack ready patch-bay and a new arpeggiator/sequencer section. As you read yesterday already, the MiniBrute 2 was just the beginning of a series of new products for this year’s NAMM Show.
ARTURIA announced today the MiniBrute 2S analog Synthesizer. It shares the same sound features as the MiniBrute 2 but is powered by a complex sequencer instead of a keyboard. The MiniBrute 2S is especially exciting for users who love to program advanced sequencing without using classic keys.
MiniBrute 2S is a sophisticated analog monosynth sharing the signal creation, sound shaping power, and modular capabilities also found in the newly announced MiniBrute 2. It replaces its keyboard with a set of performance pads as well as an advanced, intuitive and addictive, triple-layer sequencer with space to save up to 64 sequences, and the ability to chain them together to create flowing performances. Its multiple layers not only let you create melodic sequences, but also create extra levels of parameter automation to really make your
Perfectly geared toward the modern musician, MiniBrute 2S is a synth that promises to bring every element of your creative environment together, and unleash the true potential of modularity. As the keyboard-based version MiniBrute 2, MiniBrute 2S features semi-modular architecture, giving users the chance to rework its internal signal routing by patching into its comprehensive CV/Gate patch bay. The MiniBrute 2S can also take a commanding role in your modular setup, letting you use external modules to affect its sound, or send signals or sequences from the MiniBrute 2S to your Eurorack modules.
Already in the first look article of the MiniBrute 2 (keyboard version), you received a good overview of all new features. Since the MiniBrute 2S shares almost the same features with the keyboard version, I summarised the most important new functions of it.
MiniBrute 2S vs. MiniBrute 1: What’s New?
- New modern design: wooden side panels, new color accents in the filter and amp section.
- Second oscillator: sawtooth, square and sine waveform & can be used as third LFO
- Frequency modulation: Between oscillator 1 and oscillator 2
- Filter frequency modulation
- Filter resonance modulation
- Filter attenuator: accessible on the new patch-bay
- 1 ADSR & 1 loop-able AD envelope: gate/trigger & once/loop function
- 2 LFO’s: each with sine, triangle, sawtooth, square and two types of random waves
- Amplifier attenuator: accessible on the new patch-bay
- 48-Point Modular Patch-Bay: connect the MiniBrute 2 to your Eurorack system.
- New advanced sequencer: Replace the MiniBrute keyboard
What Are The Differences To The MiniBrute 2 Keyboard Version?
Sound technically, there are no differences. Like the keyboard version, the MiniBrute 2S features the same modern semi-modular analog engine with the same features. In the lower area, however, there are clearly differences. The 2S version doesn’t have a built-in keyboard with an Arp/Seq function but an advanced sequencer.
The MiniBrute 2S provides a powerful set of tools with its sequencer and arpeggiator. You can record here 64 different multi-track sequences, each with up to 64 steps, and chain those sequences together.
The Arpeggiator generates notes based on the pads you have pressed and plays them back according to the settings you have defined. Interesting here is that the output of the Arpeggiator can be recorded by the Sequencer, too. The device is a monophonic synth, and the sequencer and the arpeggiator shares a single voice. Both can run at the same time, but when you play the pads to create an Arpeggiator it will override the notes being played by the Sequencer until you release the pads. This allows you to create very interesting interplays between the two.
Play In Different Scales
Unlike the keyboard version, the sequencer edition of the MiniBrute 2 allows to work with different scales. The pads give you the ability to assign one of eight input scales to the pads and the step encoders: seven preset scales and one you can customise yourself (the User scale). These scales are already included: chromatic, major & minor, dorian & mixolydian and harmonic minor & blues. Beside the factory scales, it’s possible to create own scales inside the user scale preset.
16 Encoders For Full Control Over The Sequences
On the lower part of the MiniBrute, there are sixteen encoders which handle most of the editing in the step mode. Each encoder has a primary and secondary function for each track type: pitch (note selection, slide rate), gate (gate length, step repeat), velocity (velocity value, slide rate), pressure (depth, slide rate), xV (percentage of selected voltage, slide rate), envelope (decay of AD envelope, attack of AD envelope), LFO (rate, depth).
The Looper
The Looper allows you to set up a loop inside a pattern, with a start point and an end point that are defined by where your fingers have been placed on the pads.
ARTURIA Link
MiniBrute 2S also features the all-new ARTURIA Link, an exciting innovation that will help unify and democratize your creative environment. To find out more information on the Link system and how it integrates with other devices, stay tuned for more ARTURIA product announcements, and all of your questions shall be answered.
Features At A Glance
- Fully analog signal path
- 2 multi-waveform voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs)
- Sawtooth, square, and triangle waveforms (VCO 1)
- Ultrasaw, Metalizer, and pulse width modulation (PWM)
- Sawtooth, square, and sine waveforms (VCO 2)
- VCO 2 can be used as an additional LFO
- FM modulation between oscillators
- Random noise generator
- Steiner-Parker multimode filter with FM and RM (Resonance Modulation)
- 48-point patch-bay
- Hard sync input for VCO1
- Separate VCA for modulation routings
- Two envelopes: ADSR (filter) and AD (amplitude)
- Loopable AD envelope
- Two multi-waveform LFOs with free-run or sync modes
- Brute Factor: overdrive the filter input with the audio output
- External audio can be routed through the Oscillator mixer or directly to the output
- Sequencer and arpeggiator, syncable to external clock: MIDI, USB, or CLK (1 step, 1 pulse, 24/48 ppq)
- MIDI input and output connectors
- USB port for use with a DAW
- Audio and headphone outputs
- Use with Arturia’s MIDI Control Center for device configuration and sequence archival
First Look By BoBeats
The new MiniBrute 2S Synthesizer will be available in March for a price of 649€
More information here: ARTURIA
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