The Phrase Factory Factor
“In addition to its fresh and globally infused sound set, the Motif introduced keyboard players to arpeggiator patterns that added realism and musical interest to sequences and live performances. “Arpeggiator” is an understatement, as the word makes us think of robotic up-and down synth patterns. By contrast, even the original Motif offered tons of musical phrases suitable for its myriad instrument sounds, and made it fairly straightforward to drop those phrases into a sequence or Performance setup—or to go in the other direction, recording your own phrases in the sequencer, then triggering them from the keys as arpeggiator patterns.

Yamaha called this approach “Phrase Factory,” and it gave the Motif an edge over workstations whose sequencers worked in linear, tape machine fashion. It also offered a degree of instant inspiration that won favor among many musicians.” — Keyboard Magazine (A Decade of Motif)

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MONTAGE is able to load Arpeggio data (.X3G) made for the Motif XF directly to its internal USER Arpeggio bank. Creating your own arpeggios on MONTAGE (added with firmware 1.20) is accomplished by converting data that you record (or load) to the internal recorder, as MIDI data. Once in the internal recorder it can be converted into a User arpeggio. In general, you will be able to convert the data into one of three different general Types:

1) Arpeggios for musical instrument Parts (note/chord intelligent)
2) Arpeggios for Drum/Percussion Kit Parts (fixed note)
3) Arpeggios containing non-note events (controller data)

What is often difficult to understand about arpeggio creation is the following:
Not all data that you can play makes for a good arpeggio…not all data can be made into arpeggio. The rules for creating the arps require that you understand the purpose of the arpeggio and requires that you create data which lends itself to that purpose. Since an arpeggio is interactive, it differs from data that simply plays back. 

The rules are simple enough: A maximum of 16 different (unique) MIDI note numbers can occupy an arpeggio phrase. The Convert Type will dictate the behavior of the arpeggio phrase. Because arpeggios can adjust notes in the phrase dynamically in reponse to keys you are fingering – it has to have these specific rules/requirements restricting the number of unique note numbers.

_ Those arpeggios intended for musical instrument Parts will adjust according to the notes triggering them (chord intelligence).
_ Those arpeggios intended for Drum Kits (fixed note) will playback exactly the same every time with no adjustment according to the note or notes used to trigger them – (no chord intelligence).
_ Those arpeggios that are Controller data (which are not notes at all), are MIDI data that is applied to the Direct sound output made by the triggered notes. Instead of notes you hear these controllers applied to the direct sound. For example, if the Controller is Pitch Bend, the chords that you hold will be bent by the arp phrase data. Therefore, without a “direct” sound to which the data is applied, there is no sound generated by Controller data.

Basic definitions:
Arpeggio Phrases are most often Note data, but can also be Controller movements, that can be triggered by the keyboard to play in looping or one-shot fashion. They reference the MONTAGE clock tempo, and can play at multiples or sub-divisions of that tempo. They can Swing, and can be adjusted as to timing and duration, where applicable. Controller Arps require that the KEY MODE be set to one that allows “direct” notes to be triggered, so that the Controller movement can be applied to the sound. (“Direct”, “Sort+Direct”, “Thru+Direct”).

The arpeggio phrase is somewhat different from a typical sequencer phrase, specifically in the way in which you get it to playback. When you record notes to a sequencer you simply press the Play button and the notes that you recorded are played back. An arpeggio’s ON button does not cause the notes to “playback”, you must also press a key, or arrangement of keys, within a specific range on the keyboard in order to trigger the start of playback. So those conditions must exist for you to have the arpeggio play. It does not simply start when you turn the ARP ON/OFF button ON or you simply press a button – it requires being armed and real time input via the keybed of the MONTAGE. That input can be simply to start it and/or to tell it what pitches to access if the arp is ‘chord intelligent’, It’s ‘alive’ in that it can respond to change. A sequence just plays back as recorded. Arpeggios can react.

