Part of my studio setup is a 20 year old 88 key Yamaha Electric Piano, that I like the key bed of, but it only has 8 sounds and two buttons. Really, that is why I bought it, I figured at the time that if I get a keyboard devoid of whizzy features, then I might actually learn how to play the piano properly. With hindsight, I think it helped a bit, but these days I am more interested in creating soundscapes than playing piano boogie-woogie. So the piano is connected up via MIDI to Arturia’s fabulous Analog Lab which contains 4000 or so presets and infinite scope for meddling.
So another part of my setup is a Microfreak that sits just above the old piano, so after some experimentation I have found that the Microfreak can make for a nifty Midi interface for Analog lab just as a control surface, combined with the old 88-Key Yamaha Piano as the keybed. Read on to find out how!
There are two modes to Analog lab, either opening up the full instrument (if you have purchased it) or just using the 8 quick controls + Volume, which vary instrument to instrument. Even though I have the instrument suite, I prefer using the 8 quick controls when trying to focus on the playing rather than sound creation. But still playing with some quick tweaks such as adjusting the Timbre or Reverb to suit the song.
Configure the Microfreak
First up on the Microfreak ensure that USB MIDI is enabled, and also in the MIDI menu, Local Mode can be disabled too, and connect the USB to the PC.
MIDI Learning in Analog Lab
Here is the mapping that I created using the MIDI Learn function in Analog Lab.
The interesting part was finding suitable controls for each function. For the main 8 encoders, that was easy enough, I used the 8 black knobs on the right hand side. More experimentation was required for changing the presets. Here I found that the two white Rate controls on the Microfreak are both clicky controllers and I mapped those to Previous and Next Preset. Finally for the Master Volume, I found I was able to map the Glide control. So all in all a bit of a funky setup, and obviously not as intuitive as using my Arturia Keylab. But hey it works, its convenient, and now the 20 year old piano with its nice feeling keybed is enjoyable to play with Analog Lab presets and also be able to quickly shape the sound with the 8 encoders, and flick between patches. By putting the patches into playlists of favourite sounds, the Previous and Next controls can be used to move between them. Although note you have to leave the Fader Mode as None. If you set Fader Mode to the pickup section, whilst great for the main 8 controls, it makes a mess of the patch changes with the Rate controls.
The Microfreak just keeps continuing to deliver in unexpected ways, and when its not being used as an ad hoc MIDI controller, you can quickly turn Local Mode back on in the Utility menu and use it again as a powerful synth!