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Available Arpeggiators / Chord Generators most free


TheSteven

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Another thread got me thinking about arpeggiators.
I realized that the ones I have are bound to a particular synth or sampler library and most can't export the MIDI pattern of what they're playing which can make it a hassle if you want to enhance the part (let's say double a part with another instrument) or change the instrument.  Yeah you might be able to use Melodyne and convert the audio to MIDI but that's a lot more work/hassle than just using something that can generate the MIDI patterns (arpeggios, chords, strums, finger picking or whatever) in the first place.

These are what I found. List is in alphabetical order.
Unless noted the following are only arpeggiators.

Arp4midi by xoxos (Windows) - free!

ArpLite2 by SynArp (Windows) - free!

BlueARP by Oleg Mikheev (Mac, Windows) - free!

Cakewalk FX Arpeggiator - MIDI FX plugin comes with Cakewalk/Sonar.

Cthulhu by Xferrecords (Mac, Windows) $39   >> Arpeggiator, Chord analyzer & generator

hypercyclic by mucoder (Linux, Mac, Windows) - free!

Kirnu by Arto Vaarala (Mac, Windows) - free!

Kirnu Cream by Kirnuarp (Mac, Windows, iPad) - €35 >>standalone/plugin versions, chords as well as arpeggio patterns, ...

midiChords by VST4Free (Mac, Windows) - free! >> Chords & basic strumming, imports Cubase/Nuendo Chorder .xml presets, ...

Obelisk by FrozenPlain (Mac, Windows) - $25 >> Chords generator only

RandARP by CodeFN42 (Windows) - free!

Riffer by audiomodern (Mac, Windows) - €49 >> random melody/pattern generator. Not really an arpeggiator but can (kinda) be used as one.

I haven't used any of these so have no personal comments other than Cthulhu and BlueARP seem to have the most positive buzz online.

Feel feel to comment about what you use and your experiences good or bad.

Edited by TheSteven
added Kirnu Cream
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Be aware of the problems you're gonna get into when trying to get arp vst's to work in CbB.

CbB sees them as vsti and getting an instrument to connect to another instrument in CbB is hard.

I have 10+ hours of getting Bluearp to work and still no success. I read a post in this forum that had a tip on midifx i shall try.

In reaper i had Bluearp working after 15 minutes. That include time to learn how to start a track and add a vst.

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1 hour ago, Kurre said:

Be aware of the problems you're gonna get into when trying to get arp vst's to work in CbB.

CbB sees them as vsti and getting an instrument to connect to another instrument in CbB is hard.

I have 10+ hours of getting Bluearp to work and still no success. I read a post in this forum that had a tip on midifx i shall try.

In reaper i had Bluearp working after 15 minutes. That include time to learn how to start a track and add a vst.

Yes I always have to scratch my head to get this type of thing working. I have taken to saving a CbB project entitled, for example, "Obelisk Demo" or similar once I get it working to remind me later on what I did to get it working. Then I can refer back to the project when I next want to use it.

Here is an example for Kirnu Cream which I own (the paid version of Kirnu listed in TS's post).

  • Insert an instrument track (I used AAS Ultra Analogue Session) and select a sound that would work well for an ARP pattern. Split the track (into MIDI and Audio). You can of course drag and drop an instrument from the browser instead and use the defaults which will create a separate Instrument (Audio) and MIDI track. 
  • Insert another instrument track selecting Kirnu Cream (or whatever you want) and split this also.
  • In Kirnu Cream UI go to the VST menu and make sure Enable MIDI input and output are both ticked.
  • Record some notes in the Ultra Analogue Session MIDI track (long held notes work best for ARP generators).
  • Set the output of the Ultra Analogue Session MIDI track that you just recorded to Kirnu Cream.
  • Set the input of the Kirnu Cream MIDI track to All Inputs Omni (or a specific channel if you prefer).
  • Set the output of the Kirnu Cream MIDI track to Ultra Analogue Session.
  • Hit the play button and your recorded MIDI will now be modified by Kirnu Cream and playback through Ultra Analogue Session.

