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Regarding your question fiznuthian about the midi shiz. It controls my instruments well enough, I don't use CV or need to control any of my synths with much other than basic sequencing and some dynamics stuff, if the synth accepts data like that, which some of mine don't. I mostly sequence from shitty sequencers like the jx-3p's, EMX-1. I've been digging the pro-2's sequencer, mod matrix, solid-ass clock and midi integration lately.

 

Oddly enough, I hardly ever sequence from a DAW, I mostly use hardware that has a solid midi-clock, bounce thru mixer and/or effects (most outboard, nothing fancy) and modulate parameters while the synth is playing by hand, and cut by hand to place into DAW if I'm gonna make some tracks out of it. or like the EMX and Pro-2 have - I record the motion sequence into the patterns and repeat the process above. Bitwig and Live serve as compositional tools for when my hardware and live-playing/sequencing cannot handle certain tasks (i.e. sampling, micro-editing, having 8+ tracks playing at once, VST effects and some drum editing/arranging)

 

Lately I've been working out how to gain-stage all my incoming tracks better to import to the DAW, I'm still not the best engineer, so advice is helpful. I feel like I lose a ton of umph from hardware by sending it into my computer via USB and patch cables from my mixer and having the software handle the mix so to speak when it comes to making a track.

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I like setting up things that modulate other things but up until now it's (afaik) only been fl with its peak controller - I've heard reaper can, but I've heard bad midi .. There was a vst envelope follower to cc, but FL was a lot more graceful in its implementation.

 

 

So yeah, interested in that aspect & the humanisation

 

And anything new it brings (FL already has ghost track editing)

 

I'll check the demo out

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Lately I've been working out how to gain-stage all my incoming tracks better to import to the DAW, I'm still not the best engineer, so advice is helpful. I feel like I lose a ton of umph from hardware by sending it into my computer via USB and patch cables from my mixer and having the software handle the mix so to speak when it comes to making a track.

 

Use a VUmeter to calibrate your synths and samplers, record at 24bit, aim for a -24 to -18 dB RMS average loudness (and peaks between -12 and -6dB FS). You'll have tons of dynamics and headroom, without any kind of noise issue if you have a nice soundcard / ADC.

 

When mixing, use the same technique, with the VUmeter etc... and you'll hear your mixes blooming elegantly and effortlessly. It's really worth it, and even though it might seem tedious at first, you'll quickly get used to that workflow and forget you're gain-staging.

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Guest fiznuthian

Reposting this here from the Bitwig forums in case anyone is interested in trying it.

 

Hi, i'm new here but i've been Bitwiggin' for a while. I had a friend send me an interesting question on another forum, which ended up making me more curious than I should be:
"hey! im curious if you can somehow set the piano roll in bitwig to send midi parameter infos? so you could say map a filter on an external synth to be adjusted by keys. or even maybe different spots in the filter range to specific keys."
He also expressed interest in mapping notes to loop start on an external sampler, the Akai s612. It does support CC, but has very little modulation options for the filter let alone sample loop start. So I got digging around and discovered a little plugin that was released over a decade ago now called CC Rider. It selects a MIDI channel, then sends CC values for all 127 lanes as an output.
So of course being a Bitwigger (this sounds racist, sorry) I pieced two and two together to come up with the idea to use NoteMod keytracking to modulate the values of CC Rider's output into the HW Instrument device. I spent a few minutes rigging it up and to my surprise it seems to work!
grYPWEo.gif
Keep in mind in this GIF I don't actually have it sending to a real instrument, as I don't own any hardware synths and samplers. I did test it by placing the Oatmeal synth VST in the chain and using it's MIDI patchbay to accept the incoming CC messages to a lane of my choice. I chose one at random and set it's target to the filter cutoff. It works! :love:
Am I wrong to assume this does in fact work using the HW Instrument device? It's clear the CC message is sending through the chain properly. As long as Hardware Instrument does what it needs to do I can't see any reason you can't now modulate hardware the Bitwig's modulation sources.
But there's more (in theory)!
I was informed of a plugin called Silent Way by Expert Sleepers. With the right DC-couple audio interfaces and patch cables this plugin can send control voltages to hardware analogue and modular synthesizers. One again my Bitwig brain became curious, and I installed the demo of their plugin suite. Sure enough, it appears to work! In theory this should not only allow for Silent Way CV outputs to analogue hardware, but for the plugin parameters itself to be modulated by Bitwig's own modulation system before being routed to the synths.
If anyone with some real hardware would be willing to test this stuff out I would be thrilled to see what you can come up with. :) It would be brilliant for Bitwig to incorporate a device of it's own that functions like CC Rider. This hopefully would be attractive to the hardware heads out there.
Here's the goods:

 

 

 

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Really enjoying reading all this, does make me a bit tempted. But the main thing that keeps me with Ableton is the fact I've bought a Push and since then it's made composing/Ableton in general so much more fun. I'm no longer mouse clicking. Hell, I can do complete jams without even having to touch my laptop. Unless Bitwig offers something in the future that can rival that, I can't see myself switching soon. And I lack the intelligence to work out how to design a template that could work with it; the Push has so many layers wouldn't even know where to start.

