The lessons in the simulator use on-screen switches. On the synth itself everything below is Shift + a knob or a pad. Double-tap Shift to hold it down, and tap it once more to let go (the screen says “Shift LOCK ON” and “OFF”). While Shift is held on, every knob is its Shift function, and the Volume knob sets Preset Volume instead of the master volume. Tap Shift once to get the plain controls back.
Where each control is
| Feature | On the MicroFreak |
|---|---|
| Separate Release | Shift + Decay/Release |
| Legato Glide | Shift + Glide, past the middle |
| Preset Volume | Shift + Volume |
| Jump ten presets | Shift + the Preset knob |
| Transpose | Shift + Octave up/down |
| Sequence length | Shift + the Matrix knob |
| Gate length | Shift + Filter Amount |
| Smooth | Shift + Random/Rec (next track) and Shift + Pattern/Play (switch Smooth) |
| Drive | Shift + Resonance |
| Lo-Fi | Shift + Cutoff |
| Noise | Shift + Sustain |
| Tremolo | Shift + LFO Rate |
| Wavefolder | Shift + Attack |
| Echo Mix | Shift + the cycling envelope’s Amount knob |
| Echo Time | Shift + the cycling envelope’s Hold/Sustain knob (not the Hold button) |
| Sub Octave, Echo Mode, Echo Feedback | Shift + Spice, Dice and Bend, or Utility › Preset › Voice |
| Echo Glide (how the echo follows Echo Time: OFF, GENTLE, MEDIUM, WILD) | Shift + the cycling envelope’s Mode button (the screen says “Glide” and the name), or Utility › Preset › Voice. Saved with the preset |
| Tape Wobble, Echo Sync | Utility › Preset › Voice |
| Ignore Prog Chg, Ignore MIDI Start | Utility › Global |
| Loud pack | No control. The extra 7 dB on the headphones and the main output is always on when the pack is in your build. |
These work only in the Sound pack (Drive to Tape Wobble) or the Essentials pack (the rest). The patcher shows which packs are in your build.
Needs Paraphonic off
- Tape echo (Echo, Reverb, Reverse and Hold) works in mono mode only. It borrows the memory of the three voices that Paraphonic needs, so it is silent when Paraphonic is on.
- Legato Glide works in mono mode only.
The echo and reverb share about a second of memory, which limits how long a reverb tail can be.
The order of the effects
The sound travels left to right:
oscillator → Wavefolder → Sub Octave → Drive → Lo-Fi → Noise → analog filter → amp → Echo / Reverb → outputs
- Wavefolder, Sub Octave, Drive, Lo-Fi and Noise come before the filter, so Cutoff and Resonance shape them.
- Echo and Reverb come after the filter and the amp. Cutoff does not shape the repeats. Echo Mix is a dry/wet balance: the dry sound fades out as the echo comes up, and at the top you hear the echo alone.
- Echo Hold stays quiet until it has recorded once. With a glide mode on, Hold keeps looping what you were just hearing, and switching between Echo and Hold does not restart it. Reverse plays the last slice of the echo backwards (at most half a second, shorter if Echo Time is shorter), also without a restart.
- Echo Feedback at its top is held a little below the point where the repeats would pile up for ever.
- Echo Sync (Utility › Preset › Voice) makes Echo Time pick a note value of the tempo, from a 32nd to a quarter note. The screen shows the note (1/32, 1/16T, 1/16, 1/8T, 1/8, 1/4T, 1/8. or 1/4) while you turn Echo Time.
Good to know
- Presets saved under SuperFreaker still load on the official firmware; the extra values are ignored.
- Something off? Quote the version from the changelog in your email to support.