Stunning Virtual MIDI Controller for Beginners through Experts

To say that an app is arguably the "best arrpegiator available on iOS" sounds a little underwhelming, but as users of synthesizer and other music apps know, all of those great sounds dont amount to much if you cant play the notes on an iPhone screen. An "arpeggiator" is an app that allows you to select repeating sequences of notes - usually within a defined scale, timing, and pattern - by pressing a "play" button or holding down a single note while a complicated sequence of notes plays. This allows for synthesizer passages far more accurate and complex than would be humanly possible on a real keyboard, and especially a glass iPhone screen.

While some of the better synth apps have arpeggiators built in, they can be clunky and limited, assuming you remember how to use them within each different synth app in your collection. Arpeggionome acts as a Virtual MIDI controller, which means it become the central hub and interface for playing arppegiated sequences for all your compatible music apps.

And it sounds absolutely amazing. It comes with approximately 32 presets, but room for you to save and export/import over 1,000 more. The display does not contain any notes. Instead, you have marked circles that represent the root note and each "step" of the scale (minor, major, aeolian, dorian, etc.) as you go left and right. As you change rows up and down, the same note sequence will play using quarter notes, eight notes, sixteenth notes, and so on. You can adjust how many notes play in a sequence, how many steps/octaves apart the notes are, and patterns like Up/Down or Converging. There have to be millions of musical possibilities, based on all of these different options.

The Virtual MIDI connection with other apps like Sunrizer, Magellan, and nLog MIDI Synth went pretty smoothly. There is also a very intriguing X/Y-axis control to do volume swells, pitch, vibrato, etc. by tilting the device. This can take a little more work with the settings in your app, but once set up, its great. I should note that the app itself has an internal synthesizer with 4 wavelength choices, so you can get basic retro synth tones to test your pattern without loading up another app. And, of course, the app has AudioBus compatability, so you can record those internal sounds, or have access to the controls of your recording app using the mini control panel.

Please note that while the base app is inexpensive, you need to buy the pro upgrade ($5 at my time of purchase) to use the MIDI functionality with other apps. But it is worth that amount many times over for what it can do in expanding your musical possibilities.

HouseOfHomuth about Arpeggionome for iPhone | matrix arpeggiator