Later we’ll learn that you can even control dynamics (how loud or soft) the arp phrase plays. The arp phrase can continue automatically, or set to play only when you are engaging the keys. The arp phrase can reset to the top and beginning again, or set to continue running, in sllence when you lift you hands from the keys, send re-engage the phrase in place, when you press the keys.

_The Arps created for musical instrument Parts will respond according to what you voice on the keyboard – they will change what they play by recognizing chord qualities, like Major, Minor, Dominant, Diminished, and Augmented chords.
_The Arps intended for Drum/Percussion Kits (generated by a Convert Type called “Fixed note”), generally, do not change – you simply control when the phrase starts and if the phrase continues.
_The Controller Arps contain non-note events that influence the sound that you are playing. Like a ‘pitch bend’ arp would result in the sound you are playing varying pitch, instead of a dancing pattern of notes.

Convert Types
There are three CONVERT TYPES: Original Note, Fixed Note, and Normal. Before you can begin making your own arpeggio phrases it will be important know what these CONVERT TYPES do. And how the USER ARP creation feature uses its four tracks to create a single arp phrase.

Normal: The Arpeggio is played back using only the played (fingered) notes and its octave notes.
Fixed: Playing any note(s) will trigger the same MIDI sequence of data.
Org Notes: (original notes): Basically same as “Fixed” with the exception that the Arpeggio playback notes differ according to the played chord or key.

The following experiment will help you clearly hear/understand the differences in these CONVERT TYPES, if you are willing to try it:
We will setup to use the Montage in sixteen Part multi-timbal mode. We will then record a musical phrase, convert it into arpeggio data, and observe how the Convert Types do their thing.

Lesson 1: How ARP CONVERT TYPES deal with NOTE data – Phrases
From the PERFORMANCE (Home) screen:
Press [CATEGORY SEARCH]
Select “Init” > “Multi/GM” and return to the Home screen
Press the PLAY button to go to the PLAY/REC screen
Set a comfortable TEMPO
Record the first four measures of the song “Mary Had a Little Lamb” Key of “C”
Starting on the “E” above middle “C”

What? Why?  Well, it’s public domain and we all know it – it’s what happens to it that will make the CONVERT TYPES completely clear. And you will get it right away:

Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb,
Mary had a little lamb,
It’s fleece was white as snow.

If you create three Arps, one from each Convert Type, using this recording – your understanding of Arps Types will take a major step forward (pun intended) – because you will learn what to expect and you will immediately be able to hear/understand why the results are what they are.

Here’s what we will do:

_ Use the “ORG NOTE” Convert Type for the first experiment. Create ARP 1
_ Use “FIXED NOTE” next for our second experiment. Create ARP 2
_ Use “NORMAL” Convert Type for our third experiment. Create ARP 3

When you complete the recording of the phrase:
Verify your work by setting the LOOP = ON and set the Measure region you wish to Convert – make sure it can loop properly. In the screenshot below, I recorded at 100BPM and have set the Loop Start at Measure:001/Beat:01 and the Loop End is Measure:005/Beat:01 which is how you set this to capture 4 complete measures.

Touch the screen area where the NAME appears
A pop-in will appear and allow you to convert data to create “User ARP”

Touch “USER ARP”

In the dialog box “Put Track To Arpeggio” that appears:

Set the target USER location (upper left) for the ARPEGGIO start with ARP “1” 
You can set a Category and Sub Category for the Arp data (this will help you find it later).
You can NAME the ARP – call it “ORG NOTE” (Very important in finding it later)… we’ll call it this because you are going to discard these – this is just for learning purposes.

Set the Measure range:
Start = 1
End = 5
which is: top of measure 1 through to the top of measure 5 (or 4 complete measures).
For “ARP TRACK 1” set the SONG Track you used to record the phrase (we used Song Track 1) and set the “Convert Type” to ORG NOTES
(There are four Arp Tracks – we will cover the use for these other tracks in a later article, for now just use the first ARP Track Convert box).

