Introducing Two New Bitwig Studio 3 Devices: Stereo Boy and Grain Reverb
Tutorial | Jul 22, 2019
In this video, the creator introduces two new devices or presets for Bitwig Studio 3. The first one is called Stereo Boy, which splits an audio input into two paths. One goes through a stereo splitter, all pass devices, and a stereo merge, creating a wider stereo effect. The second path includes a delay that is modulated slowly. The parameters can be adjusted using micro knobs, and the device can be used to add a weird pitch modulation effect. The second device is called Grain Reverb, which adds different pitches to the sound using pitch shifters and filters on multiple layers. The grain rate and mix can be adjusted for each layer, creating a thick reverb sound. The cutoff and pan can also be modified. The creator demonstrates the sound of both devices and offers them for download on their GitHub repository.
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Questions & Answers #
Maybe you dont watch the video, here are some important takeaways:
Questions: #
1. What is the first device or preset introduced in this video? #
The first device/preset introduced in this video is called "Stereo Boy." It is a script preset in Bitwig Studio 3 that takes an audio input and splits it into two paths. One path goes through a stereo splitter, with left and right channels passing through all-pass devices, and then merging back into stereo. The other path goes through the same splitter but includes a delay, with the delays for the left and right channels being modulated slowly. The device allows for adjustments to the parameters using the micro knobs, and users can choose between the two paths or mix them together.
2. How does "Stereo Boy" affect the sound of a pad synthesizer? #
When "Stereo Boy" is activated on a pad synthesizer sound, it adds a stereo effect and widens the sound without modifying the initial source sound. The left and right delays are randomly modulated, creating a pleasant stereo effect. Additionally, the second path with the delay effect adds more depth to the sound. By adjusting the timing and using the snob knobs, users can control the length and levels of the delays, further enhancing the stereo width and adding a touch of analog synthesizer-like imprecision.
3. What is the purpose of the second device/preset introduced in the video? #
The second device/preset introduced in the video is a grain reverb. It is more complex than the first device and adds different pitches to the sound. The device consists of multiple layers, with each layer incrementally pitching the sound above the root sound using pitch shifters. After the pitch shifters, each layer includes a low-cut filter and a reverb. Users can adjust the settings for each layer, such as grain rate, mix, modulation amount, and speed. The grain reverb creates a rich and thick reverb sound that adds depth and texture to the audio.
4. How does the "crazy pan" feature of the grain reverb affect the sound placement? #
The "crazy pan" feature of the grain reverb allows users to control the panning of each layer within the device. By adjusting the knob, users can pan specific layers to the left or right, creating an orchestral-like setup where voices are not solely centered but distributed across the stereo field. This feature adds a sense of spatialization and widens the overall sound, giving it a more immersive and dynamic character.
Transcription #
This is what im talking about in this video. The text is transcribed by AI, 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.
[00:00:00] Hey, welcome back to another video.
[00:00:08] Today I want to show you two new devices or presets I created for Bitwig Studio 3 that
[00:00:17] you can use.
[00:00:19] And the first one is called Stereo Boy.
[00:00:23] And in the script preset here I used basically an audio input and split it into two paths.
[00:00:35] And one is going to a stereo splitter and the left and the right channel are going to
[00:00:42] all pass devices and then are going back to stereo merge and then to the output or the
[00:00:50] output mixer.
[00:00:52] And the second path is going to the same splitter and there is a delay and these delays for
[00:01:01] the left and the right channel are modulated slowly.
[00:01:07] And you can define some of the parameters here on the front end basically with the micro
[00:01:14] knobs and you can turn in the different two paths, the first one and the second path here.
[00:01:23] And if you just want only the delays for some kind of weird effect then you can just dial
[00:01:31] this in here or you can just use the mix to mix it with a tri-signal.
[00:01:38] So I show you the sound without this device.
[00:01:44] This is how it sounds.
[00:01:58] So a pretty basic pad sound with the pulley synth and when we turn on the stereo boy here
[00:02:07] and use the weird effect which gives us some kind of pitch up and down modulation then it
[00:02:19] sounds like this.
[00:02:48] And I call this stereo boy because the left and the right delay is different modulated
[00:02:54] or randomly modulated so it gives you a nice stereo effect or makes the sound wider without
[00:03:01] tweaking the initial source sound here.
[00:03:05] And the second path you can dial in additionally gives you some kind of delay effect and it
[00:03:15] sounds like this.
