Tags: posts polarity-music Bitwig Bitwig-5.1.6 Note-Grid Replace VST Tutorial Preset

Harmony Bloom replaced in Bitwig

Tutorial | Mar 15, 2024

In this video, I successfully replicated Harmony Bloom inside of Bitwig Studio with a few differences. Harmony Bloom is a Polyrhythm generator that allows you to generate notes and control various parameters such as note length, loop length, probability, offset, and more. Although my replication may not be 100% accurate, it provides a similar functionality within the grid of Bitwig Studio.

You can watch the Video on Youtube - download the preset on Patreon

I attempted to replicate Harmony Bloom, a polyrhythm generator, in Bitwig Studio, and here's a brief overview of how it went:

In summary, while not a perfect replication, Harmony Boom introduces a similar polyrhythmic capability within Bitwig Studio, albeit with some constraints and less visual flair compared to Harmony Bloom.

Questions & Answers

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

What is Harmony Bloom and what does it do?

Harmony Bloom is a Polyrhythm generator that generates notes based on defined parameters. It allows users to determine the number of notes, note length, loop length, probability of notes being played, and offset positions within the pattern. It provides users with the ability to create unique and harmonically pleasing patterns.

How does the Harmony Bloom replica in Bitwig Studio differ from the original?

While the Harmony Bloom replica in Bitwig Studio succeeds in replicating the functionality of the original, there are some differences. The number of notes that can be generated is limited to 60 instead of 82, and some features, such as the quantized offset and precise speed offset, are not included. However, overall, the replica is able to create similar patterns and rhythms.

How does the Harmony Bloom replica work in Bitwig Studio?

The Harmony Bloom replica in Bitwig Studio uses voice tagging to generate up to 16 notes, with the ability to adjust the pitch using a spread parameter. Users can offset the notes within the sequence, quantize the notes to a rhythm, adjust the pattern length, change probabilities, and modify note length. The replica also allows users to define note collections and utilize input notes for further customization.

Where can I find the Harmony Bloom replica in Bitwig Studio?

The Harmony Bloom replica in Bitwig Studio can be found in the second track and is called Harmony Boom. It is available for download on the creator's Patreon page, either for free or in the lowest tier.

