Effects - Used In A Different Way; Hard Chord Work - Yamaha CS1x Manual

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the CS1x offers a choice of very special Arpeggio types.
Their names will already give you clues as to how these may
be put into action.
PERIMENT:
Begin by selecting Performance TP072. Playing (for exam-
ple) a C major triad in it's basic confi guration will give you a
typical bass fi gure. Hardly surprising when you take a look at
the Arpeggio type in the display: "BaseLineC"! Now take a
closer listen. The Arpeggiator plays only root notes and 3rds
! Not all your held notes are being played. The Arpeggiator
'fi lters' the notes depending on the context and what its
sequence is supposed to do – just as well! This type, like the
other "BaseLine" types for example simply ignores your
chord's 5th.
There are some other types that also don't translate your
chords in the way that you might expect. Arpeggio types
"SweepLine" and "PulseLine" as well as "SyncopaA" or
"Techno-C" for example accept only chords with up to three
notes, in other words a 7th or even a 9th is simply ignored.
Alternatively you can reduce a 7th chord to three notes by
leaving out the chord's 5th. Use Performances TP073 and
TP075 as a starting point to explore the polyphony and over-
all structure of each Arpeggio type.
Effects –
used in a different way
Enough of these lengthy experiments. With the help of a
few practical examples we now would like to show you the
Arpeggiator's many musical day-to-day applications .
The interplay between sounds and Arpeggio sequence is
an important area that we haven't even touched on so far,
but therein lies the art of Arpeggio playing! An Arpeggio that
triggers hundreds of different sounds will produce just as
many different results, and when used with especially fl exi-
ble instruments like the CS1x they open up a whole world of
possibilities.
This is particularly emphasised when you consider the
musicians used to be stuck with analogue synthesizer
sounds. Many interesting tonal shades could of course be
got from their fast envelopes, heavy ring modulators or pow-
erful noise generators, but it was sheer Utopia to envisage
being able to control all imaginable samples with an Arpeg-
giator. Simply put, the CS1X blows the tonal 'corset' to
smithereens, and with it all convention and ability to imagine
the things that can be realised with an Arpeggiator.
Therefore let's start with sounds that you might never even
have dreamed of using. Several years ago, when sampling
technology fi nally become affordable, it's performance
wasn't restricted to your everyday 'natural' instruments like
piano and strings, but extended to very specialised effects
generated by a Sampler, which was particularly popular in
the studio scene and could thus be heard in numerous pro-
ductions.
One of the most well-known of these was the 'Mickey
Mouse' effect. So why not use the Arpeggiator to create an
unusual effect?
A M P L E :
The following fi ve Performances really should convince you
that this subject is seriously worth looking into. So, dial up
the fi rst sound example TP076 and play it with just one note.
If this doesn't even vaguely make you smile, select the next
Performance. This too is a special kind of effect, which really
18
doesn't require further commentary. Seriously though, don't
you think it would be very 'original' to use these little
sequences with, or as the basis of one of your songs?
The next three Arpeggiator sounds are much easier to inte-
grate into a sequencer arrangement. For example you could
use them to program unusual rhythm tracks. As mentioned
before, the Arpeggio as well as its tonal aspect play an
important role in this.
A M P L E :
Let's deal with Performance TP078. It is based on the SFX
voice "Burst" and has deliberately been transposed another
two octaves (Note Shift=+24) – this is where the 'Aliasing
Effects' come to the fore. If you have never come across this
term before, here is a quick explanation: Aliasing errors occur
when a sound's frequency is greater than half that of the
sampling frequency used to digitise it. The result is a fre-
quency differential that corresponds exactly to the difference
between the original frequency and the sampling frequency.
Tonally speaking, Aliasing results in drastic distortion, which
can however be used very effectively in sound development
with ROM-Sample-Synthesizers, especially with the aid of
the Arpeggiator.
Perhaps you have by now thought about using the CS1x
Arpeggiator to imitate wave sequencing – well, you can.
A M P L E :
The Arpeggio found in TP076 is straight from the Waves-
tation. The basic sound, as in our last example, was shaped
primarily with the aid of the pitch envelope. Equally impor-
tant are the effects, especially the Delay (VARY TYPE). The
delay times take their cue from the Arpeggiator tempo. A
little tip for fi ddlers: try to work with keyboard splits if you
want to create even more interesting wave sequences.
Assign Material voices that complement each other well for
each of the four Layers.
The last SFX Arpeggio is a percussive sequence which can
be applied universally. Particularly nice here is Pan Position
modulation.
A M P L E :
Select Performance TP080 and, as in the previous exam-
ples, play only a single note. The sound's main character is
provided by the Flanger effect. This effect is responsible for
the regular up and down movements that you will have
noticed immediately. The Flanger by the way is also some-
times referred to as the 'Jet Effect'. Pay particular attention
to the relationship between the Flanger's LFO speed and the
Arpeggio tempo. With this, too, many variation possibilities
can be achieved.
Feel free to experiment with the Arpeggio types and tempi
of all these SFX examples. Utilising the Hold function will
save you having to constantly re-trigger your Arpeggios.

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