ARPJAM Studio
AUv3 generative synth, sampler
USD 12.99
No sequences. No loops. A generative synth that plays on by your rules. And you can play right along. Now also a MIDI effect for your other synths. AUv3, Mac. Pay once.
No sequences. No loops.
A generative synth that plays on by your rules.
And you can play right along.
Key, scale, density, complexity — just set the rules, and five machines (arpeggios, bass, drums and a sampler) keep playing, with a different phrase every time. What you shape is not a song — it is a way of sounding. No AI picks the notes: your rules and probability do.
Move a slider and the sound changes shape without ever stopping. Density,
contour, filter, tape movement. It is built so that nothing you touch can
break it.
Then play right along with your own fingers.
The on-screen key pad holds only the notes of the current scale, so nothing
goes off-key. Play ARP A, ARP B, BASS or DRUMS, or connect a MIDI keyboard.
What you play can be captured into the looper.
■ Five machines
• ARP A / ARP B — two independent arpeggio engines. Ten arpeggio types, including Phrase (builds melodies) and Fingerpick (fingerstyle guitar)
• BASS — a dedicated bass engine (STEP / COMPLEXITY / OMIT / PATTERN)
• DRUMS — a drum machine built from probabilities (KICK / SNARE / HIHAT / NOISE)
• SAMPLE — record one bar, slice it, rearrange it
• Chord progressions (presets / automatic / 16 custom slots), ten time signatures, six LFOs
■ Slice (SAMPLE)
• Record one bar from a mic or line input, with count-in and click
• Record the app itself (ARP A / ARP B / drums), and overdub onto it
• Load audio files — and the audio from a video file
• Up to 64 slices, ordered by the same rules as the arps: direction, reverse,
octave, probability, groove
• STRETCH (on by default) — change tempo without changing pitch
• Its own filter, envelope and delay / reverb sends
■ Play
• On-screen key pad — always in scale; play ARP A, ARP B, BASS or DRUMS
• PEDAL (sustain) and a one-bar looper that records how hard you played and transposes with the chords
• MIDI keyboard input (ARP A / ARP B / BASS; damper pedal, pitch bend, standard control changes)
• XY pad and performance FX that work only while held
■ Sound (11 voices)
• Piano — three velocity layers, stereo, damper release
• Electric piano — harmonics shift with how hard you strike
• Nylon-string guitar — synthesised with a physical string model
• Marimba, kalimba, handpan and chime — struck instruments, measured from the real ones and synthesised
• Waveforms (sine / triangle / saw / square) plus an acid filter
• Filter, ADSR, five drive types, tremolo — shaped per voice
• Delay, reverb, Glitch, Granular
• DRIFT / FLUTTER — tape movement on the synth voices and the live input alike
• Concert pitch A=415–444 Hz
■ Connect
• AUv3 plug-in — as an instrument, as an effect, and as a MIDI effect
• Ableton Link, MIDI Clock, MIDI out (ARP A / ARP B / BASS / DRUMS), LFOs and XY as MIDI CC
• External audio input (line / microphone)
• Background playback — keeps playing when you switch to another app (iPhone / iPad)
• WAV recording and export
One-time purchase. No subscription.
more • New AUv3: "ARPJAM MIDI". Load ARPJAM as a MIDI effect, straight into an AUM MIDI channel or a Loopy Pro MIDI slot. It sends the phrases from ARP A, ARP B, DRUMS and BASS, plus the LFO CCs, as MIDI only, with no sound of its own. Incoming MIDI passes through.
2.13.0 3 days ago
Fixed a looper issue where a note held down while recording was cut short on the second pass.
2.12.4 4 days ago
Fixed notes recorded into the looper (from the KEY PAD or a MIDI keyboard) playing back at the wrong pitch, such as an octave off, when the algorithm is Fingerpick.
2.12.3 5 days ago
• Keeps playing when you switch to another app (standalone on iPhone / iPad; turn it on or off in SYSTEM › Others › Background).
• Fixed the Manual and JAM Library buttons doing nothing in AUv3 hosts such as AUM. They now open on top of the plug-in.
2.12.2 26 Oct
Fixed a rare crash when turning INPUT on (right after switching inputs, such as to a USB audio interface).
2.12.1 19 Oct
New oscillator: NYLON — a simulation of a nylon-string guitar.
And a new algorithm to go with it: Fingerpick. It recreates fingerstyle guitar arpeggios — combine a bass part with an upper-string part to create countless guitar arpeggios.
• Two sliders, Picking (how the upper strings are played, 30 patterns) and Bass Line (the rhythm and movement of the bass, 33 patterns), take you from simple to intricate
• Choose how notes end — OFF / TIE / LET RING — in every algorithm
• CC Out: send LFO movement as MIDI CC (SYSTEM › MIDI Out › CC Out)
2.12.0 17 Oct
Adjusted the timing of the performance effects.
2.11.2 12 Oct
Added.
BASS now sends MIDI (ch3). Turn it on or off in SYSTEM › MIDI Out.
Fixed.
In BASS PATTERN, notes below the root (7↓ and so on) didn't sound.
In BASS PATTERN, touching the sequence view could make a note disappear.
