Exploring the Channel 16 Modulator in Bitwig Studio 4.2 Beta Version 3

Tutorial | Mar 08, 2022

In this video, I demonstrated how to use the Channel 16 Modulator in Bitweek Studio 4.2 Beta Version

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

Questions & Answers #

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

How does the Channel 16 module in Bitweek Studio 4.2 beta version 3 work? #

The Channel 16 module is a modulator that allows users to define data or modulation on a per-node basis. You can select a node and go to the Inspector to select a different MIDI channel. You can then use the Channel 16 modulator to add different modulations to each voice, allowing you to create different sounds. You can also use the Channel 16 modulator to change chords, scales, Wavetable positions, and more.

What are the limitations of the Channel 16 module? #

The Channel 16 module is limited to 16 different settings, which is usually enough for most uses. However, it would be nice to have more features in the future, such as a table where you can add variables to the node and then recall these variables in the modulator. Additionally, the modulation system currently in Bitwig Studio does not allow for envelopes to be triggered by the modulation system.

What are some of the uses for the Channel 16 module? #

The Channel 16 module can be used for a variety of purposes, such as changing chords, scales, Wavetable positions, and

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] Hey guys, welcome back to another video. Today it's about the channel 16 module later in Bitweek
[00:05.440] Studio 4.2 beta version ## And I try to explain a bit what it's all about, how we can use it,
[00:12.400] some inspirational tips. I later on also discover some bugs, some minor bugs, of course, it's still
[00:18.480] better. And maybe also some ideas for the future, some feature requests. And I would say enough talk,
[00:30.480] let's start. So this is how the channel 16 looks like in Bitweek Studio when you attach it to a
[00:37.360] device and you can also attach it to a VST, of course, if you want to. I'm not sure how it works with
[00:43.280] multiple voices or polyphony, but with the Bitweek device it works fairly great. And with this
[00:50.960] channel 16, modulator you can define data or modulation on a per node basis. So if you have your
[00:56.960] node clip, we have multiple nodes in there and each node has a different MIDI channel here,
[01:02.720] and select it on the right side. When you select the node, you can go to the Inspector,
[01:06.640] select a different MIDI channel. The first node here is channel ## The second node is channel 2
[01:12.160] and the third node is, of course, channel ## And because all the devices, all the instruments,
[01:18.560] software instruments here, don't use MIDI channels at all. We can basically misuse these MIDI
[01:26.000] channels for modulating something with the channel 16 modulator. So we play multiple nodes at the same
[01:32.320] time. All these nodes go into the polymer here, which is a synth synthesizer, and we play each voice
[01:42.400] back, and we use the channel 16 modulator to add different modulations to each voice. So we have
[01:50.080] all three voices here with all three channels and apply here multiple or different modulations.
[01:55.520] So the first node is no modulation at all. It's in default state. The second node here gets a
[02:01.920] bit of Wavetable position and the third one also, and maybe we can close the filter a bit more.
[02:09.840] So what this means now is that each node sounds different, and maybe play on three nodes together,
[02:15.760] it sounds like this. And when we mute here multiple nodes, this node sounds like this.
[02:25.120] It's a different Wavetable position, and the third one here has basically also a different wave
[02:34.640] table position in a different filter position applied. So it's basically you can define modulation
[02:46.320] on a per-node base. And we could do this before with the expressions here, something along those
[02:53.840] lines, because we could select your node and say we want to apply maybe different velocity,
[03:00.640] different pressure or pan-setting on gain setting. And now we have media channels where we can
[03:08.880] make use of the media channels or misuse the media channels to modulate something on a per-node
[03:14.000] base. And I always wanted to have something like this and a bit more in depth where we can maybe
[03:21.200] go in here, select the node and say, add the parameter to this node, and this parameter then
[03:29.120] modulates something here in the synthesizer, in Bitwig and the device itself. So it could be nice
[03:37.680] if we have actually in the future here some kind of table, where we can add variables to the node
[03:44.240] itself, multiple variables and can maybe rename these variables. And then we just grab these
[03:52.640] variables inside here with the modulator and modulate something to it. Because now we are
[03:58.720] kind of limited to 16 different settings, which is pretty fine, it's enough for more in most cases.
[04:05.680] But it would be nice to actually extend this a bit more for maybe different uses. So for instance,
[04:15.680] I used in the recent day here the channel 16 modulator for chords. So you have maybe a multi-node,
[04:24.960] and you have a minor chord here, and you play one note, but this is a minor chord here.
[04:40.240] But like this, and you add a channel 16 modulator here, and you say, when we play something with
[04:47.840] a note with a channel two, then actually switch this here to a major chord.
[04:51.920] And we like this, right? So you can now define here on the note itself what kind of chord we play.
[04:59.920] So when it's channel one, we play a minor chord, when it's channel two, we play a major chord.
[05:05.200] And then you can create basically chord progressions here, and you can define here with a channel
[05:26.320] itself what kind of chord you play. And maybe we use your also my
[05:38.720] rapper reset, which I showed you in some of my recent videos.
[05:43.840] And you can play around here with changing the chord, maybe different settings.
[06:06.640] And we can extend this here, of course, with more voices. Maybe you go to
[06:10.400] minor 7 and the major 7.
[06:33.040] So something like this, right? You can also imagine to use here,
[06:36.960] instead of a multi-node, you can use a key filter for instance, right? And you can add a channel 16
[06:44.160] to that and use them on the pronoun base channel 16 modulator to change here, maybe the scale or the
[06:54.560] mode. You can also use this for bass lines, for instance, we use here a phase four,
[07:00.320] synth, use some notes, I go down here to E probably.
