MelodyCraft

MelodyCraft is a tool for generating MIDI files with chord progressions, bass lines, drum patterns, and melodies. Users can specify different sections of a song (e.g., intro, verse, chorus) and define the song structure by arranging these sections.

🎛️ Rapid Song Prototyping (why this exists)

MelodyCraft is a tiny CLI to prototype songs in seconds.
Describe sections and chords in one line and get a clean, structured MIDI you can play or polish in a DAW.

Two frictionless workflows

1. Quick accompaniment source (MIDI) Generate an immediate harmonic/rhythmic bed to sing or solo over. Perfect for fast songwriting, lead-line sketching, guided jams, and ear-training.

2. DAW skeleton (replace one track at a time) Create the song skeleton (piano, bass, drums, optional melody), then swap instruments inside your DAW (Logic, Ableton, Reaper, Ardour…).
   Import the MIDI, assign your plugins, refine voicings, humanize, automate.

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⚡️ Why it works

• Human-readable input: free-form sections ([Intro], [Verse_A], …), textual chords (Eb, Gm, Cadd9, Dsus4, …), durations in beats.
• Standard output: .mid with tempo and time-signature meta events, separated tracks (piano, melody, bass, drums).
• Musical defaults: basic grooves, optional drum fills at section boundaries, GM channels/volumes that make sense.
• Zero lock-in: it’s just MIDI—edit, move, quantize, re-voice everything.

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🚀 One-liner example

./MelodyCraft \
  -t 120 -m 4 -b -d -g -k \
  -p 100 -v 100 -q 100 -w 100 \
  -o demo.mid \
  [Intro] C 4  G 4 \
  [Verse_A] Am 4  Em 4 \
  [Chorus] Cadd9 4  G 4  F 4  Dsus4 4 \
  [SONG] Intro 1  Verse_A 2  Chorus 2

BPM 120, meter 4/4

• Tracks: piano, bass, drums, melody (optional)

• Clear song structure with free-form section names

• Open demo.mid in your DAW and you’re off to the races.

🧩 Mini syntax reference

Sections: [SectionName] followed by (CHORD DURATION_IN_BEATS) pairs

Structure: [SONG] SectionName REPEATS ...

Chords:

• Roots: C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B (also: Db Eb Gb Ab Bb)

• Suffixes: (maj) m 7 m7 maj7 dim aug 6 m6 sus2 sus4 add9 madd9

• sus2 = {root, 2nd, 5th}, sus4 = {root, 4th, 5th}

• add9 = major triad + 9th, madd9 = minor triad + 9th

Omitting the suffix ⇒ major triad (e.g., C)

🧵 Workflow A — Ready-to-sing accompaniment

1. Run MelodyCraft with your chord progression.

2. Open output.mid in a MIDI player or DAW.

3. Sing/play on top. Optionally enable -g -k for a generated melody that follows the key.

Great for rapid melody ideation, lyric testing, and creative warm-ups.

🛠️ Workflow B — DAW skeleton

1. Generate the MIDI skeleton (piano/bass/drums/melody).

2. Import into your DAW and replace: drums first (your kit), then bass (synth/e-bass), then piano/keys, finally the melody.

3. Polish: voicings, swing/humanization, automation, FX.

The form is already there—focus on sound and musical choices.

🔧 Handy options (cheat-sheet)

-t BPM (e.g., -t 130) · -m 3|4 (meter)

-b bass · -d drums · -g melody · -k keep melody in key

Volumes: -p piano · -v drums · -q bass · -w melody (0–127)

-o file.mid output filename

The file includes tempo and time-signature meta events at t=0, so your DAW grid/metronome matches what you set.

Features

• Generate chord progressions
• Add bass lines
• Add drum patterns
• Generate melodies that follow the key
• Define song sections and structure

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/francescosisini/MIDI-Chord-GANerator.git
   cd MIDI-Chord-GANerator

2. Install dependencies:

   sudo apt-get install libsmf-dev libglib2.0-dev

3. Compile the project:

   make

Usage

Run the MelodyCraft executable with the desired options:

./MelodyCraft [options] [section] chord duration ... [section] chord duration ... [structure] section repeat ...

Options

    -t BPM Set the BPM (default: 90)
    -m meter Set the meter (3 or 4, default: 4)
    -r repeats Set the number of repeats for the whole song (default: 1)
    -b Include bass
    -d Include drums
    -g Generate melody
    -k Follow key for melody
    -p piano_volume Set the piano volume (0-127, default: 100)
    -v drum_volume Set the drum volume (0-127, default: 100)
    -q bass_volume Set the bass volume (0-127, default: 100)
    -w melody_volume Set the melody volume (0-127, default: 100)
    -o filename Set the output filename (default: output.mid)
    -h Show the help message

Example

./MelodyCraft \
-t 120 -m 4 -b -d -g -k \
-p 100 -v 100 -q 100 -w 100 \
-o my_song.mid \
[Intro] C 4  G 4 \
[Verse_A] Am 4  Em 4 \
[Chorus] C 4  A 4  F 4  G 4 \
[SONG] Intro 1  Verse_A 2  Chorus 1  Verse_A 1  Chorus 2

What this does

BPM = 120

Meter = 4/4

Includes bass (-b), drums (-d), and melody generation (-g)

Melody follows the key (-k)

Volumes (piano/drums/bass/melody) = 100

Output file: my_song.mid

Sections defined

Intro: C (4 beats), G (4 beats)

Verse_A: Am (4 beats), Em (4 beats)

Chorus: C (4), A (4), F (4), G (4)

Song structure

Intro ×1 → Verse_A ×2 → Chorus ×1 → Verse_A ×1 → Chorus ×2

💡 Section names are free-form. Use any label inside brackets: [Intro], [Verse_A], [Bridge2], etc.

Chord format (quick ref.)

Roots: C C# D D# E F F# G G# A A# B (anche bemolli: Db Eb Gb Ab Bb)

Suffixes: (maj) m 7 m7 maj7 dim aug 6 m6 sus2 sus4 add9 madd9

sus2 = {root, 2nd, 5th}, sus4 = {root, 4th, 5th}

add9 = major triad + 9th, madd9 = minor triad + 9th

Without suffix ⇒ triade maggiore (es. C)

Contributions

Contributions are welcome! Please fork the repository and submit a pull request.