Zoom ARQ AR-96 Fits Hundreds Of Musical Apps Into One Ring To Rule Them All
With both its main elements combined, the Zoom ARQ AR-96 Aero RhythmTrak looks like an enlarged version of the arc reactor embedded in Tony Stark’s artificial chest cavity. Come to think of it, let’s think hypothetically about this combination synthesizer, sequencer, looper, drum machine, and MIDI controller powering an Iron Man suit while pumping out phat beats composed by 468 stored drum/instrument sounds, 70 synthesizer sounds, and dozens more digital effects.
How doesn’t that sound like something Tony would eventually get around to tinkering with?
This all-in-one EDM machine with a built-in accelerometer consists of the AR-96 Base Station and the detachable AR-96c Bluetooth Wireless Ring Controller. The former houses the aforementioned hundreds of “one-shot” sampled waveform and synth sounds along with effect files. Its 96 pressure- and velocity- sensitive pads launch and play clips, sounds, and sequences while preventing accidental notes. Meanwhile, the onboard three-axis accelerometer alters sounds and initiates MIDI control messages in real time as you wave and tilt the unit. It’s music in motion, made possible through continuous wireless communication with the Ring Controller.
Electronic music explodes out of the studio with this dynamic handheld instrument as you build completely original tracks and timbres instantly anywhere at any time. Add delay, reverb, and filtering along with modulation and envelope generators to bring a unique flavor to your beats whenever a notion strikes you to touch up a track.
The ARQ’s editable drum machine tracks consist of 50 kits with genre-specific sound profiles and memory slots to compose up to another 50 custom kits yourself, including effects. Unlike approaching sequencing in a traditional linear fashion, this is also the first such device to visually represent your music up to five parts at a time in a bona fide loop and play up to 32 parts simultaneously.
It’s nothing less than EDM ingenuity in the palm of your hand.
