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Bitwig Steps Modulator - Step Sequencing for Modulation Signals

Bitwig Guide | Aug 08, 2022

The Steps modulator in Bitwig Studio is a versatile tool allowing you to create and manipulate sequences for modulation with features like step painting, shape generation, randomization, and uni/bipolar modes. It offers flexible playback options including forward, backward, ping-pong, looping, synchronization to transport or groove, and even per-voice polyphony, while supporting advanced audio-rate and pitch-based modulation. Its ability to draw custom modulation curves and integrate with note effects and other Bitwig devices enables quick creation of dynamic, rhythmic, or melodic modulation patterns that can be both random and predictably repeatable.

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Short Overview

With the steps modulator in Bitwig Studio, I can easily shape my own modulation sequences, choosing anywhere from 2 to 64 steps and adjusting each value simply by dragging. There are built-in generators for instant shapes like saw or square, plus transformation tools to smooth, invert, or normalize my sequence. I can set the playback direction, enable looping or ping pong modes, and even randomize all steps at the click of a button, ensuring both creativity and predictability in my workflow. Syncing to transport, switching between unipolar and bipolar modes, and applying different rates let me tailor the modulation perfectly to my needs, whether I want rhythmic movement, audio-rate modulation, or evolving melodies. The versatility of per-voice and advanced routing options turns this modulator into a powerful tool for both subtle modulation and experimental sound design.

Introduction to the Steps Modulator in Bitwig Studio

In this video, I walk through the features and creative possibilities of the Steps Modulator in Bitwig Studio. This powerful tool allows for detailed and flexible modulation, enabling everything from simple, repetitive patterns to complex, unpredictable sequences.

Drawing and Editing Steps

I can create between 2 and 64 steps, shaping their values simply by clicking and dragging, essentially painting in my pattern. This onboard editor gives me visual and tactile feedback, so I can customize the sequencing curve as needed.

Using the Built-in Generator

Right-clicking within the Steps Modulator lets me auto-generate various patterns, such as saw, square, or sine waves. After generating, I can transform these shapes further, smoothing, normalizing, inverting, or otherwise tweaking the sequence. This makes it easy to start with a basic shape and evolve it into something unique.

Unipolar vs. Bipolar Modes

A toggle on the interface switches between unipolar (only positive values) and bipolar (both positive and negative values) modes. This is key for modulating targets differently, especially filters and audio signals that respond to both upward and downward directions.

Playback Direction and Looping

The Steps Modulator supports different play directions:

I can set the sequence to loop indefinitely, or only play once through by turning looping off, a useful option for one-shot effects or transitions.

Clear and Randomize

There are dedicated buttons to:

Repeatedly hitting Randomize keeps generating fresh sequences. This gives me controlled unpredictability, great for inspiration while retaining repeatability, since the sequence does not randomize unless manually triggered.

Synchronization and Playback Modes

Below the step editor are transport functions:

Rate and Division

The playback rate can be set using classic musical divisions (e.g., half note, eighth note, triplets, dotted values) or switched to Hertz for absolute speed, even reaching audio rates in the kilohertz range. There’s also a “hold” option to freeze the playhead, which I can then move manually or modulate with an external source.

Smoothing and Modulation Amount

For targets that sound harsh or stepped, the smoothing function softens the transitions between step values, giving a gentler, more fluid modulation curve. The modulation amount knob quickly controls the overall depth of modulation, and it too can be modulated, offering another layer of dynamic interaction.

Polyphonic (Per Voice) Mode

Activating "Per Voice" mode makes the Steps Modulator polyphonic, creating unique, independent modulation sequences for each note in a chord. This enables rich, evolving textures and polyrhythms, but works only if the device receiving modulation supports polyphony.

Audio Rate Modulation and Custom Waveforms

At high (audio rate) speeds, the Steps Modulator can shape sound directly by acting like a custom oscillator. Using Bitwig's DC Offset device, I can send my drawn step pattern to the audio path, effectively designing my own waveform. By chaining modulations and envelopes, I can create monophonic synthesizer voices with unique timbres, though polyphony isn't possible with this method because DC Offset is monophonic.