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Guest fiznuthian

 

 

Really enjoying reading all this, does make me a bit tempted. But the main thing that keeps me with Ableton is the fact I've bought a Push and since then it's made composing/Ableton in general so much more fun. I'm no longer mouse clicking. Hell, I can do complete jams without even having to touch my laptop. Unless Bitwig offers something in the future that can rival that, I can't see myself switching soon. And I lack the intelligence to work out how to design a template that could work with it; the Push has so many layers wouldn't even know where to start.

Hey droid. There's already a Push script for bitwig. You should try loading it in the demo and see what you think.

 

 

http://www.mossgrabers.de/Software/Bitwig/Bitwig.html

 

From what I've read, 95% of push functions are working fine and the last remaining ones just need some additions to bitwig's JavaScript API. It's suspected the 1.2 update coming soon will add features along with the track grouping. The devs have said that API functionality is one of the things high on their priority list.

 

The wiki link on that link lists all the working features. There's a raindrop sequencer which is new. Not sure what that is. :)

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  • 1 month later...

I dig it. I have started to use it for the time being.

I would say it's solid, but like any DAW it's got its flaws. Some of the effects are a not the best, but they are all functional and the UI is very easy to get used to

Midi is great on my new synths, but it hates my JX-3p for some reason and likes to trigger the midi off a bit, which can get annoying.

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I am !. I'm finishing several tracks started on ableton and then I'll almost forget about it to embrace Bitwig fully. For the moment I'm doing in between session to become familiar with it.

 

The only thing I find really curiouse though is the way modulation works with this nesting thing. Having to put an effect "inside" a LFO "inside" an audio mod "inside" another LFO seems somewhat stupid to say the least...

 

This prevents using a single LFO on parameters accross multiple tracks...For something which is supposed to be fully modular in a near future, it is a serious design/coding issue IMO. ( Maybe I missed something here )

 

Apart from that, I find it waaaaaayyyyyy more intuitive than ableton...In bitwig, I'm more : Think of something, try it, works as intended...No more forum reading... ;)

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ya I had the same feeling with it. In about 15 or 20 mins and a couple of youtube vids and I felt totally comfortable in it. I need to play more with it and hardware to get a feel for that workflow. I've only noodled a bit with the built in synths and stuff.

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  • 2 months later...

The bitwig 1.2 update just went into closed beta testing. There's discussion on the KVR forums about it here.

 

Here's a list of features added that are being mentioned there:

 

 

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1.2 also marked the release of Christian Vogel's content pack. I had been looking through his creations occasionally to see what he came up with. Absolutely jaw dropping sound design from Bitwig's modular device chains.

 

I'll keep this updated as I find more bits and pieces worth mentioning. It's also nice to see the developers openly communicating with their users and squashing bugs out ASAP. A lot of the new features were heavily requested by users as well. Talk about supporting the fans! :w00t:

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Fuck me, Ableton has its work cut out for A10!

 

Yeah, Ableton keeps getting better though. I think Bitwig is going for the throat with this update, as it's addressing nearly all the complaints that Live users wanting to make the switch were hesitant about. There's some very significant differences that completely stole my heart from Live: modular device chains, unified modulation system + per note expression, it's container devices and unique signal routing, and the customizable UI panels that can be shuffled around to taste. Oh and a javascript API for custom controller scripts!

 

At first glance they look so similar ("bitwig is a live clone!") because of the arrangement, clip views, and a few other similarities. Doesn't take much noodling around to realize it's actually a totally different beast.

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Oh yeah, I mean I love Ableton: Bought the whole A9 suite & have a Push - Just seems like I have to invest in max for live devices all the time to add the stuff Bitwig seems to have natively. Hoping the competition (and the insane production rate) of Bitwig makes the Ableton developers pull their fingers out !

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Oh yeah, I mean I love Ableton: Bought the whole A9 suite & have a Push - Just seems like I have to invest in max for live devices all the time to add the stuff Bitwig seems to have natively. Hoping the competition (and the insane production rate) of Bitwig makes the Ableton developers pull their fingers out !

 

I totally understand! I'm lucky in that I wasn't invested in Ableton Live. The push script for bitwig's JS API is already 95% functional, even has a few extra features not in Live.

 

Are all of the M4L devices people make free? Or are some paid-only? I looked through a bunch and it was awesome what people come up with. Bitwig is sporting a graphical programming back-end like Max and PD already. The devs use it to build all of the devices in Bitwig currently. They're still saying that in V2 next year it will become user accessible, opening the flood gates for Bitwigger's (lol) to program and modify Bitwig's native devices. I can't fucking wait!

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Are all of the M4L devices people make free? Or are some paid-only? I looked through a bunch and it was awesome what people come up with.

Like VSTs there's a complete mixture of both - they're mostly free but then you get some companies that do bloody ace stuff with it that I happily pay for (eg K Devices - http://k-devices.com/products/ )
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Are all of the M4L devices people make free? Or are some paid-only? I looked through a bunch and it was awesome what people come up with.

Like VSTs there's a complete mixture of both - they're mostly free but then you get some companies that do bloody ace stuff with it that I happily pay for (eg K Devices - http://k-devices.com/products/ )

 

 

Damn those are sexy! :happy: As much time as people put into some Max devices i'm not really surprised they're selling them too.

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