Transform your Bitwig Synths into generative Patches - Generative Grid Tutorial for Beginners 1

I often notice in conversations that the basics are not in place for everyone. That's why today we are refreshing everything from the bottom up. We start with a simple synth and turn it into something generative.
0:00 intro
0:45 how to open the grid / initial patch
2:19 how to play the grid as an instrument
2:50 what are pre-chords?
3:57 disable pitch pre-chord and modify the incoming pitch signal
5:21 using the pitch quantize module to stay in key
9:34 ADSR Envelope module and how it works
14:24 gate signal pre-chord & modifying gate signals
16:04 generating gate signals inside the grid / gates module
17:38 generating pitch signals inside the grid / pitches module
22:08 using the transpose module to change notes randomly
24:04 phase pre chord / phase in module
24:27 altering the phase for rhythms / bend module
24:53 the phase signal
25:36 modulating the bend module
26:37 wrapping up
#bitwig #generative #tutorial #beginner
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Hi, I'm Polarity and do music at home in my small bedroom studio. I record regularly sessions and publish them here. I also broadcast live on twitch from time to time. // Hallo ich heiße Polarity und mache Musik hier in Berlin in meinem kleinen Schlafzimmer. Ich zeichne regelmässig Sessions auf und veröffentliche sie hier. Wer möchte kann das auch live auf Twitch verfolgen, wo ich öfters Live sende!
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[@bengram6074]

Best channel for Bitwig! Thanks!

[@rogercawkwell5413]

I enjoy your tutorials. As a retired teacher, I'm well aware of the importance of not over-estimating what your listeners might know and demonstrating the basic things before going on to the more complicated ones. You have that covered!

[@PolarityMusic]

Hey man thanks for the nice feedback ❤️

[@chitlun]

You are to The Grid what Omri Cohen is to VCV Rack! Thank you for simplifying this instrument… I’m going to sit down and follow these steps and see where I can take this. After I’ve watched parts two & three of course! Cheers man 👍

[@PolarityMusic]

thanks :D have fun exploring and ask if you need clarifications :)

[@jasonfnorth]

Big compliment… Omri is the VCV man…

[@kavokei1337]

I hit the like a minute in based on the intro 👍 Cheers!

[@noodlesushii]

absolutely brilliant! thanks for the great tutorial

[@PseudoPulse]

Great video!!

[@djmonkeyking]

Fantastic lesson. Thanks Polarity.

[@gesslr]

THANK YOU!! Covering the basics like this really helps. Thank you so much!!!

[@andy-simmons]

This was super helpful. Thank you!

[@DennisShinkevich]

Das war das Beste, was ich über Grid gesehen habe! Besten Dank!

[@alexyuts1689]

Super useful! Thanks a lot!

[@Framed_Synth]

Thank you Polarity for your great videos, I'm learning a lot from them all the time and they all are super creative!

[@Tvaroh]

Thank you - very enlightening and clear.

[@Som-N]

This was super inspiring and clearly explained! Thanks!

[@PolarityMusic]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Ardspans]

Absolutely wonderful, just what I needed at the right time. Thank you so much.

[@Thought-Forms]

just what I was looking for. amazingly helpful guide on the grid! thanks man

[@Mafkees31]

Very good tutorial, thanks a lot!

[@PatternMusic]

This is a brilliant introduction to generative (using The Grid). Thanks.

[@untilde]

24:20 There's always new things to learn. Never thought about using phase bending on a step sequencer. Thanks for the video :)

[@JeffShuck]

So great and so helpful.

[@mark35mi]

Wow. THANK YOU!!!

[@ulfb5467]

Really nice tutorial, it would be interesting to combine it with other synths. You’re king on Bitwig 👍

[@Wheel333]

Awesome thanks 🙏❤️🙏

[@miklaop]

Thank You!

[@toavnwub]

thank you for this

[@kyletait11]

Learn something new every time I watch your videos! Thanks again for sharing.

[@PolarityMusic]

My pleasure!

[@bsierens]

thank you!! First delve into this i love it

[@vetiarvind]

Wow so good i'm supporting you when i get cash from my biz.

[@vonaudio5435]

mind opening

[@thefrenchdev965]

It's a really good tutorial, I was trying to understand how this works since I want to make some ambient background music for my video game. Thanks to this tutorial, I now understand that you can use the little arrow (for instance of the ADSR) to modify many parameters for the other modules and it doesn't have to be connected with a cable. I've now been able to make some wind sounds with gust sounds, pretty cool.

[@findjonmoses]

I have just got full Bitwig 3.2.5 - the Grid is amazing and this video you did was really fantastic. Love the explanations and the fact that you now have taught me a lot that will keep me entertained for a long while at least

[@PolarityMusic]

thanks! maybe check also the synthesis methods tutotrial kzbin.info/www/bejne/paWuoIODjraSes0

[@set5733]

Super Einstieg!

[@ImaplanetJupiteeeerr]

This was amazing, thank you so much for this Polarity. I am going to check all your other Generative tutorials as well in the upcoming days. If there is something new that you have not made a video about on this front, please make more, this is sooooo interesting! :) I am instantly wondering, how I could make the patch to produce melodies that would "make sense" melody wise, but still be quite random. I guess these can also be used for some basis, then midi info can be taken and then further compose to pieces later on. This patch sounded like some Sync24, or CBL songs, I'm gonna use that same scale for my first experiment as well. :) Have a great day, greets from Finland and thanks once more!

[@michalmacko8089]

oh my god, i just fallen in love..

[@orvytal9552]

gracias excelente musica :D

[@JustinUrban1]

Ive been debating whether or not to get BitWig for generative ideas. I have been using Ableton for about 15 years, and I have VCV Rack, but I am always into trying something new. I spent a lot of money on hardware synths in the past and learned that it's really an expensive hobby to have so software is the way for me. I may give this thing a try.

