Arpeggiator & sequencer · MicroFreak guide

9.1BasicsManual §12 p.75, §11.1 p.71, §3.1.3.3 p.16

The arpeggiator

An arpeggiator takes the chord you hold and plays its notes one at a time. Press ARP | SEQ to switch it on — the button lights white — and press it again to switch it off. The four pads to the right of HOLD then choose the order the notes play in (Arp modes and Pattern).

Key combinations

ARP | SEQ: Turns the arpeggiator on or off; the button lights white while it is on.
HOLD: Keeps the arpeggio playing after you lift your fingers; playing new keys replaces the held notes, and turning Hold off clears them.Arpeggiator

Start an arpeggio hands-free

Press HOLD.
Hold down a chord, then let go.
Press ARP | SEQ. The arpeggiator starts and plays the held chord.

Shaping the arpeggio

RATE/SWING sets the speed, free-running or synced, and adds swing (Arp rate, sync and swing).
OCT | MOD spreads the arpeggio over one to four octaves (Arp range and transposing).
SPICE and DICE randomise its timing and note lengths (Spice & Dice).
The bend strip moves its pitch on the fly (The bend strip).
When you find one you like, move it into the sequencer (Turning an arpeggio into a sequence).

From the community

Tutorials | MicroFreak - Episode 3: Keyboard & Arpeggiator
Arturia
Official tutorial 3: playing the flat capacitive keys, pressure, and the arpeggiator.

Arturia’s MicroFreak | Complete tutorial/review (all oscillator types + patch ideas)
Woochia - Charly Sauret
Complete chaptered tutorial-review covering all original engines, the matrix, arp, sequencer automation and the Utility menu.

MicroFreak: Episode 3 (Arps and Sequences)
Undulations
Arp basics, the Pattern mode, Spice and Dice, and recording sequences, with syncing to a drum machine.

Spice, Dice and Acid - Microfreak Techno Patch and Arpegiator Tutorial
Aisjam
Builds an acid techno patch then uses Spice, Dice and randomised glide to generate patterns.

9.2BasicsManual §12 p.75, §12.1 p.76, §12.1.1 p.76, §12.7 p.80

Arp modes and Pattern

With the arpeggiator on, the four pads after HOLD set how it walks through your chord. Up, Order and Random are predictable in different ways; Pattern invents new phrases from the notes you hold.

Key combinations

UP | A: Plays the held notes from lowest to highest, whatever order you pressed them in.Arpeggiator
ORDER | B: Plays the notes in the order you pressed them.Arpeggiator
RANDOM | REC: Plays the held notes in random order.Arpeggiator
PATTERN | PLAY: Generates a semi-random pattern from the keys you hold, with a fresh pattern each time you press a key.Arpeggiator

Pattern mode is almost a third sequencer. Play keys legato and the algorithm builds a pattern from them; every new key press generates a new one. You can steer what it comes up with:

It picks notes from the octave range set with OCT | MOD (Arp range and transposing).
The lowest note you hold appears twice as often as the others, so the root of the chord is emphasised.
The pattern length is Utility > Preset > Seq Length: 4–64 steps, 16 by default. The same setting sets the length of the sequencer and of Spice & Dice.
Adding or removing a finger generates a new random pattern — the quickest way to get variations.

Found a pattern you like? Press HOLD and keep your hands off the keyboard — touching a key would replace it with a new pattern. Turning Hold off clears the pattern.

The arpeggiator also feeds the Key/Arp row of the matrix, so it can modulate other parameters. The effect is subtle: use fairly high amounts, widen the arpeggio’s range first, and modulate two destinations at once for a stronger result.

Try this: an arpeggio that modulates itself

Set the oscillator type to Waveshaper (Waveshaper).
Press AMP MOD to switch on the envelope, then set ATTACK to 0 ms, DECAY/REL to 100 ms, SUSTAIN to 30% and FILTER AMT to maximum.
Make Glide the Assign 1 destination and, in the Key/Arp row, give it an amount of about 0.2 (Assignable destinations).
Set GLIDE somewhere between 1/32 and 1/16 — synced glide values (Glide).
Make the envelope attack the Assign 2 destination, with an amount of 10.
Press PATTERN | PLAY so every finger you lift creates a new pattern.
For more movement, set an amount with SPICE and roll the dice with DICE (Spice & Dice). The arpeggio picks up varying amounts of glide, and the attack slows in the top octaves.