2.11.1 10 Oct
Added.
New waveform: marimba. Choose it from WAVEFORM in ARP A / ARP B.
Fixed.
SAMPLE playback drifting out of time with STRETCH ON while GROOVE is in use.
2.11.0 7 Oct
Added.
Long-press a slider's name or an ON/OFF button to open a window where you can assign and adjust an LFO right there.
Each DRUMS instrument now has its own Cutoff (above REVERB TRIM). The Cutoff in FILTER still applies to all drums.
Fixed.
Scrolling is faster and smoother.
Fixed a rare crash that could occur while LFOs were in use.
Fixed playback always starting with the same phrase.
2.10.0 1 Oct
Fixed.
Fixed a crackling noise that could occur while an ARP's BASS was playing.
Fixed a short sound that could play when turning SAMPLE on while stopped.
Fixed the Oscillator rows sometimes overlapping after moving between pages.
2.9.7 29 Sept
Added.
When a new version comes out, the app now tells you it is available on the App Store.
Fixed.
The app starts up faster.
Opening or closing the GENERATIVE VIEW could shift the page, and in DRUMS it could jump to a different page. Fixed, and the open/close movement is cleaner.
Switching INPUT on or off while playing could cut the sound for a moment. After it has been turned on once, it now switches without a gap. While it stays available, the orange dot at the top right of the screen remains lit.
With SAMPLE switched off, a bit of sound could still slip out at the moment playback started. Fixed.
2.9.6 28 Sept
Fixed.
Switching to another app and coming back could leave ARPJAM Studio unresponsive for a few seconds, or quit it.
The GENERATIVE VIEW in SAMPLE could not be folded away with ▲.
2.9.5 27 Sept
Fixed.
With another app left running — ARPJAM Player, for example — the sound could stop coming out of ARPJAM Studio. It no longer keeps the audio to itself: it plays alongside other apps, and it does not stop whatever they are playing.
Fixed a case where the app could start up silent after failing to restore the external Input. Giving up on the input no longer silences the instrument.
2.9.4 26 Sept
Added.
HEAD ACCENT for PHRASE. Turn it on and, on the first beat of the bar, the top note sounds again an octave higher. What gets stacked follows the shape you picked in CHORD MIX (Single, 3rd, 5th, Triad).
Fixed.
PHRASE on the arpeggiators now follows the chord progression. Until now the root stayed put, so the phrase began on the same note even when the chord changed. Anything that runs off the top of the displayed range folds back to the nearer octave.
Fixed a case where the same chord degree sounded twice while a progression was running.
The fourth setting in CHORD MIX is now called Triad, not 3rd+5th. While a progression runs it stacks the notes of the chord you are on.
2.9.3 24 Sept
The arpeggio type help was missing its line for PHRASE. It is there now.
Nothing else has changed from 2.9.0.
2.9.1 22 Sept
PHRASE comes to the arpeggiators.
PHRASE now sits at the top of ARPEGGIO TYPE. It is the BASS phrase generator brought over intact: without programming a thing, a bass-like line builds itself bar after bar. Being an arpeggiator it plays chords too, and CHORD MIX sets the mix of single notes, 3rds, 5ths and full triads.
A sequence view shows which notes are set and which one is sounding. Tap a cell to drop that step or bring it back. Only the cell you tapped changes, and the OMIT count and PATTERN number move to match.
PHRASE also gains SHAPE, under COMPLEXITY. COMPLEXITY sets how busy the line is; SHAPE picks a different arrangement at that same density - the number of notes stays put, only where they fall changes. BASS gets the same control.
OMIT PATTERN has been rebuilt so that every way of dropping steps can be reached, and no two numbers give the same result.
Tap a key in the generative view to silence that note (ARP A / ARP B / BASS). The probability it would have taken is shared out among the notes that remain.
Also fixed: BASS DRIVE now bites the way it should, and BASS starts on the beat you switch it on.
2.9.0 20 Sept
BASS, the fifth machine, is here — a bass line of its own.
Bass used to be an extra on the arps. This one writes its own phrase. STEP sets how finely it moves, COMPLEXITY how far the line rises and falls, OMIT how many notes to drop and PATTERN which ones go. Raise OMIT and the notes thin out one at a time, so the rhythm changes while the phrase stays.
NORMAL and FM waveforms, CLASSIC and ACID filters, its own envelope, drive and delay / reverb sends. Play it from the key pad or over MIDI, record it into the looper, or sample it. The LFOs and PULSE reach it too.
The looper now has UNDO and REDO — twenty steps. Takes that remain keep sounding while you step back, and it is separate from the UNDO on the main screen, so you can undo the looper alone.
Looper timing is fixed: after a stop and start the first beat no longer arrives late or goes missing.
Levels have been rebalanced too, so stacked BASS and electric piano notes are less likely to distort.
2.8.1 17 Sept
BASS, the fifth machine, is here — a bass line of its own.
Bass used to be an extra on the arps. This one writes its own phrase. STEP sets how finely it moves, COMPLEXITY how far the line rises and falls, OMIT how many notes to drop and PATTERN which ones go. Raise OMIT and the notes thin out one at a time, so the rhythm changes while the phrase stays.
