There is a very good arp already built into logic, but it's buried. It's in the audio Environment window. New > Arpeggiator. ...
Yes, I used that one from time to time. However, I find it very limited.
- There are only a few pattern options
- There is no way to create and add one's own custom patterns
- There is very limited control over feel (different note lengths and velocities, etc)
I still find the Environment cabling to be a tedious hold-over as well. It's fine if that is kept as an option, but I think a simple MIDI plug-in with user-definable patterns and feel parameters would be ideal.
I miss the arpeggiator on my old Novation SuperNova II...If I recall, there were somewhere on the order of 600 or more (!) presets, with various feels. One could also create custom patterns. An arp pattern could be up to 64 steps long, consisting of notes, rests (!), ties (!), glides (!), with independent control of velocity and gate time for each step. Now THAT's what I call an arpeggiator. In a minimalist frenzy inspired by the diminutive size of NYC real estate, I suddenly exiled almost all of my hardware synths.
There are third party solutions, but none seem to do the job right. I've tried HyperCyclic for a while. It creates some intriguing patterns, but the programming is rather odd, and the timing is unusable in Logic (one has to use the IAC bus to run HyperCyclic in Logic). One can record the output, and requantize, but it's just too tedious.