Lagrange arp working properly?

jameslondon74

Is it me, or is the Lagrange Arp a bit weird? If I hold three notes, the arp repeats in a very strange way. Anyone else think this?

craftycurate

It is a bit weird so I don't use it, unless I want to create semi random sequences! Tried different settings but it often didn't behave as expected so I stopped using it.

aplourde

@jameslondon74 said:
Is it me, or is the Lagrange Arp a bit weird? If I hold three notes, the arp repeats in a very strange way. Anyone else think this?

I don’t have Lagrange, but I’m pretty sure it’s the same arp that’s in Laplace, Mersenne and Lorentz (and, I believe Redshrike and Kronecker)

Side note: one very cool feature of the arps being the same is that the parameters are stored in a common space, so any arp preset that you create for one synth will be available in all.

Most parameters should seem pretty obvious, but there are ways things interact that are very interesting and powerful.

For one thing, it’s not just about the notes you hold down like with most arps, it’s the interaction between the notes you’re holding and the grid of buttons in the middle of the arp screen.

Step Length and the grid matrix

Assume you are holding a 4 note chord and are on the “Up” arp style. With a regular arp it would just cycle 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1…

With iceGear apps the pattern of notes that get triggered is based on the sequencer grid.

With the default arp setting you would also get 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1…

By default the sequencer is set to 16 steps. Turn off step 2 in the grid. Now you would get:
1, rest, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, rest, 3…

Now change the Step Length to 4 steps.

Now you’re getting 1, rest, 3, 4, 1, rest, 3, 4, 1…

If you set the Step Length to 5 you would get:
1, rest, 3, 4, 1, 2, rest, 4, 1, 2, 3, rest, 1, 2, 3, 4, rest…

Beside turning steps on and off you can set Glide, Octave jump, Accent and Staccato for these steps.

Glide is dependent on the Glide setting in the Synth patch.
Octave jump is just that.
Accent and Staccato are affected by the knobs at the top right.

Very cool and very powerful.

Loop Length

Step Length controls the pattern of triggers, Loop Length controls the “pool of notes available” to be triggered before resetting to the first note.

Let’s set Step Length back to 4 and turn Step 2 back on. With our 4 note chord we’re back to: 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1…

By default, Loop Length is set to 8, so this 4 note chord cycles evenly.

However with your 3 note chord what you’re getting is:
1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 1…

After cycling through your 3 notes for 8 steps it resets to the first note.

If you were to set Loop Length to an even multiple of 3 (3, 6, 9, 12, 15) your 3 note chord would cycle like a “regular” arp would.

As you can imagine, the interaction between Step Length and Loop Length can make some really interesting patterns.
Understanding these two parameters should go a long way towards understanding how the rest of the arp parameters work.

All of the Styles should be obvious except Program. Program is simply a way to set the exact pattern of notes triggered. The manual has a graphic that explains it.

jameslondon74

Thanks. I’ll take a look!

aplourde

I'll say that the iceGear arps are kind of a "secret sauce" for me.

E.g. I'll usually have the slowest playheads in Fugue Machine driving a bass sound (usually with a simple arp to add some eighth note ostinato). But take those playheads and also route them to an iceGear synth with an interesting arp pattern engaged a few octaves higher and you'll have a great complementary melody to the bass line that isn't a simple transposition....

royor

@aplourde Thanks for that detailed rundown of the iceGear arp(s).. kind of an odd duck (in a good way) aren't they?
and the extra Fugue Machine tip.. good stuff..