Understanding this Arpeggiator Behavior

The Moog Forum Little Phatty & Slim Phatty Forum
1

I’m still making my way through the Sub 37’s manual, though I’ve already read the Arpeggiator section. There is something with the Arpeggiator I don’t understand.

Going through the presets, most of the time I see the Arpeggiator’s Rate light blinking, at a variety of rates. If the Arpeggiator’s “On” button is lit, then I understand why rotating the Rate pot would adjust the rate of note repetition on a held note. However, for many of the presets that repeatedly play a note when a note is sustained (I may not be describing that behavior correctly; could be an LFO producing that effect?), even when the “On” button isn’t lit, adjusting the Arpeggiator Rate will affect the rate of that note reptition.

Is the Arpeggiator in action even though the “On” button is unlit? I don’t believe it is, since when I hold an Interval, it is not alternating between the two notes. What is in fact happening?

Just as a specific example, the “The Zaxxor Chronicles” preset (Bank 2, Preset 7), acts in this way.

Thanks for any help.

EDIT: After more trial and error, I believe this behavior, the Appegiator Rate pot doing something even when the On button is off, seems to have something to do with it having a secondary role: affecting the LFO rate of both LFOs in unison when Sync is turned on for at least one LFO?

2

Yes, I think you’ve got it. Both the LFOs and the Envelopes (when looping) can be set to Sync which will tie their rates to the speed of the Clock. The clock could be INT from the Sub37 or EXT from an outside source. If INT then adjusting the ARP RATE knob will affect any modulation that is synced to it.

3

Thanks for the confirmation and additional information!

4

From the manual …

RATE
This knob sets the rate of the arpeggiator from 2 BPM (beats-per-minute) to 280 BPM. When the SYNC button is illuminated the RATE knob is used to select clock divisions of the Sub 37’s internal clock or an external MIDI clock. For more information on MIDI clock divisions, go to page 52.
SYNC
When ON this button synchronizes the arpeggiator to external MIDI
clock messages. MIDI clock messages are 24 ppq (pulses-per-quarter-
note) messages that can be sent via MIDI computer sequencers, drum
machines, etc… To enable the sending of these messages, consult the user
manual for your external MIDI device. When the arpeggiator is synchronized to a MIDI clock tempo, the arpeggiator can be set to time divisions of this tempo using the arpeggiator’s RATE knob. (Time divisions range from 4 whole notes up to a 64th note triplet).

5

I’ve read that section a few times already. That’s different info, at least to my beginner’s interpretation, from what I eventually discovered, and ChiLam confirmed for me.