Roland enters generative AI music with new Melody Flip tool
Roland has launched Melody Flip, a DAW plug-in that uses AI to generate musical ideas rather than finished songs. Unlike tools such as Suno or Udio, it produces simple MIDI loops meant as creative starting points for musicians.
Synthesizer and music gear maker Roland has introduced Melody Flip, a new plug-in that marks the company's first step into generative AI music. The tool is designed to work within a digital audio workstation (DAW).
Melody Flip includes roughly 250 so-called "Palettes" — collections of musical ideas organized by genre. Users can generate a melody, chord progression, bassline, or drum pattern from scratch, or feed the tool a reference track that it then builds on melodically.
Limited control over output
Unlike well-known AI music generators such as Suno or Udio, Melody Flip does not produce fully finished songs complete with vocals and arrangements. Instead, it generates basic musical loops intended as a starting point for further development by the user.
Control over the final output is fairly limited: there's no option to type in a detailed text description of a desired sound. Instead, users select a genre, note density, tempo (BPM), and musical key, and the tool returns a result based on those parameters. The genre selection is nonetheless fairly extensive, ranging from familiar styles like "80s disco" and "90s R&B" to more unusual categories such as "Kawaii Future Bass" and "Anime World."
The available sound presets suggest the outputs aren't meant to be used as-is — most resemble generic MIDI tones reminiscent of 1990s video games. This points to an intended workflow where users export the MIDI data into their DAW and pair it with more capable synth plug-ins.
A company back on track
Roland has reportedly recovered in recent years after struggling with its troubled Roland Cloud subscription service. Recent releases — the P-6 Creative Sampler, the SH-4d, and the Gaia 2 synthesizer — addressed major shortcomings in the company's lineup, while last year's TR-1000 paid tribute to Roland's analog heritage. Still, given the music community's broadly skeptical reception of generative AI, Melody Flip is unlikely to earn the company much additional goodwill.
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