When you set the CONVERT TYPE = ORG NOTES the “Original Notes Root” parameter appears
Cursor over and set the ORIGINAL NOTES ROOT = “C3”
This setting sets the Key. It will mean that when we touch “C3” the phrase will playback at its original pitches.

Touch “Store as User Arp” to execute (lower right corner of the screen)
You have now created USER Arpeggio 1 that will be chord intelligent with the ability to recognize the lowest pitch as the ROOT… and it will play correctly when fed the correct chord quality.

Now that you have created your melodic phrase and converted to an ORG NOTE Arpeggio – it can be assigned for use by any PART in any PERFORMANCE. You do so by editing the PART’s COMMON parameters. 
Go to the “HOME” screen and try it out by assigning it to PERFORMANCE PART 1:

Press [EDIT]
Press [PART SELECT 1]
Touch “COMMON” lower left corner of the screen or press the dedicated lower [COMMON] button on the right front panel
Touch “Arpeggio” > “Individual”
Here is where you can select as many as eight Arp phrases for this PART 

Touch slot number 1 Name area (shown highlighted above) to see the pop-in menu
Touch “SEARCH” > set the search option BANK to “USER” and the Main Category to “ALL”
Assign your “USER” ARP to this PART 

Find “Org Note” > highlight it > [ENTER] to make the assignment

In the second column you have two other pages of parameters: “Common” and “Advanced”:
Touch “Common”
Here you can set the overall settings for the ARPs for this PART
Set “ARP PART” SWITCH = ON (green)
Set HOLD = ON or OFF as you desire. (SYNC-OFF is a special case that keeps the timing of the arp running in the background even when you are not triggering the keys)

Activate the “ARP MASTER” switch (green)… you can also press the dedicated ARP ON/OFF master switch located above the MW on the left front panel.
On this screen you also have the Key Mode and Play Effects, as well as the Velocity Limit and Note Limit regions that define that will control these arpeggios. We will have a separate article that digs deeper into these settings and the “Advanced” settings… for now go with the defaults.

Hearing what the ARP Type does:
Try the following, one-by-one, and observe the results:
If you play and hold just a “C” it will play the melody in the key of C
If you play just a “D” it will transpose the melody to the key of D
If you play a “C minor” it will play the melody with a Flat 3rd
If you play “D minor” it will play the melody in D with a Flat 3rd
If you play a “C-Eb” that is enough to define the C minor chord
If you play “C diminished” it will play the melody with a Flat 3rd and Flat 5th
etc. etc.
It is that simple and that complex.

Try the different HOLD settings: On, Off, Sync-off

Rinse and repeat the Convert experiment, this time assign the “Convert Type” to “FIXED”. Here’s how:
Go back to your PLAY/REC screen (press the PLAY button) and setup to create another “User Arp” from the same data by touching the SONG NAME box… and touching the “User Arp” option

With the same melody source (Arp Track 1) – this time using the “FIXED” type… notice the target in the dialog box automatically increments to ARP “2” (upper left corner). Name this second ARP “Fixed Note”

“FIXED” is similar to “ORG NOTE”, in that it can play a specific melody, except: no matter what key you use to trigger playback the result is “fixed” – it does not transpose. This convert type is ideal, as you might imagine, for DRUM and PERCUSSION arps. (Drummers do not transpose nor adjust notes to the key you are playing in). The fact that “fixed” plays exactly what you play can be used in any way you see fit _ but remember the sixteen unique note number rule.

Go to the HOME screen and assign User Arp 2 so you can apply and hear it.

Finally:
With the same source song melody… use the Convert Type “Normal” – this is what a traditional arpeggiator normally does – it plays the rhythm of your source data and takes the information of the currently held notes to do its thing with it. It will probably never play the melody correctly on its own.

Remember: Arps traditionally did not do melodies, this (what you find in the Motif/MOXF and MONTAGE) is a re-invention of the traditional arpeggiator. Arpeggios traditionally did up, down, up/down, down/up, and random, etc. Later more complex rhythmic stuff, and finally phrase-based melody arps, counter-melody arps, and the guitar intelligent chord voicing arps that you have in the Yamaha XS/XF/MOXF/MONTAGE.

