Tags: posts polarity-music Bitwig Generative Sound-Generator Techno Tutorial Poly-Grid

Generative Techno Tracks with this free Bitwig Patch

Tutorial | Jan 18, 2024

In this video, I demonstrate a generative techno patch using a sequencer and various modules. The patch allows for the creation of unique kick drums, melodies, and snare sounds while keeping the hi-hats consistent. I also explain how I used modulation and filtering techniques to add variety and create different sounds for each iteration of the track.

You can watch the Video on Youtube - support me on Patreon Download the Patch here: https://bit.ly/3O9AJSP

In this Bitwig tutorial, the focus is on sequencing and modulation techniques, particularly for kick drums and bass:

Questions & Answers

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

What is the focus of this video?

The focus of this video is on a generative techno patch created using a sequencer and various modules. The patch allows for the creation of different variations of a techno track by changing the kick drum, snare, melody, and other elements while keeping the hi-hats consistent.

How is the generative patch structured?

The generative patch consists of two sequencers running with a length of 32 bars, with one being offset by 180 degrees. This creates the effect of a DJ mixing one tune into another. Different modulation and sequencing techniques are used for the kick drum, bass, wavetable position, decay time, and audio effects to add variety and interest to the track.

What can be done to improve the sound of the hi-hats?

In the video, it is mentioned that the hi-hats sound too much like white noise. Suggestions for improvement include using a comfort filter or a phaser to add metallic sounds to the hi-hats. Alternatively, using actual samples of 909 or 808 hi-hats may result in a better sound.

How can the generative patch be used in different ways?

The generative patch can be used in different ways, such as muting the hi-hats, kick drum, and snare, and using it with a real 808 to blend and mix in the generated melody. It can also be extended or modified for various purposes, and the patch is available for free on the creator's GitHub page.

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] So, what you are looking at is basically a techno set or techno track generally.
[00:01:05] So, with this sequencer here we generate a new kick drum, new melody, but the heads, the hi-hats stay the same.
[00:01:25] So, you can hear the kick drum is different, the snare is different, the melody is different and so on, but the hi-hats stay the same.
[00:01:31] They actually have a different sequencer here offset by 180 degrees, so they switch after 16 bars.
[00:01:40] So, it sounds more like a DJ playing one tune and mixing another tune into the old tune.
[00:01:55] So, basically you can hear the melody stays the same, but the hi-hats change.
[00:02:00] So, it's slightly offset, that's why I used here two different sequencers.
[00:02:04] But you can see both of them run with 32 bars in length, but this one is just offset by 180 degrees.
[00:02:13] So, this was my idea behind that.
[00:02:15] Then here on the kick drum I have a blend actually where I blend the output of the rasp in front of the volume envelope.
[00:02:24] And I mix it back in here with the volume envelope.
[00:02:27] So, with this knob then I can switch between kick drum and kick drum and bass.
[00:02:33] So, the bass runs longer basically.
[00:02:43] And of course use the DICE module then here to change this from track to track.
[00:02:49] So, some tracks have longer kick drums, some tracks have no bass line, some tracks have a heavy kick drum and a long bass line and so on.
[00:03:24] So, now we have a new track.
[00:03:26] So, you can let this run forever, right?
[00:03:30] There are a lot of different combinations and it's quite never the same.
[00:03:36] And I built this in around I think 30 minutes, but the longest actually took to tweak all the settings, all the modulation amounts, modulation ranges and so on.
[00:03:48] So, nothing goes out too weirdly or is too loud and so on.
[00:03:53] But it works quite well.
[00:03:55] And like I said, maybe you want to exchange this here for samples with some 909 or 808 samples.
[00:04:02] It should sound much, much better.
[00:04:05] We have some sequencers for the notes.
[00:04:08] We have some sequencers here for the wavetable position.
[00:04:10] So, you can also exchange the wavetable here to get a different sound.
[00:04:14] We have your modulations or sequencing for the decay time of the melody.
[00:04:19] And there's here sequencing for the audio FX.
[00:04:22] So, each note or each pitch gets a different amount of FX mixed in.
[00:04:29] So, it brings also a bit of variety into the tune itself.
[00:04:42] Also here, the patterns are kind of the same.
[00:04:47] So, you can see that the snare is always at the same position.
[00:04:50] So, you can bring in some logic here if you want to change this over time or want to change this at the end of 8 bars, maybe with the probabilities module here.
[00:04:59] It's also possible.
[00:05:01] Or the kick drum here uses straight fourth notes basically.
[00:05:06] So, there's also here some options you can choose to make this more interesting.
[00:05:14] And here for the kick drum, this is also interesting.
[00:05:16] I used rasp as a filter basically.
[00:05:19] So, I showed you in some of my recent videos basically how the rasp looks like inside of the spectrum, right?
[00:05:25] So, we can create some nice interesting resonances here at the resonant frequency of this main filter.
[00:05:32] So, with just modulating this here with some DICE modules, we get a different sound for the kick drum each time we generate a new tune.
[00:05:40] And it works quite well actually.
[00:05:46] I think the hi-hats are actually the weak point of this patch currently.
[00:05:50] It sounds too much like white noise.
[00:05:53] I tried to bring in here a comfort filter to get some metallic sounds out of it.
[00:05:57] Maybe it's better to use here a phaser or something like this.
[00:06:00] Like I said, just straight up samples.
[00:06:26] Maybe there's also some room here to implement some percussion sounds, but I wanted to keep it quite simple.
[00:06:34] So, it's okay.
[00:06:36] Like you have only a snare hi-hat kick drum lead sound and then maybe an additional percussion line could be something.
[00:06:43] But like I said, I want to try to keep it simple and this patch is completely free.
[00:06:50] I put the link in the description below.
[00:06:51] It's on my github.
[00:06:52] It's actually just a generative patch here.
[00:06:54] You can extend it, can use it for whatever.
[00:06:57] Maybe it's also interesting to just mute the hi-hats and the kick drum and the snare and then use it with your 808, with your real 808 and try to blend it in, mix it in and only use here basically the melody generator for that.
[00:07:12] Could be also interesting.
[00:07:14] So, yeah, let me know if you use this in any way in the comments.
[00:07:20] If you like this, please leave me a like, of course, subscribe to the channel and ask me questions in the comments.
[00:07:27] And thanks for watching.