Arturia Minibrute

Arturia Minibrute

The Arturia Minibrute is one cool piece of instrument born amid the recent renaissance of modern analogue synthesisers.  Its pure analogue signal path gives out great monotones.  Takes about ten minutes to warm-up.  Perhaps it can be considered a basic synth with its limited number of voltage control and low-frequency oscillators.  As first analogue synth, I spent a substantial amount of time to get acquainted and the time was well spent.  I do recommend it to someone keen to start using analogue synths.  To understand more, check out fundamentals of synthesis at Moog.

The enclosures are made of aluminium and robust in a "chunky" way.  Minibrutes feel weighted and are made to last.  On my unit however, Pulse Width-Envelope Amount knob had no traction feel though it still functions.  A minor defect there.  The aftertouch keys had a good feel to them.  Arturia's clever use of swing steps, octaves and time sequences, etc provided users a little more value.  One highlight is Brute Factor (BF), which I gathered to work more or less like an "overdrive".  BF effect is very telling on sound generated.  My advice then, is to use it sparingly.  In future, I would connect Minibrute to other modular gear using Control Voltage for more sonic brute-ness!

Quality/Build: 8/10

Functions/Features: 8/10
Sound Quality: 7/10
Star Factor: 7/10

Main Specifications

• Monophonic synthesizer
• 100% Analog Audio Signal Path
• Steiner-Parker Multimode Filter (LP, BP, HP and Notch)
• Voltage Controlled Oscillator with Sub-Osc
• Oscillator Mixer (Sub, Sawtooth, Square, Triangle, White Noise, 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
• Rugged Aluminium Enclosure
• External Analog Audio Input
• CV In/Out controls: Pitch, Gate, Filter, Amp
• MIDI In/Out with 5-Pin DIN connectors
• USB MIDI In/Out
• 1/4” Audio Output and 1/4” Headphone Output
• Gate Source Selection: Audio Input, Hold, Keyboard
• Arpeggiator:
  • 4 Modes of Arpeggiation
  • 4 Octave Range Control
  • 6 Time Divisions
  • Swing Control