Searching for inspiration? Reason Studios might have the perfect solution. The Swedish software company has just released Arpeggio Lab, a creative tool designed to spark ideas.
Promising to be “a cure for creative block”, Arpeggio Lab is not only able to conjure up patterns, but is also able to push each pattern a step further. The tool can generate new ideas from patterns, fill in gaps and pluck out fresh melodies from chords.
Arpeggio Lab is able to split a pattern’s chords into two roles: Anchor and Movement chords. Anchor chords serve as the firm foundation of your pattern, locking the rhythm in place, while Movement chords are more fluid (hence the name). Movement chords will be where the tool takes creative liberties, cooking up new melodies.
Reason Studios has also made a point of making the software diverse and unpredictable – meaning your Movement chords could produce anything from a clean, flowing melody, to a gritty, dense melody full of glitchy inflections.
With a twist of a knob and a click of a button, the entire flavour of your track can change. And there are plenty of knobs to mess with, from Shape, Density, Velocity, Rhythm, Octave and more.
There’s also a ‘Humanise ’ option to add a more human feel to Arpeggio Lab’s experimental generation. The option focuses more on capturing the movement patterns of a real musician, so is perhaps more like jamming and riffing ideas off of a musical peer.
According to the company, the tool is “50% playable arpeggiator, 50% idea-generator and 100% guaranteed to cure your creative block”. It’s a tool tailor-made for experimentation, pushing your chords into new realms and throwing you into unknown waters.
“We didn’t set out to make just another arpeggiator,” Niklas Agevik, CEO at Reason Studios, explains. “We wanted to build a creative sidekick. Something that gets you out of your head and into the flow-state of making music.”
“Creative block happens when everything starts sounding the same,” Calle Malmgren, CMO at Reason Studios, adds. “Arpeggio Lab breaks that loop – literally.”
Arpeggio Lab is available for $69 from the Reason Studios Shop. It is also included with a Reason+ subscription.
