An Introduction To Arpeggiators

More Notes

As handy as arps are for simple pulsing basslines, the main point is to feed chords into the input. Here we’ll use the chords from the same loop:

The arpeggiator will play the notes in order, according to the speed, range (how many octaves we want it to play) and direction we select. We’ll start with 1/16^th notes, using the ‘Up’ direction setting, over a range of just one octave (i.e. only playing the notes in the octave we’ve programmed:

If we switch to two octaves, the arp will automatically play the octave above in addition to the octave we’ve programmed:

And switching to up/down mode will change the order the notes are played, running up the chord then back down.

Different synths often respond to the incoming notes in different ways and may have their own range of patterns. So while Arturia’s recreation of the legendary Roland Jupiter-8 keeps close to the original with its Up, Down, Up/Down and Random patterns (with 4 selectable ranges)…

…the more modern Omnisphere plugin from Spectrasonics features a host of extra patterns:

Newer instruments like Omnisphere also often add note length and swing controls for customising the groove.

Here’s how it sounds when we adjust the length control:

And when we adjust the swing control: