MicroFreak

This is the single control you use to build and adjust every connection on the wiring board. Spin it to move to the crossing point you want, click to 'open' that connection, then spin again to set how much effect it has — including negative amounts that push the opposite direction. Hold it down for a couple of seconds to erase a connection.

tip: To create an assignable destination, click into an Assign column point, then hold the matching Assign button (1, 2 or 3) and turn the knob you want to control — the display confirms the target. Subtlety usually wins: small amounts add expression, while full-force modulation often sounds crude.

This is how you flip through sounds. Spin it to move through the library. Be careful: normally, moving to a new preset throws away any tweaks you made to the one you were on, without warning. It's also a fast eraser — click it three times in a row to wipe the current sound back to blank so you can start fresh.

tip: Turn on Utility > Browsing > Click to Load so you can audition presets while keeping your unsaved edits until you deliberately click. When naming a preset, push-and-turn edits a character in place, and holding Shift while turning jumps quickly through character ranges.

This is the overall loudness for the whole synth — it turns everything up or down at once, whether you're listening through headphones or a speaker. It's a straightforward volume knob and nothing more.

tip: Because this is a global control, use it to set a comfortable playing level, but adjust per-sound loudness elsewhere: Utility > Preset > Preset Volume lets you make one patch relatively louder or quieter (-12 to +12) so presets match in a set.

This makes notes swoop into each other instead of jumping cleanly. Turned up, moving from one key to another glides the pitch like a slide guitar or a singer bending between notes. Fully left, pitches change instantly. It's great for expressive leads and basslines.

tip: For extra expression, make Glide a Matrix destination and modulate it with keyboard Pressure — press harder to add more slide. In Sync mode with the LFO controlling Glide, you can make glide switch on and off every other sequencer step for rhythmic slides.

This is the big choice: it swaps out the entire sound-generating personality of the synth. One setting gives you classic analog-style waves, another gives you spoken words, another plucked strings, another chords, another metallic bell tones. Turning it while playing walks you through completely different flavors of sound. The display shows a picture of whichever engine you land on.

tip: Because Type only changes when a fresh note starts, modulating it with the LFO or Arpeggiator creates abrupt, glitchy engine-hopping timbre changes between notes rather than smooth morphing. Try that for chaotic, unpredictable textures.

Think of this as the main tone-tweaker for whatever engine you picked. What it does changes depending on the engine, but it's always the biggest character control after Type. The display tells you exactly what it's changing as you turn it, so watch the screen. On the chord engine it picks the chord; on the speech engine it picks the word.

tip: Modulating Wave with the LFO or Cycling Envelope is one of the most rewarding tricks on the MicroFreak. On the Wavetable engine this is called wavesequencing; on PI.Chords, modulating Wave with the LFO random wave (set strength 50–100) gives instant evolving chord changes.

This is the second tone control for your chosen engine, and like Wave it does something different for each one. Often it adds thickness, movement or brightness. On FM it controls how clangy and metallic the sound gets; on the chord engine it flips the chord notes around into different voicings; on the speech engine it shifts the voice up or down.

tip: On engines that detune (like Superwave, Timbre = detune amount), small amounts give a lush, fat chorus-like richness while large amounts get wild and dissonant.

The third and final tuning knob for your chosen engine, usually adding the finishing touch—extra width, a chorus shimmer, more sustain, or extra harmonics. As always, the display shows what it's actually doing for the current engine.

tip: On the Modal engine, Shape controls how long the sound rings out (damping/decay). In paraphonic mode, modulating it lets you selectively mute or sustain individual notes of an arpeggio or sequence.

This is the tone-brightness dial and probably the knob you'll grab most. In Low Pass mode, turning it down makes the sound progressively darker and muffled until it disappears; turning up opens it bright and full. In High Pass mode it works the opposite way. It's the classic 'wah' and 'sweep' control of any synth.

tip: Cutoff comes alive when moved automatically rather than by hand—let the Envelope (via Filter Amt), the LFO, or a sequencer modulation track sweep it. For a manual filter-sweep test, set Cutoff low, Resonance high, Amp Mod on, and dial in a slow attack/long decay on the envelope.

This adds a whistling, ringing emphasis right at the point where the filter is cutting. A little gives the sweep a vocal, singing quality; a lot makes it scream and ring. Pushed to the maximum the filter starts making its own pure tone even with no oscillator.

tip: Max the resonance and the self-oscillating filter becomes a clean sine-wave source—handy since the Basic Waves engine has no dedicated sine. Also great for accenting individual beats in an arpeggio when you modulate it from a sequencer track.

