Music Production Knowledge Backlog

I love the clock quantizer in Bitwig Studio, as it allows me to quantize signals to a steady trigger so that I can create interesting rhythms. I demonstrated how it can be used to delay manual triggers, to quantize two triggers, to create vinyl crackle, and to extract grooves from drum loops. I highly recommend using the clock quantizer to create interesting rhythms in your music.

The Audio-Rate modulator in Bitwig Studio lets you use an audio signal, such as the output from a polysynth or any other track, to modulate parameters like filter cutoff, offering unique sound-shaping options. It provides features like channel selection, gain adjustment, low-pass filtering, rectification, and sidechain input, allowing for creative cross-modulation and feedback loops within or across tracks. By routing audio through effects and back into the modulator, you can generate complex and evolving sounds through self-modulation and extended feedback chains.

The pulley synth features two built-in envelopes, FEG and AEG, but you can add a simple ADSR-Envelope for more modulation options. In pulley mode, each note or voice gets its own ADSR curve, shown as multiple dots, while disabling it applies one overall envelope to all notes. This flexible setup allows you to cross-modulate with LFOs and add multiple ADSRs to customize your sound design.

The AHD-On-Release in Bitwig Studio is a unique modulator that triggers an envelope when a note ends rather than when it begins, allowing effects like delay to fade in after the sound stops. It supports polyphonic use, meaning each note played can have its own envelope and modulation, which is especially useful for applying effects individually to multiple voices. Bitwig manages voices by stopping both the audio and modulation when a voice becomes silent, so maintaining some sound in the release phase is necessary to keep effects active.

In this video, I show how to create the smallest self-generating patch in Bitwig Studio using filters, triggers and a long delay. I explain how the feedback loop works, and how the resonance changes the sound. I also suggest ways to further improve the patch, such as using a quantizer, reverb, and distortion. With some experimentation, this patch can be used to create interesting and unique sounds.

The AHDSR-Envelope adds a hold stage to the traditional ADSR, allowing for attack, hold, decay, sustain, and release phases, with each stage adjustable up to 10 seconds. This versatility is enhanced by features like polyphonic mode and an amount slider that can be modulated, such as with an LFO, to create dynamic and evolving sounds. The addition of the hold stage offers greater control and creative possibilities, making the envelope both interesting and useful in sound design.

The 4-Stage modulator in Bitwig Studio is a flexible ADSR envelope with four customizable phases, allowing you to modulate parameters like cutoff with precise control over timing, strength, and curve shape. It can be switched between polyphonic and monophonic modes, so each note can have its own envelope or share a single one, and includes features like bipolar mode, looping, and modulation amount adjustment. This makes it especially powerful for creative sound design, letting you combine it with other modulators like LFOs for complex modulation routings.

Bitwig Studio’s modulation system is powerful and easy to use, allowing you to add, arrange, and cross-modulate multiple modulators on any effect or instrument by simply clicking the modulation symbol. You can modulate any parameter on the same or lower hierarchy within a device, including cross-modulating between modulators, but you cannot modulate parameters in parent or higher-level devices. The system is highly modular, intuitive, and offers helpful guides by pressing F1 on any modulator for more details.

In this video, I show how to create a Glitch-Hop track using a drum machine, bass lines, and multiple layers of instruments. I explain how to use a ramp mod and how to switch between layers with instrument selectors and step mods. I also explain how to use note repeats, quantizers, and effect zones. Finally, I show how to use a click filter to get the kick drum out of the drum machine.

I am creating a drum and bass track and I am starting with the bass. I am using FM8 and mixing in two oscillators and adding a bit of noise and distortion. I'm then moving on to the drums, using a kick and snare, and then a shaker and ride. I'm using the transient shaper and hard clip to level out the sounds and then I'm creating a sidechain with the kick, so that it removes the bass when the kick plays. Lastly I'm creating a step sound with a Polysynth and adding in a crash sound.

In this video, I showed how to build a self-running grid patch in Bitwig Studio. I started by selecting the grid and setting it to monophonic mode. I then connected a trigger to a phaser and an XP filter, and then used a face in to create notes. I added a sample and hold, a dice module, and a reverb to the patch. I also added a pitch signal to switch between an octave higher or lower. Finally, I used a global shuffle to change the pattern.

In this video, I demonstrated how to use pinging to create various audio effects with short bursts of noise. I showed how to use an EQ with a steep band pass, a Resonator Bank, a Phaser Plus, a Flanger, and an Comb Filter to create different sounds with pinging. I also showed how to use a Tool device to make a kick drum sound shorter, a Grid module to create a noise, and how to use Supermassive to create a resonator bank. Finally, I gave some examples of how to create clicks or excite sounds.

In this video, I show how to get repeating patterns out of the sample and hold LFO in Bitwig Studio. I explain that when you input a signal above one, you can access static values that repeat. I demonstrate how to patch this up using a trigger, quantizer, transpose, sample and hold, clock, oscillator, and attenuate. I also show a quicker approach using a volume knob and bias module. Finally, I thank X iso for giving me the hint about this trick.

In this video, I showed how to use XO to Drum Sampler by XLN-Audio. I showed how to increase the scale of the GUI, the two main tabs, Edit and Space, the sample layers, the sample editor, the global settings, the mastering section, the space tab, and the search function. I also showed how to create a groove by using the step sequencer, how to use the sample combine and randomize button, how to use the preset browser, and how to export the groove. XO is a great drum sampler and it is currently available for free if you upgrade your plan of Bitwig Studio.

In this video, I showed how to use the Note Grid in Bitwig to make sure that multiple small notes close together are recognized as one note. I demonstrated the problem of re-triggering the sampler when a clip is looped, and then showed how the Note Grid can be used to solve this. I also showed how the Note Grid can be used to continuously hold the gate signal even when the pitch of the sample is changed.

In this video, I demonstrated a trick about Valhalla Delay where I showed how to modulate the clear buffer button to create an interesting effect. I also turned all this into a musical loop, starting from a tutorial about Valhalla Delay and ending with a track from scratch. I used grid to create a variety of initial source sounds, then used a dice module to modulate the phase input, a filter, an AD, and feedback. I also showed how to modulate the clear button in Valhalla reverb and used portal for effects. Finally, I added some noise and XO stuff to make the track sound fuller.