Vibey Chilly Loop from Scratch in Bitwig Studio

Tutorial | Mar 18, 2024

In this video, I start from scratch in Bitwig Studio to create a nice sounding loop using special techniques. I use the Poly-Grid to create background drones with sine oscillators and phase modulation for interesting overtones. I then sample these sounds and use them in a sampler, add effects, and create percussion elements to complete the loop.

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In this video, I demonstrate creating a loop from scratch in Bitwig Studio using only its built-in features, emphasizing special techniques for sound design:

1. Starting with Sound Creation:

   • I use the Poly-Grid to craft initial sounds for a sampler, aiming for background drones.
   • Three sine oscillators are employed within the Poly-Grid, manipulated through phase modulation to generate interesting overtones.
   • A unique method involving a "dice" roll triggers upon keyboard input to randomize parameters such as phase modulation amount and oscillator detuning, enhancing sonic variety.

2. Enhancing Texture and Movement:

   • Detuning adjustments are made to avoid overly discordant sounds, with a preference for slight variances.
   • Additional randomness and modulation, including a random modulator and slight pitch adjustments, contribute to a dynamic and evolving texture.

3. Filtration and Spatial Effects:

   • A cell and key filter focuses on the fundamental frequencies, filtering out excess overtones.
   • The chain progresses through chorus, convolution reverb, and delay effects to add depth and spatiality to the sound.

4. Sampler Manipulation:

   • Recorded material is loaded into a sampler, processed in texture mode with adjustments to grain, motion, and filtering, achieving a lush, atmospheric drone.
   • Voice stacking and panning techniques are applied to enhance the stereo image and depth.

5. Creating Rhythmic Elements:

   • Using the initial patch, I modify it to serve as a pluck sound, introducing a note grid for automated melodic sequences.
   • Additional rhythmic layers, including a kick and clap pattern, are crafted using basic waveforms and processed through effects like distortion and filtering for character.

6. Final Touches:

   • A lo-fi effect is added to the master for a tape-like warmth and texture, subtly affecting the overall mix.
   • Balancing and fine-tuning adjustments are made across the mix to ensure a cohesive sound.

7. Conclusion and Saving:

   • The project, named "Sweet Photon," exemplifies the creative possibilities within Bitwig Studio, demonstrating how to build a complex loop from the ground up.
   • I conclude by encouraging viewers to experiment with these techniques and share their feedback.

This video is a comprehensive showcase of sound design and production techniques within Bitwig Studio, offering insights into creating complex textures and rhythms solely using the software's internal features.

Questions & Answers #

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

What is the purpose of this video? #

The purpose of this video is to demonstrate the process of creating a loop from scratch using only Bitwig Studio and showcasing some special techniques within the software.

What techniques and tools are used in the video? #

The video utilizes the sampler, Poly-Grid, peak limiter, sine oscillators, phase modulation, dice trigger, random modulator, quantizer, chorus, convolution reverb, delay, and various filters and effects within Bitwig Studio.

How does the loop creation process unfold? #

The video starts by creating sounds with the sampler and Poly-Grid, using phase modulation to add interesting overtones. Each press of a key on the keyboard triggers a dice, which generates random values to alter characteristics of the sounds. The loop is then further developed with modulation, filtering, and effects.

What is the overall result of the loop creation process? #

The result of the loop creation process is a unique and ambient sound loop built entirely within Bitwig Studio. The loop incorporates background drones, polyphonic elements, percussive sounds, and various effects to create a cohesive and layered composition.

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] So in this video, I want to start from scratch inside of Bitwig Studio and create some kind
[00:00:05] of nice sounding loop.
[00:00:08] And we want to use only Bitwig Studio and I want to use some special techniques.
[00:00:14] Maybe it's not so special, depends on how you use Bitwig.
[00:00:19] So we start here by creating some kind of sounds we can use inside of the sampler, but
[00:00:25] then to create some background drones.
[00:00:28] And I do this here with the Poly-Grid.
[00:00:35] And on the master, I put here peak limiter.
[00:00:39] So nobody gets mad at me.
[00:00:43] And inside of the Poly-Grid, I'm using a sine oscillator.
[00:00:46] In fact, I'm using re-sine oscillators.
[00:00:51] And then I'm using phase modulation here to create interesting overtones, at least I tried
[00:00:59] to.
[00:01:04] And then each time we press a key on the keyboard, we want to trigger a dice.
[00:01:12] And this dice generates a new random value and the user's value then to change here this
[00:01:17] cue.
[00:01:19] Also the fault.
[00:01:21] Also here the phase modulation amount.
[00:01:27] This one here.
[00:01:28] Also fault there.
[00:01:31] And here also the PM amount.
[00:01:35] Then we also maybe want to change slightly here the detuning.
[00:01:40] I usually use around 0.18, 0.20 around this value.
[00:01:49] I'm using the tuning because if you go higher, then it sounds two out of tune in my opinion.
[00:01:56] These are basically my limits.
[00:01:58] Also we use here a bipolar.
[00:02:00] So it also detunes in the other direction.
[00:02:03] Go to 16.
[00:02:07] And what else?
[00:02:12] I think that's it.
[00:02:13] Maybe here we modulate just a little bit.
[00:02:18] So that's that.
[00:02:19] Then on the main device we use here also a random modulator in free mode.
[00:02:27] Hertz smoothing all the way up and then we modulate it a bit also slightly up to 15,
[00:02:34] 0.15 semitones.
[00:02:37] Then we arm this.
[00:02:38] Let's see how it sounds.
[00:02:41] What is in the relative mode?
[00:02:57] We have here nice curves or slopes.
[00:03:06] Now you maybe can detune the oscillator on the left and right slightly on this one.
[00:03:12] Also here slightly and here slightly.
[00:03:18] Maybe we can also exchange this here for a wavetable because we get unison with this.
[00:03:32] And we can then move from a sign up to a saw.
[00:03:50] It's modulating pitch.
[00:03:53] This is removed.
[00:03:54] We use this for the index.
[00:04:00] So each time we press a key we get a slightly different sound or overtones.
[00:04:05] And then we put this into a cell and key filter because this one we can switch here to a band
[00:04:12] pass filter, put this on the center frequency and then the key tracking is on.
[00:04:18] Which means we just focus on the lowest on the root on the fundamental frequency of the
[00:04:23] sound.
[00:04:24] So when we press a key this switches around right to the right frequency of the key and
[00:04:29] then we emphasize basically the root or the fundamental of the sound and all the overtones
[00:04:34] get damped or toned down.
[00:04:45] Go then into chorus plus here.
[00:04:47] Then into convolution reverb just for the taste, for the flavor.
[00:04:54] A delay plus for the reverb.
[00:04:59] Of course we put this here into space mode.
[00:05:02] Bit of feedback here.
[00:05:12] And then here with the cell and key we can switch between band pass 2, 4, 6, 8.
[00:05:18] You basically can decide how much you want to filter out below and above the center frequency.
[00:05:24] So, let's go.
[00:05:26] [Music]
[00:05:28] Hmm.
[00:05:30] This 2.
[00:05:32] Maybe an extra 2.
[00:05:34] [Music]
[00:05:36] Hmm.
[00:05:38] This 2.
[00:05:40] [Music]
[00:05:42] Maybe an extra 2.
[00:05:44] [Music]
[00:05:46] Hmm.
[00:05:48] This 2.
[00:05:50] [Music]
[00:05:52] Maybe an extra 2 here.
[00:05:56] [Music]
[00:05:58] Hmm.
[00:06:00] [Music]
[00:06:02] And then we can maybe also use the chorus, the old one here.
