Building a .dawproject generator for Bitwig. AI handles structure, you handle everything else. What features would you want?
The work I enjoy least when starting a track is the structural setup. Tempo, sections, track list, routing, sends, returns, named clip regions for verse/chorus/bridge. Pattern-based, largely independent of the song I actually want to make, and the part of the session where I'm most likely to procrastinate.
I'm building a tool for myself that does just this, and honestly, nothing else.
You describe what you're going for: "lofi at 85, sample-based,verse-chorus-bridge" or upload an existing work and extract the structure, but not the notes, and it generates a .dawproject file: tempo, time sig, key, named sections with bar counts, tracks with routing and sends, empty clip regions placed across sections, section markers that populate Bitwig's Sections panel.
What it explicitly does *not* do:
- Generate notes
- Pick chord progressions
- Write top lines or melodies
- Generate audio
- Pick sounds or plugins
The AI is doing the scaffolding work, not the music. I want AI for the part of production that's muscle memory, so I can spend session time on the part that's actually creative.
.dawproject is the open standard, so the same file opens cleanly in Bitwig, Studio One, and Cubase. Validated in Bitwig 5.3 section markers populate the native Sections panel, clips appear as named regions on the right lanes, routing and sends intact.
Where I'm at: working prototype, file generation is solid. The natural-language input + interactive canvas (chat to describe, drag/click torefine) is partway done.
I'd love producer input on:
- What structural-setup work eats the most session time for you?
- Anything this should do that I haven't thought of?
- Anything it should explicitly *not* do? (genuinely curious where people draw the AI line)
- Would you rather run this as a local GitHub project, or use a hosted version?
Distribution: leaning toward free as a self-hosted repo, plus a hosted freemium service for people who don't want to run it themselves — paid tier probably covers project storage, history, and whatever features turn out to be worth it from feedback.
Not selling anything, not even close. Building this for myself first.
Just want producer input while I keep digging.