Tags: posts polarity-music Ableton Bitwig Distortion Preset Replace VST Tutorial Bitwig-5.2

Drum Buss for Bitwig - Free Preset

Tutorial | Aug 14, 2024

In this video, I discuss the highly requested Drum Buss device in Ableton Live and how it can be replicated in Bitwig Studio. I provide a free preset download that mimics the functionality of the Drum Buss using native Bitwig devices. I encourage viewers to download the preset and provide feedback to help improve and tailor it to their preferences.

You can watch the Video on Youtube

In this video, I talk about how to replicate Ableton Live's Drum Buss device in Bitwig Studio. Since Bitwig doesn’t have a native Drum Buss, I’ve created a free preset that mimics its functionality using Bitwig’s built-in devices. I walk through how the Drum Buss works in Ableton Live, explaining features like the drive, crunch, and boom knobs, and then show how my preset in Bitwig comes close to achieving the same results. I’m also asking for your feedback on this preset so I can make improvements.

Key Points:

Questions & Answers

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

What is the device called the Drum Buss of Ableton Live?

The Drum Buss is a plugin device in Ableton Live that is used for processing drums. It includes distortion devices, a drive knob, wave shaping options, a compressor, and EQ analyzer. It is known for adding color and warmth to drum sounds without needing much additional EQing.

Why do people want to use the Drum Buss in Bitwig Studio?

People are looking for a way to replicate the sound and functionality of the Drum Buss in Bitwig Studio because they are familiar with its capabilities and like the way it enhances drum sounds. However, Bitwig Studio does not have the Drum Buss device, so users are seeking a workaround or alternative.

How does the Bitwig Studio preset replicate the Drum Buss?

The Bitwig Studio preset created by the video creator aims to replicate the sound and effects of the Drum Buss using native devices in Bitwig Studio. It includes similar features such as drive, soft clipping, crunch, transients, low-end boost, and more. The preset also allows for adjusting the wet gain to match the loudness of the original Drum Buss.

What can viewers do with the preset and how can they provide feedback?

Viewers can download the preset for free from the provided link in the video description and give feedback on their experience using it. The video creator is open to feedback and suggestions for improving the preset to better match the feel and sound of the Drum Buss in Ableton Live. This feedback will help in refining and updating the preset in the future.

