Dave Weiss

Have been hammering this for a few years now and it seems to withstand most of what I throw at it. Integration with the NI software is seamless, and the control pots are great quality with just about the right amount of drag in them.

There's a lot to this fantastic little powerhouse, and you can lose hours if not days, deep-diving the settings and sound design possibilities that it offers. What strikes me immediately about the MiniFreak is the warmth and richness of the sound, that is immediately recognisable as 'the Arturia sound'. 6 levels of polyphony is more than enough for crafting beautifully intricate sounds, and the 37 keys allow just enough reach to prevent it from feeling compact. The build quality of the unit is superb: the keys don't have that lightweight sensation found in many of the smaller form factor/ mini key synths, and the drag/resistance of the pots feel really good. What I really like about this device is its seamless integration with the MiniFreak V VST plugin , so - if like me, you enjoy to sculpt sound virtually as much as the business of pondering the knobs of the hardware, you can have it up on your DAW monitor.

I am a hard hitter when it comes to keys- battering an M-Audio Keystation 88 into submission and breakage in 4 days - but this beauty has stood up to 5 years of daily studio wear and tear, integrates brilliantly with both Cubase and Nuendo, and hasn't failed once. The Hammer action is great to play- I tried the Native Instruments iterations and they didn't feel as robust as this, so it will remain firmly in the rack until it dies. The sliders, button and knobs are all MIDI-re-assignable, and the pitch-bend/modulation wheels have a nice resistance to them, a great keyboard, I don't understand why M-Audio discontinued it, replacing it with a 'Pro' model, that frankly feels nothing of the sort. Downside? it is one heavy instrument, just over 21 KG, so advisable to get an extra pair of hands in if you are touring it.

...Or at least it feels like it. What a punch this packs. Using this brilliant bass head for my live rig and it delivers on every front. Gnarly pre-sets- great build, and looks fantastic

Initially wanted this as part of the studio setup to drive my bass guitars even harder, but after running it in the testing room, and feeling that my stomach was going to fall out, decided to adopt it into the live rig/pedalboard. Essentially it sounds like Sunn, and more importantly it feels like them too- a great quality build, and looks fabulous too. Now part of my live keyboard rig- despite accusations of me being 'mad'...