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StepPolyArp Question
Hello all. I'm thinking about dropping $14 on StepPolyArp but I have a few questions about timing and how it works witn Cubasis or BM2.
I was wondering how is it setup. I imagine you program it with an outside synth via IAA or AB, then finally somehow add your DAW to the end of the chain.
About the timing. Let's say I have some tracks already sitting in Cubasis or BM2 and I want to record StepPolyArp going into the DAW. How is the timing? I've learned by experience and from others on this forum that MIDI as a general rule doesn't work properly.
When it comes to the DAW, has it been people's experience that Cubasis or BM2 is better with it?
Any problems with certain synths or samplers?
Sorry for all of the questions but I wanted to make sure everything works before I pay $14 for it. Thanks for your help.
Comments
it's a good app. search on youtube for videos to help answer on how you program.. you tap in notes - 32 steps
the timing on SPA (midi sync) has worked well for me - mostly use it with Loopy.
worked ok with BM2 from what i remember (only tried once i think)
it's worked with every synth I can think of that I have (a few but not all)
maybe not worth $14 - on sale for 9.99 and yes worth it i'd say.
I use it in every track I make. For me it's a quick way of trying out different rhythms and phrases, played accross different notes and chords in a chosen scale.
I then record the midi it outputs into Gadget (and also BM2). Haven't tried it with Cubasis but I'm sure it would work the same. Or I just use it to drive a synth and record the synth's audio via audiobus. In both cases you can then adjust the midi or audio for any sync starting issues as a second step. It does have a pretty good slave sync feature though. That works with BM2 (not sure about Cubasis).
It's pretty solid, although occassionally needs restarting when notes appear to be stuck down on its keyboard.
A bonus is the fact you can automate various midi CCs across your chosen phrase too.
It has 32 steps but you can have infinite numbers of different patterns of 32 steps each. You can also slow down its rate so has to create 8 bar phrases or whatever within a single 32 step sequence.
It a joy to edit - just draw in your sequence and flick elements to remove them.
As an Arp it's very deep and has loads of configurations you can add. Personally I just use it to create simple rythmns and phrases though.
For me it's worth many, many times what I paid for it. Initially I used it just as an Arp but only later realised its potential as more of a quick sequencer. I'm sure it's one of my top 5 used apps.
I wish both the Step apps go for a bundle sale !...waiting for a sale for a long time to pick tr polyarp and chordapp too
Thanks again for the advice Matt and Halftone. I really appreciate all of the help I've gotten so far. I've learned a lot in the past month that I've been posting here.
StepPolyArp dropped 2 bucks to $12.99.
See this thread:
http://forum.audiob.us/discussion/comment/76018#Comment_76018
SPA and its counterpart CPP are absolutely indispensable to my process.
It's the best money I've spent, so pull the trigger on this one-!
Thanks for the link!
Doug did a fairly extensive video a while ago. If you search on his YT channel I'm sure it will be there.
@thinds Thanks for the recommendation but who's Doug? I'm sorry I've only been on the forums for a month. Thanks!
Who is Doug? A very fine question....
For now:
http://www.thesoundtestroom.com
or on YT:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDU1ULcAb0OMgv0Xi0CbYYw
Yes sorry about that. Here it is
Ahhhh Sound Test Room is a good site. Thanks for the links!
And it is updated: 2.4.2 (6.10.2014)
I really like a lot of the things about the StepPolyArp interface. It isn't really advertised as a full MIDI Step Sequencer, but I think it can do that if you understand what's going on. The editing grid and the moving/stretching of notes works about as well there as it does in any app (Possibly even better than Gadget and iMPC Pro).
But musically, I'm not understanding what the rows are. So, on the keyboard below, you can select a scale. But the row titles don't seem to change when you do change that (-3, -5, -3, 0, +2,...etc). So do those numbers represent semitones/half-steps. In other words, if it's a root C scale, is +1 a "C#"? Is +2 a "D"? Or does "+1" just mean whatever the next highest note within the designated scale?
http://laurentcolson.com/Resources/StepPolyArp1.jpg
Hi. Took me a little while to figure out too.
It's the former I think... the numbers are nothing to do with the scale you've chosen - they are +1 semitone from the key on the keyboard you've pressed.
However, to complicate things - I believe when a scale is selected on the keyboard any note outside the scale is shifted to the nearest note within the scale.
Perhaps someone with more musical knowledge could comment - but I think the above is true...
they are transpose values in semitones. set them all to zero to get the straight notes being sent in.
Do you know if it can send midi to several apps at the same time (Multitrack)?
@Matt_Fletcher_2000 - Ahhhh. So they are semitones. That's a good start.