N.B. In my example I notice that the Kirnu Cream MIDI input echo button is enabled and cannot be disabled (only toggled from On to Thru). So if you are having trouble make sure that this is enabled. None of the other tracks have any monitoring enabled.

If anyone wants a copy of my project file showing the setup for Kirnu Cream, Riffer or Obelisk drop me a PM (you will need to own whichever ARP plugin is in use although it might still work for demo versions - not sure).

This reply is probably better moved to the Q&A forum although it is directly relevant and might help anyone who downloads anything mentioned in TS's post.

Edited by ZincT
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The 'Insert Piz here' MidiChords is deceptivley flexible. 

It has 3 Trigger modes, with full enabling full user input

The Strum function can be shaped nicely, with the note spacing increasing/deceasing in time and velocity. Although for mean for guitar, it's sounds great on keys

You can trigger more than one midi channel, by right clicking each note, assign the output. So a root can go to trombone, and middle to Tenor, and the top not to trumpet

This means you can send the root to the root and fith/octave to one track, and the top 4 note to another. Then apply the MFX from sonar to the top 4 notes only for arpeggio, whilst sustaining the root and filth on the other track. All from one key

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Here is how to setup BlueArp, Cream or any VST arp which is recognized as a synth in CbB (or any synth that generates MIDI data).

1) add the arp to the project, I use an instrument track but it will work when added with an audio and MIDI track. NOTE: all synths in CbB must have an audio track even if the synth does not make a sound. Adding an arp with only a MIDI track does not work.

2) make sure "Enable MIDI Output" is checked. It should be by default but is a good idea to verify.

M9I2IRu.png

3) Add the synth(s) to drive with the arp.

4) Set the synth input(s) to the arp

5) make sure input echo is enabled on the arp and synth(s) instrument/MIDI tracks

 

WRT input echo, I find it easier to manage manually.  This means turning off "Always Echo Current MIDI Track."

 

For arps that use lower MIDI note values for control, consider creating drum maps, instrument definitions or step sequencer pattern templates.

 

 

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Thanks Scook. It worked. I now have Bluearp working.

I recognise the steps but cannot understand why it worked this time and not before. :$

It's saved as a project and safe.

PS. I used TAL NoiseMaker instead of TTS-1 could that be it?

Or did i somehow miss input echo? I had NoiseMakers input echo disable itself behind the plugin window for some reason, but i noticed that and enabled it again and it was fine.

Edited by Kurre
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9 minutes ago, scook said:

The synth does not matter. Input echo would be my guess. Before recording, both the arp and the instrument must have input echo enabled for MIDI data to get to routed out of the plug-ins.

Hmm...i think you are right. I did have that  "Always Echo Current MIDI Track" ticked in preferences. I've unticked it for now.

My guess is that when it echoes the current track it means it un-echoes other tracks if you shift fokus between tracks.

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With  "Always Echo Current MIDI Track" enabled, it is still possible to manually turn on input echo but

1) it is easy to forget to do so being used to having it set automatically

2) there are times having input echo enabled on the current track is NOT wanted. For example, consider an instrument or MIDI track with its input intentionally turned off (i.e. set to None).  It makes no sense to enable input echo on a track with no input setting. In this case, CbB automatically switches the input to Omni when input echo is enabled. This means the track picks up all MIDI input from the controllers AND plug-ins. Often this results in unexpected "crosstalk" on the current MIDI track. This has been the subject of more than a few threads.

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  • 4 months later...
24 minutes ago, Jacek K. Śleszyński said:

Anyone know how to route hyperclic in Cakewalk? I ca't figure it out.

I am guessing this plug-in shows up as a synth, if so the process is described in this post

The link also describes how to add effects that send MIDI data. Effects the read MIDI data need "Enable MIDI Input" checked in the VST2/3 drop down and a MIDI track with its output set to the plug-in (along with input set to yout controller and input echo enabled to use a controller interactively).

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