Extending the Bitwig Piano Roll

Hey Everyone, I've read many posts about the Piano Roll and wondered if I could contribute something there. And I came across something and have here extended the Piano Roll with a Melody Maker. With this, you can project random sequences directly into the Piano Roll. Everything is based on scales and probabilities.
The entire script is freely available: bit.ly/40X2Pb2 (download raw button top right)
put it in your bitwig controller script directory (usually documents/bitwig studio/controller scripts)
open settings 👉 controllers and click "add controller" at the bottom
select vendor "polarity" and then "melody maker"
Video transcribed, summarized and Q&A on my Blog (no ads): polarity.me/po...
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[@MetaMicroLabs]

I've been with Bitwig since v1.0 and I'm shocked at how little development has been done with the Bitwig API by third party users. Who else, Moss? This solution is exactly the kind of thing I was looking forward to when I switched from Abelton a decade ago - 'end user' driven solutions. Great job Polarity!

[@dr.gregoryf.maassen2637]

Bitwig needs to invite you to be a member of the design team. This is rather exceptional. Thanks for sharing.

[@PaulEubanks]

I'm looking forward to their piano roll overhaul in an upcoming release. The workflow in Ableton with the piano roll is so much more intuitive.

[@mecd4167]

It will never happen.

[@PaulEubanks]

@@mecd4167 They've already stated it's scheduled for an upcoming release.

[@atetraxx]

​@@mecd4167they're quite literally working on it. What you mean?

[@deckling823]

This is highly needed. Something that would be useful is to generate melodies based of A or B melody, to kind of like continue the same melody, also an option that says maybe... More emotional, scarier, or something like this by emotions.

[@IncorrectDisposal]

The ability to assign channels to the generated notes would be epic

[@ianvjones]

This is awesome man! Bitwig need to get you on the payroll! ( and piano roll)

[@DaveTherrien]

Very cool, Polarity - C'mon Bitwig - I can't leave Ableton until I have Capture MIDI, a piano roll that folds for a globally selected key/scale and an extensible ecosystem like Translate and Generate tools that grow to more useful tools like this every week.

[@gerhardat7244]

I really like your controller script. Bitwig should integrate such helpers like in other DAWs.

[@Heka.Kemestry]

Great Video! Thank you for everything you do for the community, Polarity! Always know that you're highly appreciated! Have a great rest of the week and weekend, sir.

[@PolarityMusic]

Thanks! You too! ❤

[@Heka.Kemestry]

@@PolarityMusic Youre always welcome. Thanks I will try!

[@PeteGunnShow]

Works like audiomodern riffer but with a few more options. Nice

[@davidchesley725]

this is amazing, I didn't even realize adding this kind of functionality was possible. You could really do a lot with this, looking forward to seeing what ideas you have

[@benjameek]

This is amazing you can add features via your scripts!

[@hypogeo]

Used in combination with Bitwig^s own Operators this is an amazing tool, thank you Polarity

[@TELEPHONER]

You're the best! Would be really great to just choose the length of notes superfast (for a bass line, for example)

[@gossipboynyc9625-VN]

What a fantastic alternative to Generative Midi AI, fantastic, and it's just human script.

[@soxymedia]

Great tool ! I think you can extend it with a lot of scales (scaling tools are never complete enough) Thanx a lot for all your job

[@OrdinaryOneOfficial]

Amazing!

[@AGZT94]

If they could do something like studio one or cubase where they introduce scales on the piano roll man oh man that would be so sick

[@drewandrews7938]

I want this so bad!!!! I have been watching your videos for a while. I produce hip-hop in Bitwig and your videos make my day for absolute ideas and time savers!

[@sadhill38again]

i love these little bitwig extension, predelay time calculator is amazing and so fast to use

[@Tikanna]

Hallelujah!! Thanks

[@ChrisWalton-rf8iu]

Thank you so much for making this freely available. Functionality like this is exactly what Bitwig needs. I'm gonna get a lot of use out of this.

