Arps in 2020...

[cleverr1]

...what does "arp" mean anymore?

So I bought in a few newish vst synths for a project I'm working on. I don't know them at all but they came with a shed load of presets. Recently when remotely collaborating and searching for an arp patch to drive a section of the track we tried a few so called arps to find that they were not at all what I would call an arp. Frankly, it was embarrassing.

Many of these "arps" proved to be a unique piece of music based on a harmonic structure irrelevant to any new composition. To use these at all would be to merely remix a track around the musical structure of the arp itself. I would expect this from "construction kit" sample libraries but not from a synth. I could take the time learn the new synth and adapt any parameters from said "arp" and correct it for creative usage, but then what's the point of having presets if they don't fit your music in a harmonic sense?

I'd suggest that the definition of an "arp" is a rhythmic arrangement of notes and synth parameters that follow the chords played by the performer - Else what is it?

To start to name names the worst offender I've encountered so far is "trance invasion" in VPS Avenger. It's "arps" are creatively unusable, unless you feel that holding down a single note and letting it drive so you can build "your" track around it is your creativity model.

To me any "arp" that moves the harmonic structure away from the harmonic input from the performer isn't really an arp at all

[DJ Warmonger]

In a synth world, arp is a thing driven with arpeggiator, or another kind of sequencer (incdluing MSEG). If it has different tonality than needed, then, well... go tweak it.

Usually presets are constructed so that the show the most of features a synth has to offer, and it's more than needed for many use cases.

[cleverr1]

If it has different tonality than needed, then, well... go tweak it.

To me the sole benefit of using a preset arp, particularly on a synth I have no experience with is the immediacy. If I need to start tweaking at that level at that time the vibe gets killed so I may as well sequence something myself on kit I'm more familiar with.

I'd assert that an "arp" that dictates the harmonic structure is just a sequence of someone else's music and not a creative tool.

My expectation is that even a proper arp will need tweaking, but later on. Then the immediacy builds the vibe in a session rather than kills it off by turning a creative moment into something technical.

Maybe there's a market for this stuff, but to me it's just dumbed down to the extent of being unusable in a creative context.

[JO512]

I find most presets to be unusable as they are, especially anything sequenced. That stuff can be a starting point though. It can be an example that teaches you how something can be done. Or it can spark new ideas. Also, I get the feeling that many presets are mostly there to sell the plugin.

Presets almost never fit perfectly into your mix.

Where is the fun in just using a stock preset though anyway? Aren't we in this for the creative play and self-expression and sonic exploration? For one thing, you risk having the exact same sound in your piece as a hundred other people. Personally, for any creative work that I do, I want it to be mine as much as possible. If I show it to someone and tell them that I created this thing, I don't want to feel like a liar. Obviously, this has limits. I am not going to build my own synths from scratch! But if I use a loop someone else made or even a preset, I feel a little like I am cheating, using another's work and passing it off as my own. It's like throwing a frozen pizza into the oven and telling your guests that you made it! But it isn't just about what can you can feel comfortable telling others. It is much more satisfying when it is your creation as much as possible. When you love the result and it is really yours, the feeling is incomparable!

Perhaps most importantly, it is a matter of unity. The key feature of any work of art is that it is an integrated whole. All the parts must belong to it and work together. Consider what happens when people decorate a room with objects that they've collected over the years that have no real relation to each other, things that they just liked individually. This results in a mish-mash that has no overall aesthetic value. Really, it tends to be an ugly, chaotic mess, even if each part on its own is beautiful. A good interior designer, on the other hand, will consider the whole and how each part fits into it, often modifying the parts to serve that whole. And this is a big part of what things like rhythm and harmony do and why they help turn what is otherwise just noise into music.

Using presets that you like without modification is like the person who has no vision for a room just sticking on the shelves objects they once found and liked. To really bring things together into a proper whole, every element must be bent into alignment with the overall thrust of the piece. The parts must not clash, that is unless a sense of cacophony is what you are trying to express!

Instead of searching for a perfect preset for your piece, it is better to find a sound that suggests something that might work and then to change it so that it really works! Or better yet, forget presets and start from the init patch and sculpt that into the sound your piece is calling for!

[cleverr1]

Where is the fun in just using a stock preset though anyway? Aren't we in this for the creative play and self-expression and sonic exploration?

I agree that it's far more satisfying to personalise your sounds, but at the appropriate time. To me when collaborating on building a track where you know the type of sound, e.g. a rhythmic gated sound or an arp, it's useful to be able to quickly try out presets that may fit the role and select the one that feels best to use as a placeholder at a high level with a view to drilling down and tweaking them later at a lower level. The issue that wound me up was my expectation of something called an arp should not be the equivalent of a demo song in a hardware synth.

