Can anyone answer a question about Arturia ARP2600?

[johnnyv]

Simple question, but I can't find it on the Arturia website yet.

I'm using the ARP2600 with PT, and all I want to do is lock the 2600 sequence (arpeggiated part) to my PT tempo...

Any ideas?

Thanks

[drummer9]

Have you tried input quantize? Event> Event Operations>Input Quantize

I only have the lite version and don't see a sync to tempo feature on the UI.

Are you using the full version?

[johnnyv]

Yes, using the full version, but also don't see a sync to midi or whatever. This should be so simple, one would think. As far as the quantize, I only need to hit one sustained midi note in PT to get the 2600 to play its sequence pattern, but there must be some way to get the sequence pattern to play at the speed of my song, wouldn't you think?

Thanks...

[patrickgleeson]

Couple of ways of doing it. The most straightforward way is simply to switch on
the "midi sync," switch at the righthand edge of the center panel in the sequencer section. I know--it's a busy panel and there're a lot of switches in that part of the interface, but it's there.

When you've done that, the "clock frequency" slider about an inch to the left of the midi sync switch no longer controls the sequencer's internal clock, but is locked to the midi tempo or some multiple or divisor of it. So at the slider's lowest position it will indicate "tempo/8" and as you move the slider up it becomes "tempo/7," "tempo/6", etc., until you reach "tempo." Moving it further up gives you "tempo*2," tempo*3," up through "tempo*9."

Note that there's also a "midi sync" switch on the leftmost "LFO" section of the sequencer, but this one doesn't lock the sequencer clock to MIDI--which you might reasonably suppose it would. It does, however, lock that LFO to Midi, and then its clock frequency slider behaves the same way as the clock frequency slider in the sequencer clock section, i. e., you can set it to MIDI tempo or some multiple or divisor of it.

Since, unfortunately, Arturia's 2600 manual is incomplete, incompetent and written in a kind of Inspector Clouseau approximation of English, I'll take this just a bit further. Note that the above describes two separate and independent LFOs, one dedicated to the sequencer tempo and another, the one at the lefthand side of the sequencer section, which can be used for whatever purpose you choose. Because Arturia's put this additional LFO in the sequencer section, at first glance you may suppose it controls the sequencer. It doesn't.

One advantage of having two separate LFOs controlled by tempo is that they can be set at different divisors or multiples of the tempo. The sequencer's clock, for example, could control the AR envelope at tempo, and the lefthand LFO could control the ADSR at two or four times the tempo. If the AR controlled the VCA envelope and the ADSR controlled the filter envelope, you could set up a nice little stutter within each step.

It's really too bad there isn't a good third-party manual for both the Arturia 2600 and the Moog Modular. Jon Margulies has written some wonderful manuals--I'm working my way now through his latest, "Ableton Live 9 Power," and it would be a godsend to have manuals that good for these two Arturia instruments, but I suppose the numbers of them sold don't justify a writer's time or the expense of publication.