This controls how quickly the Cycling Envelope's swell builds up. Short means an instant jump; long means a slow fade-in. Since the Cycling Envelope can loop, at very short settings it becomes a shape you can use like a second LFO. Hold Shift and turn it to change the curve from gentle-then-fast to fast-then-gentle.

tip: Set Rise, Fall and Hold all very low and switch to Loop or Run mode to turn the Cycling Envelope into a fast, custom-shaped extra LFO—then modulate its Rise time with the real LFO for constantly shifting waveforms.

This controls how quickly the Cycling Envelope's swell dies away. Short gives a snappy, percussive drop; long gives a slow, gradual fade. Combined with Rise it defines the whole up-and-down shape of the cycle. Hold Shift and turn it to bend the curve for a more aggressive or more relaxed tail.

tip: Feeding the LFO's rising sawtooth into the Fall time adds realistic variation to drum- and bell-like decays. Remember a logarithmic rise plus exponential fall feels sluggish, while the reverse feels punchy and eager.

This sets how long the Cycling Envelope stays at full before it starts falling. In the looping modes, a longer Hold keeps the sound sitting at its peak for a beat before dropping, changing the rhythm and shape of the repeating cycle. In normal mode it acts as the sustain level while you hold a key.

tip: When using the Cycling Envelope as a repeating LFO-like source, adjusting Hold reshapes the waveform's flat-top duration—a small Hold makes a pointier peak, a longer Hold makes a plateau, useful for gating or pulsing effects.

This is the master volume knob for the Cycling Envelope's 'move'. Turn it up and the envelope pushes harder on whatever it's controlling (pitch, filter, wave, etc.); turn it down and the effect gets gentler. If it's set to zero, the Cycling Envelope does nothing no matter how you shape it.

tip: When you're using the Cycling Envelope on the analog filter, small amounts often sound best — sending too much or too little is the difference between an average and a fantastic sound. Try modulating this Amount knob itself with the LFO or pressure for evolving depth.

This is the tempo dial for your arpeggios and sequences — turn right for faster, left for slower. Push it in to lock to a clock so it stays in time with your other gear, or leave it free to set your own beats-per-minute.

tip: Hold Shift and turn this knob to add swing for a looser, groovier feel. During step recording, turning it 'scrubs' through your sequence step by step so you can find and edit individual steps.

Controls how fast the LFO's wobble moves — from a slow drift taking many seconds, up to fast enough to sound almost like a tone. Push the knob in to lock the speed to your song's tempo so the wobble stays in rhythm.

tip: When synced, values like 1/4 mean one LFO cycle per quarter note — handy for tremolo and filter sweeps that stay locked to the beat. To make the LFO restart cleanly with every note, turn on Utility>Preset>LFO Retrig.

Controls how quickly the sound (or the filter opening) fades in when you press a key. Fully counter-clockwise gives an instant, snappy start like an organ or pluck. Turn it up and the note swells in gradually, like a bowed string section that takes a moment to reach full volume.

tip: Keep it near zero for percussive, bass and lead sounds so they hit right on time; dial in longer attacks (a second or more) for pads and evolving textures. You can also make it a modulation destination in the Matrix (via an Assign slot) so pressure or the LFO can vary the attack per note.

Controls how fast the sound settles down after the initial hit, and how long it takes to die away once you lift your finger. Short settings give tight, plucky, percussive notes; long settings let notes ring out and fade slowly after you let go.

tip: Note that on the MicroFreak decay and release share one knob, so you can't set them independently. For drum and bell-like sounds, use a short-to-medium setting with a low Sustain. Modulating this with the rising Saw wave of the LFO adds realism to percussive sounds.

Sets how loud (or how open the filter stays) while you keep holding a key down. Turn it high and notes stay full and steady as long as you hold them, like an organ. Turn it low and the note drops to a quiet level (or silence) right after the initial hit, which is what you want for plucks and drums.

tip: If Sustain is set to maximum, the Decay knob has no audible effect because there's nothing left to decay to. Set it low for percussive patches and high for sustained pads, leads and drones.

