Rate
How fast the notes go: 1/4, 1/8, 1/16 or 1/32 notes.
Always in sync with your DAW tempo. While your DAW plays, PIP locks to the timeline (bars and beats).
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PIPby ICON84
MIDI arpeggiator
Hold a chord. PIP plays it.
Hold a chord, and PIP plays its notes one after another, in time with your DAW. 16 directions, four rates, up to four octaves and a gate from short and plucky to long and connected.
♪PIP sends MIDI, not audio. Put a synth after it (Serum, Vital or any other instrument) to hear the result.
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Hold a chord, hear PIP
A web version of PIP with a little synth after it. Pick a chord, press play and try the directions, rate, octaves and gate. Hit randomize when you're out of ideas.
PIPweb edition
BPM 120
Rate
Direction
Up
Octaves
Gate
50%
Preview
Chord:
Click keys to hold or release them, like a latch. The bright bar in the preview is the note that's playing.
The controls
Four knobs, one dice
Direction
The order of the notes, in 16 patterns: from Up and Down to Converge, Pinky, Random Walk and Shuffle. Hover a button in the plug-in to see its name.
Octaves
Repeats the chord 1, 2, 3 or 4 octaves higher.
With 2 octaves: C3 E3 G3 C4 E4 G4.
Gate
How long each note sounds, 0 to 100%. Left is short and plucky, right is long and connected (legato).
Even at 0% notes are at least 3 ms, so your synth still hears them.
Randomize
Rolls a new combination of rate, direction, octaves and gate. It stays musical: 1/8 and 1/16 come up most, and gate stays between 30% and 95%.
Preview + Sync
The preview shows the notes PIP plays, with the current one lit. With no keys held it shows an example on C3–E3–G3.
The sync light turns green while your DAW plays. Stopped? PIP still plays at your project tempo.
16 directions
Every pattern
Examples on a C – E – G chord. Click one to hear it in the demo above.
Setup in your DAW
PIP first, then a synth
PIP loads as an instrument that makes no sound and sends MIDI, so it works in every DAW.
Reaper · Bitwig · Cubase · FL Studio
Put PIP and your synth in the same chain, with PIP first, and play on that track.
PIP→Serum→🔊
Ableton Live
- Put PIP on MIDI track 1.
- Put your synth on MIDI track 2.
- On track 2 set
MIDI From → 1-MIDI / PIPandMonitor → In. - Play (or put your MIDI clip) on track 1.
Install
- Close your DAW.
- Copy the
PIP.vst3folder to:C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3 - Open your DAW and rescan your plug-ins if needed.
- Find PIP by ICON84 among your instruments.
Mouse tips
- Drag a knob up or down to change it, or scroll over it step by step.
- Double-click a knob to go back to the default.
- Drag the bottom-right corner to resize the window.
- Defaults: 1/16, Up, 1 octave, gate 50%. All four controls can be automated.
Good to know
No stuck notes, ever
- Velocity and MIDI channel come from what you play.
- Pitch bend, mod wheel and other MIDI pass straight through to your synth.
- Let go of all keys and PIP stops right away.
- Let go of the key that is sounding and that note stops, while the others keep going.
- PIP always sends a Note Off, also when you bypass it, stop the transport or change settings mid-note.
- PIP remembers its settings when you save your project.
Troubleshooting
Something off?
I hear nothing
PIP itself makes no sound. Check that a synth comes after it (Reaper and others) or that the synth track listens to PIP with Monitor set to In (Ableton).
PIP doesn't show up in my DAW
Check that PIP.vst3 is in C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3 and rescan your plug-ins.
The synth plays my chord instead of an arpeggio
The synth is getting MIDI from your keyboard directly instead of from PIP. In Ableton, set MIDI From on the synth track to the PIP track.
Notes come in late
While your DAW is playing, PIP waits for the next step on the grid so it stays in time. A note played just after the beat starts right away.
Hold a chord. PIP plays it.
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