Presets almost never fit perfectly into your mix.

We have to disagree here as not all contexts are the same. I extensively use orchestral libraries, pianos, choirs etc. Loads of great tracks use the M1 piano, organ, DX lately bass etc. because these are the genre standards required for that cultural resonance thing. If you use a preset sound in a way where you put your own creative stamp on the music then I see no inherent issue even with preset synth patches. Having said that in practical situations because of the inherent tweakability of synths it's unlikely that you wouldn't be able to tailor a non genre standard sound to fit the track better.

Back to my original rant , what I wonder is why anyone would want a synth preset where you hold down a note and it plays an elaborate arrangement of someone else's music.

[AnX]

a lot of ARPs are actually sequences programmed in by the sound designer, or a midi file embedded in the preset

in some cases they are just a sequence, and if their musical knowledge is poor, won't work well with anything but themselves

old school ARPs are good if you know your chords

[JO512]

We have to disagree here as not all contexts are the same. I extensively use orchestral libraries, pianos, choirs etc. Loads of great tracks use the M1 piano, organ, DX lately bass etc. because these are the genre standards required for that cultural resonance thing.

After I wrote that post, I was thinking about orchestral instruments. Is using them in a classical piece akin to using a preset? They aren't really being modified much by the composer. But what occurs to me there is that the instruments themselves have been created or evolved often for the express purpose of fitting into the sort of traditional arrangement that the composer is using. So I think my point is still somewhat valid.

It could be argued that many synth presets represent sounds that have been shaped by culture to fit into particular styles and arrangements. The standard supersaws, 303 basslines, dubstep growls, and so on, as they fit their respective genres, are examples. Personally, I am not a big fan of that kind of formulaic electronic music though. Some of it was interesting the first time or two, but once the sounds become a genre staple and it all starts sounding the same, I lose interest. The copycats who grind out standard genre stuff without ever coming up with anything original certainly aren't very inspired. I have to wonder why they even do it.

Back to my original rant , what I wonder is why anyone would want a synth preset where you hold down a note and it plays an elaborate arrangement of someone else's music.

I agree 100%! That's one thing I dislike about most of presets in the expansions in Falcon. They are like canned music, often with many layers, some of them being almost complete arrangements! Many of them sound great, sure, but it's not my music!

If your job is to put music in advertisements or something, and you just need something quick and royalty free and you aren't trying to write your own music, I guess I can see the usefulness of such presets. It is like a web designer using stock photos.

[cryophonik]

To the OP, I share your pain and it's been a long-time annoyance to me. Too many people, and apparently even some software developers, don't know the difference between an arpeggio and a step sequence.

[vurt]

you used to get arp and seq patches as seperate headings. now, they are just lumped under one in some synths.

[cleverr1]

a lot of ARPs are actually sequences programmed in by the sound designer, or a midi file embedded in the preset

in some cases they are just a sequence, and if their musical knowledge is poor, won't work well with anything but themselves

old school ARPs are good if you know your chords

An arpeggio is a musical construct clearly defined as the notes of a particular chord arranged in sequence. Arp is an abbreviation of arpeggio so therefore in synthesis anything that generates notes outwith the chord being input by the player is not an arp by definition.

This was understood and adhered to by the old school arps and anyone that writes a preset that generates notes that are not in the chord and calls it an arp is displaying their ignorance or at best their contempt for a centuries old musical concept.

[AnX]

a lot of ARPs are actually sequences programmed in by the sound designer, or a midi file embedded in the preset

in some cases they are just a sequence, and if their musical knowledge is poor, won't work well with anything but themselves

old school ARPs are good if you know your chords

An arpeggio is a musical construct clearly defined as the notes of a particular chord arranged in sequence. Arp is an abbreviation of arpeggio so therefore in synthesis anything that generates notes outwith the chord being input by the player is not an arp by definition.

This was understood and adhered to by the old school arps and anyone that writes a preset that generates notes that are not in the chord and calls it an arp is displaying their ignorance or at best their contempt for a centuries old musical concept.

i know that, im not sure you understood my reply... I basically said exactly that

[AnX]

you used to get arp and seq patches as seperate headings. now, they are just lumped under one in some synths.

bastards

[vurt]

you used to get arp and seq patches as seperate headings. now, they are just lumped under one in some synths.

bastards

i know!
probably leave their rubbish behind in shopping trolleys too.

[AnX]

you used to get arp and seq patches as seperate headings. now, they are just lumped under one in some synths.

bastards

i know!
probably leave their rubbish behind in shopping trolleys too.

oooooooooh, don't get me started on those dirt bastards!

[vurt]

who can even eat a whole chicken while still in store???