Silencer VST replaced - choking reverb tails in Bitwig

Tutorial | Jan 21, 2025

In this video, I demonstrate how to replicate the silencer effect in Bitwig Studio using native tools. By utilizing a chain container with a reverb plug-in and modulating it with an ADSR, I can reset the reverb tail with each new note. This technique may not match the silencer plug-in's quality, but it provides a similar effect using Bitwig's native capabilities.

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Summary #

Maybe you don't watch the video, here are some important takeaways:

In this video, I discuss how to recreate the functionality of a plugin called Silencer in Bitwig Studio using native tools. Silencer is a plugin that allows you to load other reverb plugins and reset or choke the reverb tail based on incoming notes or audio signals. It claims to employ some kind of patent-pending technology, which might be more marketing speak than anything. However, I show how you can achieve a similar effect in Bitwig Studio, albeit without the same level of quality or features as Silencer.

To start, I demonstrate using the Polymer synthesizer direct into a Valhalla reverb. Playing multiple notes results in a busy reverb tail, filled with various sounds and frequencies. The goal is to reset this reverb tail every time a new note is played. I achieve this by using a chain container in Bitwig. I place the reverb in the chain container, set the reverb mix to 100%, but keep the chain itself at around 50%.

To control the reverb, I use an ADSR envelope to create a short modulation signal that briefly switches off the reverb whenever a note is played. This results in a reverb tail only on the last note played. For instance, when using an arpeggiator, fast note sequences won't burden the reverb, as each new note chokes or resets the reverb tail.

I also demonstrate this method with Native Instruments' Raum plugin, showing that it works similarly by disabling the container but keeping the plugin operational internally. This effectively resets the internal buffer and changes the resulting sound.

While this workaround might have some issues, such as pops and clicks when switching the plugin on or off, these can be mitigated by using Bitwig's segments to fade the reverb plugin in and out smoothly. Usually, with sounds rich in overtones, these artifacts aren't noticeable. Furthermore, if the reverb switch is late and misses part of the note's attack, a time shift plugin before the reverb can delay the input, allowing for better synchronization.

For those preferring to use audio instead of notes as triggers, I suggest using Bitwig's Replacer device, which converts audio signals into note triggers, with customizable thresholds to match different sounds. This method, although more complicated, is manageable. Alternatively, one could utilize Bitwig's grid to create custom trigger-detecting solutions.

In conclusion, though my process might not completely match the Silencer plugin's quality, it offers a viable technique to achieve a similar result in Bitwig Studio. Thank you for watching, and I hope this helps you understand how to replace Silencer using Bitwig's native tools. Don't forget to like and subscribe if you found this information useful. See you next time!

