Melodic Techno: Creating Catchy Beats in Bitwig Studio

Tutorial | Oct 05, 2023

In today's video, I show you how to create a music track in Bitwig Studio. I start off by using various modules and sequencers to generate a melodic sequence. Then, I add convolution and delay effects to create depth and ambiance. Finally, I layer in drums and bass, apply sidechain and modulation, and add some additional melodies to complete the track.

You can watch the Video on Youtube - support me on Patreon

Questions & Answers #

Maybe you dont watch the video, here are some important takeaways:

What is the goal of this video? #

The goal of this video is to create music using Bitwig Studio. The video focuses on using various modules and tools within the software to create different sounds and effects.

What are the main steps and tools used in the video? #

The main steps and tools used in the video include using the grid, pitch module, trigger modules, clock quantizer, counter, sign oscillator, AD module, convolution, delay, step mods, voice stacking, chance module, hi-hat presets, clap sounds, polymer for bass, peak limiter, sidechain, LFO, select module, step mod for modulation, and various effects such as delay and convolution.

How is the music created in the video? #

The music is created by using the grid and various modules to generate different pitches and melodies. Different effects are then applied to the sounds, including convolution, delay, and sidechain, to add depth and texture to the music. Drum sounds and bass patterns are also incorporated to further enhance the overall composition.

What are some tips or tricks mentioned in the video? #

Some tips and tricks mentioned in the video include using odd numbers in step mods for unique patterns, using the groove setting to add swing to the music, using the transient control and crossover for drum sounds, using the monophonic mode in polymer for bass to control release times, and using different effects and tools to manipulate sounds and create desired effects.

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.

