Moving onto the arpeggiator, you'll see that it's grid-based-a graph, as they like to call it. Each preset includes a chord cycle laid out sequentially on the keyboard. If this all seems a little theoretical, there's also around 150 chord presets sourced from the masters (Bach, Mozart, Debussy, et al.), so you have an abundance of chord progressions. Once set up, there are various further options for sorting and batch processing your chords-making all chords suspended, for example. You can also copy and paste between slots or generate random chords using the 'WTF' button.

Cthulhu can learn played-in chords in a number of ways, assigning chords sequentially to key slots. This could help if you're trying to hold a particular note as a pedal note, for example. There's also the option to lock one or more of the chord's eight notes as you shift from one chord to the next. The chord panel allows you to scale the chord's notes against the incoming MIDI note trigger (0% to 200%), so your chord has its own velocity spread. Over to the left the thought bubble also turns the current notes into a chord name. Cthulhu provides two options for displaying and editing each chord's notes: one uses the keyboard, and the other uses the chord panel area just above. Used key slots are indicated in blue above the keyboard, with inactive ones in grey. That means you have up to 128 specific slots at your disposal. A single incoming note can trigger an output chord of up to eight notes, and each keyboard note can be assigned its own chord. Let's look at how the chord module works. However, it also includes its own sawtooth reference tone as a functional fall-back. How you do this varies from host to host (see below). Solely a MIDI-generating plug-in, Cthulhu requires you to route its output to an instrument. Deactivating one module folds it away, keeping the interface tidy. You can use each individually or run them together, in which case the chord module feeds the arp. Each is a MIDI-generating module that shares one plug-in interface-arpeggiator at the top, chords at the bottom. Cthulhu has two roles: it's a chord creator and arpeggiator. His latest plug-in also follows its own path. So far, the plug-ins have been devices which appeal to Steve's own tastes, such as the LFO Tool and the Nerve Drum Machine. He also has his own in-house label and audio plug-in business, both under the Xfer banner. Although with an eclectic resume that includes work with artists from Nine Inch Nails to DeadMau5, his skills are broad to say the least.

Steve Duda is a bit of a legend in dance music.

Xfer cthulhu