It should be clear now what the CONVERT TYPES are designed to do. With this knowledge you can start to apply the tools for creating your own arpeggios. In future articles, we will take a close look at some of the more detailed arpeggios, and how they were made… for example, those used for strumming guitars, etc. There are some 256 User Arpeggio locations. You discard unwanted arps by overwriting them or you can manage them in UTILITY mode. They will be stored in their own internal FOLDER. Go to [UTILITY] > “Contents” > “Data Utility” > find the “ARP” Folder… this contains your USER ARPS. Access the “JOB” function to select/deselect ARPs.

Recording Drum Arps
There will be a good amount of recording of Drum Arpeggios. As you know by now, the Fixed Note “Convert Type” is designed to playback the exact keys you have fed in. And while this is ideal for drums it means you can use an Arp Phrase to play an exact music phrase as well. How you use the feature is up to you. Do remember the rule: 16 unique note numbers. This means your Drum Kit selection is limited to a 16-piece drum kit. You can hit each drum scores and scores of times, but you are limited to sixteen different drum instruments.

You can create drum tracks using the on-board recorder or an external DAW, like Cubase. Create your drums by your favorite means (Groove Agent is a powerful Cubase plugin tool for creating drum pattern data… Export your creation as MIDI data and convert it into MONTAGE Arpeggio phrases using the User Arp convert feature.

Have questions/comments about this lesson? Join the conversation about this lesson on the Forum.

In the next lesson, we’ll take a look at how Convert Types deal with Chord phrases. Ready to start? Access the next installment here: Arpeggio Making 101 – Part 2.

Lesson 2: How ARP CONVERT TYPES deal with NOTE data – chords
A very important issue, which is almost always overlooked before you start creating your own arpeggios… For an arpeggio to be useful with chord intelligence you really do have to think about it in a single musical key. Say you want to create a guitar strumming arpeggio for a “Bossa Nova”… you would simply play 1 chord rhythmically. (For example, you might play a C Major 7 chord: C-E-G-B)

You could simply play this chord rhythmically in a Bossa Nova feel.

The rhythm of the chord is far more important than the notes themselves. After all, when you actually perform a song like “Girl From Ipanema” that is when you will voice an F Major7, then a G7, then a G Minor 7 and then C7 etc. etc. You will simply want the chord that you finger to play in Bossa Nova feel.

You would not need to voice these chords in the arpeggio creation data – You would play just a simple 4 note chord in a particular rhythmic pulse that feels like a “Bossa Nova” – this is all you’d need to record to the ARP TRACK. When you actually use the arpeggio, by assigning it to a Part in a PERFORMANCE, you would then input the chord progression, as required. Besides the limit of 16 unique notes would also make recording actual chord progressions as source material untenable.

The arp does not need to be the whole progression… (In fact it would be WRONG to record a whole progression in a general purpose Arpeggio Phrase). Remember the person recalling your arp will want to define WHAT chords it plays – so you cannot put too much information into your arpeggio phrase.

You only need to record just the correct number of simultaneous notes necessary to be a guitar, and you need to play that one chord in the right rhythm.

Four Track Arpeggiator
The multiple tracks in the CONVERT TYPE function (and we know this is a bit difficult to grasp without actually working with the instrument), the additional tracks are for when you want to add additional rhythmic items. All four tracks will address a single sound… Each doing a separate rhythmic role, and possibly Using a completely different Convert Type. For example, in our guitar Bossa Nova example, we might want to put in a guitar ‘sound effect’ (a thump or knock or finger zing, etc.) these only occur on occasion and may have an entirely separate rhythmic pulse from the normal string notes… Also the sound fx are often recalled by a particular (fixed) Key within the guitar waveform map.