NORMAL and FM waveforms, CLASSIC and ACID filters, its own envelope, drive and delay / reverb sends. Play it from the key pad or over MIDI, record it into the looper, or sample it. The LFOs and PULSE reach it too.
The looper now has UNDO and REDO — twenty steps. Takes that remain keep sounding while you step back, and it is separate from the UNDO on the main screen, so you can undo the looper alone.
Looper timing is fixed: after a stop and start the first beat no longer arrives late or goes missing.
Levels have been rebalanced too, so stacked BASS and electric piano notes are less likely to distort.
2.8.0 16 Sept
Drum reverb and delay can now be shared out instrument by instrument.
REVERB SEND and DELAY SEND used to reach the whole kit at once, so there was no way to wash the snare and leave the kick dry. Each instrument now has a Reverb Trim and a Delay Trim that set how much of the overall send it takes.
Tap the KICK / SNARE / HIHAT / NOISE bar in the generative view to turn that instrument on or off. Lanes that are playing stay in colour, lanes that are off go monochrome.
DRUMS gains a Global Density that moves all four instruments together while each keeps its own Density setting.
2.7.0 4 Sept
The key pad looper now records the PEDAL as well.
Until now it captured only the keys, so pressing the PEDAL bar between the two pads left no trace. From this version the press and the release are repeated exactly where you made them. A sustain pedal on a connected MIDI device behaves the same way.
Hold it for a whole bar and the loop holds it throughout — starting the press just before the bar line no longer drops the pedal part-way round.
Three fixes come with it:
- The pedal could stay down after you stopped playback, and remain down from then on
- A pedal you were holding by hand could be cut short by the loop playing back its own
- A pedal recorded across a whole bar stopped working from the third pass
2.6.2 2 Sept
SAMPLE now has HEAD FADE.
If the recording was already sounding when you started it, the material begins part-way through a waveform — and that edge can be heard as a click every time the first slice plays. HEAD FADE fades in the very start of the material to take it out.
The Fade just below applies to every slice. HEAD FADE applies only to the head, so nothing else about the material changes. It follows the crop, and it works in reverse too.
The default is 0. Leave it there and everything sounds exactly as before.
2.6.1 31 Aug
Two new sounds. Neither is a sample — both are synthesised, so the filter, the envelope and the effects work on them exactly as they do on every other waveform.
■ KALIMBA
The thumb piano. Built from measurements of real recordings, down to the high partial that rides on the pluck itself and is gone in 40 milliseconds.
■ HANDPAN
Struck metal. Around the note you hit, the neighbouring notes of the shell ring along and give the sound its body. The slow swell that arrives a moment after the strike is in there too.
■ Every waveform now keeps its own settings
Until now sin / tri / saw / sq shared a single set, so switching waveform carried the envelope over with it. All nine waveforms now keep their own. Patches made with earlier versions are shared out as they load, so they still sound the way they did.
■ Fix
On the Mac, the round and plus handles inside the envelope graph were squashed into ovals.
2.6.0 30 Aug
Fixes.
■ Notes you never played no longer sound when MIDI Out is on
With MIDI Out enabled, ARPJAM's own MIDI input was picking up the notes ARPJAM had just sent, so the drum notes kept sounding as pitches. Turning ARP A or ARP B off did not stop it, and the app grew sluggish. ARPJAM no longer listens to its own output.
■ Moving CUTOFF no longer cuts the ACID filter envelope short
With FILTER TYPE set to ACID or ACID SUB, moving CUTOFF while playing ended each sounding note's filter sweep, so the tone went flat — as though FILTER DECAY had been turned right down — for as long as you kept moving. An LFO on CUTOFF did the same thing. CUTOFF is the floor the filter envelope sits on, so the envelope now rides along with it. The control responds just as quickly as before.
2.5.3 28 Aug
Fixes.
■ CHARACTER now reaches the ACID filter
With FILTER TYPE set to ACID or ACID SUB, switching CHARACTER to ANALOG left the sequenced notes sounding PURE — while notes you played by hand did use ANALOG, so one patch could sound two different ways. Patches that combine ACID with ANALOG will sound different from this version on: brighter, and a little louder.
■ Keys sound immediately after you stop
Right after stopping playback, a MIDI keyboard or the KEY PAD could take a moment before anything was heard.
■ Held notes are no longer cut off by stopping
Holding a key while the sequence played, then stopping, used to silence the held note as well. It now rings until you lift your finger.
■ No more Japanese text when the app runs in English
Descriptions and status labels on the SYSTEM page, confirmation dialogs and SAMPLE import messages were bypassing the language switch and stayed in Japanese. Thank you to everyone who reported it.
2.5.2 26 Aug
• New AUv3: "ARPJAM MIDI". Load ARPJAM as a MIDI effect, straight into an AUM MIDI channel or a Loopy Pro MIDI slot. It sends the phrases from ARP A, ARP B, DRUMS and BASS, plus the LFO CCs, as MIDI only, with no sound of its own. Incoming MIDI passes through.
more Version 2.13.0 3 days ago
Data Not Collected The developer does not collect any data from this app.