Descending Generative Polyrhythmic Melodies

Tutorial | Oct 17, 2024

In this video, I demonstrate how to create interesting descending and ascending pitch sequences in Bitwig Studio's grid by using modules like pitch bus, octave wrapper, and pitch quantizer. I explain how to maintain pitches within a specific octave, use the transport module for polyrhythmic structures, and combine multiple sequences with different parameters. You can find the patch linked in the description to explore these concepts further.

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Summary #

Maybe you don't watch the video, here are some important takeaways:

In this video, I demonstrate a technique within Bitwig Studio's grid that can help you craft interesting musical sequences. To start, I set up a basic patch in the grid with a sine oscillator, an AD envelope, an audio output, and an amplifier set to 75%. The sound is triggered using a trigger module, but I find it lacks variety in terms of pitch. To address this, I aim to create a descending pitch sequence with each trigger.

To achieve this, I utilize an external pitch module to define a starting pitch, in this case, D#3. I introduce a pitch bus and set it to descend by three semitones with each step. This involves using an input module with an integer counter that increments with each trigger, giving us values that we can work with for pitch manipulation. Since the pitch bus requires integer inputs, I modify the output of the counter using a multiplication operation to ensure it provides whole numbers.

I then introduce the concept of octave wrapping, which prevents the pitches from going too low or too high, keeping them within a desired range. By using the octave wrapper, I ensure that notes descend while staying between specific octaves, thereby maintaining a coherent tonal range. For more customization, I add an octaver to shift the entire sequence up or down by specific octaves based on preference.

I also incorporate a pitch quantizer to conform the sequence to a specific scale, such as D# minor, ensuring that the notes remain within a musical context. Additionally, I replace the trigger module with a transport module, allowing for the exploration of polyrhythms and polymeters. This lets me experiment with different sequence lengths and step sizes, creating intricate rhythmic patterns.

To demonstrate the possibilities, I duplicate and modify the sequence setup to create layers with different pitch descents and step sizes. By altering these parameters and combining the sequences, I achieve intriguing musical results. Reverb and delay effects are added for depth and texture.

Overall, this approach provides a way to explore dynamic pitch sequences, combine octave wrapping, stay within scales, and create polyrhythmic structures. I invite viewers to download the patch linked in the description to experiment further. I conclude by encouraging viewers to leave feedback and questions, and I thank them for watching.

