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POWER USER
ARPEGGIOS EXPLORED
Phil Clendeninn
Technical Sales Specialist
Yamaha Corporation of America
If you think you don’t like arpeggios, this article is for you.
If you have no idea what you can do with all those arpeggios, this article is for you.
If you think you know what arpeggios are, this article is for you.
If you think they are only flourishes of notes up and down the keyboard, you are really in for a surprise. We’ll take a close
look at some of the musical magic you can do with these flexible MIDI phrases
This function lets you automatically trigger musical and rhythmic phrases using the current Voice by simply pressing a key
or keys on the keyboard. The Arpeggio sequence changes in response to the actual notes or chords you play, giving you a
wide variety of inspiring musical phrases and ideas, both in composing and performing.
Arpeggios Explained
It is important to understand what an arpeggio is capable of doing and not doing. As implemented on the
Yamaha synthesizers, the arpeggio is a tool that has purposefully been left “open” as to how you can utilize
it. Instead of making a long list of rules, the arpeggio creation process is open for interpretation and
experimentation. The actual restrictions are really very few – but very important to grasp – particular when
it comes to data you input or select to use as an arpeggio. Arpeggios are often flourishes of notes or they
can be controller gestures (movements), but whatever they are, first and foremost, they're MIDI events that
can be controlled in a unique/interactive way. That said, they are all created using the MIDI Sequencer. So
you have to be able to play, perform or enter it in to the sequencer, at least once, in order to be able to
convert it into an arp. Any MIDI data from a song file, that meets the requirements, can be converted into
an arpeggio, as well. We will take a look at how the rules were designed to work, then we will look at how
we can bend those rules. If you do not know the rules, they quickly become limitations rather than assets.
1 Arpeggios can be interactive, where they
respond with some degree of artificial intelligence
(chord recognition), or then can be used to
playback exactly a particular musical phrase or
gesture. They can include note data and/or
controller data. They can loop, they can play once
and stop, or you can toggle them on and off. They
can play while you hold keys or they can be held
with the ARP HOLD parameter or the sustain
pedal. There are even “hybrid” arpeggios that
themselves are rebels within the system.
because the drum and percussion sounds that
they trigger are in fixed locations on the
keyboard. In real life, the drummer does not care
if the chord played is a Major chord or a Minor
chord. In the Drum Kit Voice, the kick drum and
snare drum remain assigned to the same keys no
matter what. When the “Put Track To Arpeggio”
explanation above talks about “16 unique note
numbers”, you have to understand this as a drum
kit with access to 16 different drum sounds. It
does not mean that an arp can only be 16 notes in
length. It means that the kick drum on note C1 is
counted as 1 unique note number, the snare on
D1 is counted as second unique note number.
How many times you hit “C1” or “D1” is of no
consequence here. That is the first thing to
understand. Even when creating musical phrases
that are chord intelligent, you must limit yourself
to 16 unique note numbers. And as we’ll learn,
there are arpeggios that are musically correct in
that they adjust to the chord quality of the control
notes. And then there are arpeggios that simply
play whatever you want.
There are 7,881 Preset arpeggios in memory –
and yet most musicians have a desire to create
their own. Before we delved too deeply into
arpeggio creation, we will give you some idea of
the potential by studying the Presets. Converting
MIDI data with the built-in sequencer’s JOB
function creates arpeggios.
•
PUT TRACK TO ARPEGGIO: This Job copies data
in the specified measures of a track for creating
Arpeggio data. Up to 16 unique note numbers can
be recorded to the Arpeggio track. If more than 16
different note numbers have been recorded to the
MIDI sequence data, the Convert operation reduces
the notes in excess of the limit. Because of this, be
careful to record only up to 16 different notes when
you create an Arpeggio, especially when using all
four tracks.
If you record a musical phrase and use the
convert type “Fixed Note”, that phrase will play
exactly as recorded every time it is triggered.
This means that there will be no adjustment to
chord quality – no change from Major to Minor, no
adjustment at all… “fixed note” can be taken
literally. We mention this because historically
arpeggios are thought of for their ability to adjust
to the controlling trigger notes. The “Fixed Note”
Convert Type was developed to accommodate
DRUMS specifically, but this does not mean you
can’t use it for musical phrases, only expect that
musical phrase to be “fixed”.
The difference between recording a musical
phrase to the sequencer and triggering that same
musical phrase with the arpeggiator is what we
are discussing here. While the result may (and
can) sound the same to the listener, how they
occur (are triggered and controlled) is very
different.
