Hi, I've got a Microfreak a coupe of weeks ago and can't get it to work reliably with midi in DAW. I've tried in Studio One and Bitwig, both on Win 11. I am running latest firmware and up to data Midi Control + USB driver.
Studio One config:
Microfreak is set up as 2 separate devices - keyboard and external hardware synth (this is how all HW synths are set up in this DAW)
Scenario 1
USB MIDI: Microfreak MIDI/sync config (USB - Microfreak is plugged in via USB cable directly to the computer):
- Local: off (S1 receives midi from MF keyboard and sends it back to the synth)
- Thru: off
- Sync - USB
- Merge: KBD + USB
It works, but it's horribly unstable. Issues:
I quite often get one note delay e.g I play C first then D and F, I press D key I get C, F > D and so on. Often it's more than just one note, esp when I play fast. It seems like it "buffers" and plays them in sequence, regardless of which key is pressed. Changing patch fixes it temporarily.
Turning on arpeggiator more often than not causes stuck notes. Arepggiator sometimes works, sometime doesn't work at all.
Lag - quite random...
Scenario 2
DIN MIDI: Microfreak MIDI/sync config (MIDI - Freak is plugged into Claret 8+ Midi in/out):
- Local: off (S1 receives midi from MF keyboard and sends it back to the synth via Clarett MIDI)
- Thru: off
- Sync - MIDI
- Merge: KBD + MIDI
Issues:
No double notes/buffering noticed. Much more stable overall.
Lag happens, but not as often as with USB
Arpeggiator still causes stuck notes and overall instability. More so, if it "clogs" the Freak (note is stuck), it often cause the Clarett to crash, hard. As in blue screen hard. I've never had a blue screen on this machine before.
I've tried turning arpeggio/sequences off in Microfreak setup. Didn't make any difference.
Setup is the same in Bitwig, except Microfreak is set up as a HW Synth and its keyboard is added as a controller. Same issues + sending notes to the synth using bitwig note FXs causes stuck notes
I have several other synths (Novation, Rolands, Korgs) set up in the same way in both DAWs and they never caused any issues.
Using an external MIDI controler in DAW to control Microfreak works fine (tired a couple). But, I don't want to do it, I think Microfreak keyboard is part of the fun, it's also cumbersome, as I am far from Microfreak knobs when I use external controller.
Microfreak in standalone mode with Local On works fine, so I doubt it's any electrical issue with the hardware.
I really like this synth, but MIDI issues make me want to sell it. I have never had such unstable synth. Any ideas?