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.
[00:00:01] Yesterday, someone asked me if it's possible to recreate silencer inside of Bitwig Studio
[00:00:05] with native tools.
[00:00:07] And silencer is a plug-in that can load other reverb plug-ins.
[00:00:12] And then you can send in notes or audio signals and trigger this plug-in.
[00:00:17] And when you trigger it, you reset the reverb buffer or you reset or choke the reverb tail.
[00:00:24] And it uses just some kind of patent pending technology.
[00:00:28] Whatever this means, it's probably marketing speak, I have no idea.
[00:00:33] So you can do something like this in Bitwig pretty easily.
[00:00:36] It's probably not the same quality, it doesn't have the same features, right?
[00:00:41] It doesn't have the interface, but you can achieve some of the similar effects.
[00:00:47] So here I'm using Polymer synthesizer going straight into a Valhalla reverb.
[00:00:53] When I play multiple notes, you can hear all the notes go into the reverb.
[00:01:05] So the reverb tail is pretty busy with a lot of sounds and a lot of different frequencies.
[00:01:11] And the idea is now that we actually reset this buffer or this reverb tail every time
[00:01:17] a note comes in.
[00:01:19] And for me, when I try something like this, I go for a chain here, a chain container and
[00:01:26] put the reverb into it.
[00:01:28] And we also use here the mix 100% of this Valhalla VST, but the chain goes to maybe 50%.
[00:01:36] So I'm using the mix note here of the chain container.
[00:01:40] Then all I'm doing is I'm using what's it called ADSR.
[00:01:48] This is kind of triggered by notes and I make it pretty short.
[00:01:52] Just a short burst of, yeah, for modulation signal.
[00:01:56] And then I'm switching off the reverb here, right?
[00:02:00] I'm modulating down.
[00:02:02] So every time I hit a note now, you can see it switches shortly off.
[00:02:15] And you end up with the reverb tail only on the last note you are playing.
[00:02:21] So you can basically take an arp, make this pretty fast.
[00:02:35] So there's no reverb getting busy all the time because every time you play a new note,
[00:02:40] you choke or you reset the reverb tail off this Valhalla supermassive here.
[00:02:46] And this also not only works with Valhalla, you can also use here, for instance, Raum
[00:02:52] by Native Instruments, maybe use the mix here 100% and lock this.
[00:02:58] And then you do the same thing more or less, you disable just the plug-in.
[00:03:03] You can see here, you can keep this open.
[00:03:06] Even though you disable the container, the plug-in still works, kind of.
[00:03:11] So it's not like you're completely switching off the thing.
[00:03:14] It's just probably internally the container of the VST that is switched off.
[00:03:21] So what it also resets the internal buffer for some reason, instead of, that's a completely
[00:03:44] different sound.
[00:03:45] So this is how I would try to achieve this.
[00:03:49] It probably has some shortcomings, some problems, or it's maybe not that smooth, like the silencer
[00:03:56] plug-in.
[00:03:58] Sometimes when you have muted sounds like a sign, you can sometimes hear some pops and
[00:04:08] clicks from the plug-in switching on again.
[00:04:13] But then you can counter this here, maybe with the segments, and mute or bring down
[00:04:22] the mix here, something like this.
[00:04:31] Yeah, it's pretty clean.
[00:04:55] So you can work around here with the segments to actually fade in or fade out the reverb
[00:05:02] plug-in over time when there are some artifacts from switching on or off the device itself.
[00:05:09] But usually you barely hear it.
[00:05:11] If you have some sounds with overtones, you can't hear it.
[00:05:15] So it may be the case that sometimes the switch on or the trigger is too late.
[00:05:22] So let's say you have a note, something like this, and here with the gate on, you trigger
[00:05:28] basically the reset of the reverb tail.
[00:05:31] And then here, you switch on the reverb.
[00:05:35] But then you kind of miss here this portioned attack inside of the reverb.
[00:05:41] And maybe you want to have it inside of the reverb, right?
[00:05:44] You don't want to switch here the reverb off.
[00:05:46] You want to have the full length of the note inside of the reverb.
[00:05:53] So you can do this here by just using in front of the reverb inside of the container used
[00:05:57] time shift.
[00:06:00] And I use here something very long so you can see how it works.
[00:06:05] So I play a note.
[00:06:07] You can see how then the reverb is switching off and then it switches on and then the note
[00:06:13] comes in, right?
[00:06:27] So with this delay here, you can just move this a bit into the future more or less, 25
[00:06:35] milliseconds.
[00:06:36] Yeah, and with this, you can bring in the full note, also the attack and everything
[00:06:48] that comes after the attack.
[00:06:50] If you don't want to use note triggers, you can also use audio, but then it's a bit more
[00:06:55] complicated because you have to find the threshold, right?
[00:06:59] What triggers what and so on?
[00:07:00] How long is the sound?
[00:07:02] And it's a bit more complicated.
[00:07:04] You have to tweak the audio and you have to make envelope follows and so on.
[00:07:08] So the easiest way to do this is to use the replacer.
[00:07:14] It looks like this.
[00:07:15] I have here by default time shift in there.
[00:07:18] But this one kind of sends out a note into this FX box here, right?
[00:07:25] So when I play a note, you can see a threshold and then everything that's in red here is
[00:07:31] basically a trigger, a trigger is a note C3 with the velocity.
[00:07:36] Then you just put this in here.
[00:07:45] And then when this here, the threshold is above the audio, you can see there's no trigger
[00:07:49] coming in from my MIDI keyboard, but then it receives trigger from this replacer here.
[00:07:58] With this, you have to play around with the right threshold for your sound and so on,
[00:08:02] but it's still possible.
[00:08:04] So this is, I would say, the easiest way of doing this with audio, just using the replacer
[00:08:09] can of course use the grid and then, you know, make a threshold and trigger generator or
[00:08:17] a trigger detector for yourself if you want to, but this is the easiest way of doing this.
[00:08:22] And then, yeah, you just disable here to plug in with the modulation.
[00:08:27] That's basically it and it works fine for me at least.
[00:08:30] So yeah, that's it for this video.
[00:08:32] I hope it clears up some things and that's how you can kind of replace silencer instead
[00:08:39] of Bitwig Studio with native tools.
[00:08:41] Thanks for watching.
[00:08:42] Leave a like, leave a subscription.
[00:08:44] See you next time.
[00:08:45] [BLANK_AUDIO]