ARTURIA – KeyStep – USER’S MANUAL 23
4.3 Seq / Arp playback functions
4.3.1 Gate
The Gate time of a Seq/Arp note is the
percentage of time it stays “on” before the next
note happens, with 10% being the shortest time
and 90% being the longest. Hold Shift and press
the appropriate key to make a selection.
When creating a sequence it is also possible to enter a value of “Tie”, which holds a note
into the following step. See section 5.2.1.2 for information.
4.3.2 Swing
Swing introduces a “shuffle” feel to the active sequence or arpeggio. 11 different settings
are available, ranging from Off (no swing, or 50%) through varying degrees of swing
amount (53-75%). To make a selection, Hold Shift and press the appropriate key.
What the Swing setting does is shift the timing of the notes in a sequence, making the
first note of a pair longer and the second note shorter. Assuming the time division is set
to 1/8, here’s what will happen:
With Swing set to Off (50%) each note gets ‘equal time’, resulting in a ‘straight
1/8
th
note’ feel.
As the Swing value exceeds 50% the first 1/8
th
note is held longer and the second
is played later and shorter. You’ll notice the sequence starts to ‘shuffle’ a bit and
perhaps sounds less ‘mechanical’ to your ear.
The maximum Swing setting is 75%, at which point the 1/8
th
notes sound more
like a 1/16
th
note figure than ‘shuffled’ 1/8
th
notes.
Here’s a graphic showing the minimum and maximum Swing values in musical notation:
