No matter what, MCC takes age to initialize my MicroFreak.
Same here. Tried on macOS Ventura (Mini M2 Pro) as well as Monterey (MacBook Pro 2016). At least the Mini is a freshly set up brand new one, so there are hardly incompatibilities to expect.
Plugged directly in the computer (won't work at all with a good powered hub).
Confirmed here on both Mac computers as listed above. If plugged over a „server grade“ powered USB hub, no connection takes place at all. If plugged directly by USB 1 to 2 (Mini) or 3 (MBP) cable, it takes several minutes to establish the connection and show up the synth in the software.
The established connection seems to be unstable, too; while batch-transferring the presets, some of the presets are being omitted. I was able to re-transfer them one by one afterwards manually.
As for samples, I have transferred them one by one to the Microfreak. It took also a while, but it worked.
All the above is about USB MIDI connection. I haven’t tried the oldskool connection by MIDI interface and 5 pin DIN cables yet. Maybe it’s worth to give it a try.
The USB MIDI connection works with other Arturia instruments I happen to own without trouble: Matrixbrute, Drumbrute, Keystep, Keylab, all of them appear in the MIDI software almost instantly. Even if connected over the powered hub, by the way. So this must be a special Microfreak „feature“.
That said, thank you for the new firmware, anyway! After all, it’s somehow like getting a hardware update at no cost.