Revolutionary Grid Kick Drum Technique: Perfect Phase Alignment!
Tutorial | Apr 12, 2024
In this video, I discovered a new technique for creating kick drums inside Bitwig's grid. By modulating the phase input of a sine oscillator with an AD signal and multiplying it by -10, the kick drum's tail end stays in place even when changing the pitch envelope. This allows for easy alignment with bass sounds and provides fast control over the attack phase of the kick drum.
You can watch the Video on Youtube - support me on Patreon - Download the Preset
In a recent tutorial on creating kick drums in Bitwig using the Grid, a method was introduced to maintain the tail end of a kick drum consistent despite changes in the pitch envelope. This technique is similar to one I've shown before using a kick drum plugin. Here's a summarized step-by-step breakdown of the process:
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Setup Basic Components: Begin with a sine oscillator, add segments for the pitch envelope, or alternatively, use an Attack Decay (AD) envelope for both the pitch and amplitude modulation for simplicity.
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Output and Monitoring: Integrate an output module and an oscilloscope, with a gate input to control or reset the oscilloscope.
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Initial Sound Configuration: Choose a root pitch for the kick drum, typically a low note like G0.
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Modulate the Sine Oscillator: Instead of altering the pitch input or offset, the phase input of the sine oscillator is modulated with the signal output from the AD envelope.
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Enhance the Initial Knock: To intensify the phase disturbance, which improves the 'knock' of the kick, multiply the modulating signal by -10.
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Stabilize the Tail Phase: Enable retriggering on the sine oscillator to ensure the tail phase remains consistent regardless of changes in the pitch envelope.
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Phase Alignment with Bass: If this kick drum is used alongside a bass track, ensure both tracks play the same root note (e.g., G0) to achieve identical phase alignment, leading to cohesive sound blending.
This technique allows for greater control over the attack phase of the kick drum, offering a range of sounds from soft to more pronounced, akin to hardstyle kicks. The trick ensures the tail phase of the kick drum remains unaffected by pitch changes, ideal for alignment with bass tracks in mixed compositions. This discovery, credited to KaiFu and Headhunters from the Bitwig Discord, is shared with a downloadable preset in the tutorial description for users to try out.
Questions & Answers #
Maybe you dont watch the video, here are some important takeaways:
How can you create a kick drum with a stable tail in Bitwig Grid? #
To create a kick drum with a stable tail in Bitwig Grid, you will need a sine oscillator and segments for the pitch envelope. Alternatively, you can use an AD for the pitch envelope and a separate AD for the amplitude envelope. By modulating the phase input of the sine oscillator with the output of the AD, you can achieve a stable tail even when changing the pitch envelope.
What is the magic trick to improve the sound of the kick drum? #
The magic trick to improve the sound of the kick drum is to use a multiply module and multiply the signal with a constant of minus 10. This creates more phase disturbance in the beginning and results in a better knock sound. It also ensures that the phase alignment remains consistent even when modulating the pitch envelope.
How can you align the phase of the kick drum with another sound, such as a bass? #
To align the phase of the kick drum with another sound, such as a bass, you need to ensure that both the kick drum and the bass play the same note, which in this case is G0. This will ensure that the phase alignment remains the same. By duplicating the kick drum setup and connecting it to a different patch on a different track, you can achieve the same phase alignment between the kick drum and the bass.
What are the benefits of using this technique to create kick drums? #
Using this technique to create kick drums offers several benefits. Firstly, it allows for faster control over the attack phase and provides more variety in the transient sound. Additionally, the phase alignment remains consistent even when modulating the pitch envelope, resulting in a rock-solid alignment between the kick drum and other sounds such as bass. This technique provides greater flexibility and precision in kick drum design within the Bitwig Grid.
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 there's a new way of creating kick drums inside of the grid.
[00:00:04] And this was found out by Kaifu and headhunters inside of the Bitwig Discord.
[00:00:11] They tried to figure this out.
[00:00:13] And the goal of this mission was actually to create a kick drum where the tail end of the kick drum stays in place when you change the pitch envelope.
[00:00:22] So more or less like the kick drum plug and I showed you in the last video.
[00:00:26] So to create this we need here a sine oscillator and we need segments for the pitch envelope.