[@DimaSkill]

Very useful tool, big thanks to you👍

[@aesonone]

ok this is freakin awesome. insane convenience having the button there, and also doubles as educational for non-mus-theory non-keyboardist people, to familiarize with the different sounds of keys and modes. edit: maybe smart to audition solo as you generate, because a nice theme might come up that woudln't line up with the beat and you wouldn't catch it if the drums were playing. then adjust it to the downbeat for how you heard it.

[@BursaProduction]

This script is amazing! More tools like this for generative thing is awesome!

[@nyjelj]

Thanks Polarity ! I've been trying to do this in the grid, but this script is much better. Knocking it out of the park as always. Just got it installed and running.

[@TerranoiseMedia]

Simple and very effective, works like a charm! You nailed it man. Thanks you!. I've been messing around with the percentages of the note probabilities and forgot what was the default values that you've set it to. so I've added a button which resets the whole thing to the starting values. :)

[@PolarityMusic]

I probably copy that feature! good idea!

[@TerranoiseMedia]

@@PolarityMusic i can save the the time by sharing the code if you like :)

[@PolarityMusic]

that would be dope!

[@TerranoiseMedia]

@@PolarityMusic i've sent you a DM on Discord.

[@deareeMusic]

cool idea I think this could be really fun to play with

[@flutcherizer]

Very nice tool ! Thanks for sharing and demoing it !

[@nojoe3000]

Super Teil Polarity! 🎹⭐

[@futurefateaudio]

Fantastic, thanks!

[@vitold2045]

This is awsome! Thank you very much Robert

[@frankyfurbo396]

what a great tool

[@bullhead2007]

This is amazing! I've been watching your videos for a couple months since finding out about Bitwig and you've really helped me fall in love with it despite its short comings. I didn't even know this kind of scripting was possible with Bitwig. This is so cool! Honestly I hope the folks at Bitwig listen to your feed back and see some of the stuff you're doing so it can reach the potential I see.

[@PolarityMusic]

Great to hear!

[@mudi2000a]

Polarity is back again with a great tool!! We can't thank you enough!

[@atmodiver]

it's works so perfect !2 hours flew by unnoticed and this thing is head and shoulders above all the ones I've tried before!

[@PolarityMusic]

❤

[@citadelo5ricks]

This is a great direction and leverages a lot of what you have showed us with in the Note Grid.

[@olidee9117]

That is exactly what I am waiting for. So großartig, man. Though I presume, that something like this is gonna come within this year in order to close the gap to Ableton 12's Seed and Rhythm and the like. But now I will hopefully never have to sync Bitwig and Ableton anymore for using Seed, Shape etc. I think, this is a perfekt starting point to dive deeper into these very cool Ableton features. Since Bitwig keeps uns somehow on the line with this you fill the gap. Perfekt. Dank Dir.

[@peterkoval]

another idea, if you wanted to develop this concept further would be if you liked a grouping or phrase you created, that you could then designate it as A and then have another grouping that you randomly generate, based off of A, that could complement it as a group B, and further C etc.. theoretically creating an entire ABACAB song. Riffer, and Captain or Pilot plugins come to mind, but having something natively created for Bitwig is a game changer.

[@Leerf-driftingpitches]

I too have complained about it even since Version 1 . Great work here

[@DonutShoes]

This is huge, dude, amazing work!

[@DonutShoes]

next stop, a script like this but for drums 😈

[@TuriaArt]

Спасибо большое!!! Только что загрузила, попробовала. Все работает Bitwig Studio 5.3 Beta 6

[@unlikeachair]

Brilliant! Thanks

[@DaveTherrien]

This is similar to the Ableton Generate - Seed tool - There you can select a pitch range, a range of note duration, and a range of velocities. You can have multiple voices playing at the same time (1-16), and you can change the density to make thinner/thicker note sequences. If I change the clip length from say, 1 to 16, and regenerate, it will fill 16 bars. Just some ideas of things that they've done.

[@loafoid]

superb, my dude

[@MrChrisanova]

Richtig super. Werd ich am Wochenende mal ausprobieren. Danke für die tolle Idee und die Umsetzung. Bin gespannt.

