Hello, I tried it today with arp presets from the synth. These finished arp`s would take me a lot of work. But I would like to create own arps. Would the arpeggiator be useful, or can it be done just as efficiently in the pianoroll?

nice weekend

 

Last edited: Apr 9, 2017

The nice thing with an arp is that you can transpose it easily, while in the piano roll, what you set remains at the same pitch. The piano roll on the other hand gives you total freedom for placing notes.
Usually, in an arp you set pitches relative to the note you play, while in the piano roll you set absolute note pitches.

 

they can follow the underlying chord structure(progression) can change between open/close states, inversions, spacings etc. much more easily

so if the source chords(progressions) are changed no need to redraw the whole sequence from scratch inide the PR

in Nora for ex.

u can chop the source chords, can create open chord structure from it, can transpose it etc. without changing the source chords in any way

 

Last edited: Mar 25, 2017

oh thats now really interesting. because of the word "pitch". But i do not really undertand. Do you mean with the arpiggiator i can easely set the same notes, because the main behavior of an arp are the different octaves?

 

Arpeggiators that are built into synths usually emphasize that synth capabilities and character (glide, accent, envelope transitions...) so there could be cases when it would be difficult replicate the exact sound with piano roll.
Then you have separate arps like Kirnu Cream or Xfer records Cthulhu that allows you to program arpeggios and much much more. And almost every DAW has a built in one.
You already concluded yourself that it would take a lot of work to get the same result. I think you can experiment more with an arp and use the piano roll when you already have the music in your mind and just want to lay it down.
It's like asking, why would you modulate pitch or volume or.. with the synth LFO when you could do it with automation.

 

sorry this sounds really complicated for me. Even i do not know the meaning of "transpose"

 

But when i use the arpiggiator, i have even to put it in piano roll.. hmm but thanks for explanation

 

Last edited: Mar 25, 2017

I think @fiction means that you program the arpeggiator relatively to the first note (to keep it simple). Let's say the first note is 0, then the second note is +4 semitones (major 3rd), the third +7 semitones (a 5th) and the fourth +4 semitones again. You end up with a "major" chord broken in sequence of notes. If you press C on your keyboard it will play C major, if you press F it will play F major and so on... (so it will TRANSPOSE from C to F). You put in piano roll only the first note. I can't put it more simply..

 

thank you. i belive i do understand what you say. (i often check diferrent notes, while i put ALL instruments for example 3 notes up, because the subbass is too deep otherwise.) The one-line in piano roll of an arp (chord) make the same when i put this one-line to another note.

 

@Matt777
nice to see that you use the same DAW . Please make the video again with sound thanks

or @xbitz were you that?

(@all sorry because of the hard saturated profil-pic of me. i changed it, but the forum shows the same pic)

 

in theory it is exactly the same thing.
but if you use an arp you will find it quicker and easier to write, at the cost of flexibility.
its as simple as that

 

ok should create/steal/whatever some lovely progression then it can be chopped, repitched, reordered, duplicated into different octave regions etc. with Nora without changing the original progression in any way >

etc.

so if u want to change/try out different chord progression later don't have to redraw to whole progression from scratch

(pls. read at least the music theory tlrd http://edmprod.com/music-theory-the-tldr-version/ to able to communicate about the music making with us )

 

Last edited: Mar 25, 2017

thank you for the video. seems a very helpful plugin.

pls. i hope i`m welcome without music-theorie lessions ;) seems interessting but the won i could not transponse into the practice

 

I can confirm it. This is the point.

@xbitz

Is there any freeware like Nora?