Decides how strongly the envelope opens (or closes) the filter as a note plays, which shapes how bright the sound gets and how that brightness changes over time. This is the knob that creates the classic 'filter sweep' where a note starts bright and mellows out, or starts dark and blooms open.

tip: Because it's bipolar, turning it one way makes the filter open with the envelope and the other way makes it close. Try Cutoff low, Resonance high, and Filter Amt around 70 with a long attack and decay to hear a dramatic sweep. You can fine-tune this same amount directly on the Matrix if you prefer.

Lit, this lets you play chords — up to four notes at once — instead of just one note at a time. All the notes pass through the same filter, so they share a general tone color, but each note can rise and fall in volume on its own, which sounds more natural than typical chord-capable budget synths.

tip: Chord-heavy oscillator modes behave differently: in the Chords oscillator type, paraphony deactivates and one chord plays from the single root note you hold. In the Speech mode, turning paraphony on can make the synth 'say' a word with four stacked voices for a thicker effect.

Because this synth remembers presets but has knobs that don't physically move, the knob positions usually lie about the real settings. Press Panel to make the knobs tell the truth — the sound instantly matches exactly where every knob is pointing. It's the honest, hands-on mode for building a sound from scratch.

tip: Keep Panel OFF while browsing presets so you hear them as intended. Turn it ON when you want a clean starting point or when you're confused about why a knob isn't doing what its position suggests. Note that in the default 'Hook' knob mode you otherwise have to sweep a knob past its hidden value before it takes effect.

This locks in your sound so you don't lose it. Hit it and follow the prompts to name your creation, tag it with a category, and pick where to store it. Everything about the patch gets remembered — including any sequence you recorded and the knob wiggles in its modulation tracks.

tip: A long press on Save does a quick save to the current slot. If you see 'Memory protect is on,' go to Utility > Misc > Mem Protect and set it to OFF (or 'Factory only' if you just want to protect the factory sounds). Save early and often — switching presets can wipe your edits without warning.

This is the settings menu — the deeper options that don't have their own knob. Some settings are global (like overall tuning), and some are stored per-sound (like how loud that patch is, how the keyboard responds to pressure, or how long its sequence is). Adjusting these can dramatically change how a sound feels to play.

tip: Many of the synth's 'secret' behaviors live here: switch the keyboard between pressure and velocity (Utility > Preset > Press mode), change Glide from Time to Rate, set default gate length, or turn on LFO retrigger. Remember to exit Utility before trying to save — you can't save while it's open.

This picks which direction the filter cleans up your sound. Low Pass keeps the lows and cuts the highs (warm, mellow). High Pass keeps the highs and cuts the lows (thin, bright, good for cutting through a mix). Band Pass keeps only a narrow slice in the middle (nasal, focused). Press to cycle through the three.

tip: The 12dB slope is gentler than many synths' 24dB filters, which suits the MicroFreak's harmonically rich oscillators—it filters without dulling them. Use High Pass to clear out low-end mud when layering the MicroFreak under a bass part from another synth.

This decides whether the Cycling Envelope fires once or keeps repeating. In Env mode it does its rise-and-fall once each time you play a note. In Run mode it loops forever on its own. In Loop mode it loops but restarts in time with the notes you play or the sequencer. When it loops with short times, it turns into a custom-shaped wobble source.

tip: For a complex LFO you can't get from the normal LFO, put it in Loop or Run mode and set Rise, Fall and Hold very low — then reshape those stages to draw your own waveform. In Loop mode, trigger it from the arpeggiator at ~55 bpm to hear it retrigger on every step.

Shifts everything you play lower by whole octaves so you can reach bass notes the little 25-key keyboard can't otherwise play. Press it again to go even lower.

tip: Watch the blink speed to know how far you've shifted on a dark stage — faster flashing means you're further from normal pitch. The keyboard is two octaves but the full range spans eight octaves using these buttons.

Shifts everything you play higher by whole octaves so you can reach high leads and sparkle the small keyboard can't otherwise reach. Press again to go higher still.

tip: When playing an arpeggio, pressing this while notes are held doesn't just transpose — the MicroFreak keeps your existing arpeggio intact and adds the new notes you play in the higher octave, letting you build up wide-range patterns.

This is the 'hold me and do something else' key. On its own it does nothing, but held down it turns other knobs and buttons into their alternate jobs — like adding groove, changing envelope curves, or switching between the arpeggiator and sequencer.

tip: Hold Shift and turn the Rate encoder to dial in swing (50% straight up to 75%) — great for adding a jazzy, human feel to arpeggios and sequences. Hold Shift + Rise or Shift + Fall to bend the Cycling Envelope curves from logarithmic through linear to exponential.

