Scribbletune

Drum loop with a bassline

Scribbletune can be used to generate EDM beats that you'd otherwise point and click to create in a DAW

Before we go on, here's a sample of what we are gonna end up creating using Scribbletune.

In many EDM genres, there is a monotonous kick for 8 bars with a small variation at the end. You can script this variation instead of tweaking notes manually.

Kick

By default a single x implies a quarter note. Four of these make the common kick pattern:

const ptn = 'xxxx';

Eight bars would be 'xxxx'.repeat(8), but we'll do seven and vary the eighth:

const ptn = 'xxxx'.repeat(7);

Define the ending-bar variations:

const A = 'xxx[x[RR]]';
const B = 'xx[x[RR]][x[RR]]';
const C = 'x-[x[RR]]';

Use R for random on/off events and square braces for extra subdivisions.

Compose the full kick clip:

const kick = scribble.clip({
  notes: 'c4',
  pattern: ptn + A + ptn + B + ptn + A + ptn + C,
});

Export as MIDI:

scribble.midi(kick, 'kick.mid');

Hats

Closed and open hats with random subdivisions:

const ch = scribble.clip({
  pattern: '[xR][[x[xR]]]'.repeat(16),
  notes: 'C4',
  sizzle: 'sin',
  sizzleReps: 32,
});
scribble.midi(ch, 'ch.mid');
 
const oh = scribble.clip({
  notes: 'C4',
  pattern: '[-x][Rx][Rx][Rx]'.repeat(8),
});
scribble.midi(oh, 'oh.mid');

Snare

A common snare loop with slight end-of-bar variation:

const D = '-x-x'; // base pattern
const E = '-[xR]-[Rx]'; // variation
const snare = scribble.clip({
  notes: 'C4',
  pattern: (D + D + E + D + D + E + D + D).repeat(4),
});
scribble.midi(snare, 'snare.mid');

Bassline

Two-part bass using randomNotes from scales:

const bass = scribble.clip({
  notes: 'Bb2',
  pattern: '[-xRx][-xRR][-xRx][-xxR]'.repeat(2),
  randomNotes: scribble.scale('Bb2 minor').slice(1),
  accent: '--x-',
});
 
const bassEnd = scribble.clip({
  notes: 'G#2',
  pattern: '[-xRx][-xRR][-xRx][-xxR]'.repeat(2),
  randomNotes: scribble.scale('Bb2 harmonic minor').slice(2, 5),
  accent: '--x-',
});
 
scribble.midi(bass.concat(bassEnd), 'bass.mid');

This script now produces five MIDI files:

  • kick.mid
  • ch.mid
  • oh.mid
  • snare.mid
  • bass.mid

I imported these into Ableton Live and rendered them with samples; here's how it sounds: