What’s the best Arp VST?

[ThomasHelzle]

I would be after Stepic but afaik it cannot recognise chord on input to translate a pattern into. BluArp does that.

I think it does that if I understand you correctly.
If you play a chord in arpeggiator mode with all step sequence notes at neutral, it behaves like a standard arpeggiator. If you set note offsets in the sequencer, it transposes the steps accordingly.
Or how do you mean it?

It also can keep steps in a certain scale which is quite nice.

Here is a video of Signs of Life showing the features:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dgyzzCrf7E

And another one from Martin Stürtzer showing how he uses it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p-tykRIxq8

And this is the sequence the above video shows the background of:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jV9hrEIoytQ

Cheers,

Tom

[sQeetz]

I like using Reason and its various Players for that. But Scaler does also have a nice and very flexible arp

[maxym.srpl]

My favorite is BlueARP, but, it might not be for everyone, and every use, because it's more of a step sequencer/arpeggiator crossover.

BlueARP doesn't do classic arpeggiation...

What is the definition of arpeggiation then?
Considering you can load patterns from presets, IMO it is arpeggiator. isn’t it?

I would be after Stepic but afaik it cannot recognise chord on input to translate a pattern into. BluArp does that.

I mean the classic arpeggiator where you hold some notes and it arpeggiates that note pattern and you can change the notes and number of notes and it follows.

And this is exactly what BlueArp does.
You can create a pattern employing a single note or multiple notes. in the latter case, it can play chords depending on either the recognized chord or the exact notes you enter (transposed eventually depending on the pattern).
In fact, it can detect both key and scale from input notes (as well you can force it for particular ones depending on the settings). Show me another so powerful arp in this area (which have support for higher display resolutions)
What I'm missing from BlueArp are all those features offered by Stepic, like control of CC, randomization, also the ability to generate notes out of the pattern grid (thirds for example). Maybe more steps on the view.

[maxym.srpl]

I would be after Stepic but afaik it cannot recognise chord on input to translate a pattern into. BluArp does that.

I think it does that if I understand you correctly.
If you play a chord in arpeggiator mode with all step sequence notes at neutral, it behaves like a standard arpeggiator. If you set note offsets in the sequencer, it transposes the steps accordingly.
Or how do you mean it?

Yes. never tried stepic because I found no this information either on stepic pages nor in videos. i'm aware it can transpose the pattern but didn't know it can play notes from the input. Also I'm missing information that it can recognize chord and reconstruct needed notes from this information on its own.

[pdxindy]

I mean the classic arpeggiator where you hold some notes and it arpeggiates that note pattern and you can change the notes and number of notes and it follows.

And this is exactly what BlueArp does.

No, it doesn't. Well, unless it was added recently. The developer himself agreed it doesn't and that's not what BlueArp is for.

[maxym.srpl]

then obviously I don’t understand what what is that missing thing

[Fannon]

With BlueArp, the problem is that it assumes a fixed amount of notes (5?) and the sequence is designed to use them or fall back to a specific note?

Stepic looks cool, though. For me, I think a simple DAW built-in Arp + BlueArp looks good enough, though. Since I'm using Bitwig, you can do all kind of crazy things with the inbuilt devices anyway.

[maxym.srpl]

With BlueArp, the problem is that it assumes a fixed amount of notes (5?) and the sequence is designed to use them or fall back to a specific note?

Number of input notes is controlled by pattern itself. yes, max number is 5. Then, missing notes can be not played at all or substituted in different ways depending on the settings. Also, those missing notes may be optionally transposed by one octave (up or down).
But also you can press two notes and BlueArp can reconstruct the chord for you (considering the pattern is set to use 3 or more input notes)

[elassi]

I mean the classic arpeggiator where you hold some notes and it arpeggiates that note pattern and you can change the notes and number of notes and it follows.

And this is exactly what BlueArp does.

No, it doesn't. Well, unless it was added recently. The developer himself agreed it doesn't and that's not what BlueArp is for.

I have no idea what and how you discussed with him.

Blue Arp does exactly what you want it (if you like it simple), but at the same time gives you the freedom to escape from the paradigm. You just need to know how to operate it. It's not that difficult, trust me.



Oh, btw, the "k" in the image represents the key(s) you press.

[SamDi]

I think it does that if I understand you correctly.
If you play a chord in arpeggiator mode with all step sequence notes at neutral, it behaves like a standard arpeggiator. If you set note offsets in the sequencer, it transposes the steps accordingly.
Or how do you mean it?

It also can keep steps in a certain scale which is quite nice.

Wow, I wasn‘t aware, that Stepic does work now as an Arpeggiator, thanks for the info. The only thing, which I don‘t like about stepic is, that you cannot load and save presets. So you got the workaround to save and load vst-preset by your DAW, but it‘s really PITA.

Beside that, BlueArp and and Cream are the most powerful arpeggiators, I could find so far. While BluerArp is really powerful a real GOAT arp is missing IMHO. It‘s really a pity, that the market does not offer more options. Seems not to be a really beneficial area.

[mabian]

I' ve been using more Blue Arp lately and, even though it's incredibly powerful - I agree the GUI is intimidating - there's one thing I couldn't get from it until now.

Let's say I press C3,E3,G3 as a chord. I can have Blue Arp arpeggiate those but I can't figure out how to make it also arpeggiate the same keys in higher octaves (specifying the number of max octaves to cover of course); like pressing C3,G3,E3 would produce C3,E3,G3,C4,E4,G4,C3... or C3,E3,G3,C4,E4,G4,E4,C4,G3 ....

I've RTFM but couldn't find a way... and this is classic arpeggiation IMO (some Madonna songs have it... Lucky Star maybe).

- Mario

[mabian]

Ah, BTW, I also have Cream but I've stopped using it - it had some bugs at the time and the support is a bit hit and miss... Pity.

- Mario

[elassi]

I've RTFM but couldn't find a way...

Check this ...

Pay attention to the "Octave" lane almost at the bottom (there's a blue LED lit). You need to select/activate it to tell BlueArp which octave you'd like to use.

[jaydog4]

Stepic, just buy it

[mabian]

I've RTFM but couldn't find a way...

Check this ...

Pay attention to the "Octave" lane almost at the bottom (there's a blue LED lit). You need to select/activate it to tell BlueArp which octave you'd like to use.

Yes but so I have to press all the keys. When I press less keys than what included in the pattern and use "cyclic" mode there's no way to have the cycles cover more octaves... or not?

Thanks and sorry for the thread hijacking.