Bitwig Guides

The Classic-LFO is a versatile modulation tool offering multiple waveform shapes, including random and smoothed random, with adjustable speed, phase, and amount settings for precise control. It supports both free-running and beat-synced modes, and can be used creatively for generative music or cross-modulation with per-voice modulation options. Features like node retriggering, phase offset, and key tracking allow for complex, dynamic sound design tailored to each note or synth voice.

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.

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.