The arpeggiator
Turn held notes into a pattern: four modes, octave range, rate, tempo sync, swing, and Hold to free your hands.
An arpeggiator plays the notes you hold one after another, as a pattern. On the MicroFreak, Arp | Seq turns it on (the button lights white), and the four icons above the keys choose how the notes are ordered. Oct | Mod sets how many octaves it climbs, and Rate sets the speed.
- How to start the arpeggiator and keep it running with Hold
- What Up, Order, Random and Pattern do
- How to widen the range with Oct and set the speed with Rate
- Syncing to the tempo and adding swing
The steps7 steps
- Touch Hold (the leftmost icon above the keys), press Arp | Seq so it lights, then play a three-note chord and let go. The arp keeps going.
Stuck?
Press Hold, then Arp | Seq, then press three keys together (computer keys A, D and G) and release them.
- Pick an order. Up plays the notes low to high. Now touch Order, then Random, then Pattern, and listen to how each reshuffles the same notes (with Pattern, add or lift a finger to hear a new pattern).
Stuck?
The four icons left of the touch strip. Touch three of them.
- Go back to Up, then press Oct | Mod twice. The arp now climbs through three octaves instead of one. Each press steps the range from 1 up to 4.
Stuck?
Touch Up, then press Oct | Mod until the range is 3.
- Turn Rate to change the speed. Unsynced, the screen shows it in BPM.
Stuck?
Rate is the knob next to the Oct | Mod button.
- Press the Rate knob to sync to the tempo. Turning it now steps through note divisions, so the pattern stays in time with other gear.
Stuck?
Click the Rate knob without dragging.
- Add swing: hold Shift and turn Rate. It runs from straight (50%) to a heavy shuffle (75%).
Stuck?
Latch Shift by tapping it, then turn Rate. Tap Shift again afterwards.
- To stop, press Arp | Seq to switch it off, and touch Hold to release the notes.
Stuck?
Press Arp | Seq, then Hold.
Hold keeps the notes going, the icons pick the order, Oct widens the range, Rate sets the speed (and syncs on a press), and Shift with Rate gives swing. The pattern can be sent to the sequencer, which the next lessons cover.
On the real MicroFreak
Up plays the notes low to high whatever order you pressed them. Order plays them in the order you pressed. Random shuffles them. Pattern generates a new semi-random pattern every time you add or remove a finger, uses the octave range, plays the lowest note twice as often as the others, and its length follows Seq Length; patterns cannot be saved.
The Oct | Mod button cycles 1 to 4: 1 is just your notes, 2 to 4 add up to three octaves. Unsynced, the rate is shown in BPM; synced, it shows a division from a whole note down to 1/32, with triplets.
Shift plus Rate sets swing from 50% to 75%. Arp and sequencer gate lengths are only audible with Amp Mod off. With the arp running and Hold on, Shift plus a key transposes it, and Shift plus Up or Order sends the arp to sequence A or B.
Questions2
How do I make the arp keep playing when I let go?
Touch Hold before you play, or while holding the notes. Hold latches the notes, the arp keeps going, and playing new keys replaces them. Touch Hold again to clear them.
Why does my arp sound like it is not changing length?
Gate length is only audible with Amp Mod off. With Amp Mod on, the envelope decides how long each note rings.