Chord Building
Arpie builds melody and basslines by ‘arpeggiating’ chords that you play (playing all
their notes in sequence). This process has the following steps
First a chord is built –this is usually done by playing a chord on an attached MIDI
keyboard; however, you can also enter a chord directly from Arpie’s front panel or
select a fixed or random chord.
If you are controlling Arpie using a MIDI keyboard, make sure that the MIDI OUT of
the keyboard is connected to the MIDI IN of Arpie and that the MIDI output channel of
the keyboard matching the input channel of Arpie (Long press CHAN button)
Use the HOLD button to keep a chord playing after you release the keys.
Arpeggiation
The chord is then built into an arpeggiated sequence (arpeggio). A chord typically
only has a few notes (e.g. 3 or 4), so in order to make arpeggios more interesting, we
can extend them in various ways:
•Firstly, we can extend the chord into multiple octaves –we can add up to 3
more octaves on top of the played chord (SPAN function) and we can also
transpose the chord itself up or down by three whole octaves (SHFT function)
•Next, the resulting set of notes are sorted into order, such as ascending pitch,
descending pitch, ascending then descending pitch, randomised order etc.
(MODE function)
•The final step in building the sequence is an option to extend the sequence
further by repeating certain notes (INST function). This allows us to alternate
every note with the highest or lowest note in the sequence or to “fold” the
sequence (e.g. 3 steps forward, 1 step back).
After the above steps, a simple chord of a couple of notes can be extended into an
arpeggiated sequence containing tens of notes.
The Trig Pattern
The arpeggiated sequence can then be played into your synth. You will need to
ensure that the MIDI OUT of Arpie is connected to the MIDI IN of your synth and that
the output channel of Arpie (CHAN button) matches the selected input channel of the
synth.
The rate of playback of the notes is determined by the BPM (SYNC function) and the
musical measure of each step (RATE function).
Each note is played with a duration that is a proportion of full step time, or until the
start of the next note (GATE function), and with a MIDI velocity that is controlled by
the VELO function, on the MIDI channel controlled by the CHAN function.
Arpie allows extra variation of a sequence to be added at this point via the trig
pattern (PATN function); this is a sequence of “triggers” (up to 16 of them, as defined
by PLEN function) which control how each step in the arpeggiated sequence plays.
