Creating Generative Music in Bitwig Studio Without the Grid
Tutorial | Mon Jan 31 2022 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
In this video, I showed how to create generative music in Bitwig Studio without using the grid. I showed how to use the Grid Node Out preset, which can be used to get node information out of the grid into the Bitwig world. I also showed how to use a Polymer synth and a small delay, as well as how to use the steps mode, the LFO, and the Key Filter to modulate the pitch and gate. Finally, I showed how to use a Node Clip and an ABit Creator to generate random nodes.
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Questions & Answers #
Maybe you dont watch the video, here are some important takeaways:
Is there a way to create generative music inside BitVic Studio without the grid? #
Yes, there is a way to create generative music inside BitVic Studio without the grid. One way to do this is by downloading the free preset called grid node out, which can be used to generate nodes using remote controls called gate and pitch. Another way is by using a node clip to create a node and an abit creator to generate random notes. Finally, one could also use clips in the clip launcher, painting in random nodes on a scale and setting them to play order to create a different pattern every time.
How can I use the grid node out preset to generate nodes? #
To use the grid node out preset to generate nodes, one would first need to define the pitch. This can be done in multiple ways, such as using the steps mode to modulate the pitch with an amount, or using a random modulator to modulate the pitch in bipolar mode. Then, one would need to modulate the gate in order to bring in or create a voice. This can be done using an LFO set to pools. Alternatively, one can also remove the grid node out and use a node
Transcription #
This is what im talking about in this video. The text is transcribed by AI, so it might not be perfect. If you find any mistakes, please let me know.
You can also click on the timestamps to jump to the right part of the video, which should be helpful.
[00:00.000] Welcome back to another video guys.
[00:02.000] Recently someone asked me is there actually a possibility
[00:05.760] to create a generative music inside BitVic Studio,
[00:10.040] but without the grid.
[00:11.400] And yes, there is.
[00:12.520] And I want to show you this in this video.
[00:15.400] So for the first method, we actually,
[00:17.400] or you actually need to download the preset, which is for free.
[00:22.320] And it's called grid node out.
[00:25.400] And search for grid out.
[00:27.800] Grid node out.
[00:29.120] And you can use this to get node information
[00:31.840] out of the grid into the BitVic world.
[00:35.840] Or you can use it to generate nodes.
[00:38.760] So just using this here.
[00:40.160] And you can see it as a remote control called gate
[00:43.440] and a remote control called pitch.
[00:45.560] And we both, or we can use both to generate nodes with this.
[00:51.720] So then we need some kind of synth here.
[00:56.480] Polymer.
[00:58.920] And maybe we add here a small delay at the end.
[01:03.000] Delay to do it.
[01:07.480] OK, fine.
[01:09.160] So now we need to define the pitch.
[01:11.640] We can do this in multiple ways.
[01:13.640] We can use, for instance, the steps mode.
[01:17.720] And this is how it looks.
[01:18.800] Clear out all the steps, switch to bipolar mode.
[01:21.640] So we get also negative values and positive values.
[01:24.840] We can actually randomize buttons.
[01:26.400] So we get the random pattern.
[01:29.200] And with this steps mode, we modulate just the pitch here
[01:32.360] by some kind of amount.
[01:34.280] It doesn't matter how much.
[01:36.480] You can define the node range, basically,
[01:38.720] with the modulation amount.
[01:40.280] So how high the nodes are going and how low the nodes are going.
[01:44.880] So I just choose here, I don't know, 59.
[01:48.760] And when you hit play, we can see we step through this pattern
[01:53.920] here and also modulate the pitch.
[01:56.320] All we need to do now is basically modulate the gate
[01:59.240] to bring in or to start or to create a voice.
[02:04.680] So I use the LFO here.
[02:07.280] And I use the classic one.
[02:10.080] Classic LFO.
[02:10.920] And I switch it to pools.
[02:12.840] We get a nice kind of gate pattern here.
[02:17.200] And with this, I modulate the gate.
[02:21.000] You can already hear we start to create nodes.
[02:30.200] And every time, basically, this signal here is high or at 1.
[02:35.640] We trick our node and we use the pitch.
[02:37.960] We have at the same current time of this gate
[02:42.360] being high here in this steps thing, right?
[02:46.040] So when this steps, or when this steps mod has a different speed
[02:52.120] than the gate LFO here, we have slightly different pitch
[02:57.760] every time we go through this pattern.
[03:03.440] And you can generate different nodes by just by clicking here
[03:06.200] the randomized button.
[03:09.160] You can, of course, speed this up a bit here.
[03:16.080] And you can use here a quantize version of the LFO
[03:18.360] if you want to or just leave it at the random and then
[03:26.560] use a quantize a device here from Bitwig
[03:30.640] and quantize everything to 16 node grid.
[03:34.240] It should be a bit more interesting because you have some values
[03:41.800] in between the 16th node grid
[03:43.800] than you get some kind of different rhythmic feel
[03:48.280] or kind of groovy feel.
[03:58.200] Maybe you can hear it.
[04:00.120] It's not a straight rhythm.
[04:01.360] It's just a bit more groovy.
[04:05.480] You can also dial in the forgiveness.
[04:13.160] And maybe we can use here a key filter and say
[04:18.960] we want only nodes from the C major scale.
[04:37.120] Maybe we bring the node range a bit down.
[04:53.600] Also in this grid node out, I have integrated your
[04:56.440] the velocity setting so you can change the velocity
[04:59.240] if you want to.
[05:00.840] Just use a randomize or random modulator here if you want to
[05:06.080] and modulate velocity.