Press it to make held chords play as a rolling, note-by-note pattern instead of all at once. Press again to turn that off. Hold Shift while pressing it to jump into the step Sequencer instead, for recorded melodies.

tip: Press Hold first, play and hold a chord, then hit Arp | Seq — the arpeggio keeps running hands-free so you can tweak knobs. Found a great arpeggio? Shift + Up|A or Shift + Order|B copies it straight into a sequencer.

It does two different jobs depending on mode. With the arpeggiator running, it makes the pattern climb through more octaves for a bigger, busier sound. With the sequencer running, it's how you flip between the four knob-movement recording lanes.

tip: In the Sequencer, hold Oct | Mod and press Hold to erase the current modulation track; keep holding Oct | Mod and tap Hold repeatedly to wipe all four modulation tracks quickly.

Picks the 'personality' of the LFO's automatic movement. Sine and triangle give smooth up-and-down sweeps; sawtooth ramps then jumps; square flips between two values; random stepped jumps around unpredictably; random gliding wanders smoothly. Whatever you send it to — pitch, filter, wave — takes on this motion.

tip: For that classic sci-fi computer bleeping, choose random stepped, route LFO to Pitch on the Matrix, set speed around 25 Hz and modulation amount around 400. The random gliding wave is great for subtle, organic drift.

Switches between two ways the volume behaves. With it off, sound just turns fully on while a key is held and off when released, an abrupt on/off. With it on, the Attack/Decay/Sustain knobs also shape the loudness, so notes can fade in and out smoothly instead of just clicking on and off.

tip: Leave it ON for musical amplitude shaping (fade-ins, plucks, swells). Turn it OFF when you want the arpeggiator or sequencer gates to control volume directly, or when you only want the envelope affecting the filter.

Locks whatever you're playing so it keeps going without you touching the keys, freeing both hands to tweak knobs. It's especially handy for keeping an arpeggio or held chord running while you turn other controls, or for building evolving, self-playing sounds.

tip: When you find a great Pattern arpeggio, press Hold and stop touching the keyboard, otherwise playing again generates a brand-new pattern and loses it. To hold external MIDI notes instead, send the MicroFreak a Sustain message. During sequencing it doubles as your tie/rest/clear tool depending on the mode.

In arpeggiator mode this makes your held chord play its notes in order from bottom to top, over and over, the most classic arpeggio motion. In sequencer mode the same button picks Sequence A, one of the two sequences stored in each preset.

tip: Hold this button together with the Hold icon for about one second to clear Sequence A. Use Shift + Up | A to capture a good live arpeggio straight into Sequence A so you can keep and edit it.

In arpeggiator mode this plays your chord notes back in the same order your fingers touched the keys, so changing how you finger the same chord changes the melodic pattern. In sequencer mode the button chooses Sequence B, the second sequence in the preset.

tip: Order mode is great for expressive, hand-controlled arpeggios: replay the same chord with different finger order for instant variations. Hold this with the Hold icon for one second to clear Sequence B, and use Shift + Order | B to save a live arpeggio into Sequence B.

In arpeggiator mode this shuffles your held notes into a constantly random order for unpredictable, lively patterns. When you're working with the sequencer instead, this button arms step-by-step recording so you can enter notes one step at a time.

tip: Random mode adds movement to static chords without any programming. When sequencing, remember this is your record button for step entry, press it with the sequencer stopped, then hold notes for each step.

In arpeggiator mode this is like a built-in third sequencer: it invents a fresh, musical-sounding note pattern from your held chord every time you press new keys. In sequencer mode the same button is your play/stop transport control.

tip: When Pattern gives you a groove you love, hit Hold and don't touch the keyboard again, or a new pattern will overwrite it; you can then use Shift + Up | A or Order | B to save it as a sequence. Note that when playing, pressing Play/Stop also sends MIDI and analog clock start/stop signals to synced gear.