This is where the confusion between "arpeggiator" and "MIDI Sequencer" comes in. The keyboard are just trigger/root notes for the arpeggiated sequence. Often, you set arpeggiated sequences to pretty scale-neutral notes, such as octaves (+12, +24) or maybe fifths (+7 - had to look that up because I'm a theory moron). So you could shift the root note for the arpeggio according to whatever scale you choose on the keyboard, and obviously an octave played of that note would also be in key.
To put it a lot simpler, the value of "0" on the arpeggiator is whatever key you are pressing (or holding/latching) on the keyboard.
@Zetagy - I guess where I'm still lost is how to set it up. Setting ALL values to 0, wouldn't they just all be the same note then? (Don't have my iPad with me to experiment). I guess I had assumed that changing the scale on the keyboard would also change the +/- transposition of the grid numbers to correspond to that scale (similar to how Xynthesizer would work, for example) As @Matt_Fletcher_2000 said, it DOES do something to change the notes, but I'm not sure what yet.
This thing really cries out for a Caustic-like video tutorial. Doug's videos are great, but he stayed in C Major basically the whole time, and it isn't really on him to explain how all of the features work.
@StormJH1 said:
Mister Developer, this man he speak the truth.
I was trying to figure out how this differs from Xynthesizr... I think one of the main things is Xynthesizr can't control modulation/pitch bend on a per-note basis like this app can. Velocity, yes.
each row can send to a different midi channel.
notes are sent in either from the keyboard or from external.
notes are specified as relative (numbers 1-7 = whatever notes you sent) or procedural ( arrows and icons = next, previous, start/end note).
Scale setting filters incoming notes from external, or modifies onscreen keyboard.
keep the questions coming, chances are i can answer.
@ Shay
I'm pretty sure you can have each line of the sequence send out on a different MIDI channel if you want.
I really like SPA a lot (and it's sister app Chord Poly Pad even more) but I agree its a little tricky to figure out what's going on. If you set each note in the sequence to be the same note 0 and then hold one note on the keyboard it will play that same note over and over but if you hold down a C major triad on the keyboard (C E and G notes) then each 0 step will play one of those 3 notes in the order that you have set up in advance
(up or up and down, etc plus there are other note direction settings available too). The scale constraints factor in as well so after a while it gets a little hard to figure out what is going to happen. I end up liking a lot of the things that I come up with in SPA I just can't always predict what the end result is going to be.
Here is a link to the manual which may explain things better.
http://laurentcolson.com/medias/StepPolyArp/en/StepPolyArp.pdf
Here is SPA driving several different Nanostudio instruments at once:
@yowza said:
Thanks. After looking at that, it's more complex than I initially thought. It also makes me think that this is more of an incredibly detailed "creative" tool, as opposed to a "production" tool you would use to translate an idea you already have in your head into the app.
So, in a traditional arpeggiator (like one in a VirSyn app, for example), the little boxes you fill in on the grid are "notes". Their location on the x-axis determines what "time" they will be played in the sequence, while you move them up and down to change "pitch".
In SPA, the boxes represent "events". An "event" can be a note, if you are pressing only one key on the keyboard. But it could also be 3 notes, or whatever combination of notes you are pressing. That's where the "Mode" selector (top right) comes into play - it determines what sequence the notes are played in. That arpeggiated sequence is contained within the event, which could be a 1/16 note, or lengthened even to a full measure.
At the same time, you can program other "events" to start on the grid, even simultaneously. So if I understand it right, there are two ways to make arpeggios - within an "event" and using separate single note events on the grid. This can result in a nearly infinite possibilities for note combinations and sequences, as you change the order ("Mode") of each event arpeggio while also running it through what is basically a step sequencer for events.
All of this tells me that the while you can use SPA as almost a MIDI sequencer, that really isn't the point. The developer's intent seems to be to set up a playing field where the possible notes are all in key, and then allow you to tweak, manipulate, and shift those patterns into other things you would never have dreamed up on your own. It wounds likes that's the way a lot of people are using it, even if they may only be using 25% of the features in the app.
i've got a bunch of steppolyarp experiments on my soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/johnfromberkeley
a few of these also use midisequencer
@Zetagy thanks for the answers. Really dug that NS tune. Easy to forget that it's also a 15 part multi-timbral synth.
One cool thing I've used SPA for is setting up some modulation curves - no notes at all programmed - and sending that data to the wah wah pedal in Tonestack while I played guitar - works better than the AutoWah setting in TS. This could be applied to synths as well of course. But the point being you don't have to use the arp notes - sending midi data works well.