The Arpeggiator in Ableton is pretty straightforward. This makes it simple, yet effective, for creating arpeggiated sequences of all kinds. In today’s demonstration we’ll take a typical synth sound and use it to create an expressive arpeggio lead.
Take a listen to the sound we’ll recreate:
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For our example, we’ll be moving between chords over a 4-bar sequence.
Take a look at the MIDI loop.
Step 1 – Setup your Style and Rate.
There are many different Styles to choose from. Often, this is just a matter of taste, but the Style determines the sequence of notes the Arpeggiator progresses through. Here’s an illustration from the manual that helps explain this:
We’ll choose the Style – Play Order. Play Order places notes in the pattern according to the order in which they are played.
Highlight Sync and set your Rate to 1/16th. The Rate determines the speed of the arpeggiator. Reducing the Rate will slow down the arpeggiation, and vice-verse.
The Retrigger parameter resets the pattern so that it starts again from the beginning. Activate the Retrigger and set it to Beat. By default it’s set to 1 which means the arpgeggiated sequence will reset on the 1-beat of every bar. We can easily create more complexity in our sequence by setting it to 3/4th, so that it resets slightly early.
The Gate determines the length of the notes in the sequence. Reduce your Gate for shorter, more pluck-like arpeggiations. Lengthening your Gate will produce the opposite effect. For now we’ll set it to 23%.
Step 2 – Setup your Transposition.
The device’s transposition controls allow you to force a sequence into a specific major or minor key. You also have the option to work in semitones.
Set your Transpose to the key of C Minor (since that’s the key we’re working in). We’ll set it to take 1 Step at a Distance of +9 semitones. Experimenting with these settings is the best way to understand how they work.
Step 3 – Tweak your Velocity
You can add some dynamics to your sequence via the Velocity section.
Turn your Velocity on and highlight Retrigger. The Decay determines how long the sequence takes to reach it’s Target velocity. With the current settings shown, our sequence will take 362 ms to reach a target velocity of 79. Again, this will give us some dynamic variation that will make our sequence much more interesting. Try out some different settings until you find something you like.
Let’s do an A/B comparison to understand the impact of the Velocity controls.
With Velocity deactivated:
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With Velocity activated:
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Summary
Get familiar with the basic functions of Ableton’s Arpeggiator. Once you do, you’ll have a good grasp of any arpeggiator you come across in the future. Also, a bit of auto panning can introduce more width and movement into your sequences.
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