Trance arps and plucks

What an arp is

An arpeggio plays the notes of a chord one at a time, in a repeating order, instead of all together.

Follow the chords and the arp turns a static progression into constant movement. In trance it usually runs in 16th notes across one or two octaves, on a short pluck so each note is distinct.

Pattern and rate

• Up and down are simple and clear; up and down avoids repeating the top and bottom notes.
• The trance roll keeps returning to the top note, which gives it that hypnotic, insistent quality.
• 1/8 suits slower, emotional sections; 1/16 is the driving default; 1/16 triplets sound rolling and urgent.

The pluck sound

A pluck is a sound that starts bright and dies away fast. The recipe: a couple of detuned saws (or an FM patch), a low-pass filter with a short filter envelope that snaps it shut, and an amp envelope with no sustain. The shorter the decay, the tighter the arp.

The dotted-1/8 delay

Put a dotted-eighth delay on an arp and the echoes fall between the notes, filling the rhythm with a shimmering, interlocking pattern that sounds far more complex than it is.

Layering under the lead

• High-pass the arp at 200 to 400 Hz: it lives in the mids and highs.
• Keep it lower in level than the lead; it's texture, not the hook.
• Sidechain it to the kick so it pumps with the groove (see the sidechain guide).
• Pan or widen it slightly, so the lead keeps the centre.