Arpeggiator: Notes Through Time
An arpeggiator takes a group of held notes and plays them one at a time in a repeating pattern.
1. What does an arpeggiator do?
The arpeggiator does not change the oscillator waveform. It creates and re-orders note events through time.
Arpeggiator
Uses the notes you are currently holding and determines the order in which they are triggered.
Polyphony
Several synth voices sound simultaneously. We deliberately leave that until the next lesson.
2. Interactive arpeggiator
Choose / hold notes
Click keys to latch/unlatch them for demonstration, or hold the computer keys shown. Try C4, E4 and G4.
Pattern
Pluck: short, bright notes make the rhythm easy to hear.
Arpeggiator output
3. MIDI note numbers
MIDI represents note pitch numerically. We show both the musical name and MIDI number so you can see what the arpeggiator is actually sorting.
Up sorts low MIDI numbers to high. Down reverses that. As Played preserves the order in which you selected the keys.
4. Tempo, rate and gate
Tempo
Gate
Rate determines when each step begins. Gate determines how long the note remains on inside that step.
5. Pattern behaviour
Lowest note to highest, then repeat.
Highest note to lowest, then repeat.
Climb, reverse direction, then climb again.
Choose from the available notes unpredictably.
6. Arpeggiator vs sequencer
Arpeggiator
The pattern is generated from notes that are currently held or latched.
Sequencer
Note/event information can be stored as a predetermined sequence and played back without holding those notes.
7. Next: polyphony
To sound several notes simultaneously, the synthesiser needs several independent voices. That is the next structural step.