Roto Control Bitwig Integration
Tutorial | May 02, 2025
Today, I'm excited to introduce the Roto Controller by Melbourne Instruments and its new Bitwig integration, currently in beta. This controller, while perhaps not the ultimate MIDI controller, is unique for its tactile feedback and innovative mapping features. With modes for MIDI, plugins, and mixing, it offers a highly intuitive experience that you can try out at Superbooth or the Bitwig booth.
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Summary #
Maybe you don't watch the video, here are some important takeaways:
In this video, I introduce the Roto Control by Melbourne Instruments, highlighting its new Bitwig integration, which is currently in beta. I explain why I find this MIDI controller special, although it may not be the top controller, it embodies core innovative ideas.
I begin by switching to Bitwig Studio to demonstrate the controller's different modes accessible via the mode knob at the top. It includes MIDI mode for standalone use, plugin mode for adjusting devices and VST plugins, and mix mode for basic mixing tasks like muting and changing volume.
Focusing on plugin mode, I illustrate using PolySynth as an example, where initially no mappings exist. By opening the remote panel (using arrow buttons or a mouse), we see automatic mappings like filter envelope and velocity sense across various pages. Manipulating these controls on the controller syncs with Bitwig, offering tangible motorized feedback.
Highlighting the tactile experience, I demonstrate how the Roto Control's knobs provide rotational resistance and snapping actions, offering a more intuitive feel than typical MIDI controllers. The re-trigger button, for example, feels particularly satisfying due to its designed feedback.
Next, I explore mode options such as wheel, pressure, and manual, pointing out how the controller's feedback eliminates the need to constantly glance at the screen, enabling a more hardware-like experience.
I visit Superbooth in Berlin, demonstrating the seamless parameter switching across devices within Bitwig, instilling a kind of muscle memory interaction due to the physical feedback.
Further, I discuss the manual mapping feature where learning functions inverse to usual practices; I initiate learning on the controller and then adjust parameters in the software to map them. This mapping is stored on the device itself, retaining mappings across different setups or computers.
With additional emphasis on VSTs, I illustrate how manual mapping allows for personalized control over plugin parameters, maintaining these custom mappings thanks to the controller's onboard intelligence.
I mention you can unlearn mappings, using another accessible button, and note stepping through parameters with either the controller knob or button presses.
I emphasize the pin feature, which locks remote page display even when switching views in Bitwig, aiding in seamless workflow.
The controller also provides transport buttons for basic actions like play, stop, and record, enhancing workflow integration.
Finally, I briefly touch on the update process, recommending users patch the firmware and download the controller script to access new features, closing with an invitation to reach out with questions or video requests.
Overall, I find the Roto Control impressive both in feel and functionality, especially with the new Bitwig integration. I encourage tentative users to try it out, particularly at the Bitwig booth or events like Superbooth.
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 today. I want to show you this controller here called roto control by Melbourne instruments
[00:00:06] And this one is out for a while
[00:00:08] But what's new is the bitwig integration that just released today in kind of a bidder state
[00:00:14] So I want to show you what it's all about and why I think this controller is kind of special
[00:00:19] It's maybe not the best MIDI controller
[00:00:21] But it has all the right ideas in my opinion. So
[00:00:26] We switch here to bitwig studio
[00:00:29] Um, so this controller has different modes
[00:00:32] We have a mode knob here at the button at the top and we have a midi mode plug-in mode and the mix mode
[00:00:38] So the midi mode sends out just some midi cc data because you can also use this standalone without the door
[00:00:45] We have a plug-in mode to change devices and vst plug-ins and we have a mix mode here
[00:00:51] So you can see we have pulleys and track and the audio track here
[00:00:56] You can mute
[00:00:58] And we can change the loudness the volume and so on. So it's just a normal mixer more or less
[00:01:03] So we go back here to mode and plug in because we want to change here some settings on the pulleysend
[00:01:10] So this is here the pulleysend and you can see there's no mapping
[00:01:14] So everything is empty. What we have to do here to use the automatic mapping is to open up the
[00:01:20] Remote panel with the two two arrow buttons here