Integration with Note Effects

The Steps Modulator excels with note effect devices as well. I can modulate parameters like pitch shift or repeat speed, randomize their behavior, and filter the output using scale or key filters (for example, locking to C minor). This turns the Steps Modulator into a flexible pattern or melody generator.

Polyrhythmic and Randomized Sequences

With multiple instances set to different step lengths, I can quickly build polyrhythms and interplay between different patterns. Every function, rate, length, bipolarity, and randomization, can be individualized, giving comprehensive control.

Workflow Summary and Creative Potential

I summarize that the Steps Modulator is versatile, intuitive, and endlessly useful. It covers a broad range of creative needs: drawing LFOs, rapid step-sequenced beats, evolving melodies, and even shaping audio signals directly. With fast randomization, precise editing, synced or unsynced timing, smoothing, and deep modulation integration, it offers both predictability and surprise.

Key Concepts Explained

Conclusion

The Steps Modulator in Bitwig Studio stands as a cornerstone for experimental and practical modulation. Its immediate control, randomization potential, polyphony, and audio-rate capabilities make it suitable for both subtle and radical sound design, rhythmic invention, and sequencer-based composition. The depth and hands-on interface invite both calculated and experimental workflows.

Full Video Transcription

This is what im talking about in this video. The text is transcribed by Whisper, so it might not be perfect. If you find any mistakes, please let me know.
You can also click on the timestamps to jump to the right part of the video, which should be helpful.

