ArrangerKing is designed to provide support and inspiration when you need to get things done in the arrangement phases.
When functions are comparable between different DAW's we provide screenshots from Ableton Live in all manuals.
If you experience challenges using ArrangerKing with Cubase please let us know
Download and install ArrangerKing: Open Cubase and add it to any track. Open the ArrangerKing window.
Click on the ArrangerKing logo and select 'Color Coded Buildings' for an alternate view.
An ArrangerKing Guide Track can help with overview and marker placing. It's created with a drag-and-drop:
Guide Tracks come in different varieties and both as MIDI and Audio.
By default, ArrangerKing will move the mute triangles by one bar. You can change this setting in the settings menu.
When needed you can move looping parts in place in Cubase and also add new tracks that are not looped, with for example effects, vocals etc. This is a good opportunity to use a Guide Track
If you place ArrangerKing as the last plugin in your effects stack, cutoffs will be instant. However, if you place it as the first plugin and, for example, add a delay effect afterward, the delay will ring out even after ArrangerKing has muted the track.
Learn how to extract arrangments from reference tracks:
Find a straightforward pop song, load it into Cubase as an audio track and add ArrangerKing to the track.
Here's an example of some drums that was added to the beginning of the song.
They are not part of the arrangement, the arrangement starts only when patterns emerge. Cut your audio to start there.
Having problems? Send us a link to a YouTube video with the track You have are having trouble with and we may rip it for you :)
INTRO: Is it distinctive, playing at the beginning of the song?
It's an Intro. Not all songs have one.
Can you not make it fit with the pre-defined lengths in ArrangerKing? Cut off more or less from the start as producers tend to slap on various extra stuff before the actual arrangement kicks in.
Sometimes the intro is re-introduced
VERSE: Does it feature the same melody or catchy chord progression repeated with variations?
Mark it as Verse.
BRIDGE: Is it toned more down than the verse, or does it feel like you've found a separate part that wont fit in elsewhere, maybe a filler part or is something apparently causing a verse to be an odd length?
Mark it as a Bridge. Thats what we call them parts here!
PRE-CHORUS: Does it build tension leading towards the chorus - or do you have problems matching what you think is the chorus with the fixed lengths in ArrangerKing?
You've found a Pre-Chorus. They can be sneaky.
They're sometimes used as teasers without being attached to a chorus the first time.
CHORUS: Is it the most memorable and repetitive part, containing the main theme, probably the name of the song?
That's the Chorus.
SOLO/BREAK: Is there a focus on instrumental performance or a significant vocal but not the most memorable part, and does it sound different from everything else?
It's a Solo/Break.
OUTRO: Does it conclude the song, possibly by repeating elements from other sections but tapering off in volume or intensity and perhaps all sorts of everything introduced on top of each other?
You have an Outro. Not all songs have one.
AIR: Is it an effect, or rhythmic break or round and are you sure it will not fit into the rest of the arrangment if you try to re-think the other parts?
You .. may have found what we call Air. Be really sure as only very few songs have them and wrongly inserting for example a verse+bridge -combo as Air can spoil an elsewise elegant solution. So Air parts are rare, but they exist, and they sometimes are what makes a rock song have "an extra round of guitar" at the end of a verse for example.
Try and add ArrangerKing to an effect track with a destinct effect. Send to the effect track at full volume from some other tracks. Now the ArrangerKing on the effect track can switch on/off the effect.
Sometimes as an effect or in live sessions it can be nice to be able to mute absolutely everything, and this can easily be done by simply adding ArrangerKing on the Master Track and for example mute the last part of a Drop. Or make the Outro double the needed length, and mute it half way in.
If you group tracks, you can control their muting with one instance of ArrangerKing by simply placing it on the group.
Your Arrangements are all stored in a text file so you can easily share them all, store them all, move them all to another computer, or maybe even do some spring cleaning. You access them here:
OSX:
~/Library/Application Support/ArrangerKing
Windows:
%appdata%\ArrangerKing