From the community

9.3BasicsManual §12.3 p.77, §12.3.1 p.78, §12.4 p.78, §3.1.3.3 p.16, §20 p.140

Arp rate, sync and swing

RATE/SWING sets how fast the arpeggiator plays. With sync off, the display shows the tempo in BPM — 120.0 by default — and the arpeggiator runs independently of the internal or an external clock. With sync on, it follows the clock and the knob picks a note division instead.

Key combinations

Turn RATE/SWING: Sets the speed: a tempo in BPM, or a note division when synced.
Press RATE/SWING: Switches sync on or off; the Sync LED lights while sync is on.
Hold SHIFT + turn RATE/SWING: Sets the swing amount, from 50% to 75%.

Synced divisions describe note lengths: 1/4 plays quarter notes, four to a bar — a standard metronome tick — and 1/2 plays one note every two beats. The same divisions apply to the sequencer.

Available divisions

Whole note
Half note and half-note triplet
Quarter note and quarter-note triplet
Eighth note and eighth-note triplet
Sixteenth note and sixteenth-note triplet
Thirty-second note and thirty-second-note triplet

The LFO, the arpeggiator and the sequencer can all sync to the clock, from a DAW or another instrument as well as the internal one. In sync, the rate control works proportionally — double speed, half speed and steps in between — which is handy for accents and rhythmic shifts (Clock and sync, The LFO).

Swing nudges notes slightly off the beat so the rhythm loosens up, as in jazz and many South American styles. At 50%, the default, the timing is straight; 75% is the maximum. It works especially well when straight and swung parts play together.

9.4BasicsManual §12.5 p.78, §20 p.140

Arp range and transposing

Out of the box the arpeggiator stays within one octave, playing just the notes you hold. Press OCT | MOD to repeat them in higher octaves as well.

Key combinations

OCT | MOD: Steps the arpeggio range through 1, 2, 3 and 4 octaves.Arpeggiator
OCT DOWN / OCT UP: Moves the keyboard down or up an octave for the next notes you add, without changing the pitch of the arpeggio already playing.Arpeggiator playing
SHIFT + KEY: Transposes the arpeggio, with the interval shown on the display; with Hold on, it lasts until you play a new arpeggio.Arpeggiator

Range settings

Range	What plays
1	Only the notes you hold.
2	The held notes, then the same notes one octave up.
3	The held notes plus repeats one and two octaves up.
4	The held notes plus repeats one, two and three octaves up.

The octave buttons behave unusually here. On most arpeggiators they shift the whole arpeggio; on the MicroFreak the running arpeggio keeps its pitch, and any notes you add go in at the new octave (Octave buttons).

Transpose a running arpeggio

Play an arpeggio and press HOLD.
Hold SHIFT and press a key. The display shows how far up or down you have transposed.

9.5IntermediateManual §12.6 p.79, §13.1.3.5 p.87, §20 p.140

Turning an arpeggio into a sequence

Arpeggios are a quick way to stumble on a good groove; the transfer turns that happy accident into a sequence you can keep, edit and save with the preset. It works in Paraphonic mode too.

Press ARP | SEQ to switch on the arpeggiator.
Play until you find an arpeggio you like.
Press HOLD, then experiment with SPICE and DICE (Spice & Dice).
Press SHIFT + UP | A or SHIFT + ORDER | B. The arpeggio now plays from that sequence.

Key combinations

SHIFT + UP | A: Transfers the current arpeggio to sequence A.Arpeggiator
SHIFT + ORDER | B: Transfers the current arpeggio to sequence B.Arpeggiator

What comes across

Spice & Dice changes — the only way to get them into a sequence, because Spice and Dice are switched off while you record in the sequencer.
Chords — if the arpeggio includes chords played in Chord mode, they are transferred too (Paraphonic mode and chord mode).

From the community

Arturia MicroFreak Synth Tip: Converting an Arp to a Sequence Enabling Modulation Track Automation
Mark Mosher
Quick demo of transferring an arpeggio into a sequence so you can add modulation tracks to it.

