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The 4-Track MOXF Arpeggiator

Written by Bad Mister on May 16, 2018. Posted in MOXF.

The 4-Track Arpeggiator
User Arpeggios can be made from 4 SEQUENCER Tracks – this is often a misunderstood statement. We will shed some light on the nature of this and discuss how some of the arpeggios are made. We receive many questions on creating your own Arpeggio patterns. Basically, data from the sequencer can be converted into Arpeggio Phrases. You can convert data either from SONG or PATTERN mode using the TRACK JOB: “Put Track to Arpeggio”. In the previous articles on the Arpeggiators we established the basic rules of 16 unique notes can be used to create the data.

There are four Tracks that can be converted to create a single arpeggio phrase. Please do not misunderstand the role of these four Tracks. The four Tracks go to build a single Arpeggio Phrase that will, typically, be played by a single synthesizer instrument VOICE. In this article we will take a look at how the four Tracks of the “PUT TRACK TO ARPEGGIO” Job work to create a musical phrase with more than just average complexity. We will do so by analyzing how one of the Arpeggio Phrases that utilizes the four tracks was put together.

Each of the four tracks can provide a different rhythm (counter-rhythm) or it can be responsible for an entirely different musical line. The four Tracks can be used to trigger different behaviors in a Voice – you can precisely create NOTE-ON events that are either KEY RANGE limited to a specific region of the keyboard or they can be VELOCITY RANGE limited to cause just a specific Element to respond.

Let’s take a close look at an arp that clearly uses the four Tracks of the PUT TRACK TO ARPEGGIO Job;
Recall the VOICE: “Chill Comp 2” Pre 6:122(H10)

Trigger an Fminor7 chord in root position starting with the “F” below middle “C”. The resulting arpeggio phrase can be seen in the notation below broken down by the four ‘sequencer’ tracks that created it.

Press [F5] ARP ED (Arpeggio Edit)
Pres [SF3] MAIN
If you prefer you can set the HOLD function to ON, this will latch the arpeggio phrase so that you do not have to continue to hold down the keys.

An alternate method would be to latch the arpeggio phrase with the Sustain pedal. The Sustain pedal takes the place of you holding down the keys… it does not sustain the sound (as on an acoustic piano), this is a synthesizer, remember. HOLD is technically, the keys being in KEY ON mode. The Sustain pedal keeps the KEY ON mode active. We mention this because it is a frequently asked question; as to why the sound does not sustain when an arpeggio is playing. It’s because it is the arpeggiator phrase that is “playing” the Voice, not you. You are providing the trigger notes, so when you step on the Sustain pedal it is you extending the trigger notes. If you want the sound of the arpeggiated VOICE to sustain you would need to place the Sustain pedal controller message (cc064) in the actual arpeggio data. Make sense?

ChillComp2
There is some artful fun going on with quarter notes and the “Tempo Cross Delay” INSERTION EFFECT, but that will have to be the subject of another article. If you wish to hear just what was played and transferred from the SEQUENCER for this Arpeggio Phrase, you will want to turn OFF the [INSERTION EFFECT]. You can do so with a dedicated front panel button.

It is actually a one-measure Phrase. I printed out two measures just for ease of reading. This notation shown in this article was done with Cubase AI’s built-in SCORE function (by the way).

The KEY MODE of this VOICE is set to “sort” and the VELOCITY MODE = “original”.

Translation: What you are hearing is triggered by the arpeggiator phrase data, and the velocity is determined by that phrase data. So it matters not how strongly you trigger the notes, it is the arpeggiator that is “playing” the Voice. It is important to know when you are directly triggering the sound of the Voice and when you are triggering the arpeggiator, which in turn is triggering the Voice

The Element that sounds is pre-determined by the arpeggio phrase.
Press ARP ED
Press [F3] MAIN (shown)

Press [EDIT]
Press [1] to view Element 1 Edit parameters
You can see that [9], [10], [11] and [12] indicate that this is a four Element Voice.
Use the [MUTE] function to turn off Elements and isolate each one in turn.

Element 1

Element 1 is an electric piano Waveform that plays the chord on the 2nd beat. This is the actual chord voicing used to trigger this result. Fminor7 voiced in root position including middle “C”. You trigger the chord but Element 1 does not respond until the arpeggio phrase triggers this Element on the second quarter note (according to the current TEMPO setting).
EL1: is responding to velocities: 1-70

Element 2

Element 2 is a P5 (Prophet V) Waveform that plays a muted, plucky analog staccato phrase. The 32nd notes make this line stand out.
EL2: is responding to velocities: 71-90

Element 3

Element 3 is a second (different) electric piano Waveform playing a counter line. This is the only note that plays on the first downbeat. Even though you may press four notes, only one note responds initially – that one note is generated by Element 3 because the arpeggio phrase’s note velocity is in the range 91-110.

Element 4

Element 4 is a synth bass Waveform acting as the bass line (note the Bass Clef). Velocity 111-127

Shown are the VEL LIMIT LOW and VEL LIMIT HIGH settings for each of the first four Elements this is how this Voice is Zoned for Velocity response from notes-on events sent in by the assigned arpeggiator.

Put Track To Arp:
To understand how this ARP was made you must imagine the four phrases recorded to the first four tracks of the MOXF sequencer.

Record the above four lines each to a separate Track of the MOXF sequencer – each assigned to the “Chill Comp 2” Voice.

Record measure of each line as shown above, to tracks 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the PATTERN mode sequencer.