Think of Spice as the 'how much' knob for randomizing the rhythm of your arpeggio or sequence. Once you've rolled the Dice to shuffle around the note lengths and gaps, Spice controls how strongly those changes are actually applied. With Spice at zero you hear the original pattern; slide it up and the rhythmic variation the Dice created becomes more and more audible, making steps longer, shorter, or dropping them out.

tip: Set an amount of Spice first, then tap the Dice repeatedly at different spots on the touch strip to audition variations at that fixed intensity — great for finding a groove live. Remember these tweaks vanish when you change presets, so record into a DAW if you want to keep a happy accident.

Dice is the 'reshuffle' button for your rhythm. Every time you tap the touch strip with Dice active, MicroFreak throws new dice and rearranges which steps are long, short, or silent. Tap gently on the left of the strip for subtle nudges, or hit the right side to scramble the whole thing. You won't hear anything change until you've also dialed in some Spice.

tip: Spice & Dice are to note timing what the Pattern button is to pitches — together they can transform a sequence beyond recognition. Use them for live performance surprises; what they generate is unique and cannot be recalled.

Press this to make the touch strip act like a pitch-bend wheel — but better. Instead of always starting from the middle, you can jab your finger straight onto any point and the pitch instantly leaps there, or tap between two spots to flip quickly between two pitches. Lift your finger and the pitch drifts back to center. Wiggling your finger gives natural vibrato.

tip: There are six little tilted markers printed on the strip to help you hit accurate intervals. Set the bend range to 12 in Utility and you can 'play' an arpeggio across a whole octave just by tapping different spots on the strip (make sure Relative bend is OFF).

This is the wiring board that decides what wobbles, sweeps, or shapes what. Instead of physical cables, you pick a point where a 'mover' (like the LFO) meets a 'thing to move' (like pitch or filter), and dial in how strongly it happens. It's how you create vibrato, filter sweeps, evolving textures, and much weirder effects — without any patch cords.

tip: Destinations 1–4 are fixed (Pitch, Wave, Timbre, Cutoff), but slots 5, 6 and 7 (Assign1–3) can target almost any knob on the synth — everything except Master Volume and the Preset encoder. You can even route a source to the 'Matrix Modulation Amount' of another point, meaning you can modulate a modulation (for example, use the Cycling Envelope to fade vibrato in and out).

This little screen is your constant guide — it tells you what you're doing the moment you touch anything. Turn a knob and it names what's changing and shows the value; pick an oscillator and it draws a picture of it. It removes most of the guesswork from a synth that otherwise hides a lot under the hood.

tip: Watch it closely when editing the Matrix: it names the exact parameter you're assigning (for example, 'parameter 3 of the oscillator' is Shape) and shows the modulation strength as you dial it, which is the only reliable way to know what an Assign slot is actually controlling.

This is the flat, wheel-free strip you slide or tap your finger along. Depending on which icon you've selected, it either controls how wild your rhythm gets (Spice/Dice) or bends the pitch of your notes (Bend). Because it senses exactly where you touch, you can jump instantly to any value instead of gradually sweeping to it like a wheel.

tip: You can play the strip dynamically — tapping various positions on the fly rather than just sliding — which is what makes it far more expressive than a traditional pitch wheel.

Instead of keys that move up and down, these are flat pads that sense your finger. Pressing a key both plays a note and, as you roll more of your fingertip onto it, sends out an expressive 'pressure' signal you can route to control almost anything — like brightness, vibrato, or volume. You choose in the menus whether the keys respond to how hard/how much finger you use (pressure) or how fast you strike (velocity).

tip: If your fingers are dry and the keyboard feels unresponsive, lick your fingertip — seriously, the manual suggests it, since the keyboard works by sensing skin contact. Because pressure settings save per-preset, you can make two identical presets with different keyboard responses for a live set. Clean the keys with a soft damp cloth (no abrasives).

This is simply the on/off button, tucked into the panel so it isn't bumped by accident. It turns the whole instrument on and off whether you're powering it from the wall or over USB.

tip: Following good practice, power up your audio system in order — turn the MicroFreak on before your amplifier or speakers, and turn it off after them, to avoid pops. Because it's recessed, you can leave cables connected and just flip this switch to shut down.

This is where you plug in headphones. Even though most headphones are stereo, MicroFreak only makes mono sound, so both ears get exactly the same thing — that's normal, not a fault.

tip: Use this for quiet practice, but remember the Master Volume affects both this and the line output, so set levels carefully to protect your ears.