[00:06:08] Sometimes you'll like to use this because it's just a pitch or a delay modulation.
[00:06:16] [Music]
[00:06:18] Hmm.
[00:06:20] [Music]
[00:06:26] Then I put this here into polyphonic mode so we can play multiple keys.
[00:06:30] [Music]
[00:06:40] And then we can maybe sample this here into the second track.
[00:06:46] Poly-Grid out.
[00:06:50] Hmm.
[00:06:52] [Music]
[00:07:14] That's enough.
[00:07:16] Enough talk.
[00:07:18] And then we put this here into a sampler.
[00:07:22] Hmm.
[00:07:24] Files.
[00:07:26] We can remove this.
[00:07:30] And in here we can use textures mode and free setting.
[00:07:36] Grain goes up.
[00:07:38] Motion goes up.
[00:07:40] Bandpass filter again.
[00:07:42] Resonance, center frequency.
[00:07:46] Long attack, long release.
[00:07:48] Then we use probably voice stacking.
[00:07:52] Let's go for 3.
[00:07:54] Voice, not voice control.
[00:07:58] Let's go for stack spread.
[00:08:02] Minus 1 to plus 1.
[00:08:04] Go straight to the panning.
[00:08:06] So one voice goes left, one voice goes right.
[00:08:10] We use this also to change this slightly.
[00:08:14] [Music]
[00:08:24] Then we sample this on D sharp.
[00:08:26] [Music]
[00:08:32] Let's go for random mode.
[00:08:36] Arts, free.
[00:08:38] Then we change slightly the position.
[00:08:42] [Music]
[00:09:04] And then we use some notes here.
[00:09:10] So we use D sharp, we use the fifth, the fourth.
[00:09:14] [Music]
[00:09:42] Let's EQ some stuff out here.
[00:09:46] [Music]
[00:09:58] So this is our background drone.
[00:10:02] [Music]
[00:10:06] And then we can use the first preset or the first patch we built
[00:10:10] and make some kind of plug sound out of it.
[00:10:16] [Music]
[00:10:42] But instead of playing this on the keyboard,
[00:10:46] we can create a note grid here.
[00:10:52] And then we use transport and pitch.
[00:11:00] Bam.
[00:11:02] This goes to, let's say D sharp 1.
[00:11:12] Then we go into quantizer.
[00:11:16] Use all the notes of D sharp 1.
[00:11:20] And we go into the pitch here and then we trigger this.
[00:11:26] Go to eight notes.
[00:11:28] Then we use voice stacking here.
[00:11:32] Of course, let's start with eight voices.
[00:11:36] Use the stack spread modulator.
[00:11:40] We use value.
[00:11:42] Then each voice stack gets exactly two semitones higher.
[00:11:46] And then each voice stack on note gets a different length.
[00:11:52] Different offset maybe.
[00:11:58] Then we use more notes.
[00:12:02] Twelve.
[00:12:06] [Music]
[00:12:14] Maybe we start higher with D sharp 2.
[00:12:18] [Music]
[00:12:42] Okay, let's quantize this to a 16 note grid.
[00:12:50] [Music]
[00:13:10] Let's try this out on one octave higher.
[00:13:20] Let's put the delay 2 on there.
[00:13:36] [Music]
[00:13:56] [Music]
[00:14:24] Hmm, not sure.
[00:14:30] Maybe this is okay.
[00:14:40] Okay, let's bring in a gain up here.
[00:14:44] And then use the pitch.
[00:14:46] Pitch in and modulator out to actually bring in the frequency distribution.
[00:14:52] Bring in the frequency distribution here to 4.5 dB per octave.
[00:15:00] [Music]
[00:15:28] Maybe you can also randomize here the decay time.
[00:15:34] [Music]
[00:15:44] Okay, let's call this partial, it's drawn.
[00:15:50] Maybe we introduce here a kick drum.
[00:15:56] On the 1.
[00:16:00] Here.
[00:16:02] Start with a sign.
[00:16:06] Add the pitch.
[00:16:08] Bam, bam.
[00:16:10] And we start here with G sharp 0 down there.
[00:16:18] Seconds for the amplitude envelope.
[00:16:24] [Music]
[00:16:30] Something like this.
[00:16:32] Put this into a second mode.
[00:16:34] Put this down.
[00:16:36] This one is for the pitch.
[00:16:38] Actually, just modulate this.
[00:16:40] And then add the naff.
[00:17:02] Okay, let's play this.
[00:17:30] Let's use the sample of noise.
[00:17:46] Or maybe let's use sampled noise so we don't have a changing attack all the time.
[00:18:02] [Music]
[00:18:26] Maybe a low pass.
[00:18:36] [Music]
[00:18:56] [Music]
[00:19:12] Maybe a small distortion device here.
[00:19:18] [Music]
[00:19:28] [Music]
[00:19:38] [Music]
