Bitwig Oscillator Sync
Article | Jan 09, 2026
Oscillator sync is used to force one oscillator, called the Following Oscillator, to stay phase-aligned with another oscillator, the Leading Oscillator. The Leading Oscillator defines the timing and perceived pitch, while the Following Oscillator is periodically constrained so it cannot run freely.
With hard sync, the Following Oscillator’s phase is reset every time the Leading Oscillator completes a cycle. This reset is abrupt and introduces sharp discontinuities in the waveform, which generate additional harmonics. Changing the frequency of the Following Oscillator does not affect the perceived pitch; instead, it reshapes the waveform within each cycle of the Leading Oscillator.
In softer forms of sync, the abrupt reset is avoided or perceptually smoothed. This can be achieved by gently pulling the Following Oscillator’s phase toward the Leading Oscillator over time, or by shaping the signal around the reset point. The timing relationship is preserved while harsh spectral artifacts are reduced.
Overall, oscillator sync allows harmonic complexity to be controlled independently from pitch by using the Leading Oscillator as a timing reference and the Following Oscillator as a source of spectral variation.
Simple Hard-Sync #
I create a hard sync by using one oscillator as the Leading Osc and another as the Following Osc. I route the audio output of the leader oscillator into the retrigger (reset) input of the following oscillator. Whenever the leading oscillator’s waveform crosses a defined threshold (in my case when the signal goes above 0.5), it sends a trigger that forces the following oscillator to reset its phase.
As a result, the following oscillator is restarted at the same phase position every time the leader completes a cycle. The leader defines the perceived pitch, while changing the following oscillator’s frequency alters the internal waveform shape and harmonic content, producing the characteristic hard-sync sound.
Smoothed Hard-Sync #
I built a smoothed version of hard sync by separating the phase reset from what is actually audible. I use a leading oscillator running as a sine wave as the timing reference. I multiply that sine with itself to create a smooth, periodic window function (similar to a sin² shape) that is phase-locked to the leading oscillator.
The second oscillator is still hard-synced to the leading oscillator, so its phase is reset abruptly at every master cycle. Instead of using the raw synced signal directly, I multiply the output of the slave oscillator by the window function derived from the master.
Because this window smoothly fades the amplitude of the slave oscillator down and back up around the reset point, the hard phase discontinuity is masked in the amplitude domain. The reset still happens internally, but the high-frequency artifacts caused by the abrupt phase jump are greatly reduced.
In effect, I keep the precision and stability of hard sync, but shape its audible impact so it behaves like a softened or “soft-sync-like” sound. This is best described as windowed or amplitude-shaped hard sync rather than true phase-pull soft sync, but it achieves the intended musical result.
Soft Sync #
Like Hard-Sync but Softer. I need to finish this, sorry :), please remind me!