Exploring Mid-Side Split Stereo Effects in Bitweek 4.0

Tutorial | Jul 20, 2021

In this video, I demonstrated how to use the mid-side split container in Bitweek 4.0 to create a stereo sound. I showed how to add a different kick drum sample to the side channel to create a difference between the left and right channels, and how to use an FX grid and the math operation subtract and add to get the side and mid channels respectively. I also showed how to use a polysynth and an audio receiver to create interesting effects. I hope this inspires you to experiment and come up with new ideas!

You can watch the Video on Youtube - support me on Patreon

Questions & Answers #

Maybe you dont watch the video, here are some important takeaways:

What is the mid-side split container in Bitweek? #

The mid-side split container in Bitweek is a tool that allows you to split the audio signal into two parts: the mid signal (which is the same on both the left and right channels) and the side signal (which is the difference between the left and right channels). Using this split container, you can then apply different effects and samples to each channel to create interesting stereo effects.

What is the purpose of using a mid-side split container? #

The purpose of using a mid-side split container is to create interesting stereo effects by applying different effects and samples to each channel. This can be used for making a track sound more punchy on a club system, or adding extra elements to a track when played on a stereo system.

How can you make a mono signal stereo? #

To make a mono signal stereo, you can use a mid-side split container to add difference to the left and right channels. This can be done by adding an EQ, compression or distortion to the mid channel, or by adding a different sample to the side channel.

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.

[00:00.000] Welcome back to another video. I'm still not 100% recovered from my illness. I think it's still
[00:06.880] needs some time. But after sitting around or laying around for one week and taking painkillers,
[00:13.920] trying to cope with the pain and, you know, doing nothing basically, it gets a bit boring. So I
[00:21.040] thought maybe today it's a good day to start to slowly get back into business and show you some
[00:30.800] interesting things because yesterday I tried something and I found it kind of interesting,
[00:37.440] a nice topic for a video to show you. So yeah, so I'm trying this the first video basically in
[00:46.480] over a week, yeah, to have some fun again. Bitweek 4.0 is finally out. Oh yeah, and thanks for all
[00:58.000] the great wishes on YouTube. Actually, it helped a lot to see a lot of people caring for my health.
[01:07.360] It really helps a lot. So thanks guys for sticking around and being so nice. It's very kind.
[01:14.080] So yeah, let's switch to Bitweek here. That's the right scene. Nice. So I tried basically to play
[01:25.200] around in Bitweek and see if there is something we can use. And I start with the kick drum. Yes.
[01:34.480] So I drag this in there. So this is a sampler and you can see it's a monophile, right? There is no
[01:39.840] left-right information. It's just a monophile. So the left channel is exactly equal with the right
[01:45.920] channel. And when we use here a mid-side split container. Oh, let's disable it a pitch.
[01:56.480] You can see we have only mid-information. There's no side information. So there's no difference
[02:01.520] there between the left and the right channel. That's all that is the side channel. It's the
[02:08.800] difference between the left and the right channel. So if we add your chorus, chorus, which basically
[02:17.600] changes the relationship from the left to the right channel, you are with the face relationship.
[02:23.360] You can see we have now a little bit of side information here.
[02:28.800] Because there is a difference there between left and right.
[02:31.840] So to make a monosignal stereo, we need to change one of the left or the right channels
[02:44.080] to add some difference. Maybe you can also delay the left channel or the right channel.
[02:50.240] So there's a lot of possibilities there to change something.
[02:53.680] So what I found out is the mid-side split container is not only there,
[03:03.040] you alter what's already different on the left on the right channel. So adding maybe an EQ
[03:10.640] compression or distortion on here. But you can also define what is the mid channel, what is the
[03:18.880] right channel by just dragging in a sampler here into the mid channel. And using maybe a different
[03:24.880] sample, this one here, on the side channel, switches off. And this is how it sounds.
[03:39.440] So we have one kick sample here, which is our main main kick sample, which is mono.
[03:44.560] And then we have the side information here, which is a different kick drum sample.
[03:49.520] To define or to say, this is the difference between the left and right channel.
[03:54.320] And this gets some interesting effects. It gets some nice.
[04:00.320] You get some nice sounds out of it. And also one nice possibility is that
[04:18.000] when you target different systems, for instance, you make a club track, club track.
[04:22.640] And you need everything mono wise, hitting pretty hard, or you need, you know, the mid,
[04:29.920] the mono signal needs to be on point and punching everything. But you also want to play back this
[04:37.840] tune on a stereo system, or at home, or in the radio, for instance. Then you can add some
[04:45.680] whistles, some fancy sounds in the side channel on top. And you can say, okay, the mid channel is
[04:54.080] punchy. And then I play it on the radio, it sounds like this.
[05:02.800] So you can completely separate basically these two, your target audience is basically.
[05:10.560] Okay. Okay. So this is nice to know, I think. This also works nice for pet sounds.
[05:18.720] Let me pull up here some pet sounds.
[05:27.280] So this one has the mid.
[05:28.480] And this one has the side.
[05:37.440] You can hear it's can have some nice effects. And maybe pull out the width down to zero to have
[06:04.000] a mono signal. All you can hear is basically only the mid channel.
[06:34.160] Okay. So it can use this in all kinds of situations. And it's also interesting to use
[06:45.200] different drum loops inside here. It's also something I did. And you can also completely skip
[06:53.360] here the mid sides split part and go on fx grid if you want. So let's drag in your pet sound.
[07:04.800] And say, let's say you have this here in a in a layer situation. Use a different layer here.
[07:12.160] So you have now two pets playing at the same time. But you want to have this one here only
[07:17.200] odd at the sides playing at the sides. You can use an fx grid. And then you use one of these
[07:24.880] nice stereo merge devices here. And then you say my stereo signal is the side channel.
[07:33.280] And then you have the same effect as before. So this one plays only on the sides.
[07:48.720] Oh, let's loop this here. So you can play around with some stereo ideas with this.
[08:12.960] Yeah, another thing I want to show you is how this actually works with the mid sides split.
[08:23.520] So maybe it's a pet sound fx grid. So we have your stereo signal. Left-right channel,
[08:35.040] everything is normal. But then we split this here into left-right. We have left-right mid-side.
[08:47.120] And now we have only playback the left channel.
[08:56.000] As a mono signal, we get this out here. We can see it's completely mono.
[09:02.160] Or just only play the right channel. Okay. So when you take now a math operation here, subtract.
[09:12.960] So now we subtract the left channel from the right channel. This gives us the side channel.
[09:33.920] If we change this to add, we get the mid channel.
[09:38.560] Or adding the left and the right channel together as the mid channel. Subtracting is the side channel.
[09:50.080] And if you add the side to the mids, you get the left channel. And if you add the mid and
[09:59.360] the side to this, you get the right channel. This is basically a hard rocks.
[10:03.040] And it's just for your information so we can have an idea how we get the side information
[10:11.040] and the mid information and how it relates to one another. Okay.
[10:16.640] So this is an interesting thing I wanted to experiment more with.
[10:24.320] So I wanted to make a video and show you this possibility that you can drag a sampler
[10:29.360] or an instrument into this mid-side split container. And this can lead to interesting results.
[10:37.280] It's also nice to maybe use an Polysynth.
[10:44.160] Use a mid-side split.
[10:48.960] Track this in the mid here.
[10:50.160] And then we can use here maybe an audio receiver and get the information from the mid channel.
[11:03.920] Now we get the left channel as you can see here. It's only left because when you add the mid
[11:08.560] to the side or add it together, you get the left channel.
[11:11.360] But now we can apply some effects.
[11:18.720] Maybe we'll go up.
[11:41.760] So can lead to interesting results. I want to basically inspire you to try it out and maybe
[11:52.560] you can put some nice ideas for this. I found it quite interesting and like I said, I want to
[11:59.840] play around with this more. So I think that's it for this video for the first video.
[12:05.120] I think I'm going back to recovery mode. So thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next video.
[12:10.720] See you and bye.