[@sjcary]

Amazing and fun to use! I hope the Bitwig team take note of your ideas and scripting skills.

[@AdamUnbeat]

Another excellent tool to inspire us. Works like a charm.

[@ImaplanetJupiteeeerr]

Ive only watched the first 1+ minute and already omg omg omg cant wait to get to play with this! :o ❤️

[@toptop7644]

This is a great tool! Thank you very much for sharing

[@Centomila]

This is wonderful! 💖 I will rewrite my AHK Stupid Chord Generator using your code as a starting point if is not already in your plans!

[@punktmidi562]

Thank youu❤

[@joitdust4053]

Great stuff!

[@TheMrAykut]

Hi Polarity, great work! I was thinking how cool it would be if this would be real time, without clips but as an arpeggiator or perhaps even like karma on the oasys, with real-time modifiers depending on the notes recognized by the track input.

[@Herbarino]

Dang, those are some nice melodies!

[@kaliyuga4802]

Echt zu geil für diese Welt! Auf sowas in der Art habe ich lange gewartet Wirklich wirklich gut!

[@SoundtempleMusic]

Amazing! Great work.... can see loads of potential here. Thankyou!!

[@javierlatuf9190]

I think I won't have to connect Bitwig and Ableton via loopMidi to use Ableton's piano roll anymore haha, amazing as always!

[@rogercawkwell5413]

Looks like a great start.

[@buckycore]

OH MY GAWD 😍😍😍😍 this is exactly what I always wanted in Bitwig. studio one has an auto generator. But this is WAY WAY more sophisticated

[@meBrokenBody]

This is REALLY good!! I will make use of that for sure! I didn't know a script can be made this way. Thanks for that, I'll play with it tonight. Maybe there's something to do with velocity as well. I'll try to find the time to add that, will let you know when I do.

[@oldecodger4522]

I didn't know Bitwig could do this. Very cool.

[@johnboybliss680]

great polarity one suggestion allow pin to project so it stays visible....

[@trgrgtgrtgr7724]

They need to copy FL Studio’s piano roll. Best piano roll by far

[@marcelvanderben3786]

I would use this! Looking for something like this!

[@Pilzhirn]

Awesome, thanks 🙂

[@atmodiver]

It's so epic bro!A great idea is also implemented in the riffer plugin. Pay attention!

[@EyelijnsMusic]

looks fun to play with 😁

[@MrWillfrieden]

this controller script is insane did try too development my own too automate some proccess i always have in bitwig it repeats itself on all samples for my fadeins but docs for this is hell. i think i need to invest again time too see how youre script worked

[@memecoinmafia2732]

looks sick

[@Drami_Corva]

This is amazing! Would you be able to create a tool, where you select a key. Then it generates 16th notes on every note in that key across all octaves and places it before the 1.1 marker, then you click the collapse button on the piano roll to put it in drum edit mode. so only the notes in the selected key remain visible. This would mimic the key selector functionality in Ableton. (I know, a lot of people will say it kills creativity, but I don't care. sometimes I want something fast and I am far from a skilled musician!). If I would have that functionality, I might very much contemplate to go back to Bitwig instead of Ableton.

[@Drami_Corva]

Also, Replace the word key by the word scale in my comment. So you would include pentatonic and other modes as well.

[@PolarityMusic]

yes, noted! somone already suggested that.

[@Drami_Corva]

@@PolarityMusic That would be awesome. It genuinely has been my only gripe with Bitwig. And why I have not bought a new Licence for a few years now. Other than that, Keep up the amazing work you do. This current tool in the vid is amazing! Nowadays they charge 70+ Euros's for these tools.

[@tolfred]

Brilliant!

[@davegraham2765]

Very neat indeed, Thanks Polarity your really onto something with this 🙂

[@cyr4x1953]

Piano roll de la nueva actualización de bitwig genial saludos buen video

[@bleighhh]

Thank you!

