Message 2/5
Date: 01-Nov-04 @ 11:42 AM -
RE: Nova arp question
Hi,
here are two of the most common FAQs regarding the Nova / Supernova / Nova II / Supernova II arpeggiator taken from the Novation website....
Cheers,
Nick.
9) The difference between a Mono arpeggiator and a Poly arpeggiator
A mono arpeggio (user patterns < 64) will play the individual notes from a played chord one at a time in a particular order. If a C major triad is played, the arpeggiator will play the C, E and G notes from this chord in an order determined by the arpeggio pattern. The simplest type of pattern is "up" or "down", these will play C,E,G,C,E,G,C,E,G,C,E,G…. OR G,E,C,G,E,C,G,E,C,G,E,C,G,E,C,G,E,C respectively. A polyphonic arpeggio (user patterns > or = 64) acts as a transposing arpeggio. A single note or a chord can be transposed by a programmable amount on each step of an arpeggio. The single note or chord acts a "root note". If a 4 step polyphonic arpeggio was programmed 1,1,1,5 and then holding the note C0 will play C0, C0, C0, F0. Holding D3min triad will play D3min, D3min, D3min, G3min.
10) Recording an arpeggio to a sequencer
Ensure that the Supernova / Nova is in a complete MIDI loop ie MIDI out of Supernova / Nova to MIDI in of sequencer and MIDI out of sequencer to MIDI in of the Supernova / Nova. From the Global menu, ensure that the MIDI clock source is set to External. Also ensure that the Supernova / Nova local control is turned off. See the pdf using the Supernova II with a sequencer for the full implications of local control. From the sequencer, ensure that MIDI clock is being sent to the Supernova / Nova. Please note that under the External clock condition the Supernova / Nova arpeggiator will not run unless a MIDI song start message is received and MIDI clock is received - ie the sequencer must either be running or recording.
Record the chord sequence of trigger notes for the arpeggiator into the sequencer. Quantise these notes as appropriate. From the arpeggiator menu set "arpeggio notes to" to MIDI only or to program and MIDI if you want to hear the arpeggio as it is recorded. Create a new track in the sequencer to record to the arpeggio to. Most importantly, mute this new track*. This will ensure that the generated arpeggio notes are not resent back into the Supernova / Nova. Put the sequencer into record. The sequencer will transmit the trigger notes into the Supernova / Nova. The Supernova / Nova will arpeggiate these notes and send the arp data into the sequencer. The sequencer will record the arpeggio but will not echo these notes anywhere at the moment. Once the arpeggio has been recorded, mute or delete the arpeggio trigger notes and unmute the recorded arpeggio data. Switch the Supernova / Nova arpeggiator off. The recorded arpeggio can now be played as a normal midi track into the Supernova / Nova or into another MIDI module.
*If this new track is not muted at this stage the sequencer will retransmit the generated notes back into the Supernova / Nova. The result will be a MIDI feedback loop generating an enormous amount of MIDI note data. This will most likely crash the sequencer! In the unlikely event of the sequencer not being able to mute a track as it is being recorded, simply set the MIDI channel or MIDI port to a different MIDI device (an unused channel or port ideally) while the arpeggio is recorded.