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 guess what? I tried to replicate Harmony Bloom inside of Bitwig Studio and I've kind of succeeded.
[00:00:06] There are some differences here and there, but I want to give you a quick introduction to Harmony Bloom. What it does, it's kind of a
[00:00:13] Polyrhythm
[00:00:16] generator. It generates notes and
[00:00:20] we can define how many notes we want to generate. Here in this case, five notes.
[00:00:26] We can define the note length for each of these dots. So each of these dots is basically a note.
[00:00:31] Then we have a loop length. That's basically the length of the time between one
[00:00:36] circle is complete. So I can hit the play here, right?
[00:00:41] And we can change the loop length. So maybe two bars, right? Then it takes longer to complete one cycle.
[00:00:52] We can also change the probability. So each note gets a different probability to be played. So sometimes some of these notes are missing and
[00:00:59] so on.
[00:01:01] Then we have on the left side here something like offset. So we can
[00:01:05] offset these notes in terms of position inside of the pattern. So we can say here, let's
[00:01:12] put each of these notes in a different
[00:01:15] position inside of this pattern. So we get some kind of Polyrhythms this way.
[00:01:21] Maybe you have to switch it to the first track so we can hear it.
[00:01:25] Right, so we get these nice little
[00:01:31] patterns. We can also, instead of using here a free offset, we can use a quantized offset.
[00:01:38] So we can say each note is a quarter note offset inside of this sequence.
[00:01:46] Then we also have a speed offset, which means each note plays at a different speed or
[00:01:57] generally spoken, it's more like each note has a different sequence length.
[00:02:04] So it needs a different time to complete here a full circle. It looks like this.
[00:02:10] You can see each dot plays at a different speed.
[00:02:14] Yeah, on this kind of
[00:02:19] these kind of settings, you can create nice little harmonic Polyrhythms.
[00:02:27] Maybe we use here something like this.
[00:02:31] It looks visually pleasing and it sounds
[00:02:36] very nice. We can also define here a note collection. So each of these notes is then in a scale.
[00:02:44] We can also use your note inputs. We can use chords or multiple notes as an input and then
[00:02:51] spread these out over all these dots or all these notes in the sequence.
[00:02:56] There's also your scaling option in there and a lot of different stuff here down here.
[00:03:02] But I think we can replicate this kind of behavior just fine inside of the grid.
[00:03:11] And I want to show you this. So this was here the first track.
[00:03:14] This is actually Harmony Blue. And I go now here to the second track, which uses my preset called Harmony Boom.
[00:03:21] It looks like this. It's fairly simple. It doesn't replicate this to 100%.
[00:03:28] For instance, one difference is here. You can generate here up to 82 notes.
[00:03:33] And in here, you can only generate 60 notes, but it's OK in most cases, I think.
[00:03:41] So let's say let's put this back here and that's one bar.
[00:03:46] So this fits in sound, even these visuals here at the moment.
[00:03:54] So now what we can do is we can say, let's put this away.
[00:03:59] We can offset these notes, right? We can say each of these notes has a different
[00:04:05] position inside of the sequence. And at the moment, we generate 16 notes
[00:04:10] because we use voice tagging for this.
[00:04:11] And to use basically the note of C3. So when you use another note, for instance, here, the sharp.
[00:04:39] Then we start on a different note and then there's this voice pitch spread,
[00:04:45] which kind of spreads out the pitch upwards.
[00:04:49] So if you put us at zero, then we only use here this one note.
[00:04:54] And then you can slowly increase the pitch and generate more notes above this root note here.
[00:05:03] And inside here of this patch, we can use then, of course, a pitch quantizer and can dial in
[00:05:19] the different notes we want to use. We can also, instead of using this here,
[00:05:25] we can go into here this note clip and can define some notes.
[00:05:31] Something like this. And then use quad here, this button, right? And then it uses only these notes.
[00:05:39] So this is also possible. You want to use that.
[00:05:46] Then we use here the note offset completely free, right? So it's not
[00:05:55] quantized to the rhythm. So we can use this quantize button and then everything is synchronized to a 16
[00:06:02] 16 note pattern or 16 note sequence or clock.
[00:06:22] We can also change here the pattern length, how long it takes for one sequence to complete.
[00:06:27] So here there's two bars or we can say quarter notes or whatever you want to use.
[00:06:32] So the rhythm is more spread out than in terms of timing.
[00:06:38] We also have probabilities. We can bring this down.
[00:06:45] So each note has now probability of 30 percent to be played.
[00:06:48] Or probability 100 percent. You can also change the note length here.
[00:07:08] And there's a speed offset. So each note plays at a different speed.
[00:07:13] It's not really a speed setting. I'm changing here basically the length here.
[00:07:19] So we spread this out then and each note has different pattern length.
[00:07:24] But it has the same effect. I mean, it's the same thing slowing down or
[00:07:36] changing the pattern length is more or less the same.
[00:07:39] So note offset is basically here. This parameter frequency offset, quantized offset is not in here.
[00:08:03] But you can use the quantized button and then quantize everything here to 16 note grid.
[00:08:09] You can also change this in here if you want to go up to, I don't know, 32 notes or slower.
[00:08:17] So instead of using here this quantized thing, I'm just using a clock quantizer for that,
[00:08:25] which makes it easier to use, I think, in here. Then we have here instead of note collection,
[00:08:30] you can use the notes inside of the note clip and then use this pitch spread here.
[00:08:36] And this pitch spread spreads basically out here, the root note up to 36 semitones above.
[00:08:45] So each of these 16 notes is then a note between the root note and an octave or two octaves higher,
[00:08:54] or three octaves higher. Then here there's the length of the pattern in itself. That's basically
[00:09:01] here the loop length. The note length is the duration. The number of notes inside of note bloom
[00:09:10] is basically the voice stacking. Probability is this one here. We have the note length. Where's that?
[00:09:22] It doesn't matter. So you can change the note length. Number of notes, as I said, is limited to 16
[00:09:28] notes because it uses voice stacking here. But you can stack multiple of these harmony
[00:09:34] boom presets on top if you want to and then create multiples of these 16 notes if you want to.
[00:09:45] Note collection here works basically here with a pitch quantizer. And you can then use here also
[00:09:52] this one. This is called input notes. Yeah, you can use this here with the use quotes thing. So it's
[00:09:59] kind of the same thing. It just misses the beautiful visualizer here. And yes, some of the features
[00:10:08] are a bit limited, but it kind of works in the same way. So this one here is also on my Patreon.
[00:10:15] I don't know if I put it out for free or it's actually in the lowest tier. So if you have one
[00:10:23] buck, so you can download this on my Patreon probably. Okay, that's it. That's how it works.
[00:10:31] If you have some questions, leave it in the comments down below. Leave me a like,
[00:10:36] subscribe to the channel. Thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next video. Bye.