If you listen to the following Performance with its arpeggio patterns you can hear what we’ve been describing:

Call up the Performance Mega Nylon
Initially, ARP 3 is selected to play (bottom row of buttons when on the Home screen are Arp Select 1-8):
Press [EDIT]
Press [PART SELECT 1]
When you are in Part Edit you can see from the lighted button lamps that this PART is made from 7 Elements (bottom row of 8 buttons now change roles and represent the active Elements)
Row three buttons [1]-[8] SELECT an Element.
You can MUTE Elements using the corresponding button in the bottom row directly below the Select buttons. You can also SOLO individual Elements using the [SOLO] button on the extreme right side.

Element 1 is the body of the guitar sound
Element 4 is also triggered by the arpeggio but has a different rhythm from Element 1
Element 7 is also triggered by the arpeggio but has its own rhythm separate from Elements 1 and 4

You can tell that in order to create this Arp, more than one CONVERT Type Tracks were used. (Actually, three tracks were used).

The mute string noise and the sound FX (Elements 4 and 7, respectively) were recorded using separate a arp source track.
The body of the guitar (strings playing normal) was converted using ORG NOTE, because it adjusts to chord quality.
The noise and sound effects are accessing the same notes in spite of you changing chords, so they were created on a track set to FIXED.

Yout can imagine that the same MEGA NYLON sound was placed on several adjacent Tracks and each component to create this arp was recorded separately.

Return to the [PERFORMANCE (Home)] screen

Press ARP 1 (bottom row of eight buttons ARP SELECT)
Again press [EDIT] > press [PART SELECT 1] so we can see what the Element structure is doing.
Here you can isolate each and find that Element 1, 4, 5 and 7 each are contributing something – and again each is a unique rhythm. From this you can tell that 4 CONVERT Tracks were used.

This is a Mega Voice so different articulations can be precisely triggered by notes playing at a specific velocity.

Return to the [PERFORMANCE (Home)] screen

Press ARP SELECT 4
Here is a Bossa Guitar – what was originally played was a C Major 7 Chord
If you want to play a Bossa Nova tune with this ARP, it is for YOU to define the chord changes. (This one sounds like it was done with three Convert Tracks: one for the chords, one for thumb bass, the third one is for the finger zings – they have to have been recorded separately… the finger noise is “fixed note”). 

Shown below are the three tracks that, when combined, make this arpeggio phrase.

Here is the result when you input C Major 7:
Track 1 was the main body of the guitar

Track 2
Here is the guitar thumbed bass line result from the same input (bass clef):

Track 3
Here, shown two octaves lower than actual, the keys used to recreate the “fret noises” heard in the arpeggio phrase:

In the “Mega Nylon” Part, the noises, knocks, scrapes etc., are mapped at the extreme high end of the key range, above the range of the normal guitar tones.
Recording this data to the recorder would require placing the same “Mega Nylon” Part into Parts 1, 2, and 3 of a Performance – very important. Although only one instance of the “Mega Nylon” will be used to play it back as an arpeggio, it takes three instances to create it!

When setting up to transfer these three tracks, you can imagine the “Put Track to Arp” setup would look something like this:

The “Mega Nylon” Performance Part is an eight way velocity switching instrument mapped across the natural range of an acoustic nylon string guitar; above that range are noise components associated with playing a guitar. It is composed of the following data:

Open soft 1-20
Open medium 21-40
Open hard 41-60
Dead 61-75
Mute 76-90
Hammer-on 91-105
Slide 106-120
Harmonics 121-127
Strumming noise 1-127 notes above C6
Fret noise 1-127 notes above C8

Because MEGA ARP data is specially prepared to trigger specific articulations, you can create your own Mega Voice arpeggios using this road map. You “prepare” the data so it references the exact articulation at the moment you require it. Yes, editing is going to be a part of preparing a Mega Arpeggio for a MEGA instrument sound.

The “open” sounds are the strings and the normal sound you expect from a nylon guitar when played – and would use the CONVERT TYPE = Original Note, velocities less than 60. Because Dead notes, Muted notes, a Hammered notes, Slides and even Harmonics require specific pitches, they two are Converted using Original Notes. The Strumming and Fret noise components will need to be placed and use the CONVERT TYPE = Fixed Note.

