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These days many keyboarders carry their whole set-up around with them in their laptops or iPads, which has led to – possibly premature – rumours of the hardware synth’s impending demise.

Against this backdrop Arturia’s recent moves make for a refreshing (and brave) change – the French company decided to develop an affordable, lightweight and completely analogue monophonic synth. Its name is: Arturia MiniBrute.

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The Arturia MiniBrute constitutes a conscious attempt to get back to the very beginnings of the synthesizer, when the new instrument’s raison d’être lay in experimentation and the exploration of new sounds.

In more recent years some of the focus has (regrettably) shifted towards the use of factory presets, as well as the imitation/recreation of the sounds of traditional musical instruments.

The MiniBrute brings us back to Square One, in a way, and forces us to remember the basics of analogue subtractive synthesis, bringing…