Hi,

This is a simple question...

In many soundbanks (for many VSTi synths such Sylenth1, Spire, Spectral), you can find "Arp" (arpeggios) and/or "Seq" (sequences) presets, but what's the difference between them? it's not clear in my mind.

Thank in advance for explanation.

 

arpegs play repeated patterns usually based on chords, where as sequences as customized and are bascially patterns which can be custom made to your taste and usually have more parameters to edits, e.g. velocity etc.

 

arps = patterns of seq made of chords

sequence= a loop made of same or different notes

both can be modulated by different parameters as cutoff, reso, velocity, note length etc...

 

Old / legacy arpeggiators come from the days of hardware synthesisers.
They pay a sequence of notes as held down on a keyboard, in these patterns:
Up
Down
Up/Down
Random
The additional of a 'latch' function could keep playing the notes even after the held notes were released.

 

What Dalmation wrote is exactly how arpeggiators started decades ago.
Today, some arpeggiators have become quite sophisticated incarnations so I recommend to have a close look on the feature list. Each arp is different.
The main difference between an arpeggiator and a sequencer might be best described like this:
With a sequencer, you record or place notes first, then play back the sequence.
With an arpeggiator, traditionally you don't record anything, but you press a number of keys and the arp will play the keys sequentially with adjustable behaviour.
Modern arpeggiators are a mix in-between:
You first program a "template sequence" that may even contain chords, then you play one or more keys and the sequence will play. Depending on what key you play, the sequence might be transposed, it may always start beat-synced etc.
It's hard to draw a proper line between "Sequencer" and "Arpeggiator" today ... you have to check the specs of each product to find out what you're dealing with.

 

One thing I really hate are designers that do not know these deferences,,, for many all is the same...

 

I'm fond of arpeggios, but not always those performed by an arpeggiator (I never use one in a finished piece). I'll use one for inspiration, then go through and enter MIDI notes and other data by hand to achieve the expression I want on the part. Another benefit of this is the ability to share the part in full, as I wrote it, via MIDI file with a collaborator.

 

I agree with this!

 

An arp sequence doesn't have to be made of chords, you can easily repeat a single note or interval.

 

There is a lot of confusion & mislabelling regarding this topic.

Mainly it is due to the developers not labelling their various parts/scripts with strict musical definitions.

An arpeggio is simply a group of notes played one after the other. The notes themselves are usually defined by a chord.

However chords themselves are then also defined by scales leading to a whole load of possible arpeggio's that are labelled in accordance to the intervals between the notes. Therefore you could say an arpeggio is a disjointed chord with the relative naming based on the scale that defines that chord.

A sequence of notes is just that & it doesn't have to have any intervals or recognised structure to it even though most will in some musical sense. So in musical terms a one note sequence repeated would not strictly be defined as an arpeggio but moreso a repeated one note sequence played say on an arpeggiator i.e Tremolo.

This is what makes it more confusing when it becomes apparent that both sets of tools are capable somewhat of performing the same function which leads to them not being labelled correctly in a musical sense.

However in this scenario we are talking about arpegiators versus sequencers

Old skool synth style an arpeggiator was a built in device in synthesizer that would listen to the keys you play. When you played a chord it would play, depending on the settings "up" ,"down" , "up/down") each of the played note beginning with the lowest one. There were different settings & as time went on they became more complex & also more mislabelled in many say kontakt scripts etc.

The term sequencer can also be used to describe a variety of functions. For example a step sequencer

A step sequencer plays rigid patterns of notes using a grid of mainly 16 buttons, or steps, each step being 1/16 of a measure. The patterns of notes are then repeated to form longer chains.

Sequencers of this kind are predominantly built into drum machines. They are monophonic by in nature but some capable of being multi timbral.

Script wise say in Kontakt they are similar in writing all though different with regards to the control you have over certain notes.

So to cut an even longer story short

An arpeggio refers specifically to notes being played along a predefined logic dependant on the input from the keyboard whereas an analog sequencer is just an ordered range of voltages that can be applied to anything that is voltage controllable i.e Filters

The main confusion comes from the mislabelling of both strictly in a clasical sense.