[@stephenbreitling2327]

this is far out ! congrats, there are definitely plenty of use cases for this. i could even imagine it as a generative sequencer module inside of the grid, if that is possible. an auto generate feature after certain intervals and with some level of random changes to your parameters might be interesting too. the only odd thing is the naming of the repaint buttons. reading it i would expect some kind of mutating of existing sequences, but as i understand it, it’s more like an undo button. so maybe you can choose a more obvious name for it. anyway, if the script is available somewhere, i certainly would be interested.

[@TechStache]

You are the goat

[@lwgl_xyz]

Dobson know the m4a device sting? The algorithm on that is brilliant, immediately though of it. A port to Bitwig would be gorgeous

[@berniehcc]

That’s crazy cool 😎😍😍😍 thx 🙏 I‘ll try out immediately 🥳🥳🥳

[@peterkoval]

wow. amazing. wonder if you can lock certain notes or groups you like, and randomize the rest.... good work!!!

[@nai888]

Oh, what a great idea. Maybe this will kick off a new revolution of people writing controller scripts to handle functionality like Ableton's MIDI Tools built in Max 4 Live!

[@KrisCadwell]

Wow I had no idea this was possible. Very impressive.

[@MarcelHnilka]

Many thanks for this awesome tool. Couple of things I'm missing is ability to rotate/shift whole pattern and also return to previously generated pattern, because undo/redo buttons in Bitwig does not work for whole pattern.

[@IncompleteTheory]

Instant Tangerine Dream :-) Super useful, thanks!

[@zprogressdnb]

I tried (and almost succeeded) doing something like this with a device chain. This is way better than my attempt. One request. Would it be possible to add a button to just add the notes of the scale, without making a melody? Sometimes I just want to quickly know what a scale is without doing the whole half step full step stuff or playing with the key filter. (Edit: Typing in phones is hard)

[@PolarityMusic]

Yes! Noted

[@zprogressdnb]

​@@PolarityMusic You're the best we'd be lost without you bro.

[@zprogressdnb]

@@PolarityMusic If possible, also add the possibility to add those notes in a muted state and before/after the clip so they're added only as reference.

[@ClaudeYoung]

Wow this is so cool!!!! Bravo!!

[@doomslayer4663]

Danke dir!

[@michael_rs]

Cool... did not know you could do that. Sort of like what fls has with python. Thanks!

[@travisbasso6496]

oooooooo Polarity!!!! Didn't know I needed this, now can't live without!!! Truly incredible! So drag and drop didn't work or I couldn't see where to drop, but just put in the controller folder and boom everything worked. Just messing around but so far works greaat! I'll let you know if I have any issues or ideas--but wow thank you!!!!! What's that other script you have? File name something?

[@PolarityMusic]

more coming soon :)

[@rubi9324]

Oh shit scripts are powerful !!

[@iso_brown]

Instant Download to test it. Thanks.

[@TuriaArt]

было бы неплохо регулировать длину паттерна ( сейчас я так понимаю 1 бар) и если есть возможность закрепить поверх экрана

[@tekm]

👍 very nice a 👍

[@daviHuggMonster]

woaaaa that is soooo cool. I always rely mostly on external tools as I am pretty bad at scales

[@eddyboese668]

Damn good work👏

[@eddyboese668]

Es Geht, und das überraschend gut, DANKE MANN

[@PolarityMusic]

geil!

[@eddyboese668]

@@PolarityMusic

[@InvasionQ]

very nice!!

[@PolarityMusic]

Thanks!

[@InvasionQ]

@@PolarityMusic hey im using this a lot this is really easy to use and very useful i can see this having a great future .......can u also add another option at the bottom for polyphonic harmony like harmonize some of the melody in 6th's and 3rd's and 4th's and 5ths's and ect

[@Franklundin]

nice, it work now :)

[@andytuke8986]

Nice, can you make a video going through the script code?

[@PolarityMusic]

I could, probably too boring for a video. But maybe when I learned enough i do a tutorial or something.

[@MrSonicAlchemy]

This is super cool. However with the delay on 16th notes we can't hear the rests!