[00:00:00] [Music]
[00:00:09] Hey folks, welcome back in today's video. We want to make a bit of music inside of
[00:00:14] Bitwig Studio. That's the goal for today. So I want to start right off without much
[00:00:20] talking, right? We go into the grid and we do the same thing we did some two
[00:00:27] videos ago. Where we use a pitch module here. We select some
[00:00:35] notes we want to use. Maybe here some something from the A minor scale.
[00:00:43] Something like this. Eight steps. Okay. We use some trigger modules. We use a
[00:00:52] clock quantizer. We go to 16 notes here. Some odd numbers here. Then we use a
[00:01:01] counter. And then we use this here as an input or as an phase input to drive
[00:01:12] basically at the step mod or the step sequencer. Then we use a sign oscillator
[00:01:20] for the pitches. We don't need the pre-chord here. We use an AD. We use here also the
[00:01:29] output of the quantizer for the AD. So we can actually hear something. Let's see.
[00:01:38] Nice. Progress. So let's put here some kind of convolution on there. But instead
[00:01:52] of a reverb. We use two actually here. Use maybe something to get a bit of
[00:02:04] . The wood. Maybe metal. Maybe some microphones.
[00:02:34] Okay. Let's move on. Delay plus here.
[00:03:01] Space and zero MS delay. Bit of ducking. And at the end delay two.
[00:03:13] That's nice. Okay. That's it for the postive X section.
[00:03:27] So let's use some step mods here with odd numbers. Oh we need actually to use
[00:03:43] playback here. And we like to go to 120 BPM.
[00:03:48] , and then we maybe use also voice stacking.
[00:04:17] Three voices. Octave. Voice stack modulator. Zero to one.
[00:04:33] . And we bring in a chance module. So not
[00:05:02] every note is played. Chance here. Make this a bit of this stereo. The left oscillator is a
[00:05:29] bit too tuned from the right one. And this is maybe the background of our track minus 10.
[00:05:40] So we add here a patch called melodic kick. I also made I think in some of my videos. Looks
[00:05:52] like this. By the way, it's also shared on my Patreon. Nice background. We need some percussion
[00:06:12] sounds here. So I go for my XO hi-hats preset. There are just a lot of hi-hats in there.
[00:06:19] Ready to go. I can also go here to the sample and combiner and just replace some of these
[00:06:26] hi-hat sounds. So I bring in here some hi-hats. Maybe I use here for the off beat. I use a 9 on 9.
[00:06:42] Something like this. So pretty simple for this one here. I use something different.
[00:07:08] And the third one. Maybe not too loud. And we need some kind of clap here to accentuate
[00:07:32] basically the second bar. Maybe something organic. So I use here the stereo setting. So the
[00:07:56] right side or the right channel is a bit too tuned from the left side. And then a layer
[00:08:02] on top here. Artificial e-clap on top of that. Clap. Wait a minute. Right. So I have at least
[00:08:30] a nice drum set here that's already broken together. I use the transient control on that
[00:08:37] to bring out everything in between the kick drums. And I use a crossover instead of e-cuing
[00:08:49] this shit here. I need a bit of swing or groove. Oh, it's already there. 33%. And
[00:09:19] we need a polymer for the bass. And I go here for a pretty simple bass. Nothing complicated.
[00:09:29] And I use an odd number here for the length of the pattern. So we are on A. Let's go with
[00:09:41] that. We use the peak limiter at the end. And we switch polymer to monophonic mode. So
[00:09:48] the nice part about having this in monophonic is that you can choose here along our released
[00:09:54] times. And when there is a new note coming in, the last note is choked because this is
[00:09:59] the synth is now monophonic. Use the step mode here to change actually here the modulation
[00:10:14] amount over time. Also here we use odd number five maybe go up. We start oscillator here.
[00:10:30] Bit of a tag. So then we bring in here some kind of sidechain. Actually it's not a sidechain.
[00:10:49] We use just an LFO for that. Use the curves module here. In here we use unipolar, right
[00:10:58] click reset. We need the groove setting here to synchronize this. And of course quarter
[00:11:04] notes. And then we basically duck every time the kick drum plays. We duck here the bass.
[00:11:16] So there is no bass when the kick plays. A bit faster.
[00:11:40] So this is a bit boring so we bring in a second note maybe. This second note is just one octifier
[00:12:04] but it doesn't play all the time. So we go to 30% or maybe I don't know 20%. That's a
[00:12:24] bit too often so let's go for 10. The grid here in the beginning is playing all the time
[00:12:30] so we use a select to switch this off. And the sequencer is not playing so I'm using
[00:12:43] an LFO. Let's use another note here.
[00:13:05] Let's go to 5% probability here.
[00:13:35] Okay, so let's split the bass here into two bands and on the top band we bring in a slight
[00:13:44] delay. And then I want to have this melody not playing all the time. I want to use also
[00:14:03] a step mod here to bring in this only at the end of the pattern. Like this. Then we use
[00:14:19] your delay plus to make it a bit dubby.
[00:14:37] So a bit of convolution we were up in front of the delay. A peak limiter here.
[00:15:07] Also here to make it a bit louder. And we use the tool here with the side chain actually
[00:15:14] with the ducking on the melody. But you don't duck that much. Just a bit.
[00:15:37] Okay, so we're going to go back to the delay. And we're going to go back to the delay here.
[00:16:06] I'm not sure with the heads here. Maybe it was a different 9 or 9 here.
[00:16:36] That's maybe better.
[00:17:04] So again bring in here maybe some chords into that or maybe we play a melody. It depends
[00:17:09] on how you want to have it. Let's go for a melody here. Let's keep it simple.
[00:17:23] Delay ambient. Delay 2.
[00:17:44] Delay ambient. Delay 3.
[00:18:12] Delay ambient. Delay 2.
[00:18:41] Delay 3.
[00:19:11] Delay 4.
[00:19:23] Too much.
[00:19:51] And I think it's already pretty full. What we can do now is to change here the hi-hats
[00:19:58] maybe to a different pattern, to a different sound set. So let's exchange the hi-hats.
[00:20:09] Stop this.
[00:20:16] Let's keep here this one. Make it maybe a bit shorter.
[00:20:39] We're going to go back to the delay. Let's go back to the delay. Let's see if we can.
[00:21:03] So I want to change up basically the hi-hat pattern here a bit.
[00:21:32] And here we play it as maybe one octave lower.
[00:22:01] And delete every second note also. Oh it's actually not in there. I need to press here.
[00:22:31] I really like it. It's actually pretty nice.
[00:23:00] So we use these DSEQ3 here on the master just to get rid of some of the frequencies.
[00:23:13] And you want to get rid of the high frequencies here.
[00:23:38] So yeah I think that's it.
[00:23:53] Maybe a third one without melody.
[00:24:11] Okay nice. So we'll save this here and want to share this of course on my Patreon. And
[00:24:19] I think that's it for this video. There it is. Yeah thanks for watching this video. Leave
[00:24:28] a like if you liked the video. Subscribe to the channel and have fun creating music. Thanks
[00:24:34] for watching. See you in the next video. Bye.
[00:24:36] [Music]
[00:25:02] [MUSIC]