Here is a short video showing how to use Rhythm-X in emuso’s toolkit to build up an arpeggio practice routine.

The method

The method is simple.

1/ Design the arpeggio pattern. For example, choose the Dorian scale, and select notes for the arpeggio by right clicking on each note. A note can be selected multiple times. Type lower-case u to remove the last selection in case of a mistake. Shift-u unselects all.

2/ Design a rhythm to hold the notes. This can be as complex as you like, including rests, different duration time slots, and whatever time signature you like.

Create a track first. Optionally name it. Then define a part for it (you could define several parts), by choosing the most common note value you want to use (in this example, this is a sixteenth note, and we’re using 4/4, so there are 16 “onsets” (time slots), each of which can hold one or more notes, depending how you transfer them from “guitar” (“bass”, “piano”). This can then be edited, joining together or spliiting onsets, and inserting rests)

When a pattern is transferred (using “Refine part” and then “Part“), the pattern is transferred across the part, from whichever onset you clicked for the starting point, and any rests are skipped over, until the whole pattern is transferred (or we run out of onsets). If you used “Chord“, then whatever notes are visible on “Instrument” (or just selection(s) of these) ate all transferred into one onset.

You can create multiple parts, and multiple tracks if you want (maybe you want a backing to practice against).  In the video example, a percussion track is added to hold a simple click.

3/ Having transferred the pattern, now you can use scale-aware transposition. To activate this, type a number in the range 2 – 7. This sets up the transposition to transpose the pattern up or down by a the appropriate 2nd, 3rd, etc, allowing for the interval distances in the scale. Having chosen a generic interval, then use the “]” key to transpose the whole pattern up in pitch, or “[“ to transpose it down. After each transposition, add it into the rhythm part.

4/ In this example, the last 4 notes of the last arpeggio are deleted (by “Clearing” their respective onsets), to give enough time to prepare for the next cycle through the routine.