[00:03:26] Or let's try and make the sound a bit shorter so you can hear the delay effect.
[00:03:38] So if you have the timing at 0% you basically have a pretty short delay.
[00:03:55] And when you use the snob here you make the two all-pass devices at the same time you
[00:04:05] change the delay time of these two all-passes together basically.
[00:04:10] And if you use this snob here you can skew it so if you turn it right all the way to
[00:04:17] the right then basically this is longer delay and this is a shorter delay on the left side
[00:04:22] here.
[00:04:23] If you turn it the other way around then basically this is completely short delay and this is
[00:04:29] a long delay so you can change the levels for left and right.
[00:04:40] And this gives you even more wider sound or makes the sound a bit wider in the stereo
[00:04:46] field.
[00:05:16] So it gives a small or light flavor of an analog synthesizer where everything is not
[00:05:24] so precise.
[00:05:28] And this is my GitHub repository and you can download now.
[00:05:35] And the second device I created is this grain reverb here.
[00:05:43] And that's a bit more complicated than the first one because this is adding different
[00:05:52] pitches to the sound.
[00:05:54] So for instance when we go in with a single sound into the grain reverb here the first
[00:06:01] layer pitches the sound to one octave above the root sound.
[00:06:12] And then we have a second layer and I use two pitch shifters with one octave so we have
[00:06:18] two octaves and so on until we have the last layer where we have one two three four five
[00:06:26] pitch shifters.
[00:06:28] And after the pitch shifters we are always on every layer a filter, a low cut filter
[00:06:35] and a reverb. And you can change all the settings for the layers here in the front.
[00:06:42] So when we change the grain rate for instance here we change on every layer the grain rate
[00:06:50] on the pitch shifter.
[00:06:54] This is how it sounds.
[00:07:05] Like this without.
[00:07:34] So the grain rate can change the sound drastically and also the mix. So when you look at the second
[00:07:40] layer here you can change the mix of the two pitch shifters.
[00:07:46] And what this means is that when you have the grain mix at zero percent the sound goes
[00:07:55] completely untouched through the pitch shifters here.
[00:07:59] If you turn it all the way up then you have basically a pitch here at this point to one
[00:08:06] octave above and then a second octave higher.
[00:08:11] Because this device here doesn't get the dry signal because we have to mix at 100 percent.
[00:08:21] So when you go into the middle position here to 50 percent then you have kind of the mixed
[00:08:31] one octave above pitch signal from this device and then this device too and the pitched,
[00:08:39] the unpitched dry signal that's going through.
[00:08:43] So there's a bit of multiple voices going on that layering on top of each other.
[00:08:50] So this gives these nice thick reverb sound in the end.
[00:09:09] Also the grain rate here is modulated with an, I think it's a random modulator and you
[00:09:18] can change the speed of this random modulator here.
[00:09:25] And this gives you also a bit of changes over time.
[00:09:34] So basically I try to make a living or a life as possible.
[00:09:54] That's just the amount of modulation that is applied to the grain rates here.
[00:10:03] And this is the speed.
[00:10:16] Okay you also can influence this low pass filter here at the end with this knob here
[00:10:25] as you can see.
[00:10:27] And the only difference between the layers here is that I use different default settings
[00:10:35] for the cutoff.
[00:10:37] I think I start with C3 for this layer here and here I choose C4, C5, C6 and C7 and from
[00:10:49] this default point I add the cutoff modulation with this knob here.
[00:10:57] So it's a bit, so there's an offset on each layer for the cutoff basically.
[00:11:04] Okay then I have this crazy pan macro here and this does nothing special.
[00:11:13] The first layer here is basically straight in the center and when I turn this crazy pan
[00:11:20] here up then nothing happens to this layer.
[00:11:23] This is basically always in the center.
[00:11:25] For the second one is completely panned to the left.
[00:11:29] The next one is panned to the right, then left again and right again.
[00:11:34] And if you turn this down then you can see it goes back to the center so all layers are
[00:11:42] in the center.
[00:11:43] So if you have this left, completely left, all layers are in the center and if you turn
[00:11:48] this to the right then some layers are basically positioned more right and more left and this
[00:11:55] gives you some kind of an orchestral setup.
[00:12:00] So where not everything comes from the middle, some voices come from the left and some from
[00:12:06] the right.
[00:12:39] So yeah, two new devices for you to download and yeah, tell me what you think, write it
[00:12:46] in the comments and thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next video.
[00:12:51] Bye.