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Scaler EQ in Bitwig Studio

Tutorial | Nov 15, 2023

In this video, I discuss a new EQ plugin called Scaler EQ, which allows you to select a scale and only choose frequencies that are within that scale. I demonstrate how you can replicate this functionality in Bitwig Studio by using EQ plugins and the pitch quantizer. While the interface cannot be replicated, the technical aspects can be achieved.

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In my latest video, I discussed the Scaler EQ plugin:

Questions & Answers

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

What is Scaler EQ and how does it work?

Scaler EQ is a new plug-in that allows you to select a scale, like A minor or C major, and then all the frequencies you choose will be in that scale. It quantizes the frequencies, turning them into notes within the chosen scale. This is useful for creating steep frequency cuts or boosts to create self-resonating tones, but not as effective for broad EQ adjustments.

Can Scaler EQ be replicated in Bitwig Studio?

Yes, it is possible to replicate the functionality of Scaler EQ in Bitwig Studio. While you can't replicate the interface of the plug-in, you can use EQ modules, like EQ Plus or EQ5, and manually input the frequencies within the chosen scale. This allows you to achieve similar results in terms of frequency quantization.

What are the limitations of replicating Scaler EQ in Bitwig Studio?

The main limitation is that you can't replicate the interface of Scaler EQ, which can be visually appealing and easier to understand. Additionally, while you can achieve frequency quantization in Bitwig Studio, the process may require more manual input and switching between modules compared to using a dedicated plug-in.

How can frequency quantization be achieved in Bitwig Studio?

In Bitwig Studio, you can achieve frequency quantization by using EQ modules and manually inputting the frequencies within the chosen scale. You can also utilize the FX Grid and modules like XP Filter to create peak filters that boost specific frequencies within the scale. By using quantizers and modulators, you can further customize the frequency adjustments to create resonator-like effects.