[@PolarityMusic]

try the demo of bitwig. should give you a good overview :) if you have questions, my discord is open!

[@bci3937]

Das Bend Modul spielt den Rythmus in ansteigendem Tempo, so wie die Kurve anzeigt...clever das zu modulieren...das gibt dem Rythmus ein wenig random/ swing/ nudge/ shift The Grid is awesome. cheers*

[@PolarityMusic]

genau so siehts aus 8)

[@evolgenius1150]

**hug**

[@ozannidayi]

Very good, thanks... is there a next video i can watch to take concept further?

[@PolarityMusic]

Part 2!!! kzbin.info/www/bejne/bKnKYqtojK-JaJI

[@vanbraxton8422]

show how the help selection on the inspector works which shows how parts of polygrid works in real time

[@TerenceKearns]

Are bananas expensive in Europe? we pay about $3/kg in the off season in Australia (sub-tropical region).

[@DG404]

Hello dear author. Let me ask you a question: is it possible to use GRID instead of the standard arpeggiator? Thanks for the answer.

[@lostinspacestudio]

ok stupid question. i select keyboard input as you show but instead of triggering notes my USB keyboard just acts as app key shortcuts instead? why?

[@mathieupe666]

Bananas!

[@peterkoval]

Great tutorial. Is there a way for the modulator to change after a number of bars? So every 4 bars or 2 bars, there is a trigger change?

[@PolarityMusic]

which modulator? the random mods on the device?

[@peterkoval]

@@PolarityMusic Yes, so right now you have the three notes modulated to create movement... is the a way to have it change every certain amount of bars, so example, every 4 bars, the modulator changes the skew differently... or some other way to time it within a timeline. Not sure if that made sense how i described it. Could be random or fixed. Just curious.

[@PolarityMusic]

yes. so the random mod creates new random values continously. and thats a bit too random ofc. to have a repeating pattern, which only changes after a few bars you have to sample/hold the values for a certain time. i think i will explain it in the next episode :)

[@marcelfrehse]

is there also a note randomizer for the pattern in the grid ?

[@PolarityMusic]

no, you have to build the functionality yourself

[@Cylume.]

Is there a way give triggers for things, such as a gate, a percentage or random probability of happening?

[@bci3937]

not sure what u mean, but you can just use random modules, also random the randomness probability (modulate modulations)

[@PolarityMusic]

yes, you can exchange the "gates" module for the "probabilities" module. Instead to switching a gate on or of you can define a chance of tiggering.

[@bsierens]

is there a way to slow down the speed at which the gate ticks throug the steps?

[@PolarityMusic]

Yes, modify the phase signal of the gates module. Probably with a scaler

[@bsierens]

@@PolarityMusic omg i forgot to lower the bpm of the song lol

[@srcodling]

oh, you mean pre-CORD, not pre-CHORD... because you were dealing with pitch/keyboard, I thought we were talking about some sort of multi-note programming, but it's just a "pre-patched cord" that doesn't need to be connected... got it now...

[@PolarityMusic]

Yea.. Maybe I should call it pre patch or pre wiring. But pre cord is the official title 😅

[@srcodling]

@@PolarityMusic I think based on this link it is "pre-cord" (as in cord=cable), not "pre-chord" (as in chord=multiple notes): www.bitwig.com/learnings/getting-around-in-the-grid-39/

[@PedroMiguel-if3ll]

Good job, now you can go eat your bananas! 👌

[@sweetguy85]

Can grid do wavetable FM - ing? Btw, nice video as alwaysXD

[@PolarityMusic]

kind of. modulate the speed knob of the sampler

[@sweetguy85]

@@PolarityMusic I'm still can't figure it out...😂 Thanks for the reply...

[@PolarityMusic]

ok, check this kzbin.info/www/bejne/paWuoIODjraSes0 i marked the timeframe ;)

[@paradoxic1888]

I wonder if it's possible to create a generative patch for drum rhythms.

[@phosfine7793]

of course! quite easy, actually.

[@PolarityMusic]

its easy to do, yes but its hard to make it sound good/authentic :D

[@paradoxic1888]

The classic four-on-the-floor rhythms would be much easier I'm sure. I've been checking out Beat Map by Reason, and it's very intuitive in that certain maps you upload are specific to a type of flavor or genre, and it's capable of creating some complex rhythms, especially if you load up 4 or more instances of it and mix and match the different maps and rates. I can't imagine how complex it would be to do something similar in Bitwig.

[@PolarityMusic]

@@paradoxic1888 doesn't matter what tool you use making complex patterns is easy but it always lacks purpose or meaning, and as soon you add meaning its not really generative anymore. So sometimes you want random drumhits occurring and sometimes not depend on the context of your surrounding track. The best option is probably to make it half procedural and blend in random drum hits on particular positions in the track.

[@paradoxic1888]

@@PolarityMusic Of course, it's more about speeding up the monotonous work for me. If you can generate some rhythms on the fly, you can start building out your samples in the drum rack, plus I tend to get stuck in the same "loops" (pun intended) and these techniques inspire me to get some new ideas. I've been experimenting with the random modulator in Bitwig such as randomizing hi hats, but it just got me stuck randomizing over and over where it would be quicker just to build your own hat, but I find generative synthesis fascinating. So with regards to that, your videos have been very helpful in getting around the Grid and finding synchronicity between both patterns and creativity.

[@BALROJ]

Awesome video, what software do you use to edit your videos?

[@PolarityMusic]

im using obs to record and then davinci resolve to cut/render (both free) :)

[@user-dh1go4sq9q]

Basic

[@uiliumpowell4684]

Do a lot of gay men use Bitwig?

[@PolarityMusic]

it doesnt matter