Click to expand Transcription

[00:00:00] So this is the steps modulator of Betwick Studio
[00:00:03] and it can create multiple steps here that you can change,
[00:00:08] of course, by just painting in.
[00:00:09] You click and drag and, you know,
[00:00:12] can influence how the steps are.
[00:00:15] And you can go from two steps up to 64 steps.
[00:00:19] You have also a nice generator in here.
[00:00:23] We can just right click and just hit generate and saw.
[00:00:27] You can generate some nice shapes in there.
[00:00:29] Square or sign or you can also transform this here,
[00:00:34] smoothen it out or maybe normalize the values
[00:00:39] or inverse the values or something like this, right?
[00:00:42] You can also switch here to a bipolar mode.
[00:00:45] So you have also negative values
[00:00:47] instead of just only positive.
[00:00:49] So you can switch between uni and bipolar
[00:00:52] with this small button here on the left side.
[00:00:55] Then we have the playback direction.
[00:00:58] You can see it's already playing back here backwards.
[00:01:00] Then you can choose to go only forwards.
[00:01:03] Then we have a looping setting here.
[00:01:05] If this is on, then it repeats over and over
[00:01:08] the sequence in a cycle.
[00:01:09] If you switch this off, then it stops at the end.
[00:01:12] And then we have also your ping pong setting
[00:01:14] where it plays back forwards.
[00:01:16] And then when it sets the end
[00:01:17] or the start of the sequence, it, you know,
[00:01:20] goes back or bounces back in the other direction.
[00:01:23] So you have a ping pong mode also included.
[00:01:25] Then we have your two big buttons clear,
[00:01:28] where it can clear the sequence with just one click.
[00:01:31] And you have a randomized button
[00:01:33] where you can randomize all steps at once.
[00:01:35] And we press this multiple times.
[00:01:36] You get every time a random new sequence.
[00:01:40] And yeah, as you can see with this randomized button here,
[00:01:44] you can also kind of create the behavior
[00:01:46] of the random modulator I showed you in an earlier video.
[00:01:49] But with this one here,
[00:01:50] you get a more predictable result
[00:01:53] because it's always the same sequence.
[00:01:55] And it also only randomizes
[00:01:57] when you hit this button here, basically.
[00:01:58] So you can create a new sequence
[00:02:00] and the sequence is always predictable, always the same.
[00:02:04] So you can basically replace this with a random mod
[00:02:08] and it do also a lot of times
[00:02:10] when I search for a predictable sequence.
[00:02:13] Then below of this line here,
[00:02:16] we have also the transport functions here.
[00:02:19] You know already from the other LFOs and modulators.
[00:02:24] So we have here,
[00:02:25] where we can synchronize this modulator to the transport,
[00:02:29] which is basically your playback setting here at the top.
[00:02:31] So the tempo and yeah, the groove also,
[00:02:36] if you have as a groove enabled or the shuffle enabled,
[00:02:39] also influences this steps mod.
[00:02:42] So transport is just synchronizing the transport speed
[00:02:46] with groove also includes the setting
[00:02:48] that you changed here with the global groove setting.
[00:02:52] Maybe we want to have a bit more swing in your groove
[00:02:56] and you also can apply this here to the modulation itself.
[00:02:59] Then we have free running.
[00:03:00] So there's no synchronization happening at all.
[00:03:03] There's no restart when you hit a note on your keyboard
[00:03:06] or you have a note in a note clip every time.
[00:03:08] There is a note actually playing.
[00:03:11] You restart the sequence from the start.
[00:03:13] Then we have no random, which is basically the same,
[00:03:17] but this time you start at the random place
[00:03:20] in your sequence.
[00:03:22] (piano music)
[00:03:24] So the phase setting or the phase value
[00:03:27] is basically randomized.
[00:03:29] Then we have a note advance where you just hold the note
[00:03:32] or the playback or the play head in position.
[00:03:35] And then every time you play a note,
[00:03:37] you advance in the sequence.
[00:03:40] So this is also possible.
[00:03:42] So back to transport here.
[00:03:43] Then we have the usual rate setting
[00:03:45] where you can influence the rate here, different amounts.
[00:03:49] And it also, besides what kind of division setting
[00:03:53] you have here, the left side, if you switch to Hertz,
[00:03:56] you probably change the Hertz setting here.
[00:03:59] So higher numbers means higher speed or playback speeds.
[00:04:03] But when you choose here a division setting,
[00:04:06] this one becomes a subdivision.
[00:04:08] So you have now half notes here