[00:19:52] Sounds probably not good on a speaker.
[00:19:58] [Music]
[00:20:24] Okay, that's that.
[00:20:26] Maybe let's go for e-clap here.
[00:20:36] [Music]
[00:20:56] So every time the clap plays, I don't want to have a reverb on that.
[00:21:00] But sometimes I'm going here for a gate in.
[00:21:04] [Music]
[00:21:08] And then a chance.
[00:21:12] And this one triggers an AD.
[00:21:20] [Music]
[00:21:28] And then this goes into a reverb.
[00:21:32] [Music]
[00:21:56] No delay.
[00:22:06] Yeah, I've got this thing here.
[00:22:16] And then I put this here into.
[00:22:30] And I have sometimes reverb on the snare.
[00:22:46] [Music]
[00:22:56] Okay, nice.
[00:22:58] Then we can create some noise percussions on top.
[00:23:08] [Music]
[00:23:18] Trigger.
[00:23:26] Out and we need the high pass.
[00:23:30] [Music]
[00:23:40] Step mode here.
[00:23:44] Then we do a bit of filtering.
[00:23:50] Let's go for a filter plus here.
[00:24:14] Let's use a clock quantizer.
[00:24:40] This is the second one, what that length.
[00:24:50] [Music]
[00:25:10] [Music]
[00:25:20] [Music]
[00:25:30] [Music]
[00:25:42] Okay, that's it.
[00:25:48] This gets a probability or maybe every two iterations.
[00:26:04] [Music]
[00:26:20] Heads.
[00:26:22] And then I put on the master here some kind of low-fire effect.
[00:26:26] Use an FX grid.
[00:26:28] In here I use a bit of noise.
[00:26:34] Actually two noises and pink noise, multiplies.
[00:26:40] This one decides basically over the loudness of this one.
[00:26:48] Low pass on that.
[00:26:54] We also high pass.
[00:27:04] Then ring modulating with the signal here.
[00:27:08] Attenuating this a bit.
[00:27:16] The kick drum is a bit too loud.
[00:27:32] Let's put the leg on that.
[00:27:36] So you get a bit of this tape effect.
[00:27:40] It sounds like a tape to me.
[00:27:48] Small pitch wobble with a random.
[00:27:54] Let's all put this out.
[00:28:08] Maybe put the noise in front of that.
[00:28:26] Okay, so we need the bass.
[00:28:30] I use just a polymer.
[00:28:36] Three unison voices, fat detuned, no stereo spread.
[00:28:46] Mono voices.
[00:29:02] That was reacting too much.
[00:29:12] Let's put the bass on that.
[00:29:22] Let's put the bass on that.
[00:29:42] Now I need to balance this a bit more or better.
[00:30:02] Let's put the bass on that.
[00:30:12] Let's put the bass on that.
[00:30:32] Let's put the bass on that.
[00:30:42] Let's put the bass on that.
[00:30:52] Let's put the bass on that.
[00:31:02] Let's put the bass on that.
[00:31:12] Let's put the bass on that.
[00:31:38] Maybe too much tape effect.
[00:31:48] Let's put the bass on that.
[00:31:58] Let's put the bass on that.
[00:32:08] Let's put the bass on that.
[00:32:18] Let's put the bass on that.
[00:32:28] Let's put the bass on that.
[00:32:38] Let's put the bass on that.
[00:32:48] You know, it's white noise.
[00:32:58] Let's put the bass on that.
[00:33:22] Let's put the bass on that.
[00:33:32] Okay.
[00:33:34] I think it's probably not perfectly balanced, but I want to show you
[00:33:40] how you can create something in Bitwig Studio with a few
[00:33:46] Poly-Grids here.
[00:34:06] Maybe I'll just save this.
[00:34:16] Oh, that's actually a nice name.
[00:34:20] Sweet Photon.
[00:34:30] You can also randomize here a bit the
[00:34:40] end of the loop amount.
[00:35:00] I'm not tapping over the noise.
[00:35:10] I mean.
[00:35:20] Let's put the bass on that.
[00:35:30] Let's put the bass on that.
[00:35:40] Let's put the bass on that.
[00:35:50] Let's put the bass on that.
[00:36:00] Let's put the bass on that.
[00:36:10] Let's put the bass on that.
[00:36:20] Let's put the bass on that.
[00:36:30] So yeah, I kind of like it.
[00:36:32] I think that's it for this video.
[00:36:34] I mean, I want to do some kind of from scratch video again.
[00:36:38] I haven't made one of these in a long time, so that's that.
[00:36:44] Leave a like if you like the video.
[00:36:46] Subscribe to the channel.
[00:36:47] Thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next video.
[00:36:49] Bye.
[00:36:51] [Music]