Chord and Arp

One finger, whole chords

Beatbox’s keyboard bar (at the bottom of the workstation) has two buttons that make you sound way more skilled than you are: Chord and Arp.

Chord turns every key into a whole chord. Press one key and Beatbox adds the other notes for you. Major sounds happy, Minor sounds moody, 7th sounds bluesy and jazzy, Sus2 and Sus4 sound open and floaty (like they’re waiting for something), and Power is the chunky rock-guitar sound.

Arpeggios

Arp is short for arpeggiator. Instead of playing a chord’s notes all at once, it plays them one at a time, in a pattern, locked to the tempo. Up climbs the notes, Down falls, Up-Down bounces, and Random keeps surprising you.

Rate sets how fast it goes: 1/4 plays one note per beat, 1/8 two, 1/16 four. The “T” rates (like 1/8T) are triplets: three notes per beat, for a rolling, galloping feel.

Try it below: pick a chord and an arp, press Play, then change things while it runs. Press the C – G – Am – F button to let it move through a chord progression by itself.

Getting the most out of it

Chord + Arp together turns one finger into a full synth part. That’s the sound of a lot of trance, synthwave and video game music.

Fast rates sound great at slow tempos, but at a fast tempo 1/16 can turn into a blur. Try 1/8 there instead.

Arps love a little echo. In the next lesson you’ll find out how to add it.

When you record a loop with Chord or Arp on, Beatbox keeps the notes that played, so you can edit them in the piano roll afterwards.

Quick quiz