[00:04:11] and lower numbers means then higher playback speed
[00:04:17] because you subdivide this even more.
[00:04:19] Then you have, of course, your eighth note,
[00:04:22] sixteenth note and so on dotted also triplets.
[00:04:25] And then we have here kilohertz, which is interesting
[00:04:28] because it's an audio rate.
[00:04:31] And also pitch, which is also audio rate,
[00:04:33] which is super interesting.
[00:04:35] And I show in a minute in an example how you can use this.
[00:04:38] And there's also hold here.
[00:04:39] So we can also hold the play head in place
[00:04:44] and then can influence where the play head is
[00:04:47] by modulating here to phase modulation knob.
[00:04:50] So you can change this manually where the play head is.
[00:04:53] Can maybe use an LFO for that
[00:04:55] or some other steps mod
[00:04:57] to change the playback behavior like this, right?
[00:05:02] So this is also possible.
[00:05:03] Then we have a smoothing setting here.
[00:05:06] So when we modulate something like the cutoff here,
[00:05:12] maybe go to transport and we need maybe your bar setting
[00:05:15] or maybe go to sixteenth notes.
[00:05:18] You can see it's a pretty stepped modulation
[00:05:20] that switches between the values pretty fast.
[00:05:22] And you can use the smoothing setting here
[00:05:24] to smooth this a bit out
[00:05:26] so it becomes more like an easy transition.
[00:05:30] And there's also your modulation amount at the end.
[00:05:33] So you can change how much you modulate something
[00:05:36] without going into the modulation mode here
[00:05:38] and doing this with a modulation target system.
[00:05:42] You just use the modulation amount knob.
[00:05:44] You can also modulate this of course.
[00:05:46] I think that's it for now.
[00:05:50] There are no real inspector settings
[00:05:54] except that you can switch this here to a per voice mode.
[00:05:57] So it becomes a polyphonic modulator.
[00:06:02] Can also show you this in a minute how you can use this.
[00:06:06] So back to the setting here of kilohertz.
[00:06:08] Maybe you have an audio rate playback speed
[00:06:11] here of your sequence.
[00:06:13] Then you can modulate at audio rate here, the filter.
[00:06:17] And it can be a nice drastic effect.
[00:06:22] Sounds even like distortion.
[00:06:25] And it's always the same kilohertz setting
[00:06:31] that you dialed in here, right?
[00:06:32] You can do this even faster.
[00:06:34] (zapping)
[00:06:36] But when you switch this here to pitch of current note,
[00:06:43] you get more or less the same pitch or frequency
[00:06:46] of the key you are using on your MIDI keyboard.
[00:06:49] (zapping)
[00:06:51] But also the rate setting here is kind of a multiplier.
[00:06:58] So you can switch between the octaves.
[00:07:01] And you also have to because also the step length
[00:07:03] decides how fast you modulate something.
[00:07:07] Because it's a longer sequence
[00:07:10] and it needs more time to step through each setting here.
[00:07:14] So when you make this even shorter or the sequence shorter,
[00:07:18] then of course the frequency is higher
[00:07:20] because it's a short sequence.
[00:07:22] So you can counter this here with the rate setting.
[00:07:31] (zapping)
[00:07:33] So I think 0.5 would be half speed of your key.
[00:07:40] So it's an octave lower.
[00:07:41] If you go to 0.25 even, yeah, it's two octaves lower.
[00:07:49] Maybe draw in here a song and reverse it.
[00:07:58] (zapping)
[00:08:00] Right again here, it takes longer
[00:08:11] to go through the sequence.
[00:08:13] So it's much, much slower now.
[00:08:17] Generates all.
[00:08:17] Inverse it.
[00:08:20] Transform inverse.
[00:08:23] (zapping)
[00:08:26] (zapping)
[00:08:28] So you can slowly go from pitch to groove
[00:08:35] with these kinds of settings here.
[00:08:37] So you can press maybe a key like C
[00:08:41] and then you can pitch it three or four octaves down
[00:08:44] and it becomes a nice rhythm.
[00:08:45] Right this button here.
[00:08:52] (zapping)
[00:08:54] And then you can even make this polyphonic
[00:08:58] by using the per voice setting here
[00:09:01] and then you can hold the chord
[00:09:03] and each of these notes get a different rhythm
[00:09:07] accordingly to the key you are pressing.
[00:09:09] So it's basically the same pitch
[00:09:11] but just much, much lower octaves
[00:09:13] and you get nice rhythms
[00:09:14] and at the same time also a chord.
[00:09:17] (zapping)
[00:09:21] Something like this.
[00:09:23] Or maybe pitch is even lower.
[00:09:25] (zapping)
[00:09:27] So it becomes pretty interesting, pretty fast.
[00:09:39] So this is something you can do.
[00:09:41] Then you can obviously also use this
[00:09:45] as a custom waveform.
[00:09:47] So you use the DC offset device.
