# Arpeggiator for Orchestral Instruments



## Divico (Apr 15, 2018)

I am currently messing around with an arpeggiator to make writing ostinatos easier.
My workflow is writing chords in my piano roll and than running it through my arp giving it the rythm and accents and than using a velocity and timing humanizer to make it a bit more alive.

Anyone using arps aswell?


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## gsilbers (Apr 15, 2018)

Divico said:


> I am currently messing around with an arpeggiator to make writing ostinatos easier.
> My workflow is writing chords in my piano roll and than running it through my arp giving it the rythm and accents and than using a velocity and timing humanizer to make it a bit more alive.
> 
> Anyone using arps aswell?



yes, i sometimes i use squaredheads nora. its a little piano roll and its easy to do chords and melodic patterns.


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## madfloyd (May 18, 2018)

Divico said:


> I am currently messing around with an arpeggiator to make writing ostinatos easier.
> My workflow is writing chords in my piano roll and than running it through my arp giving it the rythm and accents and than using a velocity and timing humanizer to make it a bit more alive.
> 
> Anyone using arps aswell?



Which arpeggiator are you using?


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## Divico (May 18, 2018)

madfloyd said:


> Which arpeggiator are you using?


Started with the free Blue Arp http://graywolf2004.net/wp/
and changed to Cream http://www.kirnuarp.com/ when it was on sale on Pluginboutique.
Actually free one is enough for this task.
After the Arp comes Reapers velocity and timing humanizer making it a bit more human


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## gregh (May 18, 2018)

I am waiting to finish of a couple of things and then I think I will be doing quite a bit with generative systems including arps

this is simple and good http://www.codefn42.com/randarp/index.html

I tend to use some within Kontakt - from SzCz http://www.fairlyconfusing.net/ and some new ones from https://hgsounds.com/


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## Divico (May 19, 2018)

Heres a vid of a test I ran today. Not really satisfied since it sounds still quite robotic. Any tips?
The piano roll I show in the end is a bounced version of what is going on earlier.


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## gregh (May 19, 2018)

no idea what the problem you are having is but RandArp is way easier for this type of work I would think


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## Divico (May 19, 2018)

gregh said:


> no idea what the problem you are having is but RandArp is way easier for this type of work I would think


So would you say it is ok the way it sounds? Quite a newb here so Im still quite uncomfortable with my VIs


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## gregh (May 19, 2018)

Divico said:


> So would you say it is ok the way it sounds? Quite a newb here so Im still quite uncomfortable with my VIs


i agree with your point about it being too mechanical. Grab randarp at http://www.codefn42.com/randarp/index.html and have a play - takes a little fiddling with the parameters but within a minute or two you will get great human sounding results. RaandARP is way easier to use than Cream

and you wont have to use Reapers humanizer with RandARP as it has builtin randomisers that are easy to understand


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## Divico (May 19, 2018)

gregh said:


> i agree with your point about it being too mechanical. Grab randarp at http://www.codefn42.com/randarp/index.html and have a play - takes a little fiddling with the parameters but within a minute or two you will get great human sounding results. RaandARP is way easier to use than Cream


Did so. Really nice plugin.
And I think I already realized my problem. I overdid the randomisation so it became sloppy and felt strange :D


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## gregh (May 19, 2018)

Divico said:


> Did so. Really nice plugin.
> And I think I already realized my problem. I overdid the randomisation so it became sloppy and felt strange :D


play with the speed control as well - most if not all the parameters can be automated to give fantastically varying but sensible results


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## Will Blackburn (Jun 10, 2018)

How about cuthulu? Added bonus that you can drag and drop the resulting midi into your daw.


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## robgb (Jun 10, 2018)

Divico said:


> Heres a vid of a test I ran today. Not really satisfied since it sounds still quite robotic. Any tips?
> The piano roll I show in the end is a bounced version of what is going on earlier.



Here's the thing. I think you'd be better off simply using step record to create the ostinatos, then add whatever accents you need in the CC velocity lane.


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## Piano Pete (Jun 10, 2018)

Cthulu is great. I would still recommend massaging the midi, even printing it, to clean it up and smooth it out so that the samples sing a little better.


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## Akarin (Jul 4, 2018)

gregh said:


> no idea what the problem you are having is but RandArp is way easier for this type of work I would think



Can you export the resulting MIDI from RandArp or use the Cubase merge midi function to then edit each note manually?


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