Create Risers and Transitions with Bitwig Global Modulators

Tutorial | Apr 24, 2023

In this video, I share my process of creating risers and transitioning effects using the global modulator in Bitwig Studio. I was inspired by UJAM's final boost and Data Life's Endless Smile plugins and wanted to replicate the effects in Bitwig. Instead of using manual automation, I used the curve editor to create a ramp that gradually increases the effect's intensity over time. I demonstrated how to apply this technique to individual tracks, such as chords, bass, and percussion, to create more dynamic and interesting effects with precise control. This technique is a great VST replacement and allows for more creative flexibility in creating risers and sweeps in your music.

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Questions & Answers #

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

Questions and Answers #

1. What is the inspiration behind this video? #

Most of the videos made by the creator involve VST replacement videos wherein they take inspiration from VST plugins and recreate them inside of Bitvic Studio. In this video, the inspiration comes from Final Boost from UJAM, which is a plugin that can be put on a master to increase its intensity and create transitions between certain sections of a track.

What is the problem with using Final Boost on individual tracks? #

Final Boost can only be used on the master bus. This means that it is not possible to apply this effect to individual tracks.

How can one replicate Final Boost inside of Bitvic Studio? #

It is possible to replicate the Final Boost effect using the global modulator in Bitvic Studio. By using the curve editor in the global modulator, it is possible to create a ramped intensity increase over time and apply this effect to individual tracks.

What are some benefits of using the global modulator over Final Boost? #

Using the global modulator in Bitvic Studio enables users to have more flexibility and control over the plugin's parameters since it can be applied to individual tracks and not just the master. Additionally, using the global modulator is a cost-effective way to achieve the same effect without needing to purchase a separate plugin.

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, I noticed most of my videos are actually some kind of
[00:06.480] VST replacement videos where I take some inspiration for some VST plugins and
[00:12.120] then I try to re-create it inside of Bitvic Studio and also sometimes people
[00:16.680] come up to me and ask me, well here's just that direct module, how can we replicate
[00:22.040] this inside of Bitvic Studio. So in this video it's not any different, right?
[00:27.000] The inspiration comes from final boost here, from UJAM. It's
[00:35.280] basically something you put on a master like I did here, and then you put this
[00:48.200] on a master and then you can increase here the intensity of this plugin. And then
[00:53.760] with this you can create kind of sweeps or transitioning between certain
[01:00.200] sections, right? You use this here maybe in the intro and then you go up and up
[01:06.440] and then you drop basically into the main beat. So it's something you can create
[01:12.120] risers with your whole track. The only problem here is basically you can only
[01:17.000] work with your audio material on the master bus, so not individual tracks.
[01:22.000] Also something along those lines is also here called the Endless Smile by
[01:28.280] Data Life, right? You have some presets here and then you increase the intensity and then you
[01:43.800] drop into the main section or whatever. This is something you can of course replicate
[01:50.240] inside of Bitvic Studio pretty easily, but I want to use this time, not a manual, not
[01:56.960] for that here, because you probably want to automate this anyway. We can use the
[02:03.280] global modulator for that easily, right? It makes at least sense. So what I do
[02:09.440] sometimes or did in the recent days is to use a curve for that and with the
[02:15.160] curve we can easily create some kind of ramp, so right click here reset curve.
[02:20.040] So something like this, right? Where you can increase the intensity over time.
[02:24.680] And here this is a bit too fast of course, so we dial in here, slow a ramp, maybe bar
[02:32.400] and then we go to let's say eight bars, right? And you can see it's slowly here
[02:38.360] moving up and maybe you don't want to have any effect in this section here, right?
[02:44.800] And then at the end you fade in, you increase intensity and then you drop into the next section.
[02:51.040] So you can paint this in here with the curve editor pretty nicely and we can also have
[02:57.480] to synchronize the C of course to the BPM. And then because this is now a global modulator,
[03:04.880] we can go into every kind of track here and do something with it, right? So let's bring
[03:11.000] in here the beat again. So here we have the chords, right? So maybe we can increase the
[03:20.800] pitch of the chords, maybe I don't know, by 12 semitones. Actually this bipolar, we have
[03:29.400] the switch that you're doing. So we are at zero down here, right? So maybe we also open
[03:39.800] up the filter here, maybe we increase the decay time, see a reverb on it now. We can increase
[03:50.000] your descent with the reverb. Maybe we may as well, let's see. Maybe the pitch is not
[04:01.400] the best option here. But you can hear it increases in kind of intensity over time. Maybe
[04:11.800] we don't see the reverb, but if the fault setting for the reverb. So something like this,
[04:24.880] so we can go over to the bass here. Then on the bass of course, we want to also open
[04:29.320] up here the frequency cut off. And here on the bass, we want to reduce actually what we
[04:47.040] send into the reverb. Let's see how this sounds. Okay. Here we have some kind of step sequence
[05:04.840] of running. Let's play this here, actually, which then plays a polymer. Add some kind of
[05:13.000] arpe. Also here, you can open up the filter, you can do all kinds of things. You can't do
[05:26.480] actually with these via C plug-ins, because they don't have access to all these tracks. They're
[05:32.680] only can do things on the master or on the sum. You can see the mix of the delay. And here
[05:51.880] we also send a bit. On the kick itself, maybe we can introduce some kind of delay.
[06:21.880] We'll bring this down to zero here by default. And then the riser increases here slowly.
[06:38.040] The mix of the delay on the kick. You also can do is probably use a chain here. Instead of
[06:57.120] bringing in the mix here of the delay, you put the delay into the chain. And then here,
[07:04.000] put the set 100% and then maybe also frequency shifter in there. Bring this down, this down,
[07:21.240] and then we bring slowly in the mix here. Maybe 1% then also bring up here the shift. And you
[07:35.960] can see we modulate a lot of things with just with this course modulator and all kinds of tracks in
[07:41.080] all kinds of positions and parameters. So it gets you basically the plug-ins here got
[07:50.040] finally boosted and the smile for free. And you also have much more control because you can go
[07:57.880] into the individual tracks. And you also have it on the cloud modulator. We can use it in all kinds
[08:04.120] of places, which is really nice and handy. You can also change the intensity if you don't want to use this
[08:11.800] right to pull this down and nothing happens. So nothing happens. Or you can say I only want to have
[08:28.600] this every 16 bars. And so it gets slower. Maybe make curve something like this. You can create already
[08:40.600] just with modulator some kind of minimal arrangement within the Clip Launcher just by adding this to your
[08:48.920] global modulator panel and then modulating things on the tracks.
[08:58.360] Right, nice. So we have a nice little transitioning risers we've just created with this modulator.
[09:09.720] Of course these kind of plug-ins are no brainers. You put them on. They have still the rights to
[09:16.520] exist right inside of Bitwig Studios. So you can just buy them and use that. Put it on the master
[09:22.840] and just move this up and collect the day. You have also a lot of presets in here.
[09:36.280] Now maybe let's not too late this here. I mean it's bitmically game just
[09:41.080] modulate the intensity of this. Let's see all the sounds.
[09:49.320] Wait for it. Wait for it.
[09:50.360] Damn, that's how it works. The global modulator curve modulator here, select bars, go to 16 bars
[10:12.760] or 8 bars or whatever. You synchronize here and then modulate the fuck out of every track every
[10:19.960] parameter on these tracks and create risers and sweeps this way. Pretty easy. So it's a replacement
[10:27.000] basically for these kind of plug-ins which you can also use these plug-ins if you want to.