Arpeggiator

The arpeggiator turns the notes you hold into a rhythmic pattern. Hold a chord and it plays through the notes one at a time, in time with the tempo. Hold a single note and it repeats that note.

The arpeggiator is off by default. Existing presets are unchanged until you switch it on.

Controls

On switches the arpeggiator on and off. While it is off the section still shows every control, so a pattern can be set up before it is switched on.

Pattern sets the order the held notes play in. There are eight:

• Up plays the notes from lowest to highest.
• Down plays them from highest to lowest.
• Up and Down runs up then back down, without repeating the top and bottom notes at the turn.
• Down and Up runs down then back up in the same way.
• As Played follows the order you pressed the keys in.
• Random picks a held note at random on every step, and may pick the same note twice in a row.
• Random Unique also picks at random, but plays every held note once before any note repeats.
• Chord plays all the held notes together on every step, as a repeated stab.

Rate sets how fast the pattern steps, as a musical division of the beat: 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/8 triplet, 1/16 triplet, and 1/32.

Octaves sets how many octaves the pattern spans. At its lowest it uses only the notes you hold. Raised, it folds in the same notes one or more octaves higher, and the pattern shape runs across the whole span.

Gate Length sets how much of each step the note sounds for. Low settings give a short, staccato pattern with silence between the notes. At the highest setting each note lasts the full step and runs into the next.

Velocity Fade fades the loudness across one cycle of the pattern. Turned down, every step plays at full velocity. As you raise it, the first step of each cycle stays full and the later steps grow quieter, and the fade resets at the start of the next cycle. The Chord pattern has no fade.

Chance sets how likely each step is to sound. At full it plays every step, the normal behaviour. As you lower it, steps drop out at random while the timing keeps running, so the pattern stays locked to the beat but gets gaps and surprises. This is the broken, ever-changing feel of glitch and IDM patterns.

Ratchet retriggers each step several times in a row instead of once. At one it is off. Raise it and each step fires its note two, three, or four times in quick succession, which gives rolls, stutters, and buzz effects on every step.

Legato ties the steps into a slur. With Legato off, each step is a separate note with its own start. With it on, the steps are tied: pitch glide carries from one step to the next, and slow per-note movement keeps developing across the pattern rather than restarting on every step.

Tempo. Inside a host the arpeggiator follows the host tempo, and the tempo readout shows this. When the host gives no tempo, for example a host that exposes no transport, the readout becomes an Arp Tempo control you can drag to set the speed.

Notes

The arpeggiator plays whatever is held at the moment. Add or remove a note and the pattern rebuilds around the new set of notes.

A single held note still arpeggiates. With Octaves raised it climbs through the octaves; left at its lowest it simply repeats the note.

The step row at the bottom of the section shows the pattern running, with the current step lit, so the length and position of the sequence stay visible.

Sending generated notes to your DAW (MIDI Out)

Kiwisynth has three things that generate notes for you: the arpeggiator, the motif player, and a patch's script. Normally those notes only sound inside Kiwisynth. Turn MIDI Out on and they are also sent to your host as MIDI, so the pattern your synth is playing can be recorded onto a track, edited by hand, or sent to another instrument.

MIDI Out is off by default, so a patch behaves like an ordinary synth until you ask for it. When it is on:

• The arpeggiator sends the pattern it is playing, note for note. Hold a chord, record the track, and you have the arpeggio as editable MIDI.
• The motif player and a script's played notes are sent the same way.
• Only generated notes are sent. The notes you play on your keyboard are not echoed back, since your host already has them.

Set up a MIDI track in your host, choose Kiwisynth as its input, and arm it to record. This is the way to capture a generative idea and keep it, or to drive a second sound from a pattern Kiwisynth invents.

Presets using the Arpeggiator

One factory preset uses the arpeggiator: Euro Bell Stab. Load it, hold a chord, and open the Arpeggiator section to see typical settings.