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 folks, welcome back to another video on the dates about Scaler EQ that you can see
[00:00:05] in the background here.
[00:00:06] It's a new plug-in.
[00:00:07] I saw a video of this yesterday and I thought maybe I'd talk a bit about it.
[00:00:13] The idea about this EQ is basically that you can't just put frequencies everywhere.
[00:00:20] You can select the scale as you can see in the background here, A minor, C major and
[00:00:26] then all the frequencies you pick are basically on the scale.
[00:00:31] So the frequency is a note and the note is in the scale you're choosing here at the top.
[00:00:37] So it's basically a quantizer for the frequencies and all the frequencies are basically within
[00:00:43] a scale.
[00:00:45] I think this only makes sense if you choose very steep frequency cuts or frequency boosts
[00:00:53] like something like this here, right?
[00:00:55] But you have almost like self resonating tones.
[00:01:01] If you choose more broad frequency ranges, right?
[00:01:07] If you make just a big belly here and boost that, I think it doesn't make any sense because
[00:01:15] the frequencies are so broad that you can't hear basically if you are one or two hertz
[00:01:22] below or beneath the frequency of a note.
[00:01:26] It doesn't only make sense in my opinion if you have very steep cuts here or very precise
[00:01:33] boosts.
[00:01:34] So the big question is can you replicate this inside of Bitwig Studio?
[00:01:38] The quick answer is yes, you can.
[00:01:40] Technically, the only downside is as always in Bitwig Studio, you can't replicate the
[00:01:46] interface.
[00:01:48] In the interface, it's most of the times for most plugins, 80% of the appeal, you know,
[00:01:53] that you can see what you are doing, that you see what's going on, that it looks nice
[00:01:58] and easy to get and so on.
[00:02:00] So that's what you can't replicate.
[00:02:04] But technically what's going on behind the scenes, that's something you can replicate.
[00:02:10] So here we have basically a drum loop.
[00:02:17] And you can just put an EQ on that.
[00:02:19] So let's use here.
[00:02:20] Oh, it's the wrong channel.
[00:02:23] Let's put an EQ plus on there.
[00:02:26] And you can EQ everything here.
[00:02:30] Right, you can see you can choose basically every frequency here.
[00:02:38] But you can always type in, you can say I want to EQ everything, that's C major, right?
[00:02:44] So C major is basically all the white keys.
[00:02:48] You go down here and see it's F#4.
[00:02:51] So F#4 is not in the key of C major.
[00:02:54] So you go to F4, right?
[00:02:57] So this isn't the key.
[00:02:59] So now we have the frequency of F4, which is in the key.
[00:03:02] So you can always EQ like that if you want to.
[00:03:05] You can go down here and just type in a note.
[00:03:09] So you can see that the C major is in the key of C major.
[00:03:15] So you can select basically everything that has a sharp in it.
[00:03:23] Like I said here, if you have this broad EQ boost, something like that, it actually doesn't
[00:03:30] matter if you are a few hertz off or not on a note because you can't hear it.
[00:03:37] It's just a lot of frequencies you are boosting here at the same time.
[00:03:41] It only makes sense if you have very steep boosts or cuts.
[00:03:47] Then maybe makes sense even with this here, with this Q setting, you have probably three
[00:03:55] or four notes at the same time here to the left and to the right that you are still boosting.
[00:04:03] So you're boosting multiple notes at the same time, not only one.
[00:04:06] So you need to have very steep cuts and boosts here to only affect one note or one frequency
[00:04:14] alone.
[00:04:15] So here type in C3, so you land exactly on C3.
[00:04:21] You can do this with multiple things and so on.
[00:04:23] So this is basically the easiest way to do this, to just use inputs for the EQ.
[00:04:30] You can also use EQ5 here for that if you want to.
[00:04:35] You can also type in C3 and then use it this way.
[00:04:40] Another way would be to use the grid.
[00:04:46] FX grid.
[00:04:48] And in here we can use an XP filter.
[00:04:53] Disable it to pre-chord for the pitch pre-chord.
[00:04:59] And then go here to peak.
[00:05:01] And peak is basically something like this.
[00:05:06] EQ5.
[00:05:07] So this is a peak.
[00:05:09] There is a bandpass here.
[00:05:12] Bandpass basically removes everything above and below.
[00:05:15] It looks like this.
[00:05:19] So this would be bandpass, right?
[00:05:22] It only passes basically what's selected in here.
[00:05:26] But the peak one looks like this.
[00:05:29] It's just a boost.
[00:05:32] And you can change how much you boost by using this resonance knob.
[00:05:38] You can also do a notch.
[00:05:40] Steep cut.
[00:05:41] It's basically something like this.
[00:05:42] I think a notch is basically it goes to zero here.
[00:05:45] It completely removes everything.
[00:05:48] So it's not rocking like a peak.
[00:05:49] It's more or less like an, yeah, it's also not an inverted bandpass.
[00:05:55] It's hard to describe, but it's basically cutting everything out here in the middle.
[00:05:59] There's basically zero audio at exactly this frequency.
[00:06:02] So you can only use peak here to make positive boosts.
[00:06:08] So with this, you can basically just put this here to C3, 362 Hertz.
[00:06:17] And then you go to quantizer, of course.
[00:06:20] Right?
[00:06:21] And you say you want to select C major or A minor.
[00:06:25] Put this in there.
[00:06:28] Use a value.
[00:06:30] Maybe use your bipolar.
[00:06:33] And you start basically at C3 here.
[00:06:36] And then you can move the EQ up or down and boost here.
[00:06:41] So let's try this out.
[00:06:42] What if it sounds.
[00:07:04] We can also use the readout here and put this into semitones mode.
[00:07:09] You can see we boost basically E5.
[00:07:14] So that's that.
[00:07:15] I think we can also get the frequency out here of this.
[00:07:18] Let me see.
[00:07:21] So pitch the frequency.
[00:07:25] So we have here basically 1.3K Hertz, kilohertz that we boost here at this moment.
[00:07:39] Okay, then we can say we want to use voice stacking here.
[00:07:48] Go to two voices, two voice stacks and use stack spread here and say this is manual mode.
[00:07:58] Put this here back.
[00:08:00] And then let's go here to 100%.
[00:08:03] And this is basically the frequency.
[00:08:06] We duplicate this also manual.
[00:08:09] And then we change this here to resonance 100%.
[00:08:15] And we call this resonance.
[00:08:18] So now we have basically on the left side, I don't know why they moved this from here
[00:08:23] from an extended panel to the inspector, but it's how it is in beta 5.
[00:08:31] So now you have to rely on this interface here and you have to switch between the two.
[00:08:39] Before we could just expand here these voice or the stack spread modulators, expand basically
[00:08:45] the panels and have two panels next to each other.
[00:08:49] Now we have to switch between the two.
[00:08:51] So frequency here.
[00:08:53] So you can change one frequency here.
[00:08:55] And then you change the resonance here.
[00:09:02] Frequency here.
[00:09:04] Resonance here.
[00:09:17] It's probably good to bring the volume down here by -60B because we layer the input sound
[00:09:22] twice.
[00:09:30] So we have to compensate here a bit.
[00:09:37] I really hope they bring back here these extended panels for the manual mode.
[00:09:43] I think this is not a great way of editing stuff here.
[00:09:47] You have to switch between two of them.
[00:09:50] Yeah, I don't know.
[00:09:53] So we can increase the voice stacks of course to 10.
[00:10:07] So we can change our multiple frequencies.
[00:10:10] Everything is basically here going through this pitch quantizer.
[00:10:15] And then you can edit a bit of resonance everywhere.
[00:10:25] Then you can create kind of resonator almost.
[00:10:42] It's not a resonator because we don't use bandpass filters.
[00:11:00] But every frequency is basically in the scale of C major.
[00:11:09] So like I said, it's not very hard to do this inside of Bitwig Studio just for the quantizer
[00:11:14] here and the filter.
[00:11:18] But the interface, you know, you can't replicate the interface.
[00:11:21] It's always the same thing inside of Bitwig to give basically the user a nice easy to
[00:11:28] understand interface and you know to see for yourself what's actually going on.
[00:11:35] Where do you EQ and where do you need to EQ.
[00:11:38] Now technically not a problem.
[00:11:41] So that's it for this video.
[00:11:42] Thanks for watching.
[00:11:43] Leave a like, subscribe to the channel.
[00:11:45] See you in the next video.
[00:11:46] Bye.
[00:11:46] Bye.
[00:11:47] [BLANK_AUDIO]