An interesting way to use the Argon is to assign a chord to a single key then invert it to create some new compositional ideas.
There are 2 ways you can do this.
On the module: Pressing the shift then chord button top left and while holding a chord (input directly from the connected keyboard or via other incoming MIDI) stores this chord and enables chord mode. This chord can then be played from a single note trigger until the chord is changed, or chord mode is disabled.
To change a chord, simply turn Chord mode off and repeat the process holding your new chord shape.
To exit simply press the Chord button again. The Chord function is a performance feature and as such is not saved per patch. It will remain until it is either reset or the unit is power cycled.
You can also do this via MODALapp in the keyboard section. Click the chord latch to 'On' and play the chord. Above are the invert options to alter what you have recorded. Play a single key and audition these options to find a different way the chord can be expressed. Below is a list of invert options.
On the hardware:
Chord Invert: Hold the ‘Patch’ button and turn the ‘Drift’ encoder controls Chord invert. Chord invert looks at the notes that are being played across the voices on the synth, then adds octave offsets to these notes depending on the setting. The same functionality happens in the App version.
- Oct 1 : n - adds 1 octave to the lowest n notes in the chord, inverting the chords in the traditional way
- Oct 2 : n - adds 2 octaves to the lowest n notes in the chord and 1 octave to all other notes
- Even 1 : n - adds 1 octave to the lowest n even notes in the chord i.e. the 2nd, 4th, 6th and 8th notes
- Odd 1 : n - adds 1 octave to the lowest n Odd notes in the chord i.e. the 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th notes
- Shuffle 1 - adds an extra octave to each additional note in the chord up to 3 octaves. i.e 1 octave added to the 2nd note, 2 octaves to the 3rd note, 3 octaves to the 4th note, 1 octave to the 5th note
- Shuffle 2 and 4 - the same as shuffle 1 but with different orderings of octave offsets
Note - Chord invert looks at the state of the synth voices rather than MIDI note input, so pressing a 3 note chord with “Stack-2” voice mode will be counted as a 6-note chord.
You can take advantage of this for huge stereo pads by combining Chord Invert, Stack and Voice Width/Drift settings.