The MIDI events recorded to the sequencer are
stored on a track and played back (in sequence)
after the [PLAY] button is pressed. Pressing the
[PLAY] button is not really a musical gesture;
anybody can press the button. However,
interacting with an arpeggio, that is, controlling it
by touching keys, can be a musical act. It can,
and most often does, require some musical skill,
and those skills would not be available necessarily
to just any civilian …if you get my meaning.
"Original Note" converted arpeggio types will
play exactly what you input when you create the
phrase, but will adjust the notes in the phrase
according to the musical Key and Chord tense
(major, minor, dominant, augmented, diminished)
of the controlling trigger notes. This is wonderful
for bass lines, chord comping, etc.
CONCEPT: In the most common Arpeggio Types,
the notes used to trigger/control the arps are
themselves not heard. This is a very important
thing to grasp. While the key you press normally
makes a sound, when the ARP is ON, the notes
that you touch may or may not cause a direct
sound to occur. For example, an arp Type that is a
guitar picking part will "pick" the note (play
staccato) even though you are holding down the
key that would make that note sound. You could
be holding a whole note chord. That whole note
chord (we’ll refer to as the ‘trigger notes’) is not
heard, typically, what you hear is the arp phrase
picking away. This is due to a parameter called
the KEY MODE.
They both are automated playback of a musical
phrase or gesture, but the ARP may need to be
controlled by a “certified” musician... knowing
when to trigger it, where on the keyboard to
trigger it, how hard to trigger it, and what to play
to effectively control it, can be involved.
The simplest arpeggio Convert Type is the "Fixed
Note" arpeggio. A drum phrase is a typical
example of a "fixed note" arpeggio. Literally, the
notes contained in the arpeggio type are fixed they do not transpose or change chord tense,
2 internal Sequencer or routed OUT via MIDI.
There are 5 Key Modes:
•
Sort: Notes play a pre-arranged arp pattern
•
Thru: Notes play in the order they are pressed
•
Direct: The trigger notes sound (used for Controller
Arps)
•
Sort+Direct: Both the pre-arranged arp pattern and
the trigger notes are heard
•
Thru+Direct: Both the arp notes played in the order
pressed and the trigger notes are heard
Historical view: Early Arps went UP/DOWN,
DOWN/UP…
Let's recall a very basic arpeggio. When
synthesizers were still in their infancy creating a
sequence of notes that repeated over and over is
what people understood as an arpeggiator. It did
your basic up and down, down and up gestures,
and the random thing, but not much more than
that. And they were very cool – basic and cool.
And this function remains very useful still.
We’ll start our discussion with the first two most
common Key Mode types: SORT and THRU
Recall: “Classical AF1&2” PRE2:050(D02)
Recall the following
Bright Dance
Play an F Major 7 chord: F-A-C-E – the Voice
responds directly as you depress the keys.
•
Press [ARPEGGIO ON/OFF] to activate the
arpeggio
•
Select [SF1] ARP 1
•
Hold down an “F Major 7” chord: F-A-C-E
You never hear these notes directly; you simply
hear the picked notes played by a predetermined
pattern.
VOICE:
PRE7:004(A04)
Basically, the Key Mode determines if the arp is
going to pay attention to your key presses and
sound directly or if it is going to sort the notes
according to the selected (stored) arpeggio Type.
•
Press [EDIT]
•
Press [COMMON] EDIT
•
Press [F2] ARP MAIN
In the arpeggio library you will find these by
searching in BANK = “PRE”
MAIN Category = "SEQ"
SUB Category = "GENRL"
Recall [SF5] ARP 5
Which is the following arp TYPE:
On the Motif XF: Seq > General: 7386 MA_Up Oct1
This is your basic bottom-to-top arpeggio in one
octave. As you increment through these you will
find all of your fundamental (classic) arpeggios. If
you need to repeat a single note over and over,
using the "Up Oct1" arpeggio type while holding a
single note gets this done. Try it.
Thinking, as you always should, in terms of
SIGNAL FLOW, you can surmise that the
arpeggiator is located between the keyboard
controller and the tone generator and that the
LOCAL CONTROL SWITCH must be connected
(ON) in order for the keyboard to communicate
with the Arpeggiator. We will come back to some
of these concepts later in the article when they
will make more sense to discuss them. But before
we do let's take a look at how the arpeggiator has
evolved to get to where it is now. Data from
either the KEYBOARD or coming in via USB-MIDI
or FW-MIDI can trigger the ARPEGGIATOR – which
in turn can trigger the internal TONE GENERATOR.
If the KEY MODE = "sort" the lowest note plays
first, then any note pressed and held will be
sorted so they play bottom to top (lowest toward
highest). The more notes you hold down, the
more that are added to the playback… but always
bottom (lowest) to top (highest).
If, however, you set the KEY MODE = "thru", the
notes will be sounded in the order you press
them. Notice also that no matter how many notes
you add, the additional note is simply added to
the end of the phrase.
