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<!-- SC_OFF --><div class="md"><p>Hey guys - Hoping to get some pointers, and not really sure how to concisely phrase my question, so here it goes. I've been using DAWs for a long time, and primarily Logic in the past 10 years. In the last few years I've gotten into adding synth to my creations. I primarily use either presets in Logic or other plugins, like Surge, and tweak a little to my liking. Messing with the knobs in the plugins are a little obnoxious since all the plugins have different layouts. I also like the idea of physical knobs, but trying to assign them to the knobs on my Akai keyboard is also obnoxious, since they aren't labeled.</p> <p>Several weeks ago, I was in Guitar Center, and they had an Arturia Microfreak on display. I enjoyed messing with it, and really enjoyed the hardware knobs and such. It seemed really intuitive, so I bought one.</p> <p>To start, at home the keyboard and pitch strip are extremely fickle / erratic. I worked with Arturia support and they indicate that I have dirty power at my house since the problem affects a replacement unit as well. </p> <p>BUT, most importantly, I'm having a hard time integrating the actual Microfreak synth into my music workflow. In Logic, I can have several synth VSTs loaded at a time, and I can easily swap their sounds on the fly if something isn't working well together. With the Microfreak, if I'm understanding it correctly, I can load a sound, then record the sound (and make note of the preset I used). Then, if I want to make a second sound, I need to record that as well. If I wanna modify the first sound, I'd need to re-load that preset, change the sound, and re-record it.</p> <p>I guess what I'm getting at is that the synth can only process one sound at a time, and I need to remember to reload that specific preset if I want to modify the corresponding midi commands. Does that make sense?</p> <p>Another way I'm trying to think about this... When recording guitar, for instance, you can either record the actual amp with a microphone, or you can record the DI signal and re-amp it. I love being able to re-amp guitar tones, and that's the route I usually take. With synth plugins, I think of the MIDI commands as a DI signal, and I can change the synth plugin on the fly. Transitioning to a hardware synth, I need to think of it more like recording an actual guitar amplifier with mic, where I need to dial in the original settings to re-record it if I change my mind about tone. Is that correct?</p> <p>Thank you for anyone who stuck with my rambling. I guess the tl;dr would be: A synth like the Microfreak can only process one series of MIDI commands at a time, is that correct? Is there a simpler way to go back and modify Microfreak recordings aside from making a note of the original preset and re-recording the signal? Maybe I'm just better off with software plugins, as much as I want to enjoy hardware!</p> </div><!-- SC_ON --> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/licorice_whip"> /u/licorice_whip </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/synthesizers/comments/11wnfcb/trying_to_wrap_my_head_around_synthesizer_use_in/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/synthesizers/comments/11wnfcb/trying_to_wrap_my_head_around_synthesizer_use_in/">[comments]</a></span>
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