[00:09:49] I think that's the most shown trick
[00:09:51] on YouTube for Bitwig
[00:09:53] because it shows how powerful the modulation system actually is.
[00:09:58] So there's a step smart here.
[00:10:00] And DC offset device basically does nothing
[00:10:02] than just outputting an audio signal
[00:10:05] where you apply a positive and a negative value.
[00:10:09] It's basically your speaker cone going out
[00:10:11] and going in if you do this
[00:10:13] and if you put this out to your speakers.
[00:10:17] And so we switch to the bipolar mode
[00:10:19] and dial in maybe a song and go to pitch here.
[00:10:24] And now we have a pitch for each note we are pressing.
[00:10:31] All we have to do now is basically modulate here.
[00:10:35] (zapping)
[00:10:37] And we're using as a second modulator ADSR
[00:10:41] which is just an envelope.
[00:10:43] And with this envelope, we modulate here the amount
[00:10:47] of the modulation of the first modulator.
[00:10:52] That's turning a zero.
[00:10:54] So now basically when we press a key,
[00:10:57] we amplify here the amount
[00:10:59] which then modulates the DC offset device.
[00:11:04] (zapping)
[00:11:10] So it's basically a drawable oscillator
[00:11:13] where you can draw in your own shapes.
[00:11:14] (zapping)
[00:11:17] Or maybe we do more steps.
[00:11:23] Make this a bit fast, twice as fast.
[00:11:26] (zapping)
[00:11:28] Draw in here a saw.
[00:11:29] (zapping)
[00:11:31] Maybe go backwards.
[00:11:33] (zapping)
[00:11:36] (zapping)
[00:11:38] Maybe go to eight or something like this.
[00:11:50] (zapping)
[00:11:52] 16.
[00:11:54] (zapping)
[00:11:57] Next, even shorter, 16 steps.
[00:12:04] (zapping)
[00:12:06] So now we can't really switch this here to a polyphonic mode
[00:12:15] because this device itself is not polyphonic.
[00:12:22] It's basically, yeah, it's a monophonic device
[00:12:27] and you can't play it with multiple keys at the same time.
[00:12:31] So this modulator is not possible
[00:12:34] to make it actually polyphonic, right?
[00:12:37] So that's basically a downside of this,
[00:12:39] but you can use it as a monophonic synth, pretty nice.
[00:12:43] Of course, the steps mode works pretty nice also on note FX.
[00:12:46] So we have maybe here a repeater that repeats the notes.
[00:12:51] (zapping)
[00:12:53] And we maybe use here a transpose,
[00:12:58] note transpose, and we add the steps mode.
[00:13:01] And we put this here at the note advance,
[00:13:05] put this to random,
[00:13:06] and then we can step here through maybe the octaves
[00:13:09] if you want to.
[00:13:10] (upbeat music)
[00:13:15] (upbeat music)
[00:13:18] Or we can modulate here the semi-tones,
[00:13:33] maybe 12 semi-tones, something like this.
[00:13:37] Then it becomes pretty random.
[00:13:39] (upbeat music)
[00:13:42] But you can add here maybe a key filter to it,
[00:13:44] maybe put it to C minor.
[00:13:46] (upbeat music)
[00:13:49] And then it becomes kind of a melody generator
[00:13:56] or note generator.
[00:13:58] You can hit here the randomized button.
[00:14:00] (upbeat music)
[00:14:02] Maybe it's G.
[00:14:07] (upbeat music)
[00:14:10] The quantize on there.
[00:14:12] (upbeat music)
[00:14:14] Or maybe use a step mode here also
[00:14:37] to change to repeat in settings.
[00:14:41] Change this bipolar, randomized.
[00:14:44] (upbeat music)
[00:14:47] So you have also kind of a randomized thing inside.
[00:14:53] I'll actually put this here to the groove.
[00:14:55] (upbeat music)
[00:14:59] So change the repeat speed here
[00:15:00] and you get also nice fluctuation in the rhythm over time.
[00:15:05] And you can randomize everything.
[00:15:07] (upbeat music)
[00:15:09] (upbeat music)
[00:15:12] That's a delay too.
[00:15:17] (upbeat music)
[00:15:20] And maybe a step mode here for the sound itself.
[00:15:23] (upbeat music)
[00:15:25] Bipolar randomized.
[00:15:27] (upbeat music)
[00:15:29] Or maybe a much later sets, maybe even better.
[00:15:37] (upbeat music)
[00:15:39] (upbeat music)
[00:15:42] Maybe duplicate us here.
[00:15:47] Use different as length here.
[00:15:52] (upbeat music)
[00:15:53] B11.
[00:15:54] (upbeat music)
[00:15:56] And.
[00:15:57] (upbeat music)
[00:15:59] (upbeat music)
[00:16:02] So you can create just with the steps mode here
[00:16:13] and some note effects devices.
[00:16:16] You can create nice little random sequences in no time.
[00:16:21] And you can influence everything.
[00:16:22] You can randomize everything
[00:16:24] and it's predictable each time
[00:16:25] because it's always the same sequence.
[00:16:28] You can also shape the sound here in a polyrhythmic way
[00:16:32] with different sequence lengths.
[00:16:35] And yeah, it's a nice modulator.
[00:16:37] It's pretty helpful and useful.
[00:16:38] (upbeat music)
[00:16:41] (upbeat music)