Arpeggios are also designed to be recorded to the
3 CONCEPT: Try the HOLD parameter function: Set
HOLD = ON. Get used to how it works to “hold”
the keys down for you – it does not cause the
sound of the resulting notes to sustain (they still
play in a staccato fashion as instructed by the
arpeggio). See how it recognizes which keys have
a finger on it pressing down.
A VELOCITY mode did not exist on the old analog
synths, as velocity sensitivity itself was not
available on early analog synthesizers.
To appreciate what the VELOCITY MODE does,
switch back to the “Classical AF1&2” guitar
sound PRE2:050(D02)
and try out the
VELOCITY Mode parameters.
Use your sustain pedal. Immediately, you will
notice that the sustain pedal does not sustain the
sound, it holds the keys for you – it is, after all
the same “HOLD” function. The sustain pedal
holds the key down instead of you having to use
your finger. So the notes are still quick and short
but you do not have to physically hold each keys.
First try: “original” and then “thru”.
As you can hear the “original” Velocity Mode
setting allows the pre-determined velocities to
control the note-on events. The “thru” setting
allows you to influence the velocity of each noteon in the phrase.
What does this mean: This means if you play a C
Major 7 chord (C-E-G-B) so that you press and
hold the C, then press and hold the E, then press
and hold the G and finally press and hold the B as you now hold down 4 notes observe the
difference when you switch the order in which you
press and hold down the keys. Compare what
happens when 'Sort' is selected, versus what
happens when 'Thru' is selected.
Task: Increment through the arpeggios in the
SEQ > GENRL category.
Experiment with the Sort/Thru Key Mode, and
Original/Thru Velocity Mode parameters. Find
the various Down, Up/Down, Down/Up, various
octave offsets, random, random over various
octave offsets, etc., etc. Historically speaking
these SEQ/GENERAL (up/down, down/up and
random) Types of arpeggios were the standard
fair for arpeggiators for many of the early years of
synthesizers. What you hear the Motif/MOX and
S-series synthesizers doing is the result of the
evolution of the arpeggiator into a more
interactive and intelligent musical tool.
'Sort' will always play the notes lowest to highest.
'Thru' will change the order to mimic the order in
which you actually engage the keys.
Also to understand these early "simple" arpeggio
structures from their historical standpoint is
important, so that when you begin to create your
own arpeggio phrases - you understand where
they fit into this evolution. Synthesizers soon
started to show up that could play more than one
or two notes at a time. Fancier arpeggiators would
be used to create interesting Ostinato lines and
rhythmic-chordal-pulses could be generated by
the notes being held. But like a baby, they had to
crawl before they could walk… Even later
synthesizers that could respond to velocity were
developed.
In a similar scenario the VELOCITY MODE
parameter will interpret how the notes respond to
velocity
(which
may
affect
the
amplitude/loudness). The selections here are
"original" or "thru". Back when synthesizers first
had up and down, down and up arpeggio patterns,
Velocity was not involved in analog synthesizers,
at all.
It would be several years into digital synthesizers
before data could be configured into the velocityspecific, highly interactive, chord intelligent
arpeggios that you hear in the current Motif/MOX
and S-series synthesizers. Since the introduction
of the Motif (classic) in 2001, these arpeggiators
have evolved. New Modes and new concepts have
been introduced. Let’s take a look at some of
these.
Velocity mode = 'original' will play as
documented (recorded) in the arpeggio data itself.
Velocity mode = 'thru' will allow your trigger
velocity to influence the loudness of each note of
the arpeggio.
4 Some 21st Century Arpeggio Concepts: To
illustrate some of the newer concepts, consider…
the Hybrid VELOCITY ZONE: There is a
separate article on these Velocity Zoned Arpeggios
but we will mention them here as well, because
they are so innovative. For example, call up the
following VOICE:
Press [SOLO]
Press [1] to hear Element 1’s contribution
Press [2] to hear Element 2’s contribution and so
on.
PRE 6:120(H08) Mr. Wah!
This four Element Voice features a four-velocity
Play the keyboard varying your velocity to find the
four specific ranges. Do you think you can play
the musical pattern as specifically and consistently
as the arpeggiator? Of course you can’t. The arp
can go and “get” a specific sound because it can
precisely repeat the velocities necessary to do so.
With the Velocity Mode set to “original” the arp
can be pre-programmed to be very specific (re:
musical).
Next try turning the [ARPEGGIO ON/OFF] button
OFF.
In the OSCILLATOR screen shot (on the left
below), you can see that Element 1 only responds
to velocities between 1-70 (Vel Limit Low/Vel
Limit High), where Element 2 takes over at 7190, Element 3 is 91-110 and Element 4 respond
only to velocities greater than 111.
