What is an arpegiator?

[Musicman]

Hello. I am interested in purchasing a keyboard in the somewhat near future but
when I look at their ads and specs I don't know what all of the terms mean.
What is an arpegiator and an oscillator? thanks.

[blacko3788]

I wouldn't let it be a big concern of yours when purchasing a keyboard. Some people need things like oscillators for certain styles of music, such as rap and dance-club music. An arpegiator means that when you hold down a certain chord it was play all the notes that make up the cord, the root word is arpeggio.
If I were you I'd call a sales person at Sweetwater 800-222-4700 and talk to someone like my sales person, Alexander Jenkins
Ext #1382. Man I should get something for these plugs...NO MORE CANDY!!!!
In all seriousness you need to talk to a salesman that understands what you need in a keyboard. Will you be doing allot of composing music or using midi or sequencing or live piano performances or heavy organ type music? And what you want to spend is also another factor. I have done allot of shopping around in the music area over that past ten years and I know Sweetwater has some of the best deals around. There are some decent keyboards under a grand and there are some great keyboards under two thousand.

As far as those other terms you are looking at don't worry many keyboards that aren't that good boast about technical things that many novas keyboardists think is amazing. Truth is many keyboards that have an arranger or composer setting on them have appreciators and oscillators in them. I may be wrong on some of this but I do have some great keyboards and I do know what a cheap keyboard is...PLEASE!!!! Ask a salesman that you can trust do not buy the wrong keyboard for you. This might cost you allot of extra $$$$

[DAS]

Of course I couldn't agree more with everything Blacko says.

However, if you are just looking to learn what some of the music technolgoy jargon means you can try the Word For the Day Archives. This is an archive of technical terms that get defined one by one eacy day in our inSync column.

WFTD:
http://www.sweetwater.com/insync/word.tpl?letter=A


inSync:
http://www.sweetwater.com/insync/

[blacko3788]

Hey ya learn something new everyday!!! LOL

[atma]

an oscillator is basically the device on an analog (or analog style) synth that makes the basic waveform (sound). usually a synth will have a couple oscillators that can be switched between different kinds of waveforms (like sine, pulse, saw, etc.) which in turn create different sounds.

you should keep in mind that analog and analog emulator style synths are very different from the standard digital synth workstations. completely different sounds and approaches, so you'd better have a good idea what you're looking for before you buy one.

the arpegiator basically plays notes of a chord in a sequence, for example if you held down 3 notes simultaneously, it would then play them in a sequence, one at a time repeatedly. this is a feature i've never used, and i'm not sure what the practical applications for it are to be honest.

[Musicman]

thanks for the helpfull info.