In the next article on “The 4-Track Arpeggio” we’ll will look at using four different Elements each mapped to specific Velocity Ranges to see how melody and countermelodies can interplay within an arpeggio. Velocity Zoning.

Another Example:
Recall “Texas Chicken Pick” and listen to another example of the different Arp Convert Tracks. They are used to assemble a multi rhythmic musical phrase. Activate the main ARP ON/OFF switch. This familiar dominant 7 guitar riff is designed to play when you hit a single key defining the root. Can you hear the number of tracks used here? (It’s three). There’s the root bass thumping away, then there’s the 5-6-dominant7 climb, and there’s this noise thing. The phrases are played so they specifically trigger the specific guitar articulation to execute the phrase.

You can hear how using the Arpeggiator to generate this realistic guitar phrase can be compelling in a mix. It has feel, which is adjustable, and it has the attitude of a guitar riff. It is the little details that make these compelling. The first time a friend asks you, ‘who’s playing the guitar?’ You’ll understand just how believable these can be when used properly in a track.

The finger picking guitar phrases can be very convincing when you challenge them with your chord progressions. Creating these kind of phrases, while difficult, is doable. It requires an understanding of how the Arpeggiator will “sort” the notes when fed different chord qualities – will it behave when challenged with various chord voicings as input?

Here’s how to isolate them:
This phrase is using multiple guitar articulations, these are accessed by fulfilling the requirements to trigger the specific Element. In Part 1, it is Elements 1 and 3 that are each doing a distinct individual line, and in Part 2, it’s Element 2 that is articulating a separate sound fx phrase. The total arpeggio phrase is constructed from three separate phrases, assembled from three separate source tracks within the Convert to Arpeggio function. The take-away here is the arp tracks are used to target specific portions of the same target sound.

To isolate the Elements:
first press [EDIT] > press [PART SELECT 1] top row
Mute Part 2 second row
use the Element Mutes (bottom row) to hear the contribution of each Element. You will see activity for each sounding Element as it fires. You can mute or use the [SOLO] function to isolate each Element.

repeat for Part 2
Mute Part 1 
Use the Element Mutes or Solo to isolate and hear the contribution.

Once you hear the lines separately, you can always hear them but together we accept it as a phrase.

Breaking Bad
That said, there is nothing that says you have to follow this rule. If you are not marketing your arps for others, you can make it do whatever you want or require – as long as you respect the ARPEGGIO rule: You can use only “16 unique notes”. This means that if you are recording a FIXED NOTE arpeggio for DRUMS, for example, you can only use 16 different drum sounds. If you are recording a musical arpeggio, you can still only use 16 different notes. If “C3” is one of your notes you can hit it as many times as you require… when we say only 16 unique notes we mean that only 15 other note names can be involved. In playing the first four bars of “Mary Had a Little Lamb” there are 26 notes total, but only 4 unique notes: C3, D3, E3 and G3.

Making Great Arpeggios for Specific Use
Nothing says you have to use the Arpeggio function for “general purpose” use. You can create an arpeggio for very specific “personal” use – the factory arpeggios are chord neutral (for the most part) when you select them, they mold themselves to the chords you voice to control them. Nothing prevents you from using the “Fixed Note” Convert Type so that when you trigger your arpeggio, it plays exactly what you programmed – because that is what you want it to do. But it is important to know the rules of the arpeggio and the arpeggio conversion function before you attempt to break those rules!

You can, if you prefer, use the FIXED NOTE arpeggio Convert Type to create musical backing of very specific phrases. Using the 8 ARP SECTION buttons to create different portions of your backing tracks for real time re-arranging. As long as you remain within the basic rules, you can bend them to your liking. Each ARP SELECT 1-8 could be a complete backing for a Section of a composition, while you play on top using Parts you select. 

Want to share ideas and discuss this lesson? Join the conversation here on the Forum.