Set the “Put Track To Arp” Job as shown below… Notice that “ArpTrack 1, 2, 3 and 4 are shown

Section A
Measure 001–001 is the equivalent of one complete measures.
Target User Arp 001 – Chill
Main Category – Hybrid
SubCategory – Zone

The “Original Notes” Convert Type with the “Original Note Root” = F2 was selected to create a chord intelligent arpeggio phrase, that will sound properly when F2 is the lowest note. This will create the ARP PHRASE you hear for ARP TYPE #7676

LFO Low Frequency Oscillator

Written by Bad Mister on May 16, 2018. Posted in reface.

Additionally the LFO of the reface CS can be applied to the OSCILLATOR WAVE Type to provide 5 unique modulation results for each of the 5 source wave types.

We can understand these musical gestures (vibrato, wah and tremolo) as naturally occurring in some acoustic instruments.

Pitch Modulation = Vibrato
The pitch of a stringed instrument, be it a guitar or violin string, is determined by the length of string put in motion by plucking or bowing it. The distance between where the string is fretted and the bridge determines its exact pitch. By rhythmically shortening and lengthening that distance the musician is said to apply vibrato. You are detuning the string sharp and flat around the true (intended) pitch. In the synthesizer world this is referred to a Pitch Modulation. To apply vibrato to a sound on the reface CS you would set the LFO ASSIGN to “PITCH”, then work with the SPEED and DEPTH parameter to get the desired result. The Pitch Modulation Depth is usually applied by a device called a MODULATION WHEEL – here you will use the DEPTH slider to apply the vibrato manually. It takes about 10 seconds to get used to applying vibrato in this fashion. Of course if you are playing the reface CS from an external controller, you can use the standard MW (cc001) to apply the DEPTH setting in real time.

DEPTH is the amount of pitch modulation applied
SPEED is not limited to just rates below the range of musical tones, at the extreme setting the speed crosses into the audible frequency range and can be used to create very unusual sonic effects.

Filter Modulation = Wah
The filter is always a weird one for musicians to relate to because on an acoustic instrument it is not immediately obvious what is responsible for accomplishing what this device does. Yes, we know it removes harmonics from the sound by “filtering” out either high or low frequencies (in the case of the reface CS we are talking about a Low Pass Filter). The LPF allows low frequencies to pass and therefore blocks high frequencies. It is the upper harmonics (overtones) that add intelligibility and clarity to a sound. When you attempt to recreate a musical tone you want to match the harmonic content of that sound. So what determines the tone or timbre of an acoustic instrument? Well, its size, its shape, the material it is made from, whether or not something blocks the travel of the sound from the instrument to the listener, etc. All of these factor into it. If a guitar or violin is made from different types of wood this will have a definite impact on the tone of the resulting sound. If the trumpet is made from brass or nickel… if it is a full upright bass or a 3/4 bass will affect the timbre. But all of these things are pretty much fixed at the time of construction. What about filters that can move… well, as you can tell, not many instruments have the ability to sweep the harmonic series like an analog synthesizer filter. But we call this movement of filter Wah-Wah – what is the origin of this phenomena? Well, I don’t know if any one person can take credit (although I’m sure it was some one individual musician some where) but picture a trumpet player or trombone player in a New Orleans-style horn band using a plumber’s plunger to close and open over the bell of their horn. We certainly have heard this Wah, wah, wah, wah sound, used for great humor when we want to express some sort of disappointment. By covering the bell and then during a tone, removing the plunger the result is a filter sweep of sorts as the clarity of the overtones is changed rhythmically by this gesture. The guitar pedal came many, many years later. But the function is the same – changing the harmonic content in real time. Filter Modulation.

Amplitude Modulation = Tremolo
Again as piano players we do not have these particular gestures on the acoustic piano. It would take a tuning hammer to adjust the pitch of a piano, it would take a big effort to open and close the lid of a piano while playing and there is no equivalent gesture for rhythmically changing the volume (amplitude) of the acoustic piano, but certainly this is a gesture you find in many acoustic instruments. Tremolo is the rhythmic adjustment of the volume of the instrument sound. String sections do this with a particular bowing gesture, guitar player can actually use a finger to adjust the output of the instrument in real time (of course, the guitar amplifier often has this effect built-in).

Applying these gestures via the LFO on an analog synth can be used to emulate acoustic instrument behavior but can also go far beyond what is natural. The classic filter sweep of the full range of harmonics does not really take place on any acoustic instrument – but part of synthesis is “science fiction” and is all about what happens outside-of-the-box!

LFO ASSIGN = OSCILLATOR
Unique to the reface CS is the application of the LFO to the 5 source wave types:

LFO ASSIGN = OSC when the MultiSaw Wave type is selected will be applied to Oscillator 1 only. This will allow a very unique result, thickening the sound further.
LFO ASSIGN = OSC when the Pulse Wave type is selected creates PWM (pulse width modulation). This is very synthy sound where the harmonics generated change at a rate proportional to the duty cycle of the pulse. The 50% On, 50% Off cycle of a Square Wave changes from being equal towards a very narrow situation, say 10% On, and 90% Off and back. The Square Wave would reproduce only the ODD numbered harmonics (every other whole integer multiple of the Fundamental), while the 10% pulse would be a situation where the missing harmonics would be farther apart. To our ear this is an interesting, albeit, very synthesized tone.
LFO ASSIGN = OSC when the OSC SYNC type is selected it controls the pitch change of Oscillator 2. As you raise the pitch of the slave oscillator you get a very unique timbre result.
LFO ASSIGN = OSC when the Ring Modulation type is selected it controls the pitch of Oscillator 2 – the result here is quite different from the OSC SYNC because of the two oscillators are interacting.
LFO ASSIGN = OSC when the Frequency Modulation type is selected it controls the Modulation Index – or the degree of Oscillator 2’s influence on the Carrier (OSC 1).

If you have any questions, comments or want to share LFO techniques, please let us know in the forum!