[00:01:25] We can also open this up here with the mouse, of course, you can see all the remote controls are automatically mapped here. So we have
[00:01:32] filter envelope and
[00:01:35] yeah
[00:01:36] also the different pages
[00:01:38] This is the first page gain velocity sense pen and so on so we can change this here
[00:01:43] All right, you can also change the knob in bitwig and the motor fader is doing the same movements there
[00:01:53] That's already pretty dope
[00:01:55] So let's switch you to a different page
[00:01:58] So here it becomes interesting because I showed you earlier that you can turn this 360 degrees, right? So this rate knob here
[00:02:06] Kind of hinders you
[00:02:10] To go further than this position. There's a limitation there. There's a force an electric motorized force. It feels really
[00:02:17] It feels really
[00:02:22] Really great. I have to say
[00:02:24] Also here, there's a limitation
[00:02:27] Then also here to re-trigger that's actually a button right with two of the two states off and on and you can really feel it here
[00:02:37] It's a snap in
[00:02:40] It actually feels better than a real knob in my opinion. Um, it's a manufactured designed
[00:02:49] Feeling. Um, so yeah, this is the re-trigger button here. We have also mode
[00:02:54] With different options. We have um three options mode wheel pressure manual
[00:03:00] And with this feedback, you don't need to look at the screen. You can feel that you change a value
[00:03:07] Right before with any other media controller, everything feels the same. You can turn it. There's no feedback
[00:03:15] There's no snap in or anything like this
[00:03:17] And you always had to make sure on the screen that you are on the right page that you turn the right knob because there's no display
[00:03:24] And then you that you changed the value because you don't feel anything here. You can feel it
[00:03:30] And if you visit this year the super booth in berlin, make sure you visit the bitwig booth and also the melbourne instruments booth and
[00:03:39] Try it out for yourself. It feels really great
[00:03:42] um
[00:03:44] so this is the
[00:03:47] Remote control automatic mapping. We can also open up
[00:03:50] another reverb device here
[00:03:54] And with this we can use another feature we can pull down or push down here select
[00:04:00] And then say pull ascent. It scrolls to pull ascent. We have to reverb
[00:04:04] Maybe we insert here. Let's say a compressor at the end. I don't know. It's just a
[00:04:10] Just an idea. So select we have compressor plus reverb
[00:04:15] pull ascent compressor
[00:04:17] Open up the remote pages
[00:04:20] Change some settings change the page close it down
[00:04:23] go to a different device
[00:04:26] Back to the pull ascent open up this thing change the gain whatever so you can
[00:04:31] Really quickly
[00:04:34] go to different devices in your chain
[00:04:37] And select the right parameter so you can kind of learn
[00:04:43] Some muscle memory or whatever and use bitwig in kind of a hardware
[00:04:48] feedback kind of way
[00:04:51] um
[00:04:52] So this is
[00:04:53] Yeah, this is the automatic mapping here. Let's go to reverb
[00:04:57] compressor
[00:04:59] Open this up. There's also here. Let's say mode
[00:05:02] smash resist over
[00:05:04] And it kind of works instantaneously so having this feedback is really great
[00:05:12] So if you don't want to use these automatic remote pages
[00:05:16] Mappings and you just want to map one to one. That's also possible
[00:05:21] um
[00:05:24] Can we choose or something?
[00:05:26] Yeah, let's go to this one here. So we want to just map here
[00:05:31] This kind of mode switch or this drop down, right? So usually what you do in
[00:05:38] Bitwig with normal controllers you right click and you say map to controller or key
[00:05:42] And then you turn the knob on the device to actually learn the connection
[00:05:48] Here it kind of works exactly the opposite way around
[00:05:51] So here we have to say I want to learn something on this device
[00:05:56] And I want to use this knob and it says you're learning
[00:06:00] And then you change a parameter
[00:06:03] Um on the device in in the door. So here we go to vanilla
[00:06:08] And now it switches you can see it switches through all the parameters because it tries to figure out
[00:06:13] Is this actually a knob?
[00:06:16] Is this maybe a drop down with some options or is this a button with just two states?
[00:06:21] So it goes through all the parameters or all the values
[00:06:26] And uh saves this on the device and then makes the right decision to give you a snapped or stepped
[00:06:34] Control here. So, okay, we just learned your character go out of this and now we have here a stepped
[00:06:42] Feeling a stepped experience
[00:06:47] Um, so it works the other way around right so learn we want to learn this and you want to change it out of timing
[00:06:54] And go out of learning and then we have it here, right?
