Korg Forums

it's about the arpeggiator... i have some very specific questions and i figured someone here would know if anyone would.
(i am a guitarist who's new to synth, btw)...

question 1: ok, so i hold down the notes A C E, what does it do? it plays ACE ACE ACE ACE repeatedly, right? (assuming i have it on ascending)

question 2: say I want more than 4 notes (i've read it has 4-note polyphony, but i wasn't sure how that applies if at all to the arpeggiator)... how many notes can i put in my arrangement? could i use every key on the board and put it on random and have it just play any key? what's the limit? also, i intend to use my other full keyboard to play the notes posibly, and that's got a lot more keys... and yeah i've seen the part about changing octaves too, that's not really the point of the question though.

question 3: ok, now i want to use the 'hold' function. i turn it on, and then hit ACE all together at the same time, and i plays whatever it played in question 1, right?

question 4: I want to play 16 notes in a certain sequence (not random, but not just ascending or descending) using the arpeggiator (let's even say they're all different notes). it is physically impossible to press them all down at the same time, much less in order... is there something where i can hit note 1 and let go, then 2 and let go, then 3 4 5 etc etc until i have built my entire sequence, and then it will keep playing all those notes i just pressed in the order i pressed them? (this is what i've done on a softsynth version of the mini moog - i couldn't get them to play the same note again, so i used octaves to play the "same" notes more than once - this can be seen on myspace.com/antimime in the song Chameleon)

question 5 : can I use a note more than once in said arrangement? such as: A B A C A A D E

if anyone could answer these questions, i'd be really grateful. or maybe someone could try them out for me and let me know... anyways, thanks ahead of time.

1. Correct, you'd get A C E A C E A C E in ascending.

2. I don't know what the limit is, or if there is one, but it's probably more than the number of fingers you have. I've never run into one, but then I haven't tried to press every key at once with the arpeggiator running either.

3. Correct. It's called "latch" on the MK's arpeggiator. It keeps playing the last notes you struck, until you hit another key(s).

4. You can't do arbitrary sequences of notes on the MK's arp. You can though on the MS2000's step sequencer. It can only do up, down, up/down (2 modes), random, or trigger (which plays all notes simultaneously over and over).

5. No, other than in the Up/Down 2 mode, where it repeats the first and last notes. For example, if you press A C E you would get A C E E C A A C E E C A A ... if you had an MS2000 though you could do it in the step sequencer.

Here's what the manual says:

Editing the arpeggiator
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Overview
The microKORG's arpeggiator provides six arpeggio types. You can adjust the duration (gate time) and spacing of the notes played by the arpeggiator. The arpeggiator settings are adjusted by the ARPEG.A and ARPEG.B parameters.

Each of the up to eight steps produced by the ARPEG.A and ARPEG.B settings can be switched on/off using the "step arpeggiator," for even more performance possibilities. (➝Refer to page 11 for more information about using the step arpeggiator.)

Selecting the timbre(s) that will be played by the arpeggiator
In a synth program that uses two timbres (Layer), you can select the timbre(s) that will be sounded by the arpeggiator. This is specified by ARPEG.B "TARGET TIMBRE" (knob 5 ). You can arpeggiate both timbres, or only timbre 1 or 2.

Synchroning the rate of LFO 1/2 or the delay time of the delay effect to the arpeggiator tempo By synchronizing the LFO 1/2 rate to the tempo of the arpeggio, you can apply modulation that is synchronized to the tempo. You can also specify the time parameter of the delay effect to be a ratio of the tempo, so that the delay time will remain appropriate even if you change the tempo of the arpeggio. This is particularly convenient for live performances. (➝p.65)

Since the microKORG's arpeggiator can be synchronized to an external MIDI sequencer, you can control the LFO 1/2 rate or the delay time from an external MIDI sequencer. (➝p.50)

I'll have the other pages uploaded to my webserver soon

Sorry for breaking formats, but here they are.

so i have tried to push every key for the arp. and it got it all with me alternating going up and down on the notes (as if that makes any sense). i've yet to try and get different octaves in it though. and in question to #4, if you set the delay for as high and as long as you can you can play a measure or two and it will loop it for a bit. it leads to alot of layering cause you gotta play it again every so often, and you can change the tone up a little each time.

octaves are set by the range knob on ARPEG A