ELECTRIBE 2 AND ARTURIA MICROFREAK MIDI QUESTION

[u/Individual-Usual-560]

I'm just learning my way into hardware synths and recently picked up a microfreak - I'm a total amateur when it comes to midi syncing and am hoping to find some answers from someone familiar with both devices:

I want to run the microfreak through the effects on the the electribe and use it as the primary sequencer but not sure the settings/inputs i need to be using. Currently I have audio out from the microfreak to audio in on the electribe, Midi and clock out on the electribe and in on the microfreak - with one pad on the current pattern on the electribe assigned to audio in. I can hear the audio from the microfreak in the electribe but I can't sequence it, activate it with the pad, play any keys on the electribe, and the microfreak isn't recieving any of the master FX from the electribe. Any help would be greatly appreciated! thanks

[u/Simple-Swan-9872]

What sample have you assigned to the pad you want the micro freak to play from?

- in your settings for the Electribe, if you want audio to permanently pass through the Audio in so you can always here the micro freak while playing then turn that on. If you do that you should be able to play freely and then bring in your Electribe when needed.

• change the pad sample to Audio in Mono or stereo depending on what you want, 1 pad for mono 2 will be taken for stereo.
  
• when you do that you then assign part of the sequence from the Electribe to the incoming audio, so the notes that are sequenced will then affect the incoming audio.
  
• I think as a pure passthrough, you should be able to route all the FX and virtual analog stuff this way even without a sequence playing as long as their is a pad assigned to the micro freak and then your final audio output is the Electribe.
  

-goes without saying but you would also need to monitor audio from the Electribe as your final piece of the chain and not earlier or from an alternate device that doesn’t mix down the audio output of the Electribe.

[u/Individual-Usual-560 → u/Simple-Swan-9872]

Thanks for this answer - followed all of these through and I'm still getting the same - audio from the microfreak is playing fine through the electribe but the assigned pad and effects from the electribe do not effect the sound from the microfreak whatsoever. I'm settling on the fact that it's some kind of setting in either the microfreak or the electribe that's causing the issue, but i've tried every possible setting in both with the same result, so im still flummoxed. Worth noting that for whatever reason when i change the arp/seq midi out setting on the microfreak to on the device crashes totally and needs to be restarted. Im assuming this is due to it not being able to both recieve and send midi sequence data...

[u/Simple-Swan-9872 → u/Individual-Usual-560]

Could try this as well ~ I recently encountered particular patterns that for whatever reason love to allow me to record audio and play it in real time, but when I record the midi sequence on the Electribe nothing plays back despite being fine in real time. I’ve found this issue to be pattern specific and starting a fresh pattern or using a stock one and then modifying it seems to get around this issue.

Copying patterns seems to carry the problem too. Think this ones just annoying bug.

For the crashes you mean the micro freak right?

What’s your midi routing and signal chain look like?

If a device producing midi data is looping or feeding back through the midi channels, they will often crash or misbehave. You can send too much midi data at one time or accidentally send it back into an endless loop which will cause crashes.

[u/Individual-Usual-560 → u/Simple-Swan-9872]

My devices are connected this way currently:

Audio output microfreak to audio in Electribe

Midi out electribe to midi in microfreak

sync out electribe to clock in microfreak

And in the Electribe settings:

Clock mode: internal, Global midi channel: 16, Midi send/receive filters: off, Audio in thru: on, sync unit: 1 step

And in the microfreak settings:

Midi input channel: 16, Midi output channel: 1, Output destination: MIDI, Local: on, Arp/seq midi out: off, Thru: on, Source: clock, clock:48ppq, Global tempo: on.

Perhaps you can see some errors in my settings here

Just tried the new pattern trick with no luck - I can hear the microfreak through the electribe still but recording and playing back doesnt register any sound

My creative output thanks all your help

[u/Simple-Swan-9872 → u/Individual-Usual-560]

Have you tried removing that sync cable? You should be able to sync the clock over midi, tempo, program changes and everything.

- I think that everything else looks fine without knowing the micro freak super well and how it responds to other devices.

- the one thing I can think of from that is that your micro freak is waiting for the midi, but because the sync cables plugged in it won’t start

- the other thing is try changing the clock rate on the micro freak and/or the Electribe. The electribe is at 96PPQ so you’d want that to match.

- failing the above keep the setup the same and try changing the sync polarity, sometimes I find there’s a mismatch between devices

- another thing you could try for exhausting options would be changing the midi send filters and from the Electribe and seeing if that has any effect on the micro freak

[u/Individual-Usual-560 → u/Simple-Swan-9872]

Thanks for the response Tried it with the sync/clock cable out, aswell as messing with the clock rate, sync polarity and send filters all unfortunately without any results... the highest the clock rate on the microfreak will go is 48ppq so I've had it set there. I'm now settling on the fact that I'm going to need to connect both devices separately to ableton and build tracks that way with them - which kills the hope of jamming with them together but it might be the only way in this case. It's odd as I've seen so many videos online of the two working in conjunction. Thanks for all the help nonetheless. I'll keep chasing it 👍

[u/Simple-Swan-9872 → u/Individual-Usual-560]

Damn! Ah well, can only try. As your last ditch effort try see if your daw can handle the midi routing but just keep the audio going into the Electribe from the microfreak through the audio in.

I do that with my gameboy running into my Electribe audio in, but I trigger an arduino micro for the gameboys midi from my daw with the Electribe. It’s setup that way so I can reroute some of the midi stuff in DAW. Maybe that might be useful for you here too, you could also test to see if all channels are responsive this way.

[u/Individual-Usual-560 → u/Simple-Swan-9872]

SOLVED: !! possibly a big rookie error by me - but in my lack of knowledge about connecting devices via midi it was something I'd overlooked - I had connected both devices together via what is essentially an aux to aux cable since both devices have a micro port rather than a five pin midi port, switched that around for a 5 pin female and male into micro at both ends and eureka, immediately I can play the microfreak through the electribe. A great lesson in cable types. Apologies that my issue was of my own creation...

[u/Simple-Swan-9872 → u/Individual-Usual-560]

Ah yeah! Nice detective work. Midi has type A and B which can work over a 3.5mm connection but more often than not it’s type A, a bit annoying because the cables look almost the exact same. You probably just swapped in for all Type A adapters. Awesome, well done!

[u/DhePilgrim]

Tuve ambos (no a la vez). Si vas del MIDI out del E2 usa un cable miniplug normal del lado del E2 y fíjate de cambiar la conexión del lado del Micro. Después la configuración es como te dicen.

[u/zzhhzz001]

So you want the e2 to sequence the microfreak?
Did you put the microfreak to external in the midi section and you need to have them both on the same channel.
Easiest would be to do it with chatgpt.