Instrument Introduction

Instruments are Arcade's chromatic instruments, providing up to 88 keys of chromatic playability allowing you to play chords, melodies, basslines, and more.

You can download Instruments from your favorite Lines, and create your own Kits from our Sources.

Instruments introduce additional terminology to Arcade. This article will help you understand how these Kits are built, and how to make the most of them.

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Instrument Terminology:

Sources

Sources are sampled instruments. These are sounds that we have recorded and mapped to the keys within Arcade. We take an instrument and record every single note of that instrument, then map each note to the corresponding key within Arcade, allowing you to play that instrument with your keyboard.

Some Sources have a wider range than others. A piano, for example, will have all 88 keys mapped 1:1, whereas a flute may only have a couple octaves in the upper half of the keyboard. 

Layers

Layers allow you to stack multiple Sources on top of each other, meaning you can play more than one sound simultaneously. For example, you may place a sub bass sound on one layer, while placing a pizzicato violin on top, allowing you to play both at the same time.

Layers offer individual volume, tuning, filters, and envelope adjustments, meaning each Source can be customized individually.

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