Chapter 10· Groove OS 2.0 beta
ARP
Play along as you read: the FM-1 beside the text is a working one, running the real Groove OS 2.0, and it follows the part of the page you are reading. Tap a control's name in the text to find it on the panel, and press Start on a Try it card to be shown. Sound stays off until you turn it on.
The arpeggiator turns a held chord into a pattern of single notes, in time with the loop, on the selected track. Hold a chord, pick a mode and a rate, and the picture shows exactly what it will play. LATCH keeps it going after you let go, and PRINT records it onto the track.
Switching it on
Press . The arpeggiator switches on for the selected track (ARP ON) and opens its screen. Hold some keys: the arpeggio plays them, in time with the tempo. Press again to go back to where you were when you pressed it (TRACKS, if you came in from the TRACK menu): the arpeggiator plays on. leaves too, and it plays on. To stop it, turn the ARP row at the top of the ARP menu to OFF. opens the screen without switching anything.
Change the chord whenever you like: the note that is playing finishes, and the next step plays the new chord, in time. Nothing is cut short and the arpeggio never jumps off the beat. A new chord starts from its first note; a key added to the chord you hold joins the pattern where it is. Only when the arpeggiator has rested (nothing held for a whole step) does a chord start it at once: straight away when the music is stopped, and on the step it was played on (or the next one, if it came late) when the music plays.
There is one arpeggiator in a project, and it plays on one track at a time. A track plays either its arpeggiator or its sequencer, not both, and the button you press wins: on a track whose pattern plays switches the pattern off (T1 SEQ OFF · ARP ON), and on a track whose arpeggiator plays switches the arpeggiator off (T1 ARP OFF · SEQ ON). The arpeggiator holds up to ten notes. Selecting a track whose pattern is on switches the arpeggiator off (SEQ: ARP OFF), so there is never more than one generator on a track.
Try it·On the FM-1
Press ARP: the arpeggiator switches on for the selected track and its screen opens.
ARPThe knobs
| Knob | Values | What it sets |
|---|---|---|
MODE | UP, DOWN, UPDN (up and down), RAND, ORDER (the order you pressed the keys) | The order of the notes. |
RATE | 1/4, 1/8, 1/8T, 1/16, 1/16T, 1/32 | How fast. |
OCTAVES | 1 to 4 | How many octaves it climbs before starting over. |
GATE | 10 to 100 % | How long each note sounds within its step. |
Try it·On the FM-1
Turn K1 to change the order the chord's notes come in: UP, DOWN, UPDN, RAND, ORDER.
K1The picture
The picture is the pattern the arpeggiator will play from the chord you hold, over one bar. Each colour belongs to one knob: the blue line is the order (MODE), the green ticks the RATE, the yellow rules are the OCTAVES it climbs through, and the orange blocks are the notes as long as the GATE. The playhead is the orange line that moves. The keys you hold are listed down the left. With no keys held it draws A, C and E, so turning a knob always shows you what it does. The hint line says ARP: BACK and SEL: MENU: ARP ON / OFF.
The ARP menu
opens the menu.
| Row | Values | What it sets |
|---|---|---|
ARP | ON, OFF | ON: the arpeggiator plays on the selected track, as if you had pressed . OFF stops it. This is where it stops: the button only opens and closes the screen. |
LATCH | ON, OFF | ON: the arpeggio keeps playing when you let go, until you play a new chord. |
SWING | OFF, 1 to 75 %, one a click | Every second step later, by that share of a step. |
VELO | PLAYED, or 1 to 127 | Every note at the velocity you played, or at a fixed one. |
CHORDS | OFF, ON | The chord pads of KEYS (ON is PADS, the same switch as ): with them on, one pad arpeggiates a whole chord. PLAY is set on KEYS. |
Try it·On the FM-1
Press SEL, turn ALGORITHM down to LATCH and turn K1 to ON: the arpeggio will keep playing when you let go.
SELALGORITHMK1Recording the arpeggio
The arpeggiator can be recorded in two ways.
- While you play it: with on, its notes are written at their exact grid time (they are never quantised, because they are already on the grid).
- As a print: on the ARP screen, press . The chord it plays is written onto the track's loop as one take, which takes back, and the arpeggiator switches off at once so you hear the copy (
PRINTED 2 BARS -> T1 · ARP OFF). With your keys let go, it prints the last chord the arpeggiator played. If nothing could be printed, the arpeggiator plays on.
Try it·On the FM-1
Play a chord on the keys, then hold HOME and press SAVE: the arpeggio is printed onto the track.
HOMESAVETroubleshooting
| What happens | Why, and what to do |
|---|---|
| Nothing happens when I hold keys | The arpeggiator is off. Press , or turn the ARP row of the ARP menu to ON. |
T1 SEQ OFF · ARP ON | switched the track's sequencer pattern off: a track plays a pattern or the arpeggiator, not both. Press to bring the pattern back. |
| did not stop the arpeggio | pressed again goes back and leaves it playing. Turn the ARP row of the ARP menu to OFF. |
| The arpeggio stops when I let go | LATCH is OFF. Turn it on in the ARP menu. |
| The arpeggio keeps playing after I stop the music | LATCH is ON: it plays until you play a new chord, music or no music. Turn the ARP row of the ARP menu to OFF. |
| The arpeggio plays the wrong track | The arpeggiator plays on the selected track. Select the track you want first (). |
| The notes are all one loudness | VELO is a fixed value. Set it to PLAYED. |
| did not print | The arpeggiator is off or has not played a chord yet. Switch it on and hold a chord first. |