Hiya lost,
I have one, bought it a couple of months ago for much the same reasons - to get a flavour of analogue without buying an absolute ton of gear. Overall, I don't regret buying it as it's been a pretty fun instrument to play around with.
Here's a summary just from my own pov after a couple of months of use and experimentation:
Pros:
- For just a single oscillator it's true that they do manage to make it sound much bigger, including sub oscillator
- The ultrasaw is especially good imo, and can get some fanataisc detuned sounds with it
- You can route an external source into it and combine with the other waves types in the mixer, I haven't used this as much as I should have but plan to experiment a bit more !
- The brute factor is pretty nice for providing feedback on itself, and can lead to some pretty wild results
- I love the fact that it has to warm up, really show's its all analogue as you cant use it for the first 5mins
- The keyboard has a very nice feel, and aftertouch is sweet. I also run it via midi cable to my pc and can use it as a midi controller if I want to which was unexpected !
- The arpeggiator is pretty damn good for the price of the unit
- The low pass filter is nice
- Again for the price of the unit the modulation options are plentiful (inc mod wheel and pitch bend, I think it's pretty good for the price, you barely get that on some midi keyboards just below this price point!!)
Cons:
- The other filter types I am getting on less well with (BP HP and Notch). they deliver some crazy results but often are a bit un-usable imo. I've since started using filters with it 'in the box' which i worry takes away some of the analogue goodness!
- Whilst the lack of digital presets was already known to me before purchase it is a bit of a pain to be honest. Often you'll find a useable sound but tweak it just a bit too much and then find you can't get back to where it was sounding good!
- The LFO is good, but it still is lacking compared to what I can do in the box.
- I come across delay issues when recording especially in a reasonably filled out track in my DAW. I find its usually it's best to sample the minibrute on it's own and bounce it down but then it's difficult to 'play along' with anything remotely complex. I'm a guitar player so used to these kind of issues, but it is a PITA compared to a soft synth. So workflow-wise for me it's not really ideal. Maybe i'm not using it right though (would be interested to hear how other people with outboard gear handle these issues).
- It's still a monosynth, so obviously doesn't handle chords (I know you already know this, but it is something to consider, wouldn't be shocked if upon the success of the minibrute they release a polybrute for a couple of hundred extra soon).
- The keyboard, whilst nice, looks like it is a bit fragile to me, I imagine it's quite easy to break but hopefully I won't be doing that !
Thats all I can think of right now, hope it helps you a bit. One other thing I'd point out is that a Virus Ti SNOW is not much more, albeit that it's not analogue and also lacks some of the features of it's bigger brother.....even so it might be worth just saving a bit extra. That's the debate I had with myself but the minibrute won out
las