9.6BasicsManual §13 p.81, §13.1 p.82, §13.1.1 p.83, §13.1.2 p.84, §20 p.139

The sequencer

The MicroFreak’s sequencer is easy to overlook and hard to give up. It records the pitch, velocity and length of each note — up to four notes per step, since it is paraphonic — and it can also record the movements of up to four knobs on modulation tracks (Modulation tracks).

Each preset holds two sequences, A and B, saved as part of the preset. They are 4–64 steps long and always share the same length, set with Utility > Preset > Seq Length, so A can’t be 16 steps while B is 12. Switch the sequencer on with SHIFT + ARP | SEQ; the icon-strip pads then take on the functions printed after the divider.

Icon strip functions

Pad	Arpeggiator	Sequencer
`HOLD`	Hold	Tie/Rest while step recording (Step recording)
`UP \| A`	Up	Select sequence A
`ORDER \| B`	Order	Select sequence B
`RANDOM \| REC`	Random	Record: step recording when stopped, real-time recording when playing
`PATTERN \| PLAY`	Pattern	Play/stop

Key combinations

SHIFT + ARP | SEQ: Toggles between the arpeggiator and the sequencer.
UP | A / ORDER | B: Loads sequence A or B, confirmed on the display; during playback, switches to that sequence.Sequencer
PATTERN | PLAY: Starts or stops playback.Sequencer

A new preset starts with both sequences empty, while many factory presets come with sequences already in them. Only one sequence plays at a time, but you can flip between A and B as it runs. Once a sequence holds notes you don’t even need to press play: touch a key and the selected sequence starts.

The keyboard and sequencer interact in useful ways:

Mono — pressing a key pauses the sequence, and it carries on when you let go. Rhythmic playing turns into a conversation with the sequence.
Paraphonic — the sequence keeps playing underneath you, and all its voices play back (Paraphonic mode and chord mode). With paraphony off, only the lowest note of each step plays.
Voice priority — notes from the keyboard come first, then incoming MIDI notes, then the sequencer. Hold two keys in four-voice paraphonic mode and the sequence has two voices left, so it plays the lowest two notes of each step.
Unison and Chord mode — the sequencer can play unison voices and trigger chords too (Unison, Paraphonic mode and chord mode).

Routed through the Key/Arp row of the matrix, the sequencer can also send each step’s pitch and velocity to other destinations (Matrix sources and destinations).

From the community

Using the Arturia MICROFREAK complete deep dive guide tutorial
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Nearly two hours covering every non-oscillator feature (presets, panel, paraphony, filter, envelopes, matrix, arp, sequencer, unison, chord and scale modes) with timecodes.

Tutorials | MicroFreak - Episode 4: Sequencer
Arturia
Official tutorial 4: recording the two paraphonic sequences and adding modulation tracks.

9.7BasicsManual §13.1.3 p.84, §13.1.3.1 p.84, §13.1.3.2 p.85, §20 p.140

Step recording

Step recording builds a sequence one step at a time, so timing doesn’t matter and you can get each step exactly right. A sequence stores its length (shared by A and B), the notes and velocity of every step along with any tie or rest, and up to four modulation tracks.

With the sequencer on, choose sequence A or B with UP | A or ORDER | B.
Make sure playback is stopped, then press RANDOM | REC. It lights to show step recording is on.
Hold one or more notes. You can still change your mind — the first four notes you hold before letting go are what the step stores.
Release all the notes. The sequencer moves to the next step.
Press HOLD for a rest, or keep notes held and press HOLD to tie them into the next step.
Carry on to the last step, where the MicroFreak switches to playback by itself.

Key combinations

RANDOM | REC: Turns on step recording; the pad lights.Sequencer stopped
HOLD: Enters a rest in the current step and moves to the next one.Step record mode
Hold KEY + HOLD: Ties the held note or chord into the next step; press again to extend it further.Step record mode
Hold SHIFT + turn RATE/SWING: Changes the sequence length on the fly.Step record mode

Ties in practice: in Paraphonic mode, hold a chord and press HOLD — the current step is tied, the next step gets the same notes, and releasing the chord moves on one more step. With a single voice, holding a note and tapping HOLD once makes a two-step note.

