Roland Enters Generative AI Music With Melody Flip

Roland has entered generative AI music with Melody Flip, a plug-in for digital audio workstations (DAWs). The tool offers around 250 “Palettes,” themed collections of musical ideas organized by genre.

Users can start from scratch and generate combinations of melody, chord progression, bassline, or drums. They can also provide a reference track and have Melody Flip build on its melodic ideas.

Unlike Suno or Udio, Melody Flip does not produce fully polished songs with vocals and complete arrangements. It creates simple musical loops intended as starting points for further work. Output controls are limited: users choose a genre, note density, BPM, and musical key rather than entering a detailed text prompt.

Genre options range from “80s disco” and “90s R&B” to “Kawaii Future Bass” and “Anime World.” Its presets mainly use general MIDI tones, including sounds associated with ‘90s video games. The apparent intended workflow is to export MIDI data into a DAW, where users can edit it and combine it with more powerful synthesizer plug-ins.

Melody Flip marks Roland’s move into generative AI music, although the source notes that the music community’s general response to generative AI could limit the tool’s appeal.