Arturia Mini Brute Hands-On Review

Here’s another video review of the new Arturia Mini Brute analog synthesizer, via Russ of the airusersblog.

The bottom line? He calls it ‘a fantastic analog synth’.

Arturia Minibrute Features:

  • 100% analog audio signal path
  • Steiner-Parker multimode filter
  • Voltage Controlled Oscillator
  • Oscillator Mixer with sub-osc, sawtooth, square, white noise, triangle, audio in.
  • LFO1 with 6 waveforms and bi-polar modulation destinations
  • LFO2 with 3 vibrato modes
  • Brute Factor delivering saturation and rich harmonics
  • Ultrasaw generating shimmering sawtooth waveforms
  • Metalizer bringing extreme triangle harmonics
  • Two ADSR Envelope Generators
  • 25-note keyboard with aftertouch
  • Pitch-bend with 1 octave range, Modulation wheel
  • External analog audio input
  • CV In controls: Pitch, Filter, Amp
  • CV Out controls: Pitch
  • Gate In/Out, MIDI In/Out, USB MIDI In/Out
  • 1/4? audio output, 1/4? headphone output
Arturia MiniBrute has an MSRP: US $549. / EURO 499..

21 thoughts on “Arturia Mini Brute Hands-On Review

  1. I had a chance to play one of these recently and it’s like everything cool about early mono synths, except up to date.

    Biggest draw back is the single oscillator, but that doesn’t hurt it a bit as a bass synth. For leads, there are a lot of modulation options that make this sound bigger than a single oscillator synth. Theres a lot to dig into, in that respect.

    Love that they included some weird stuff, too.

    This is on my wish list- but I got to finish some. USC before I get any more gear!

  2. I love seeing all those who think software is good, then when you seem them with a piece of hardware they go a bit ga ga, It is a good review and good to see someone who appreciates the qualities of the real thing. I commented today about the absurd prices of moogs, I think this will wipe the floor with moogs expensive toys.

        1. Mine broke too and was really shit to use. I sold mine on and was the least used synthesiser I ever owned. Moog are 70 percent name 30 percent value.

      1. Hey I’m in Eagle Rock. We should jam. I’m an LP & Tetr4, etc. player.I’m old though. I bought “No Pussyfooting” when I was in high school in 1980 or so.

    1. For what it does the Voyager is priced just right. If you actually play the instrument and not “only” program sounds and let a sequencer do the work then you’ll appreciate the little details like keyboard velocity curves, the mechanical action of the keyboard and the wheels (I think the wheels on the Voyager are close to perfection, something I cannot say of most other keyboard instruments) or the big knobs. If someone were to buy a Voyager (not the rack version) purely for the sound I’d say it’s a tad expensive, but then there’s the rack version and that might be all you need if it’s just about the sound. And yeah, the sound is really, really nice. Not as versatile as modular but pretty much a go to instrument in the studio for all types of sounds. Yeah, I know, the voice of reason and moderation …

  3. It only has one osc, but there’s probably some cool stuff you could rig up using the minibrute to control other midi devices (like another synth or software), then routing the second source into the minibrute. You’d have one keyboard controlling multiple devices, all getting blended and sent through a real analog filter together.

    The more I learn about this, the more I want one. At $500, it seems like a huge value. My only concern is that with all the CV routing, the minibrute would be a gateway drug to much more expensive analogue gear.

    1. I managed to get mine, and let me tell you, if you know synths, you will NOT be disappointed. It’s hard to make music with it only because you are distracted by all of the cool sounds you can make. My only complaint is that mine came with a loose gate knob.

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