Ten Of The Best: Synth Mods

Arturia MiniBrute becomes MegaBrute

Arturia’s MiniBrute was one of the first of the new breed of affordable analogue synths. Priced at a very reasonable £399 (in fact, at the time of writing it’s currently reduced to £299 for a very limited time), it’s one of the best value analogue synths on the market. It’s also got a lot of modding potential.

MiniBrute designer Yves Usson offers a small amount of advice on modding the MiniBrute and MicroBrute at his Hack a Brute site, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Usson and Arturia’s MiniBrute design is surprisingly friendly to modders. Inside the synth you’ll find a wide selection of test points on the circuit board, many of which can be pressed into service to add CV, gate and audio signals or inputs to the unit.

Leafcutter John breaks down most of the options on his website, explaining how to add patch points for signals including individual LFO shapes, individual oscillator waveforms, filter envelope, and clock in and out. John describes the end result, with a semi-modular breakout box, as a MegaBrute.

With a number of CV inputs already in place on the back panel of the MiniBrute, a modified version can become an even more versatile semi-modular instrument, or connect with other synths and modules for even more serious synthesis.