[07:16.080] And we maybe use your MIDI channel two for the second note. And now we can use a classic LFO here.
[07:24.480] And switch that maybe here to synced, or notes that's okay.
[07:34.240] And we add here also a channel 16 modulator. And I don't need everything, I just need
[08:03.840] this to go in here.
[08:11.920] I set the open voice bar there.
[08:22.000] So now we can define your channel two, maybe changes here the speed setting and also here the
[08:29.120] mode. So let's listen to that. Okay, nice. And we use your channel three.
[08:40.640] And channel three modulates the LFO here even more. So two and maybe two here.
[08:49.040] Nice. And we can also switch this here to mono-mode, monophonic. Right, every note gets its own
[09:02.720] different LFO setting. And this is my opinion pretty powerful because you can stay in the piano
[09:11.200] role and just change the channel for each note. And you know, in the background it changes
[09:17.600] modulations, maybe chords, maybe pitches or weight table positions or anything like that.
[09:25.440] We could maybe also go for this is channel two.
[09:30.240] Maybe channel two also opens this here a bit more and maybe changes here the ratio of the
[09:36.480] second operators. So let's try out the sounds. Maybe it's been here.
[10:02.000] That's currently your bug here when you change some of the settings modulation
[10:05.840] then it applies it also to the first note. I'm not sure why that is.
[10:12.560] But you have to change the settings here the voice settings reset it.
[10:22.880] But in my opinion, this is pretty powerful. Like I said, changing something on a pernode base.
[10:28.720] And I really wish we get in the future more like this where we have maybe a table on the left side.
[10:34.560] Piano role you select the note you have a table here an array of data and you can add a data point
[10:42.320] or a parameter at value and then you go into your modulator you can recall this parameter and apply
[10:50.560] the value to some random knobs in the device itself. So we could probably do something like
[11:00.160] go in the piano role select the note and then decide here if I want to add maybe distortion.
[11:08.000] If I want to change the chord which kind of scale I have maybe at the reverb or not the reverb
[11:14.000] or maybe change the Wavetable position. So you can could do a lot of things with these kind of
[11:22.480] parameters and you could stay in the piano role and concentrate on what kind of notes you want to play
[11:29.520] and then you select in the inspector here what kind of parameter you want to change on the synth
[11:35.120] or on the audio effects. Could be pretty powerful in my opinion no one does this currently in
[11:41.840] in audio rock stations but the channel filter the channel 16 filter modulator goes in that direction.
[11:50.400] So in this example here I have a drum machine I have some samples in there some drum samples.
[11:55.920] Pretty simple there's a drum loop here and we can use a different channel on the snare drum
[12:06.400] so I switch this all to one so we can hear how it sounds.
[12:16.480] Right but I define some effects on the snare drum here so we can say I want to have a reverb on
[12:22.960] this snare or maybe on this one here like three.
[12:35.840] Okay and then this one I want just the delay.
[12:45.040] So this is something you could do probably with the channel 16 modulator I have to see attached to
[12:50.400] the drum machine and then I modulate here with channel two. I modulate inside this chain of the snare
[13:03.200] basically here the volume tool which goes into the delay one to feed basically the delay with the
[13:11.120] input and this is also kind of a drawback with the modulation system currently in Bitwig Studio.
[13:22.080] This channel 16 modulator handle is only active as long as the node is so when you modulate for
[13:28.080] instance a mix of an effect then the mix is there is no envelope you can define basically so when
[13:38.960] you have a reverb here and say every time a midi note with channel two plays I want to fade in here
[13:48.080] the mix of the reverb. Then this mix knob only lasts as long as the node is in this position and
[13:58.720] then switches instantaneously back to zero as no fall off or envelope you can define we still have
[14:06.480] an envelope in here what this envelope is only triggered by me now so there's no way you can trigger
[14:13.520] this within channel 16 right and then use this envelope curve then to modulate this one here so
[14:23.680] this is a bit of a bummer basically so for certain situations 2016 doesn't work in my opinion
[14:31.840] left to find block rounds inside Bitwig but this was always a problem here that you couldn't
[14:39.920] actually trigger an envelope inside the modulation system so when I've defined here channel two
[14:48.160] and blend this in later spec you can see it's long as the node plays here to make a longer node
[15:06.880] maybe it's also a nice effect but you have to yeah think about this so there's no envelope
[15:14.080] also the leg here it's not fall off it's more like a ramp
[15:23.600] that would be nice maybe to have here instead of leg also rise and fall or something like this
[15:30.480] I'm not sure if the global mount here is needed so I could imagine replacing this here maybe
[15:36.880] but the fall off and this or the fall and this with the rise or something like this could be a
[15:42.240] walk around or maybe give us a small ADSR here down below that could be maybe more interesting
[15:50.240] or change the modulation system so we can modulate here maybe an odd ADSR
[15:58.160] so trigger basically an ADSR here with the modulation system and then we can use this then to
[16:03.920] figure out the mix for instance so there are multiple walkarounds I could imagine how this works out
[16:15.200] so yeah so this is something you can do with the channel 16 at first when I heard about channel 16
[16:23.440] modulator I thought that we also get amounts here for maybe the velocity so when you have
[16:31.760] something here on channel 2 and you modulate something here on channel 2 the glide for instance
[16:40.880] and then how much or the amount of modulation you apply to the glide is decided by
[16:47.760] the velocity
[16:51.680] right which kind of kind of thing you dial in here but it's not the case it's either on or off
[16:58.960] so there's no modulation amount transferred from the node to the modulator handles here
[17:10.480] that's it for the day if you like the video then please hit like if you dislike the video then please
[17:14.240] see if it dislike if you have some questions then please leave a comment in the comments below
[17:17.920] so I can answer your questions in the comments thanks for watching and see you in the next video
[17:22.240] bye this was fast