Arturia Keystep Pro with Bitwig Studio and Hardware synthesizers

Tutorial | Mar 14, 2022

In this video, I showed how I integrated the Arturia Keystep Pro with my Ulurec and my semi-modular synthesizer setup. The Keystep Pro is connected to my computer via USB and to Bitwig Studio with a MIDI clock button. It passes the clock signal to all my devices, allowing me to generate a pattern synced to my host tempo in Bitwig Studio. I can also use the outputs to send control voltage to my Mother 32, Eurowreck, and Pooly D. With the Keystep Pro, I can switch between my instruments and record sequences of up to 64 steps. I can also use the diatonic transposer, drum sequencer, and arpeggiator to further customize my sound. Overall, the Keystep Pro is the perfect controller for my setup!

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Questions & Answers #

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

How do I integrate a Arturia Keystep Pro with Bitwig Studio and my synth setup? #

You can connect the Arturia Keystep Pro to your computer via USB and then to Bitwig Studio. In Bitwig Studio, you can enable the MIDI Clock button and get the MIDI clock signal from Bitwig Studio to the Keystep Pro. From there, you can output the clock signal to your other devices such as the Ulurec and DFAM. You can also use the Voice2 output to go with the CV channels into a Mother 32. Additionally, you can use Track 1 to go with MIDI track channel 1 in Bitwig Studio for the piano. Track 2 can be used for the Mother 32 and you can use Track 3 for the Eurowreck where you can change the pitch of the oscillator.

What features does the Arturia Keystep Pro have? #

The Arturia Keystep Pro has a lot of features. It has a clock signal output which can be used to synchronize your devices to Bitwig Studio. It also has 4 tracks which can be used for different instruments. Additionally, it has velocity, gate and pitch outputs

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 folks, welcome back to another video.
[00:22.860] A Arturia actually sent me one of the keystep pro devices and I want to show you how I integrate
[00:28.160] this with Bitwig Studio and with my Ulurec and my semi modular synthesizer setup.
[00:34.660] So I would say grab a coffee and enjoy the ride.
[00:39.220] So the Arturia keystep pro here is connected to my computer via USB and this goes all the
[00:46.620] way around to my PC and it's connected to Bitwig Studio.
[00:50.500] And in Bitwig Studio I'm using a hardware device with the MIDI clock button on.
[00:58.060] So I'm getting the MIDI clock signal from Bitwig Studio onto this device.
[01:04.740] And when I had play here, it's perfectly synced in tempo to Bitwig Studio which is
[01:10.660] currently running at 60 ppm.
[01:14.420] You can see it's synced up here.
[01:16.980] And what I can do now is that I have this clock signal here.
[01:21.700] I can go out with the clock signal also here on the back of this device.
[01:27.580] There's specifically a clock out, clock in and reset out and I'm going over the clock
[01:33.660] out just passing the clock signal around to all my devices here also in a kind of splitter
[01:41.020] cable going to the Ulurec, also going here to the DFAM.
[01:45.860] And I think some cable is going here also over to my Pooly D for the arpeggiator.
[01:52.900] And inside the DFAM here, I can hit start.
[01:57.940] I can switch here where I want to start from here on the back, at start.
[02:02.260] And then I can generate here basically.
[02:16.660] I can generate a pattern which synced to my host tempo in Bitwig Studio.
[02:22.140] And also from here, I'm splitting out the clock signal into the mother 32 and also at the
[02:30.140] top to my subharmonicon, right?
[02:33.620] It goes here is the clock signal going into the mother and then I'm going out with the
[02:38.860] clock signal again here into the clock in of the subharmonicon because the subharmonicon
[02:45.540] needs to be used with the sequencer.
[02:48.500] I mean, you can use it without the sequencer, but the whole point of the subharmonicon
[02:52.700] is that you use autopoli rhythms with the sequencer and also the subdivisions of the
[02:57.780] oscillators, that's the whole point of having this device basically.
[03:04.340] And also you have multiple outputs or you have on this keystep, probably you have multiple
[03:11.540] lanes.
[03:12.540] So track 1, track 2, track 3 and 4.
[03:17.540] And for instance, track 1 is going into Bitwig Studio as the MIDI track channel 1 where
[03:26.420] I can use it with my piano.
[03:33.420] And in Bitwig Studio, you can basically choose MIDI channel 1 for the keystep row and just
[03:39.860] only have track 1 dedicated to the piano.
[03:44.540] And track 2 for instance, I don't use MIDI input MIDI channel 2 inside Bitwig Studio,
[03:52.420] but I use the Voice 2 output here on the back of the Arturiyaki keystep to go with the
[04:01.060] CV channels into my Mother 32.
[04:06.100] So when I switch here to track 2, I have a sequencer for my Mother 32, track 1, I have
[04:12.660] a sequencer for the piano so I can record something here.
[04:23.060] So it's basically just a sequencer for each instrument dedicated and track 2 is basically
[04:30.220] my Mother 32.
[04:43.580] So I can, with this device, just play each instrument, I can switch between instruments
[04:57.700] and I can record sequences here in the internal step sequencer, which goes up to 64 steps
[05:04.780] if I want to.
[05:08.380] Track 3, I think, is my Eurowreck, where I can change the pitch of the oscillator with
[05:15.540] this one, but I have to reach out to actually turn it on.
[05:19.780] And I think track 4 is not used at the moment.
[05:24.740] So this is pretty nice for me, because I can switch between the MIDI keyboard, which
[05:30.460] I use to change notes and gates inside of Bitwig Studio for certain instruments, but
[05:37.260] I can also just connect on the back end here with CV and go into different devices and
[05:43.420] use CV output.
[05:44.740] There's also for each voice or for each track here.
[05:48.420] You can use not only gate and pitch, you can also use velocity and you can use velocity
[05:54.580] for random control voltage changes, maybe change your filter card off or modulate something
[06:02.060] different on a different instrument.
[06:03.820] So it's, each control voltage has a dedicated output and you can connect to whatever you
[06:10.180] want to.
[06:11.780] So this is pretty fine for me.
[06:14.180] This is the perfect controller, basically, to have this here on my semi-modular synthesizers
[06:20.220] and also on the UREC to sequence everything from this device and also having control from
[06:27.420] here to change notes for instruments inside Bitwig Studio, for instance, the piano.
[06:39.660] This thing has even more features, it's just the surface, right?
[06:43.380] You have randomization, you have the sequencer, you can change here some scales where you
[06:48.660] have like a diatonic transposer like you used to have in Bitwig Studio, you can also
[06:52.980] do this on this device.
[06:55.420] You can also use here instead of sequencer, you can use a drum sequencer or you can use
[07:01.460] an arpeggiator here for maybe for the mother 32.
[07:08.260] So you can press multiple notes and use hold here, then you can introduce here some randomization
[07:26.820] to the pattern.
[07:40.340] So the keystep row is basically the perfect device for my setup.
[07:44.340] It spreads out the clock signal from Bitwig Studio to all my hardware synthesizers and
[07:49.860] it also has a nice step sequence of itself with some randomization features, we can create
[07:55.540] patterns on the fly, you can chain up different patterns and yeah it's a neat little device
[08:01.740] that you can use without looking at your display or at Bitwig Studio itself and when you
[08:07.260] are happy with your jam, then you just record it to the door or to Bitwig Studio itself.
[08:14.260] That's it for this video guys, thanks for watching, leave a like if you liked the video,
[08:17.980] leave some questions in the comments below and I see you in the next video, bye.