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.
[00:00:03] There's one device that people keep asking me about all the time in forums and emails
[00:00:08] or in the comments here on my YouTube channel.
[00:00:11] And this device is called the Drum Buss of Ableton Live.
[00:00:14] And a lot of people are used to this device, how it sounds on drums in Ableton Live and
[00:00:19] they want to keep using it inside of Bitwig Studio.
[00:00:22] But in Bitwig, we don't have the Drum Buss device.
[00:00:25] So here's my offer.
[00:00:28] It's basically a preset that you can download for free for Bitwig Studio that does almost
[00:00:33] the same thing inside of Bitwig Studio with native devices.
[00:00:36] Okay.
[00:00:37] But first, I want to show you how it looks like inside here of Ableton Live.
[00:00:42] So this is the Drum Buss down here.
[00:00:45] This is how it looks like.
[00:00:47] It is more or less like a bunch of distortion devices or overdrive devices here.
[00:00:54] We have a drive knob.
[00:00:55] We have here a selector where we can select between different wave shaping options, soft
[00:01:02] clipping or medium limiting clipping and hard clipping.
[00:01:07] There's here a trim knob where you can change the input volume.
[00:01:10] There's a compressor involved, but you can't change the deck and the case.
[00:01:14] So it's fixed.
[00:01:15] Also ratio and the threshold is fixed.
[00:01:21] So with this drive knob, you basically drive the drums into this clipper here.
[00:01:26] So this is the first stage.
[00:01:29] The second stage is then here this crunch knob, which also increases the volume additionally,
[00:01:35] driving it again into a soft clipper or soft saturation stage.
[00:01:40] Then we have here damping, which is more or less a low pass or a high cut.
[00:01:47] We can increase here the transience.
[00:01:49] Then we have here a boom knob.
[00:01:51] This boom knob increases kind of the low end of kick drums, or you can even add low end
[00:01:59] to kick drum.
[00:02:00] So it synthesizes the low end.
[00:02:03] Then you can change the frequency of this low end.
[00:02:05] So you can very specific about the frequency that your kick drum has a low end or a sub.
[00:02:13] Then you have a decay, which is more or less like a feedback for this band pass filter here.
[00:02:19] And yeah, that's basically it.
[00:02:21] So we have here an EQ analyzer on that.
[00:02:27] And you can already see that without actually touching any knob, so comp is off, then there
[00:02:36] is soft clipping on, but the drive knob is all the way down, crunch is down.
[00:02:40] So it already adds here a smiley curve on loudness curve to the signal.
[00:02:45] Right, if you switch this off, this is how it looks like without the device.
[00:02:50] Put this on, you can see it brings in already a lot of coloration here.
[00:02:56] It's a bump here at 4.5 kilohertz and this is here at 160 hertz.
[00:03:03] So it brings in a lot of warmth and also increases the loudness here of the hi-hats or the top
[00:03:09] end of the drums.
[00:03:10] So this is probably what people already love about the Drum Buss, this coloring.
[00:03:15] So you don't need to add a lot of EQing to the drums.
[00:03:18] It's coming from the plug in itself without doing too much.
[00:03:23] And then you have here a hard clipping and then you can drive it and make it louder.
[00:03:27] Right, you can drive then this colored signal into a clipper.
[00:03:33] Then after this, you can also add here another crunch or let's say soft clipper to the middle,
[00:03:41] to the mid range here.
[00:03:44] You can increase the transience and you can add here, you can see this here, maybe increase
[00:03:49] this.
[00:03:50] Right, you just add low end here at a specific frequency with this boom knob and then you
[00:03:56] can change the frequency.
[00:03:58] You can change this here again.
[00:04:03] So yeah, you can decide what kind of center frequency you want for this peak down here.
[00:04:12] So this is how the Drum Buss kind of works.
[00:04:14] Oh, that's also a dry and wet signal if you want to and mix in the dry signal again.
[00:04:21] So this is how it looks like in Ableton Live.
[00:04:23] I tried to replicate this.
[00:04:24] I also created an impulse response for this curve here, for this smiley curve, for this
[00:04:35] coloring bump or EQ bump.
[00:04:37] So I exactly get the same thing inside of Bitwig Studio.
[00:04:41] So here in Bitwig, we have addictive drums.
[00:04:46] Let me play this here.
[00:04:50] Maybe put the peak limiter here on the master.
[00:04:58] Okay, so after addictive drums, we then load in here to Drum Buss.
[00:05:05] Let's put this in.
[00:05:07] And we already get this coloring now on the drums.
[00:05:19] Then you can see we have a drive knob.
[00:05:21] We can change between soft, medium and hard clipping the curve.
[00:05:25] We have a compressor here.
[00:05:26] We have the crunch knob.
[00:05:28] We can increase the transients.
[00:05:30] We have here the center frequency for the low end boost boost and also here this boom
[00:05:36] knob to increase the loudness and also here something for the transients.
[00:05:41] So I play around with this on this drum loop here and you can see how it sounds.
[00:06:36] One benefit of this preset is that you can use now here
[00:06:40] this wet gain learning knob.
[00:06:43] So we can match the loudness of this Drum Buss output
[00:06:48] with the input gain, right?
[00:06:50] So we can then kind of decide if you like actually
[00:06:54] the sound of the Drum Buss or not without having this
[00:06:57] difference between the loudness of the input
[00:06:59] and output signal.
[00:07:35] In this preset here, there are some differences
[00:07:38] to the Drum Buss inside of Ableton Live.
[00:07:42] Because I need to make some creative decisions here
[00:07:45] and there, but I try to match basically the feel
[00:07:49] and what this preset does to the drums
[00:07:52] to the device of Ableton Live.
[00:07:55] So what I want from you is that you download this preset
[00:07:58] and that you give me feedback,
[00:08:00] what you don't like and what you like.
[00:08:02] Maybe you like this preset even more
[00:08:04] or maybe you don't like it at all, what it does.
[00:08:07] Maybe it does too much to the drums.
[00:08:09] It's too dirty.
[00:08:11] I don't know.
[00:08:12] So please give me feedback on this
[00:08:14] because I want to change it in the future.
[00:08:16] Tune it to your taste
[00:08:20] because a lot of people love this device
[00:08:22] inside of Ableton Live, right?
[00:08:24] And I want to make these people more or less happy.
[00:08:27] For myself, I just use random distortion on drums, right?
[00:08:32] To match the drums to my liking,
[00:08:35] but I know a lot of people like the feel
[00:08:37] of this Drum Buss device inside of Ableton Live
[00:08:41] and I want to match it to their taste, right?
[00:08:43] So please give me feedback, download this.
[00:08:46] I said, already said this is free to download.
[00:08:49] So the link is in the description below.
[00:08:51] Just click the link or go to my GitHub page
[00:08:54] or I think it's also at some point on bitwiggers.com
[00:08:59] So yeah, that's my question to you.
[00:09:03] I think that's it for this video.
[00:09:07] Thanks for watching.
[00:09:08] Please hit me up with some new suggestions
[00:09:11] for new devices that you want to have replicated.
[00:09:13] Some already posed very complicated devices
[00:09:17] that are not really possible.
[00:09:19] Sometimes some devices rely completely on the UI, right?
[00:09:23] So most of the things is done in the UI
[00:09:25] and the underlying effect is not that strong
[00:09:28] or not that complicated.
[00:09:30] So some of these devices are not possible to replicate,
[00:09:33] of course, but I try my best.
[00:09:35] And when I think maybe there's an opportunity there,
[00:09:39] I get inspired by these suggestions
[00:09:44] and then I come up with something different
[00:09:46] or more creative that does kind of the same thing.
[00:09:49] So it's something I really like to do.
[00:09:52] I have fun doing it
[00:09:53] and it's also a nice content source for my channel, of course.
[00:09:57] So thanks for watching.
[00:09:59] Leave a like if you liked the video,
[00:10:00] subscribe to the channel.
[00:10:01] Thanks for watching and bye.