Arturia MiniBrute V, an authentic polyphonic emulation of the original brute Synthesizer

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Arturia has released MiniBrute V, an authentic emulation of the analog brute Synthesizer with polyphony and effects.

This year at Superbooth 24, Arturia introduced the Polybrute 12, a further development of the original Polybrute 6 with 12 voices and an innovative FullTouch keyboard. My first-look video is now out. Arturia isn’t taking a break, and the next release is out today.

They have just released MiniBrute V, an emulation of its first analog Synthesizer. 

Arturia MiniBrute V

Arturia MiniBrute V

MiniBrute V is a new analog modeling Synthesizer plugin that emulates the original distinctly sounding Arturia MiniBrute Synthesizer from 2012, which was co-designed by Yves Usson.

The plugin is not only a pure emulation of Arturia’s first Synthesizer but also a further development. The developers gave the synth polyphony with eight voices. Almost a Polybrute for your DAW minus the ladder filter. 

Like the OG hardware, it has a single oscillator architecture that can be mixed from three waveforms and a noise generator. Plus, there is a two-wave sub-oscillator. Various shapers, including PWM, ultra saw, and the famous metallizer, are also onboard. 

Then, it goes into a modeled Steiner Parker filter with cutoff, resonance, and more. A highlight is the brute factor that feeds the signal back into the synth, adding the crunchy character of it. 

Arturia MiniBrute V

Effects

On the modulation side, Arturia MiniBrute V has two envelopes (filter, amp) and a single multi-wave LFO. The latter also has PWM and metallizer for richer modulation signals. It also includes the hardware’s hands-on arpeggiator. 

Yves Usson’s hack, which turns the arpeggiator into a sequencer, is not included. That would have been a nice extra feature.

To refine your sounds, Arturia has added to the MiniBrute V a 4-slot FX unit with various algorithms, including spatial, dynamics, filter/EQ, distortion, and more. Additionally, there is MPE support, and macro controls.

Also new is the ability to save and load patches in the virtual MiniBrute from its built-in patch browse.r Something that wasn’t possible in the original.

First Impression

It’s nice to see that they can now emulate their own analog synthesizers. The OG MiniBrute is still part of my synth arsenal. Since I haven’t had the opportunity to test it yet, I’m curious to see how on-point it is compared to the original hardware.

Arturia MiniBrute V is available now for an introduction price of 99€ instead of 199€. Special prices are available for Arturia customers. It runs as a VST, VST3, AU, and AAX plugin on macOS (native Apple Silicon + Intel) and Windows. 

More information here: Arturia

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5 Comments

  1. I like the way Arturia is cloning their own synths as software and this promises to be an interesting instrument, especially with 8-voice polyphony.

  2. Demo is free. Seems like a miss to basically end the article with “no idea how it sounds or compares to the original.” So I’ll add that in 5 mins playing it, sounds amazing.

    • yeah, I got the press right during Superbooth 24 and I returned from Berlin this evening. So no time to check it out. Even not the demo version.

  3. For 199€ I can buy the hardware version on ebay. I think companies are going crazy for their price points of software plugins….

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