Watch the display as you go: it shows the step number and the notes going into it. The sequence length is Utility > Preset > Seq Length (4–64 steps), or change it on the fly with SHIFT + RATE/SWING while step recording.

From the community

9.8IntermediateManual §13.1.3.3 p.85

Real-time recording

Real-time recording works like a loop pedal: the sequence keeps cycling and you play into it. Start playback with PATTERN | PLAY, then press RANDOM | REC. When the record pad blinks, the sequencer is listening for notes and knob moves. (In step recording, by contrast, the pad lights steadily.)

Key combinations

PATTERN | PLAY, then RANDOM | REC: Starts real-time recording; the record pad blinks. Pressing RANDOM | REC while a sequence is already playing does the same.Sequencer
HOLD: Erases the notes and modulation the sequence passes over while you press it, leaving silence to fill on the next pass.Real-time recording

How it behaves

Notes — recording keeps going loop after loop; whatever you play replaces what was recorded there on the previous pass.
Modulation — knob recording runs for one cycle and then punches out (Modulation tracks).

It is built for fun rather than detailed editing, but you can tidy up as you go: play a note to overwrite what is there, or press HOLD at the moment unwanted notes or knob moves come round.

With a computer connected, you can prepare a complex part in your DAW, put the MicroFreak into real-time recording and press play in the DAW to record it. It takes some experimenting to get right. The modulation tracks stay empty, ready for knob movements.

From the community

9.9IntermediateManual §13.1.3.2 p.85, §13.1.3.4 p.86, §13.1.1 p.83, §20 p.140

Editing, copying and clearing sequences

Once a sequence is recorded you can go back over it, step by step, to replace notes or add modulation. Clearing, reloading, transposing and copying are all quick pad combinations.

Edit steps

Choose the sequence with UP | A or ORDER | B.
Make sure playback is stopped, then press RANDOM | REC.
Turn RATE/SWING to scrub through the sequence. Each step plays as you reach it, including its modulation, and the end wraps round to the start.
To replace a step’s notes, stop on it and hold the new notes.
To empty a step, press HOLD — it becomes a rest.

Key combinations

RANDOM | REC, then turn RATE/SWING: Scrubs through the steps for editing, playing each one as you land on it.Sequencer stopped
SHIFT + KEY: Transposes the sequence.Sequencer, record off
SHIFT + UP | A / ORDER | B: Reloads sequence A or B as it was last saved, undoing your most recent recording.Sequencer, record off
Hold UP | A + hold HOLD for 1 second: Clears sequence A; both pads blink, and it is erased when they stop.Sequencer, record off
Hold ORDER | B + hold HOLD for 1 second: Clears sequence B; both pads blink, and it is erased when they stop.Sequencer, record off
Hold UP | A + ORDER | B: Copies sequence A to sequence B.Sequencer
Hold ORDER | B + UP | A: Copies sequence B to sequence A.Sequencer

To change the sequence length while editing, use SHIFT + RATE/SWING (Step recording).

From the community

9.10IntermediateManual §13.2 p.87, §13.2.1 p.87, §13.2.2 p.90, §13.2.3 p.90, §20 p.140

Modulation tracks

Alongside notes, each sequence has four modulation tracks that record knob positions. Each track stores one knob, with one value per step — 16 values in a 16-step sequence, up to 64 in a 64-step one. The usual workflow is two passes: record the notes, then fill in the modulation. You can also do both at once by holding notes while turning knobs.

Record modulation step by step

Choose the sequence with UP | A or ORDER | B.
Make sure playback is stopped, then press RANDOM | REC for step recording.
Turn RATE/SWING to the step you want to change.
Turn a knob. Nothing is recorded yet; the display shows the step, the modulation slot, the parameter and its value.
Let go of the knob. Its position is stored with that step.
Turn RATE/SWING to the next step, set the same knob again, and repeat until the track is complete.

The first knob you touch in step recording takes the first free track; the next knob takes the next one. So you can fill one track at a time, or set up to four knobs on one step before moving on. Try to record a fifth knob and the display shows Memory full.

As you scrub with RATE/SWING, each step plays its note and its stored modulation, so you can hear where you are. Turn a knob on a step to change its value.

Record modulation in real time

Start playback with PATTERN | PLAY and press RANDOM | REC.
Move a knob. Recording begins at the step where you started moving it.
Recording runs one full loop and stops just before that step; the record pad turns off.

