Arpeggios are a classic way to make chord progressions more rhythmic and dynamic. Instead of sustaining a chord, musicians walk up and down the notes contained in that chord to create a kind of staircase pattern.
Most synthesizers have a special mode, called the arpeggiator, that turn chords into arpeggios automatically. Players hold down all of the notes at once and set parameters that dictate the shape of that arp. This makes it easier to stay in the pocket with a rhythmic pattern, regardless of your keyboard skill level.
DAWs also include a built-in arpeggiator that loads on the MIDI FX channel. You can use them with chord generation plugins to build accompaniment for lead melodies. There are also third-party arpeggiator VSTs that offer advanced features, to help spice up your rhythms.
In this article we'll explain how to access native and third party plugins, so you can use them in your MIDI workflows. To kick things off, we'll provide a more complete arpeggio definition and show you how musicians use them.
Table of Contents
Definition: What is an arpeggio?
The word arpeggio comes from the 18th century Italian root arpa (meaning harp). Instead of plucking the notes in a chord all at once, composers arranged harp accompaniment horizontally so that they were plucked one at a time.
Classical composers tend to use these broken chord voicings in sentimental or emotional works. They have more energy than a single sustained chord, but can feel more cerebral or contemplative than a strummed, vertical chord rhythm.

The example above shows the classic use of arpeggio piano lines beneath a lead melody. You can find this technique across all genres of music, from classical to modern pop songwriting. That being said, there are plenty of cases where arps transcend this role, jump up into the top voice to become a lead melody.

Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata is a famous example where arpeggiated chords take the lead, featuring vertical chord accompaniment in the bass clef. The Star Spangled Banner features a similar technique, but with short phrasing and a less metronomic rhythmic pattern. You can compare them in the screenshot above.

Arpeggio guitar lines like Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven are like the modern equivalent of harp accompaniment, with a single note is assigned to each string. The instrument's tuning of perfect fourths lends itself to the 3rd and 5th intervals most commonly features in an arpeggiated chord.
How to access your DAW's free Arpeggiator VST
Most digital audio workstations come with a built-in arpeggiator plugin. You can use them to automate chord performances, saving time on manually spreading them out within the piano roll. With this technique, you'll simply sustain the chord and experiment with different arpeggio shapes until you find one that fits.
Regardless of which DAW you'll be using, I recommend recording a four-note chord that lasts for two measures. This will give you a chance to experiment with a variety of patterns and test out its full capabilities.
Logic Pro (MIDI FX)
In Logic Pro, you can find the built-in Arpeggiator VST in the MIDI FX slot of a Software Instrument track.
Create or select a Software Instrument track.
Locate the Channel Strip Inspector on the left. In the MIDI FX slot (just above the Instrument slot), click the drop-down menu and choose “Arpeggiator.”
Once selected, you can customize various parameters such as note order, range, and speed. You can also save or load presets from the plug-in’s interface, allowing for quick access to your favorite arpeggio patterns.
See the screenshot below for a visual on where to find the MIDI FX channel and a visual of the arpeggiator itself. The arrow buttons that you see in the Note Order panel will dictate the pattern applied to the notes in your chord.

Ableton Live (MIDI FX)
Ableton Live includes a native Arpeggiator VST within its MIDI Effects category. Follow these simple steps to add it to a MIDI track:
Open the Browser on the left side of the interface
Expand the “MIDI Effects” folder to find the arpeggiator
Drag and drop the device onto a MIDI track or in front of a virtual instrument.
Once you've loaded the effect, you can click on the note style drop down menu to choose the MIDI rhythm pattern. There are also advanced features like groove and offset to make give the arp a dynamic feel.

FL Studio (Channel settings)
In FL Studio, the arpeggiator tool is built directly into the Channel Settings of each instrument.
Open the Channel Rack and select the desired instrument or plugin.
Click the gear icon to access the “Channel Settings” window
Click on the wrench icon and you’ll see the arpeggiator controls. This will allow you to toggle the arpeggiator on or off and configure parameters such as range, direction, and timing.
The small arrows located in toolbar indicate the direction of the arpeggio's movement, much like Logic Pro and Ableton. Modify the range value to adjust the number of octaves covered.
Presonus Studio One Pro (Note FX)
The Pro version of Presonus Studio One features a built-in Note FX system, which includes an Arpeggiator note effect.
Create or select an Instrument Track
Look for the “Note FX” area in the Inspector or in the Instrument Browser as shown in the screenshot below
Drag the Arpeggiator onto your MIDI track to activate it.
From here you can adjust settings like pattern, octave range, and swing. Patterns are represented by MIDI shapes rather than the arrows that we saw on other VSTs. Additional controls like velocity can help give the performance a less robotic feel.

Cakewalk by Bandlab (MIDI FX)
Cakewalk includes a built-in MIDI FX Arpeggiator VST. The video above offers a detailed walkthrough, but here's a quick summary:
Insert a synth on a MIDI track
Open your "Plugins" directory and in the “MIDI FX” section select “Arpeggiator”
Drag and drop it onto your virtual instrument
Cakwalk uses the label "path" to refer to the arp pattern. Click that dropdown menu to select the motion that you want you. Then fine tune the articulation with rate, legato, and swing settings.

Propellerhead Reason (Duo Arpeggio Player)
Reason offers several "Player" VSTs that function as an arpeggiator, the most popular being Dual Arpeggio. Here's how to access and start using it:
Create or select an Instrument in the Rack
Click “Add Player” and from the list of Players, choose Dual Arpeggio
This will automatically route MIDI through your selected instrument.
Now you can set timing, pattern, note order, and more, and even layer arpeggios for more complex or harmonic effects. Reason’s modular design allows you to chain multiple Players for intricate rhythmic and melodic interplay.

Combining an Arpeggiator with a chord generator
Now that you've got a handle of how to load and access the arpeggiator in your DAW, we want to show you a demo of how this works in a real life DAW workflow.
To make this a bit more interesting, we'll be using AudioCipher's text-to-chord generator for our progression. This allows us to build chords around a theme, guiding other decisions we make about the mood and arrangement.
In the example above, we use the word "Ocean" in the key of F# minor and select "seventh chords" from AudioCipher's dropdown menu. The rhythm slider is set to whole notes at 100 bpm. Notice that the inversion button is switched on for smooth voice leading and smaller distances between the chords.
At first the chords are simply sustained for one bar each. There's no rhythm or movement to support the melody. So we load Logic Pro's Arpeggiator in the MIDI FX channel and immediately we've got a more dynamic starting point to work with.
Those chords remain unchanged in the MIDI piano roll, despite the arpeggio effect that we hear during playback. You can expect that behavior from most DAWs, because the MIDI effect is a secondary channel that we route the chords through. It makes things less complicated when you change the arp pattern.
Check out our page about AudioCipher's text-to-MIDI generator to learn more about how this works.