[00:00:33] Or you can also use here let's say something different.
[00:00:36] You can also use an AD that's maybe quicker to set up an AD for the pitch envelope and also an AD here for the amplitude envelope.
[00:00:48] We use an output here and we want to control this here with an oscilloscope.
[00:00:54] And then we also use a gate in to actually control here or reset the oscilloscope.
[00:01:08] So normally you choose a pitch or a root pitch here for the kick drum and I go for let's say G0.
[00:01:18] And this sounds like this.
[00:01:23] Maybe I put this here into fast mode.
[00:01:27] So you can see we have some kind of kick drum now but there is no pitch envelope or no pitch change in the attack phase.
[00:01:35] So now the idea is instead of shaping here the pitch or changing actually the pitch input or also here the pitch offset.
[00:01:42] Sometimes people just modulate this here.
[00:01:45] We actually go into the phase input here and just modulate here with the output of the AD, the signal output of the AD.
[00:01:53] We modulate basically the phase of the sine oscillator.
[00:01:56] It sounds like this.
[00:02:04] Nothing special but sometimes you get something like this here because you stop the phase too much.
[00:02:14] Maybe I can replicate this here.
[00:02:20] Yeah, something like this, right?
[00:02:23] That doesn't sound well actually in my opinion.
[00:02:26] So we have to circumvent that, right?
[00:02:29] So the magic trick now is to use a multiply, multiply the signal with a constant of minus 10.
[00:02:43] So now we get much more phase disturbance in the beginning.
[00:02:55] Much, much better knock.
[00:03:08] Sounds very good in my opinion.
[00:03:11] But now the important part is actually if we switch on here, retriggering on the sine oscillator,
[00:03:17] we have basically the same phase of the tail every time.
[00:03:22] Doesn't matter what we do here to the pitch envelope.
[00:03:25] So this gets interesting because we can now, let's say duplicate this, maybe not in this patch,
[00:03:31] but maybe you have a different patch on a different track, right?
[00:03:33] A bass sounds for instance.
[00:03:36] And you can completely disconnect everything here.
[00:03:39] And when we play the same note, of course, we need to play the same note because then the phase is exactly the same.
[00:03:46] So let's say your bass plays on G0 and your kick drum also ends up with the root note on G0.
[00:03:54] You have the same phase alignment then.
[00:03:57] So here we use a different color.
[00:04:01] You can see this here at the end.
[00:04:04] It slowly fades basically.
[00:04:08] Exactly the hill and the tail of this kick drum is the same.
[00:04:15] I can't show you this better.
[00:04:17] Maybe you have to choose your slower numbers.
[00:04:24] Maybe a bit longer.
[00:04:28] So even though we changed basically the pitch envelope, as you can see here in the beginning,
[00:04:33] we still end up with the same phase of the sine with the bass.
[00:04:43] It always ends up in the same.
[00:04:45] So the phase alignment is basically zero problem now.
[00:04:48] When you modulate the phase input of the sine modulator here with this signal of the AD and then multiply it by minus 10.
[00:04:58] So yeah, it's basically perfect.
[00:05:02] Maybe put this here back up to G0.
[00:05:06] Another benefit in my opinion is that you have much, much faster control over the attack phase,
[00:05:14] over the knock of the initial knock and you get much more variety out of the transient here
[00:05:20] because you just play around a bit with the decay setting here and also with the phase amount setting.
[00:05:29] More soft attack.
[00:05:34] This is more like a hardstyle kick drum, I don't know.
[00:05:40] Or maybe a more clicky sound, something like this.
[00:05:50] And the phase, as you can see, stays rock solid here.
[00:05:53] So this bass sound and this kick drum sound always align in the same way and it's rock solid.
[00:06:00] So this is actually a neat trick to create kick drums inside of the grid, minus here this bass, minus this oscillator, minus this.
[00:06:11] So this is basically here the bass setup of creating a kick drum that's, yeah, with the phase aligns very well with the bass sound.
[00:06:19] So this was, like I said, was found out here in the Bitwig Discord by KaiFu and Headhunters.
[00:06:25] Thanks to them, I put this small preset here in the description down below so you can download it and you can try it out for yourself.
[00:06:33] Leave a like if you like the video, subscribe to the channel and have some fun. Bye.