[05:10.960] Or just use the new node of x devices and use humanize.
[05:17.760] I think that's velocity in here also chance.
[05:24.320] Change the timing.
[05:26.040] And I think you can also use randomize
[05:31.640] and randomize the pitch here a bit more.
[05:37.920] I know, change the panning.
[05:40.800] Make it a bit more random.
[05:44.480] So it's basically creating some kind of generative music
[05:48.080] without the grid.
[05:49.440] Even though the pattern is always the same,
[05:53.280] you can hit randomize at any time to generate new nodes
[05:57.440] or new informations for the pitch remote control here.
[06:03.120] But you can also exchange this for random mod or random modulator
[06:13.760] and modulate pitch with that if you switch to bipolar mode here.
[06:19.040] You get completely different pitches every time.
[06:40.280] If you don't want to do that, you can just remove this here
[06:45.560] and generate just one pitch here.
[06:50.080] So you don't modulate this, you only modulate gate
[06:52.640] and get the node out, which is probably C3.
[06:56.560] And then you use the randomize device here and just pull this up
[07:00.800] so you get random pitch informations for the nodes.
[07:12.040] And then you have here the key filter,
[07:13.360] which brings everything down to a scale, which is C major.
[07:30.920] Or if you don't want to use the grid node out,
[07:32.960] you just delete this here and use maybe a node clip
[07:38.760] to create a node, and you can also use your C3.
[07:45.360] Something like this.
[07:48.760] And then you use an abit creator here.
[07:52.280] And go for random, maybe.
[08:03.640] You don't need to quantize anymore
[08:05.160] because you can quantize it here from the start.
[08:28.520] So multiple ways of doing this, really.
[08:32.120] But there's not really a way to create a node
[08:35.400] from scratch without a node clip in the device chain
[08:40.120] at the moment.
[08:42.280] You have to use my grid node out device or preset.
[08:46.480] This is the easiest way.
[08:48.080] Or you construct it for yourself.
[08:49.760] I think I used a node replacement for that.
[08:56.400] And I find this here, yeah, replace it.
[09:01.040] And with replace, I just used here, I think a sign for a test tone.
[09:08.160] I'm not really sure what I used there.
[09:11.320] Test tone, this one here.
[09:13.320] And every time you cross here the threshold line,
[09:18.520] actually, you generate a node on which node you can define
[09:24.920] with this one here, with this setting, but you know,
[09:32.960] it's easier to just use my grid out preset, which does
[09:41.800] exactly that.
[09:42.680] As a test tone, as a replay sign, as a meeting CC,
[09:45.560] and everything is wired up here with the remote controls.
[09:48.400] It's pretty easy.
[09:49.640] So this one is free to download.
[09:51.240] And it's pretty handy.
[09:52.760] I use it all the time with the grid, getting node
[09:55.560] information out of the grid to a synth or to a VST.
[09:59.960] Another way of creating some kind of generative music,
[10:03.840] or procedural music, or I don't know
[10:07.920] how you want to call it, this more like a traditional way
[10:12.080] of using clips here in the clip launcher,
[10:15.240] just painting in some random nodes on a scale.
[10:20.120] Maybe I use here, something like this.
[10:24.360] Maybe I just use the root node.
[10:29.240] And then we create multiple clips of that.
[10:33.160] And maybe some alterations to each clip.
[10:44.960] And then we select everything here.
[10:50.440] Say we want to play this maybe just one bar.
[10:55.520] And then we play order instead of play random.
[10:59.080] Play random means there is a possibility
[11:01.680] that you play the same clip twice.
[11:04.680] And play order or play, yeah, play order
[11:07.440] is basically play something else, what at random.
[11:11.640] So we can use this here, hit play.
[11:16.840] And then you can see here, we play different clips
[11:20.480] at different points in time.
[11:25.880] Then we duplicate this here to the same thing here.
[11:29.600] But change here a bit the patterns.
[11:47.320] So we have here the same action still defined
[11:50.120] so we can just move on.
[11:52.440] Maybe we use here also 16th nodes.
[12:04.840] And do basically the same thing,
[12:07.040] but we use two different tracks here
[12:09.880] and they overlap at different times.
[12:39.880] And you can basically let this play for a longer time.
[12:56.400] And you have always different combinations of these clips
[13:01.960] and therefore a different music or different pattern.
[13:07.680] And if you add more tracks to that or more clips to that,
[13:11.520] the more variety you get into your sequence.
[13:20.920] Of course you can also introduce here the randomize thing
[13:26.400] where you can bring in the pitch.
[13:30.120] And it's of course here the E-filter.
[14:00.120] And make this a bit longer.
[17:28.120] And then we have here the E-filter.
[17:46.120] And maybe some kind of spade melody, root note,
[18:13.120] root note.
[19:15.120] Maybe a bass sound.
#[20:02.120] And there you have it.
[20:25.120] Multiple ways of creating some kind of generative music in the big studio without the grid.
[20:31.120] If you use the grid, you have of course more control over everything and it's a bit more precise.
[20:38.120] But if you just need a quick way of generating notes, then this is maybe something for you.
[20:43.120] So that's it for this video.
[20:45.120] Thanks for watching. Please leave a like if you liked the video, subscribe to the channel.
[20:49.120] Maybe think about the subscription over on Patreon.
[20:52.120] Please feel as grandly out there will be no presets coming the next week, so make sure you are subscribed to Patreon and you can download everything next week.
[21:03.120] Thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next video.
[21:07.120] Bye.