Key combinations

OCT | MOD: Steps through the active modulation tracks; the selected track’s light blinks.Sequencer
Hold OCT | MOD + HOLD: Erases the selected modulation track.Sequencer
Keep OCT | MOD held and press HOLD repeatedly: Erases the next modulation track with each press, until all of them are clear.Sequencer

Knobs you can record

Knob	What it records
TYPE	The oscillator type — or, with sample selection enabled, the sample choice (Sample).
WAVE, TIMBRE, SHAPE	The current oscillator’s Wave, Timbre and Shape.
CUTOFF, RESONANCE	The filter cutoff and resonance.
ATTACK, DECAY/REL, SUSTAIN	The stages of the standard envelope.
FILTER AMT	The envelope’s Filter Amt.
LFO RATE	The LFO rate.
RISE, FALL, HOLD/SUSTAIN	The rise, fall and hold stages of the cycling envelope.
AMOUNT	How much of the cycling envelope is sent to the matrix.
MATRIX	The amount of a matrix point.
GLIDE	The glide amount (Glide).

Smoothing

Seq 1 smooth – Seq 4 smooth: Smoothing (slew) softens the jumps between a track’s values, the way glide does for pitch. Set it per track in Utility > Preset > Seq 1 smooth to Seq 4 smooth. A track created by step recording starts with smoothing off; one created by real-time recording starts with it on. Recording over an existing track keeps its setting.Range OFF, ON

From the community

Sequences A and B share modulation-track state: if A opens the filter on step 5 and you switch to B, the filter stays open until B moves it. Plan A/B changes with that in mind. via SoulBrix on YouTube (22:19)

Turning the Arturia MicroFreak into a Drum Machine | Tutorial
Approaching Noise
Kick, snare and hats from an init patch: removing pitch tracking, shaping each drum, then sequencing them.

9.11AdvancedManual §13.3 p.91, §13.3.1 p.91, §13.3.2 p.92, §13.3.3 p.92, §12.7.1 p.80

Sequencer ideas

Sequences come alive with space. With up to 64 steps there is room for plenty of rests and ties: a 32-step sequence full of gaps, played twice as fast, usually sounds far more interesting than 16 filled steps at normal speed. Most of the ideas below work with the arpeggiator too.

The matrix both routes and mixes signals, which is the key to the experiments below (The matrix).

Experiment 1: mix pitches

Play a sequence. The sequencer already controls the oscillator pitch without any matrix routing.
In the matrix, route the LFO to Pitch as well; the two signals add together.
Choose the square LFO wave and a fairly slow rate. The sequence now jumps up and down.
Adjust the matrix amount with MATRIX. It decides how far the pitch moves with the LFO, and small changes make a big difference.
Variation: route the LFO to Cutoff too. With enough amount, the LFO shuts the filter completely on part of its cycle, silencing chunks of the sequence. Different waves and amounts give different patterns of silence.
Variation: switch to the random LFO wave. The sequence gets transposed at unexpected moments; vary the LFO speed, use more amount for wilder jumps, or a negative amount to invert the movement (The LFO).

Experiment 2: Hoketus

Make a 16-step sequence with the same pitch on every step, adding ties and rests at random for interest.
Press RANDOM | REC to enter step mode.
Turn a knob to record a modulation value on the step — use several knobs for several modulations.
Turn RATE/SWING to the next step and repeat to the end of the sequence.

Hoketus is an old technique: one pitch throughout, with everything else — timbre, attack, decay, pressure, rhythm — changing. The result here is a single-note line whose character never stops moving (Modulation tracks).

More one-note ideas

Monochord — keep most steps on one pitch and detune a few by a semitone or two, after the medieval instrument with many strings tuned alike. One or two modulation tracks work best; trust your ears.
One-note arpeggio — hold a single key with the arpeggiator at a medium rate, then lift and replace your finger rhythmically to play rhythms. Shape each repeat with the LFO on the cutoff, the envelope and keyboard pressure (The arpeggiator).
Arpeggiated monochord — add a tiny amount of pitch modulation from the LFO or the cycling envelope so the odd note drifts away from the main pitch (The cycling envelope).

From the community