Arpeggiator

Turns a chord into a clocked melody, all on its own: pick a root and a chord type, give it a clock, and the output steps through the chord one note per pulse. No other patching required.

How it works

Each clock pulse advances one step through the chord — the same sixteen chord shapes as the Chord module, so an arpeggiated Minor 7 here matches Chord's Minor 7 note for note. The pattern starts at C4 with the Root at C.

Controls

  • Root — the chord's root note, C to B.
  • Attenuverters — one per CV jack (Chord, Mode, Oct): how much, and which

way, each CV moves its control. Centre is off.

  • Chord — sixteen shapes, from plain triads through sevenths to Add9.
  • Mode — the order the notes play. Up climbs, Down falls, Up-Down

bounces without repeating the top or bottom, and Random picks — but in a pattern that repeats, so it plays like a riff rather than static.

  • Octaves — 1 to 4. Above one, the chord repeats again an octave

higher before the pattern wraps, and the mode plays over the full stack.

Inputs & outputs

  • Clock — a pulse per step. Any clock, LFO square, or gate works.
  • Reset — a pulse here snaps the pattern back to its first step: patch a

bar-length clock division in to keep the arp locked to the phrase.

  • Root — V/OCT, added to the Root knob and rounded to the nearest

semitone, so a sequencer here transposes the whole pattern and stays in tune. It can push into other octaves — that is the point of sequencing it.

  • Chord / Mode / Oct CV — add to their panel controls, each through its

own attenuverter: at full attenuversion, 10 V spans the control's whole range, and negative settings invert the sweep. The attenuverters rest at zero, so a patched CV does nothing until you dial its knob in.

  • Out — the current step's pitch, V/OCT. Patch it to an oscillator.

Tips

  • There is no gate output on purpose: the clock that drives the arp is the

rhythm. Mult the same clock into your envelope's gate and every step articulates.

  • Down with Octaves at 3 starts high and cascades — the classic

broken-chord fall.

  • Random replays the same "random" order after a Reset, so a phrase you like

stays a phrase.

  • Sequence the Chord CV from a slow step sequencer and the arp walks a

progression — a one-cable songwriter.