I'm curious to know if there's a soft synth out there that has a fantastic arpeggiated workflow and/or presets. I love creating complex sequences and rhythms to layer in my music and was wondering if there's a synth I've overlooked that totally nails this sort of vibe.

I'm not into huge arpeggiated trance hooks or anything like that. I like delicate lush sequences/rhythms with detail.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Colin

I always liked Atomic.

Madrona labs Aalto. It's not big on the presets, but you can do some really funky/experimental stuff with the sequencer. Don't know if it's the sort of thing you're after though.
Also, it sounds great, different than other instruments, but drains your CPU in the process.

I like the arpeggiator in AAS' Ultra Analog and String Studio. It is very simple, but I like what I can do with it. Blade has more features in its arpeggiator and it can accomplish some truly wicked things. Alchemy's arp is incredibly flexible and deep, but it can also be complicated. I have really only scratched the surface of what is possible with these instruments and I am already amazed at what they can do.

Cheers guys.

I'm totally into Aalto. It's at the top of my list at the moment and has the sound/vibe I'm after. Atomic looks interesting but I'm on a Mac and it looks as if it's a Windows plug-in only.

I'll maybe have to look at Ultra Analog again. The Alchemy arp is a bit fiddly and I just don't like Batman (sorry) Blade at all.

Keep the suggestions coming

OP-X Pro II has a big arp soundbank included, and a pretty flexible arp.

I personally love CK's Pattern Arp Plus the most, it is a VST arp plugin (also a version is in his Jupitea synth). It takes a tiny bit of time to wrap your head around the concept but actually is very simple and powerful, but does not have a lot of presets, but they are easy to make yourself. For a lot of varied presets there is Catanya and the similar, free TimeCore. And of course Kirnu is great and free too.

I love synths with good included arps but an arp that is really focussed on doing that one thing well and in an interesting way is good to have around too.

Also a good thing about using an external arp is you can record the output for further editing, and apply groove templates etc.

Tone2 ElectraX is an arp lover's dream IMO. Each patch can use 4 independent synth engines, each with its own arp, and it has very deep arp functionality. Many of the factory patches are pretty trancy, but it can easily be used for any other electronica style.

Aalto or Blade

I quite like the arp in Zebra... It is polyphonic and has good control for expressive sequences... Here is an example of one of my own Zebra arp presets...

http://draigathar.org/sounds/detar.wav

Imposcar 2.

I forgot to mention that I own both Massive and Circle, and both feature multiple sequencer modules with an adjustable number of steps. But, I figure loads of synths have similar features, so that probably won't narrow down your search.

Oh that's nice, I didn't know Zebra's arp was that good.

The Zebra arp is quite nice... polyphonic, step length, note tie, note length (gate)... you can transpose notes and also control the step of each note so that a transposed note is not off key... you can also use portamento on individual notes

Here is a quick example I just made... not so great, but it shows the arp playing chords and portamento on the chords but not the single notes

http://draigathar.org/sounds/Zebra-arp-example.mp3

Yeah I gotta say I prefer the first one you posted