Piano & Keyboard All-in-One For Dummies
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No keyboard law defines what sounds you can and can’t arpeggiate; feel free to experiment away! That said, here are some tips and practical advice for matching sounds and arp patterns:

  • Sounds with a fast attack work well at any tempo. If a sound has a slower attack and you’re playing at a fast tempo or using a fast timing subdivision, the results can be kind of unclear. The sound just doesn’t have enough time to speak before the next note is being triggered. In this case, you need to adjust the amp envelope attack to a faster value.

  • Sounds with long releases don’t work as well. You have to adjust the amp envelope release to a shorter value. Soft string ensembles, spacey vocal pads, and other atmospheric sounds typically need this type of edit to work.

  • Most synth sounds are great to use. People associate arpeggiators with synths, so this pairing is a match made in synthesizer heaven. However, swirly sound effects and evolving imaginative synth sounds may not work that well, especially at faster tempos/timing.

  • Plucked and short decay sounds are good choices. Consider guitars; other plucked string instruments (including ethnic sounds); mallets and tuned percussion; and keyboard sounds such as piano, electric piano, clav, and harpsichord.

  • Short noises and non-pitched percussion work well. Not everything has to be about chords and harmony; sometimes a unique arpeggiated sound effect adds a nice texture to a part.

Be sure to match the arp range to the sound used. Some sounds don’t sound good at their extreme ranges (either at the top or the bottom), so be sure to pick your trigger note range carefully and consider how many octaves to set the range to. Judge where the sweet spot is for a given sound or arp pattern.

About This Article

This article is from the book:

About the book authors:

Michael Pilhofer, MM, holds a Master's in Music Education with a Jazz Emphasis from the Eastman School of Music, and a Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Performance from the University of Miami.

Holly Day's work has appeared in Guitar One Magazine, Music Alive!, culturefront Magazine, and Brutarian Magazine.

Jerry Kovarsky is a regular columnist for Keyboard magazine and longtime product management guru with Casio, Korg, and other companies who have been instrumental in bringing keyboard technology into people's homes and onto stages and studios around the world.

Holly Day and Michael Pilhofer are co-authors of all editions of Music Theory For Dummies and Music Composition For Dummies. Blake Neely was a contributing author to the 2nd edition of Piano For Dummies. David Pearl is author of Piano Exercises For Dummies. Jerry Kovarksy is a contributing writer to Electronic Musician magazine.

Holly Day and Michael Pilhofer are co-authors of all editions of Music Theory For Dummies and Music Composition For Dummies. Blake Neely was a contributing author to the 2nd edition of Piano For Dummies. David Pearl is author of Piano Exercises For Dummies. Jerry Kovarksy is a contributing writer to Electronic Musician magazine.

Michael Pilhofer, MM, holds a Master's in Music Education with a Jazz Emphasis from the Eastman School of Music, and a Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Performance from the University of Miami.

Holly Day's work has appeared in Guitar One Magazine, Music Alive!, culturefront Magazine, and Brutarian Magazine.

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