i have been having fun with this but there are immense challenges in the editor to work around.
Firstly you need to COPY an existing ARP similar to the one you want, and try small changes to get used to it. but Korg forgot this and will DELETE your factory original ARP - without any warning - if you do not take this copy. So. Here is how to do it.
Find the ARP you like to copy and play it using a Combi or Prog. note the name and number. Press GLOBAL and the last tab is the ARP editor. The ARP continues playing.
pick A or B if there is a choice, get the right ARP (programs have only one ARP so start there perhaps)
Remember or write down the ARP name and number.
Click on the ARP name and number and scroll to the end of the list where you get INIT - blanks for users to edit. Click on any INIT and that will become your copy. it is blank.
Click on UTILITIES
COPY ARP
You have to put in the number and BANK A B C for example, or is it all U? Inconsistencies in the editors...
Often the ARP will have a different number to the one you noted, so find the name and COPY that to your INIT version. I give it a new name straight away so i know, this is one I made myself. Utilities, or something, I forget, it is all a nightmare with the editor basically, Korg, are you listening????!!!
So now you can work on that USER copy without deleting the original ARP.
At some time you must SAVE the ARP to your PC or Mac, Utilities, Save, ARP... and also WRITE your ARPs (combis have 2) to the microSTATION. In case I mess up, I save often to the Mac disk and add 01, 02, 03 to the name because there is NO UNDO if you make a mistake!!! Unfortunately the microSTATION itself will only have the final version when you WRITE it (so WRITE means save to the microSTATION and SAVE means write to computer disk, ok??)
The ARP editor grid shows up to 11 notes or drums, and up to 48 equally timed steps. choose your notes or drums step by step, maybe check out all the styles you like and see how it is done.
I have just the 10 fingers, but using my elbow I can play all 11 notes... for percussion, you can have 11 sounds, beautiful.
notice that you can change the Velocity (loudness) or have it Legato or the Key value. You can also transpose zero to 48 notes up or down I think, that is quite a range - see the preset Wide Piano arpeggio ARP, or the bass lines with funky guitar strumming on top - so you can imagine almost any melody. I don't transpose drums except for special random or unexpected unusual effects. finally you can flam or strum up or down, for example a harp or guitar or piano, playing a chord - try it.
As for the swing, that is controlled in the Combi, triplets on the contrary are programmed step by step. I think Combi Swing set around 25% or so is standard swing time, but unusual values are very groovy and used a lot these days to make a song really interesting. However for simple swing, that is why I said copy something similar, it will already have the swing as a percentage on the Combi. You need that same percentage swing if you want another Combi to use your swing feel. bad news is this sounds confusing, good news, you can adjust the mood very precisely when you edit the combi, or crudely with the real time ARP swing control. NB ARP swing on triplets? Don't even try it, unless you want something totally new and odd.
There are SPECIFIC PROBLEMS programming a bass or chord or melody ARP compared to an ARRANGER. for example, avoid using the major or minor (third note of the scale) because most tunes have both and one or other will then not work every bar of the song.
That actually is a real challenge but check out the originals. Use transpose of 12, -12, +7, -5, +2, -2, or even -1, +1, for bass lines for example. Legato makes it all very musical. Sudden +7 transposition on simple chords gives complex Jazz modes, worth experimenting with... other values, I do not bother as musically these can be very different to normal styles.
finally you can sort the notes you play or not, sort puts the bass line back to the bass, and strums the guitar over the top.
One more trick, switch the track Mono, Legato, or Poly and restrict the keyboard ranges and velocity for some amazing fun - oh and some portamento on the mono or legato, try it! Unfortunately all these tricks and tips are at different levels of the editor, this is in my opinion a design fault in the editor that Korg must resolve, but I expect Roland will beat them to it with some decent editors on whatever they have but korg remains king of the minikeys for now.
Here is some of my own work, factory presets adapted a little.
http://soundcloud.com/microkool/libertango
http://soundcloud.com/microkool/how-to- ... nical-demo - making a string quartet using the techniques above
