Difference between a Delay effect and Arpeggiation...???

Chew_Bear

New member
Maybe its just me...But...delay and arpeggiators have me all confused...

To my ears/brain...They both sound the "SAME".

I know they are 2 things that are totally different...One...a time delay based effect. And the other...basically a looper function that cycles thru different note patterns at whatever speed of your choosing.

But for some reason, My brain/ear picks them up as being the same sound/effect and therefore I have a hard time discerning whether an instrument/sound I hear in a song is either...

A) An arpeggiator at work on the pluck/lead

or simply...

B) A time delay based effect such as Delay/Reverb/Echo on the pluck/lead.

Most of my confusion mainly stems from arpeggiators. Since I am still a newbie in sound design...To me...an arpeggiator sounds just like a ping pong time delay based effect. Therefore...it just confuses me even more.

So...

1. Can anyone try and explain the 2 differences 'sonically' in layman's terms as best they can...so I can better paint a picture in my head whats going on with a lead/pluck that I hear...???

2. Is it pretty simple for a newbie to get these 2 mixed up/confused...OR...is this just my ears needing more ear/audio training...???

Any tips/suggestions would be helpful.
 
The main thing about arpeggiators is that they play different notes.

A delay/echo would only give the same note, but an arpeggiator normally changes the pitch.

Yes, in theory, an arpeggiator which didn't change pitch could sound exactly the same as an echo. Not sure why you find this an issue.
 
Yea delay basicly sequences time and arp. sequenses notes. Like if you press C on your MIDI then with delay you will hear the C note you pressed soon again, but if you hold on your C key in MIDI, then it will be C and soon some other notes, depending on arp. youre using!
 
An arpeggio is playing notes of a chord individually, only one at a time instead of all together. Think of it as a "broken chord"...a friend told me this a long time a go and when I went to learn theory, the same basic rule was stated.
Billy Joel does this a lot, and it's really fun and interesting to listen to, plus pleasing to the ear.

A delay is an effect that basically echoes what was played, in time.

You can use delays to get some cool syncopation and arpeggios though.

have fun.
 
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