(To toggle the ELEMENT view from one Element to
four Elements simultaneously, just press [SF5] “1
ELM” or “4 ELM”)
zone arpeggio Type. Each of the four Elements is
velocity limited to respond in a specific range of
velocities. The data was created using the 4arpeggio construction tracks such that each has a
specific rhythmic role to play. You can hear this as
follows:
•
•
•
Press [EDIT]
Solo Element 1
Set the Velocity Limits as follows:
o Vel Limit Low = 1
o Vel Limit High = 127
You can hear the full rhythm that is this arpeggio
played from one sound – the Voice takes it
character from the interaction of the different
Element components and specifically the rhythm
each is playing and limited to reproduce. Let’s
switch them around:
The lighted buttons [9], [10], [11] and [12]
indicate that this is a Voice with four of the eight
Elements active. Use the [MUTE] button to listen
to different combinations and the [SOLO] button
to hear each Element alone – so you can
distinguish what rhythmic role each plays.
In the screenshot on the right above, you can see that the Element Velocity Ranges have been altered to give an entirely
different spin on what occurs with the same Arp Types. Use the [EDIT/COMPARE] button to A/B the results.
5 Definitions from the MANUAL:
Motif ES Type Arpeggios
These Arpeggio types use the same multi track Arpeggio
architecture as the MOTIF ES. This ES type of arpeggio
has the following benefits:
• These arpeggios can create complex notes and chords
even when triggered by one note.
• The arpeggio closely follows the notes played on the
keyboard (but the area where the arpeggio is assigned)
allowing a good deal of harmonic freedom and the
possibility to “solo” using these arpeggios.
Call up the “Natural Wurli” Pre1:045(C13).
Assign the following ARP TYPE to this VOICE:
Bank:
Category:
Sub Category:
Type:
•
PRE
ApKb
<PopRk>
0152 MA_6/8 Pop _ES
Turn the SWITCH and HOLD parameters to
ON.
To trigger the arpeggio’s stored riff you only need
to enter a single note indicating the key in which
you want the riff to sound. Play the “F” above
middle “C”… and listen.
Motif XS Type Arpeggios
These Arpeggios use a newly developed chord
recognition technology to determine what notes should
be played back by the Arpeggio. This XS type of
arpeggio has the following benefits:
• The arpeggios respond only to any area on the
keyboard where an XS type of arpeggio is assigned.
Other areas of the keyboard do not effect the chord
recognition. This allows very natural keyboard playing
across the entire keyboard with arpeggio generated bass
and backing parts.
• The arpeggio will always play harmonically correct
parts. These are especially useful for bass and chordal
backing parts.
Now play an “F” anywhere else on the keyboard –
notice the phrase adjusts to sound in that region.
Translation: Both of these Types add a form of
chord intelligence – where they analyze the
trigger note data and can adjust the arpeggio
phrase results. The “ES Type” plays a specific riff
and follows the area (region) of the keyboard of
the trigger notes. So you can control what region
of the keyboard the arpeggio riff is sounding. The
“XS Type” plays a specific riff - always sounding
in a specific range of notes. The “ES Type” could
be used anywhere up and down the keyboard and
the phrase would follow with high and low
pitches… while the “XS Type” plays a riff ‘where it
belongs’, even if the trigger notes are not
specifically involved in the phrase.
•
Assign the TYPE: 0145 MA_6/8 Pop _XS
This is the “XS TYPE” version of the same riff.
This will help you understand the difference. Now
you need more than one note to trigger the
intended phrase – the XS Type can adjust the
chord quality, as well. If, for example, you finger
an F triad (F-A-C) – anywhere on the keyboard,
the same intended phrase plays. If you play an F
Minor triad the phrase adjusts the chord tense.
Additionally, the “ES TYPE” can play a specific riff
using a single note as a trigger. To get the
desired
phrase
sometimes
means
simply
triggering the “root” note. Take as an example, a
keyboard riff.
The “XS Type” and its fixed play zone allows for
the phrase to be triggered from anywhere on the
keyboard. This can be useful, particular for
chordal phrases, for example, that will always
sound in the proper range. Often as a keyboard
player you are unaware of what voicing a guitar
would use or even what range of notes on the
keyboard to use to trigger them. The fact that the
phrase plays properly gives you great freedom as
to how (and WHERE) you control the arpeggio.
As an advanced application of this: You can
control the chord-comping of a Jazz Guitar while
you walk an Acoustic Bass (real time) in your left
hand and outline the chord changes and melody
with your right hand. “PERFORMANCE USER
2:074(E10) Let’s Comp!”
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