I am a big fan of the Arturia Key Step Pro. It has a straight forward interface for sequencing 4 different instruments and as well as MIDI, it is staked full of CV outputs for modular and semi-modular gear.
But today we want to focus on the Arpeggiator. Well actually the 3 Arpeggiators that the Keystep Pro has.
What is an Arpeggiator?
An arpeggiator breaks up a chord into individual notes, when you hold down a chord on the keyboard, its very common in Guitar playing as you pluck the strings of a chord individually in a repeating pattern.
A keyboard Arpeggiator automates the process and makes playing them very easy. Using the hold button on the Keystep Pro up to 16 notes can be added to the Arpeggio.
That’s Random
But the keystep pro does more than just simple arpeggios, you can change the order in which the notes are played, or play them in a random order. but the real power comes from the easy to use hands on controls of the Pitch, Scale, Velocity, Timeshift and Randomness knobs. Its very easy to use the controls to adjust the pattern making, and combined with various Shift functions shown in the blue text on the keyboard, the arp octaves used and time division can be set.
Using the Keystep Pro Arpeggiator in a Finished Track
By using the Randomness and Octave functions of this Arpeggiator you can achieve some stunning results. Here the first half of the track is made with just one synth fed into a reverb and delay, and all controlled by the Arpeggiator from the Keystep Pro, with full randomness and some delays, you can achieve some beautiful ambient sounds with a minimalist setup.
The sound source is a Novation Circuit Tracks and the reverb and delay used was the tc electronic M300 The subtle chord changes then feed into the Keystep Pros Arpeggiator and Randomness to create the effect.
What is the Alternative?
If you are interested in using multiple Arpeggios in a track you should also check out the Midicake Arp device.
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