[00:06:58] Also pretty straightforward
[00:07:02] So the
[00:07:04] The big twist here is that you have to go the other way around you have to say on this device
[00:07:09] I want to learn something and then you turn it
[00:07:11] Turn the knob that you want to map in the software. It also saves all this stuff on the device itself and I heard that
[00:07:19] um
[00:07:21] Every time you want to change something
[00:07:24] On the behavior of this device you have to patch the firmware. It's not something you can change in a control or script or anything
[00:07:30] Like this. It's all on the device itself. So the device is pretty smart. It's not a dump controller
[00:07:37] um, another thing you can do with this manual mapping mode here is that you can use
[00:07:42] um, let's say use vst here
[00:07:45] And I use my super massive free verb
[00:07:48] Um
[00:07:52] Because here there there are no remote controls and you can use remote controls if you want to
[00:08:00] But we want to
[00:08:02] Do a manual mapping. Let's say, okay
[00:08:04] I have to move this actually over here. Sorry
[00:08:07] So now we can see it. So we have here vst
[00:08:10] And if you want to change here the mode
[00:08:13] Of this reverb so to if you want to go to different um reverb algorithm
[00:08:19] So we can do this too. We go to learn here
[00:08:21] I'd say I want to have this on this knob
[00:08:24] So we turn it so it says learning
[00:08:26] And then we just change here the mode
[00:08:30] You can see it switches through all the modes available modes
[00:08:33] Learns it and now we can have a stepped feeling stepped experience here
[00:08:39] You can really feel that you change a value it's very nice to feel actually
[00:08:47] Um, so this is also possible with vst plugins
[00:08:51] Again here the special thing is that it's on the device itself, which means it also remembers the plug-in id
[00:09:00] So let's say you map this here on this pc and adjust disconnect this controller and go to a different pc on
[00:09:06] With a different door and I open up this vst plug-in
[00:09:12] You still have this mapping available
[00:09:15] Because this is saved or stored on this device
[00:09:19] It's maybe a great feature. Maybe it's not great. I have no idea. We can also unlearn this I think here
[00:09:25] Yeah, it says clear
[00:09:30] Now it's back to normal
[00:09:32] We can do the same thing here also with the button down here. So instead of using the knob
[00:09:38] We can use the button. So it says learning and then we change here the mode
[00:09:43] It goes through all the modes go out of this and now we can step or cycle through these modes with just the button press
[00:09:56] Actually takes two sometimes. Yeah, but you can also cycle with the knob push here, which is maybe
[00:10:03] Interesting to you. I have no idea, but it's possible
[00:10:07] Okay, so this is plug-in mode
[00:10:11] So you can use remote controls in bitwig studio, which are automatically mapped
[00:10:15] Or you can use the automatic or the manual mapping mode by just closing the remote panel here
[00:10:22] And then use the learn feature and map one to one pretty easy actually
[00:10:27] Another important point here is let's say you are
[00:10:31] Let's select pulley synth here. You are on the pulley synth and you want to change some parameters
[00:10:37] And you want to keep it you want to
[00:10:40] Stay on this parameters
[00:10:43] Or you want to stay on this remote page and you want to go to a different
[00:10:48] View inside of bitwig studio because when you change the view, right all the parameters are gone
[00:10:53] So what you can do here is use the pin feature. There's a kind of a bin
[00:10:58] a pinning
[00:11:00] Simple knob here. So just push this button. So now this is pinned to this device. So when you go you're two different
[00:11:08] Yeah view or different device
[00:11:12] You stay on the pulley synth with all the controls. So
[00:11:17] It's also pretty straightforward in my opinion. We can also use here this controller or transport
[00:11:22] button. So we have your play
[00:11:25] Stop record overdub loop punch in punch out rearm
[00:11:30] A lot of different features also if you hold down certain keys here
[00:11:35] But these are the most important features i use at the moment
[00:11:40] So transport is also available on this controller
[00:11:45] I don't know how expensive this is at the moment. I think around 300 or 400 bucks. I have no idea
[00:11:52] Try it out at super booth or at the bitwig booth if you want to also meet me. I'm probably there at uh thursday
[00:12:02] So, yeah, give it a try. It's very impressive how it works and how it feels
[00:12:08] It's very hard to show off on a video
[00:12:10] So that's the beta
[00:12:14] There's also a web page here. It looks like this
[00:12:16] Um, you have to download this here and also patch the firmware if you already own this device
[00:12:23] And if you want to access all the new features, just make sure you update or patch the firmware
[00:12:29] Download here the controller script or the controller extension for bitwig studio and you're good to go
[00:12:35] So that's it. Uh, I hope you like the video leave a like leave me questions if you have questions about the controller, of course
[00:12:42] Let me know. Um, also if you want to see more videos. Yeah, let me know. I can do it. No problem
[00:12:49] That's it. Thanks for watching. Have a great weekend and see you next time. Bye
[00:12:54] [BLANK_AUDIO]