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] Hey folks, welcome back to another video. I want to show you something inside of Bitwig Studio
[00:00:05] and to be specific inside of the grid of Bitwig Studio and it's maybe something you can use
[00:00:12] to make some interesting sequences here and let's say you have a basic setup. We have a
[00:00:20] sign oscillator here, an AD envelope and an audio output and also let's use an amplifier
[00:00:26] to 75% for some reason and then you trigger this here with the triggers module. Four triggers for
[00:00:34] each bar. It sounds like this and it's a bit boring because it's the same pitch. Let's say you want to
[00:00:42] have instead of using the same pitch you want to descend with the pitch. You want to go down on each
[00:00:47] step on each trigger you want to descend by a certain amount and you can do this easily actually
[00:00:54] inside of the grid by using here an external pitch module. So we can define a pitch, let's say D-sharp
[00:01:02] three here in my case. It's my favorite node for some reason and then we want to use a pitch bus
[00:01:14] and we want to send here by let's say three semitones on each step. So we can do this by using an input
[00:01:22] and the input should be an integer so a whole number and we can utilize here the counter for this. So the
[00:01:31] counter takes as an input a trigger. So each time we trigger the counter it goes up, up until eight.
[00:01:39] Eight is the highest number which is in our case here. Read out.
[00:01:47] So this one is a phase module and it gives us a value between zero and one. You can see this here also on the oscilloscope.
[00:01:59] it never goes higher than one, right? The problem is the pitch bus now takes an integer which is actually it starts
[00:02:07] with one and then one, two, three, four, five and so on. So we can change this here by using a multiply
[00:02:15] and using constant of the number here of this counter. So we have eight here, right?
[00:02:24] So now we get whole numbers. You can see here it's above, always above. We can change the scaling actually to let's say eight.
[00:02:33] You can see it goes up and we have integers or whole numbers which is kind of nice.
[00:02:41] nice. So now we can go into the pitch bus here and then we produce with the pitch bus here.
[00:02:49] A pitch that goes down each time we use a different number going in here and we just add this to our initial pitch.
[00:03:02] pitch. And this gives us now some descending sounds.
[00:03:10] The problem now is if you use a different step sizes here, let's say minus seven, which is a fifth.
[00:03:28] We sometimes get into the range of inaudible frequencies, right? It's too low or it's too high.
[00:03:44] So you have to combine this then with the octave wrapper so that the note stays within a certain octave, right?
[00:03:53] The note is the same, but it's try to keep it basically instead of going to, you know, C4, C, C minus three, C3, C2, C1 and so on.
[00:04:05] You stay between C2 and C3 so we can implement this here pretty quickly.
[00:04:35] And we need to use the constant of 10 because we have 10 octaves.
[00:04:38] We blow the signal up, go into the wrapper, wrap everything between zero and one, and then we divide it back.
[00:04:44] So we get the same number, but inside of the same octave.
[00:04:49] So we can go in here and then there, and then it should work.
[00:05:02] Let's use here this.
[00:05:10] You can see this here, right?
[00:05:11] We go lower and lower, D minus one is way too low.
[00:05:16] And here we stay between C3 and C4.
[00:05:20] You can see it never leaves actually here the number three.
[00:05:23] It's always three, right?
[00:05:25] And here it goes down, but the note in front is the same.
[00:05:29] So here it's T sharp, here it's T sharp, right?
[00:05:32] So this is a perfect wrapper.
[00:05:34] And what we can do then is if we don't like to have this note between C3 and C4, we can just use an octaver here and say,
[00:05:45] let's pitch this down one octave.
[00:05:46] So now we are between C2 and C3.
[00:05:49] And here we are between C1 and C2, right?
[00:05:53] So we can define then which octave we want to choose because the note in front is always the same.
[00:05:58] All we change with this octave is basically the octave number at the, at the end, right?
[00:06:05] So it's perfect.
[00:06:06] So we use this, maybe I change here the color of this and we can also, let's see, where do we do it?
[00:06:18] We use a quantizer, use a quantizer here because we want to stay within a certain scale.
[00:06:26] Because when we use here some descending or ascending step sizes here of pitchers, let's say a seventh.
[00:06:37] At some point we leave a certain scale.
[00:06:41] Maybe that's what you want to explore more like, you know, micro, what's the name, chromatic scales or so on.
[00:06:50] But most of the times you want to stay in a scale.
[00:06:52] So we use here pitch quantizer.
[00:06:54] And then we go in here and then in there.
[00:07:00] And then say we want to stay within D# minor here.
[00:07:06] And then it's already good.
[00:07:20] But I also want to exchange the trigger thing because I don't want to use polymeters.
[00:07:25] When we, when I use here different, uh, um, different numbers, we actually divide one bar into multiple, you know, it's always one bar.
[00:07:34] So this is always one bar, but you can say we want to have three triggers for each bar or six triggers for each bar.
[00:07:41] So this is more like polymeters and easy way is here to use a transport.
[00:07:48] Instead of, uh, using the triggers module.
[00:07:51] Now we can say we want to have here.
[00:07:54] We want to have a length of 16, 16 nodes, which is one bar.
[00:08:01] So this triggers each bar.
[00:08:03] Then we can say we want to have eight length, right?
[00:08:06] So it's half a bar more or less.
[00:08:08] So it triggers.
[00:08:09] Yeah.
[00:08:10] Each half bar.
[00:08:12] And we can also use some odd numbers so we can use or create kind of poly rhythms with this.
[00:08:18] So let's see how this sounds.
[00:08:27] okay.
[00:08:27] Let's put everything together here.
[00:08:34] Bam.
[00:08:40] And now I want to try and combine this with multiple of these, um, things because we can just duplicate this
[00:08:53] and say instead of, uh, length is here, three, 16 nodes.
[00:08:58] The length is now five.
[00:09:01] And we have a different, um, descending sequence here.
[00:09:09] Let's say minus three instead.
[00:09:12] Something like this.
[00:09:14] And we want to use, instead of eight steps, we use 10 steps.
[00:09:19] And we also have to change this here, right?
[00:09:22] So something like this.
[00:09:23] Let's see how this sounds.
[00:09:25] Oh, it's the same octave.
[00:09:26] So we use a different octave now here.
[00:09:28] So this is here between C2 and C3.
[00:09:31] This is now C3 and C4.
[00:09:34] Right.
[00:09:42] And then we put your convolution reverb on that and a bit of delay.
[00:09:54] And then maybe we use this one here and move it up and we say that's even lower.
[00:10:07] So two octaves lower.
[00:10:09] And then it's, uh, eight or let's say nine.
[00:10:15] And it's also descending by minus five this time.
[00:10:20] Let's see how this sounds.
[00:10:22] We make this a bit longer because the sequence is also longer here.
[00:10:57] So we make this a bit longer.
[00:10:59] So this is nine here.
[00:11:08] Let's go for 12, maybe.
[00:11:12] And we use here, plus four.
[00:11:19] And here we use 13.
[00:11:38] Yeah, and you can create more or less interesting descending, ascending sequences with this.
[00:11:58] Need to find some sweet spots here for these numbers.
[00:12:05] Yeah, so this is a trick I want to show you.
[00:12:31] So this is how you can descend or ascend with a certain step size or with a certain pitch step size.
[00:12:38] And also combine this with the wrapper to stay within one octave.
[00:12:43] And also combine this here with the transport to create polyrhythmic kind of structures.
[00:12:48] Pretty interesting.
[00:12:49] I put the patch in the description below so you can download it if you want to.
[00:12:54] And that's it for this video.
[00:12:56] Thanks for watching, leave a like, leave a subscription, leave some questions and see you in the next one.
[00:13:01] Bye.