This is the main output you run to your mixer, audio interface, or amp. It's mono like everything else on the MicroFreak. Because it's a balanced output, using the right kind of cable gives you a cleaner, quieter signal.

tip: Use a TRS (balanced) cable here rather than a standard TS instrument cable — the manual specifically notes it improves the signal-to-noise ratio, meaning less hiss, especially over longer cable runs.

This sends out an electrical 'note number' so MicroFreak can play the pitch of external analog synthesizers and modular gear that don't understand MIDI. As you play higher notes, the voltage rises, telling the other synth to play higher too.

tip: If an external oscillator won't track in tune, check the pitch format setting — most gear (Eurorack, Arturia Brutes) wants 1V/octave, but some vintage synths need Hz/V or Buchla's 1.2V/octave. The manual recommends ferrite-equipped CV cables to reduce noise.

This tells an external synth or module WHEN a note starts and stops — like a switch that turns 'on' when you press a key and 'off' when you release it. The pitch output says which note; this Gate output says 'play now, stop now.'

tip: If your external gear triggers backwards or not at all, switch the gate format — older gear often needs S-Trig, while most modern modular expects V-Trig at 5V or 12V.

This sends out your finger-expression from the keyboard as a control voltage, so you can use how hard or how much you press to open a filter, sweep a sequencer's speed, or shape a sound on external analog gear. Whether it sends pressure or velocity depends on your keyboard mode setting.

tip: You can dial the maximum voltage from 1V up to 10V, but note that not all Eurorack modules can handle 10V — some will clip if the voltage goes too high, so start lower if a destination behaves oddly.

This lets an outside piece of gear be the 'conductor' that sets the tempo. Plug in a clock signal here and the MicroFreak's tempo-based parts (the wobble of the LFO, the speed of arpeggios and sequences) will lock to that outside beat instead of running on their own, so everything stays in time together.

tip: For the MicroFreak to actually follow the incoming clock, set the sync source to 'Clock' in Utility (Sync > Source), and make sure the PPQ setting matches what the sending device outputs. Use a TRS cable if you also want the external gear to start and stop the MicroFreak, not just set the speed.

This makes the MicroFreak the 'conductor' for other gear. It sends out a steady stream of timing pulses so an external device speeds up, slows down, and starts in step with the MicroFreak's tempo.

tip: Match the output PPQ format to whatever your vintage device expects (many old machines use 24PPQ, but some use other rates). Use a TRS cable if you want the MicroFreak to also start and stop the connected gear.

This is how another keyboard, computer, or sequencer can play the MicroFreak's sound. Send notes in and the MicroFreak plays them, so it can act as a sound module driven by outside gear. It's best to send only one note at a time if you're also converting to CV outputs, since polyphonic input can behave unpredictably.

tip: You must use the included grey 1/8" TRS-to-5-pin-DIN adapter — a regular TRS cable alone won't connect to standard MIDI gear. Set the MicroFreak's input channel in Utility (MIDI > Input chan) to match the sending device, or set it to 'All' to receive on every channel.

This lets the MicroFreak play and control other synths. Its keyboard, arpeggiator, and sequencer can trigger notes on another instrument, and turning the MicroFreak's knobs can send control messages to tweak external gear. Only one note per chord is sent out, so it's really suited to single-line and control duties over MIDI.

tip: Use the grey included adapter to reach standard MIDI plugs. To send arpeggios/sequences out, enable Arp/Seq MIDI out in Utility; to make the knobs control external synths, turn on 'Knob send CCs' (Utility > MIDI). Set the output channel to match the receiving device.

This is the single cable that links the MicroFreak to your computer. Through it the synth sends and receives MIDI, can be powered, and can be edited or backed up with Arturia's free software. It's also handy for portable use — plug it into a phone charger or battery pack and the MicroFreak runs without a computer.

tip: When running on USB power only (like from a power bank), the touch keyboard needs proper grounding to work fully — Arturia recommends the supplied three-pin wall adapter for reliable keyboard response. Use the MIDI Control Center over USB to change how the knobs 'catch' values (Jump, Hook, or Scaled).

This is where you plug in the wall power. Beyond just powering the synth, this specific adapter grounds the instrument so the touch-sensitive keyboard reads your finger pressure accurately. Using anything else can make the keyboard behave erratically.

tip: Only use the Arturia-provided supply — other adapters can leave the keyboard poorly grounded and unresponsive, and Arturia won't cover damage from unauthorized supplies. Note that plugging in DC power resets the unit, so connect it before you start a session.