I think it’s a great synth. I ended up with the brute because I had full analog synths (like pre midi) that couldn’t do midi sequencing, or midi automation of the knobs, or sync the LFO’s. I dabbled with some modular synths and hated that I couldn’t save the sounds, and it took hours to put something interesting together, and deciphering a rats nest of wires to know the routing. The Matrixbrute is like a classic synth with modern solutions to all of those shortcomings. Other high end synths have similar depth to their mod matrix, but it’s all buried in menus and fiddly to set up a source and destination- all to say the Matrixbrute is my favorite because you can see everything that is going on with a sound on one big page. No menus, no hidden stuff to keep in your head.
I wouldn’t buy it for the sequencer, because there is no pattern chain or gate time variation, or “smart”/key specific transpose, and it’s pretty robotic and repetitive sounding, but I do like it with short patterns that can be transposed and still be in key, or the matrix arp, which is really cool to play like an instrument, feeding it chord changes.
It is easiest to get raw, aggressive sounds, but I’d say it also excels in classic, moog cookbook type sounds, and modular sounds, sound effects, sound design. It is not impressive for anything pad-like, the paraphonic stuff is pretty pathetic compared to even a basic polysynth like a Juno 106. I think of it more as “synth” than “keyboard”, where the emphasis is on the knobs and modulation, sound design, over piano playing.
I love the stuff they added with the V2 update, the expanded mod slots and the custom LFO shapes you draw. Other people have reported some issues with midi sync in certain setups, but it has been quite workable for me, hooked in with the computer DAW. Can’t speak of customer service because I never had an issue. Build quality is nice, keys are decent, knobs feel good. It’s unusually heavy, because of the metal construction and the panel that tilts up, worth it, but it could be trouble for a little/slight person who plays out a lot, I think they would want a rolling case.
The Moog Sub 37 is a similar synth, analog with digital control, littler, but I like the Matrixbrute because of the emphasis on the mod matrix, and everything being on the panel. More open to sound design. I wrote a lot there, but it’s something I’ve thought about a lot, looking for the right synth for exploring classic synthesis. Plenty of nice synths out there, especially in the $1000+ range, but this is one of them, and I think it is superior to any retro, full analog (no presets, no midi sync), especially integrating into a computer setup.
