Arpeggiator

BLUE offers an unique and very powerful arpeggiator. An arpeggiator (arp) is when instead of playing all the pressed keys at the same time, it plays them one after another endlessly. Next to classic arp modes BLUE also offers a special mode called chord mode which triggers the played notes as a chord.

The arpeggiator has a build in sequencer for making rythmn patterns, but offers also tune, reset, slide, velocity, Free modulation and length per step/note!

To turn on the arpeggiator, in the global page click on the Play Mode button and select Arpeggiator. To see the arpeggiator controls click on the Arp selector, this will bring up the arp screen , which should look something like this.

Controls at the right pane side:

Mode This controls how any pressed keys are arpegged played
Upthe notes are played in the order they are pressed
Downthe notes are played in the reverse order to which they are pressed
Up/Downthe notes are played in the order they are pressed then in reverse order
Down/Upthe notes are played in reverse order then normal order
Randomfrom the pressed keys a random one is played
Orderedthe notes are ordered from lowest to highest and are played in that order
Rev. Orderedthe notes are ordered from highest to lowest and are played in that order
Ordered Up/Downthe notes are ordered and then played from the lowest to highest and then back to lowest
Ordered Down/Upthe notes are ordered and then played from the highest to lowest and then back to highest
Chordchord is a special mode where all the press keys are played at the same time so producing a chord

Latch

When latching is turned on you dont need to keep a key pressed down for that note to be included in the arpeggiator. For instance if you have pressed C4 then released it and then pressed A4 and then released it when the latching is on then the arpeggiator will play C4 and then A4. Turning on / off the latching clears the arpeggiator of any notes Tip: you can use also the sustain pedal to Latch and Unlatch the arpeggiator.

Octave

Determines how many octaves the arpeggiator plays. For instance if you set octave to 2 , then it will play the pressed notes firstly in the original octave and then the pressed notes an octave higher. So pressing A4, C4 and E4 in the up mode with octave set to two plays A4, C4, E4 then A5, C5 and E5.

Speed

Speed of the arpeggiator in respect to the host tempo, from ¼ of the tempo up to 4 times the tempo.

Length

This controls how long each arp note/step is. At the minimum value (as set) each arp step/notes length is controled by the arpeggiator sequencer (more about that later on). At different settings, so above as set the arpeggiator notes/steps can be extented by anything from 1% of the note length to 100% of the note length. 100% is useful because it allows you to tie arp notes together to create longer notes.

Vel A/K (velocity Arpeggiator sequencer or Keyboard)

This controls whether the arp notes volume is controlled by the arpeggiator sequencer (at 0%) or the pressed keys velocity (at 100%) or some combination of the two values.

Swing

This controls the swing of the arpeggiator, this is the difference in timing between consecutive notes and it gives a more human/swing feel to the arpeggiator.

Slide

Controls the time taken for notes to slide from the previous notes pitch to the current one. This only applies to notes which have sliding on.

Lock

This locks the current arpeggiator, so when you change presets the arpeggiator stays the same. There are 3 modes:

  • Off: locking is turned off
  • On: locking is turned on, the arpeggiator stays the same when you change preset, but it can't be altered and the current preset is not permanently changed.
  • Set: the current preset's arpeggiator is permanently changed to the locked arpeggiator and locking is turned off.

No of Step

Number of steps in the arpeggiator sequencer. This can be from 1 to 32.

Step Number (1..32) on / off

This shows the arp sequencer step number. Clicking on it turns on / off this step. If it is set to off then when an arpeggiator is played a 'rest' occurs rather than a new note at this step.

The main part of the arp screen is taken up with the Arpeggiator sequencer screen. This sequencer allows you to have much more complex arpeggiator patterns than in most other synthesizers. The arp sequencer can have up to 32 steps. The number of steps is set using the No of Steps selector. Each step in the arp sequencer has different properties which alters how that arp note is played.

Slide (S)

This controls whether the note slides from the previous note's pitch to the current notes pitch or not. The speed of sliding is controled by the Slide controller. Clicking on the S turns on / off sliding. Note: Sliding does not work in the 'Chord' mode.

Reset (R)

This control whether the note is 'reset' at this step. You toggle resetting by clicking on the R. When a step is not reset the current arp note continues to play the step ahead. So it allows you to play notes which are twice or more as long as the normal arp notes. In other words, you can tie notes using this funtion.

Keep two options in mind using notes without R:

  • 1. You have to have the arp main length control set to 100% to use steps without R to create these 'tied' notes.
  • 2. You have to have the step ahead of step(s) without R set to 100% length if your main Length control is set to as is .

Note: if (R) is set to off, the tune, velocity and free values of that step/note have no influence

Tune

Tuning offset of the arp note, from -36 semitones to +36 semitones. Not functional if the step is without R.

Vel

Velocity of the arp sequencer step/note. This is used in combination with the Vel A/K control to control how the velocity of each arp sequencer step is controlled by the arp sequencer and how much by the velocity of the played note. Not functional if the step is without R.

Free

Free control allows you to control other properties of BLUE (i.e. panning etc) using the arpeggiator. This is because you can use the Free control in the modulation matrix to modulate other controls by selecting the source to be Arp Free. Not functional if the step is without R.

Length

You can set the length of each arp sequencer note here . For instance if you set the length to 50% then the note is played for 50% of the arp note length and it is then released so it is off for the remaining 50% of the arp note length. Individual lengths are only possible if the main control Arp Length is set to As Set. otherwise all the lengths are set to the global Arp Length controller's value. Also if you want to have 'tied' steps i.e. steps which are longer than normal, the length of the initial step and the 'tied' steps should all be set to 100%. Not functional if the step is without R.

Bypass

This bypasses the arpeggiator and put BLUE in poly play mode. Turning bypass off returns it to the original arpeggiator play mode

Right controls (or control-click on Mac)

If you move over the sequencer arpeggiator part and click the right mouse button, you have the option to default, load or save the arpeggiator or turn on keyboard entry.

All settings of the arpeggiator are saved and loaded using this function. When keyboard entry is turned on, played notes are entered into the arpeggiator

Tip: in bank 07_Arp banks 04 you can find 16 examples of arpeggiator settings, which we hope helps you to understand better its features.

Index