Arturia's first hardware synth, the MiniBrute, a monophonic analog synthesizer with 25 note aftertouch capable Keyboard, Steiner-Parker Multimode Filter (LP, BP, HP and Notch), Voltage Controlled Oscillator with Sub-Osc, Oscillator Mixer, Brute Factor control, Ultrasaw, Metalizer, Two ADSR Envelope Generators, External Analog Audio Input, CV In/Out & more
Released in 2012 the MiniBrute was Arturia's first step outside of its usual remit of delivering software plugins & they recruited the French synth guru Yves Usson to help with the circuit design of this their first hardware synthesiser. MiniBrute was a hit, establishing Arturia as a soft & hard ware synth company with several further hardware models following on from the MiniBrute all of which have been successful.
At the time of its release, cheap, all-analog mono-synths were not very common. The MiniBrute launched with a low price of £425 and this caused a lot of interest & eventual widespread take-up of the MiniBrute therefore making it a modern classic which you can think of as very much like an all-analog 'BassStation' for it's decade - equally as successful & released for the same pocket friendly price around 20 years earlier.
On paper the MiniBrute delivers a fairly classic analog mono-synth architecture of a single VCO feeding into a filter & VCA sections with supporting envelope & LFO modulation etc, but the MiniBrute is quite different in that it's three VCO waveform choices of Saw, Pulse & Triangle, as well as Noise, Sub-Oscillator & the External input source can all be blended together using the 6 channel Oscillator mixer. Further to this, the Saw, Pulse & Triangle VCO's can be variously skewed mangled & Pulse Width Modulated in various ways to yield a whole new palette of oscillator sounds including the ability to simulate an almost oscillator-sync like sound from a single VCO source.
The multi-mode resonant filter offers switchable choices of low-pass (12dB/octave), high-pass (6dB/octave), band-pass and notch and will self-oscillate.
Finally at the end of the signal chain post the VCA, you have the Brute amount control. This is essentially a pre internally hardwired version of the MiniMoog VCA output fed into the external input technique which can do anything from thickening to completely mangling the sound into new and strange tones.
The MiniBrute sports a pretty comprehensive LFO section including being able to modulate the PWM, Triangle wave 'Metalizer' waveform distortion, Oscillator pitch, Filter cutoff & more from the LFO. There's also a 2nd LFO dedicated to Vibrato with three selectable wav shapes. Finally the LFO section can clock to the Arpeggiator which itself can be clocked to MIDI.
The MiniBrute has now been superseded by the current MiniBrute 2 model with older Mk1 versions going on Ebay for as little as £150
Arturia MiniBrute, Monophonic analog synthesizer, 25 note Keyboard with Aftertouch, Steiner-Parker Multimode Filter (LP, BP, HP and Notch), Voltage Controlled Oscillator with Sub-Osc, Oscillator Mixer, Brute Factor, Ultrasaw, Metalizer, Two ADSR Envelope Generators, 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, Arpeggiator, Dimensions: 325 x 390 x70 mm, Weight: 4 kg
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