Bitwig Studio Is the best DAW in 202

Tutorial | May 26, 2025

In this video, I show why I love using Bitwig Studio for its powerful modular capabilities, allowing me to experiment and create unique sounds and effects without relying on external VST plugins or hardware. I demonstrate building a patch from scratch, making custom reverbs and rhythmic effects, and generating melodies using the grid system, all within Bitwig’s internal tools. My main point is that Bitwig lets me explore, have fun, and quickly develop creative ideas in endless ways, making music production both flexible and enjoyable.

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Summary #

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

Hey everyone, welcome back! In this video, I wanted to show you once again why I love Bitwig Studio so much. The biggest draw for me is the ability to explore deep modular concepts nativelywithout having to rely on external VST plugins, buying more plugins, or investing in hardware. With Bitwig, everything is there, and I can experiment in all kinds of directions. Sure, you need a bit of knowledge, but honestly, it isn’t that hard. What matters is the freedom to create, try ideas, and see what works for your sound.

So, starting off, I opened up a completely empty Bitwig projectnothing special, just a blank slate. Say I want to create a new track with no specific plan. I grabbed the Polymer synth, removed the default modulators, and started playing around. Even right away, if a Wavetable oscillator feels boring, I just switch to a Pulse oscillator, adjust the filter, select a snappier AD envelope, and start playing with modulation. For example, I can easily route a Random Modulator to the pulse width, set its smoothing, adjust the modulation amount, and hear instant results on the synth.

Now, normally, most people would grab a VST reverb for finishing touches. But in Bitwig, you’ve got excellent built-in options. I could use Bitwig’s standard algorithmic reverb, but what I really love is going down the modular rabbit hole: using the Tank FX (feedback box), inserting for example a convolution reverb, or playing with Delay+ which has its own diffusion algorithms. Sometimes I even build my own reverbslet’s say by generating an impulse with a test tone (a little burst of noise), routing it through a plugin like Supermassive, recording the result, and loading that impulse into a convolution reverb within Bitwig. This lets me blend algorithmic and convolution reverbs, layer chorus for modulation, use voice stacking for width and fatness, and generally sculpt something unique.

Voice stacking is another powerful feature: just increase the voice count, spread the voices across the stereo field, detune or modulate their envelopes individuallysuddenly the sound is wider, thicker, and more organic. The flexibility is crazy.

For rhythm, I like making reverb tails more interesting. For example, I set up a Polygrid patch that generates bursts of white noise at rhythmic intervalsusing triggers, envelopes, and phase modules (with phase syncing to tempo), I can essentially design a custom rhythmic reverb tail. I’ll bounce this as audio and use it as a custom impulse in the convolution reverb, giving me a rhythmic, BPM-synced reverb effect tailored to my track.

Beyond that, melodic content doesn’t have to be drawn in with the piano roll. I can set up a Note Grid to generate and quantize pitches automatically. I’ll use things like scroll oscillators as modulation sources, drawing random shapes for melodic movement, use chaos and quantization to tie notes to a scale (for example, D# minor), and even add buttons to transpose the motif in perfect musical intervals on the fly. The note generator is triggered by clock modules at different divisions, which means you can instantly create evolving, looping melodiescompletely generative and hands-off.

Velocity, filter envelopes, and pretty much any parameter can be modulated inside the Grid too. I can split and process signals independently for left and right channels, add delays to one side for a ping-pong effect, and use expressions like velocity to control filter modulation or other synth parameters for extra depth and motion.

If I ever want to go further, I can even modulate parameters with the audio output from the patch itselffeeding signals back and creating even more complex, interactive behaviors.

The beauty is, all of this is done right inside Bitwig, no VSTs required, making it easy to experiment, iterate, and discover something new every time. I can create unique reverbs, pads, generative melodies, and rhythmic effects without even touching the piano roll or using external instruments. Every element can influence another, and the creative possibilities are endless.

Ultimately, the point I wanted to make with this video is that Bitwig Studio makes these experimental workflows fast, fun, and limitless. I can create, invent, mess things up, and discover new directions. It's not about the final result so much as the joy of explorationthe fun of making music and sound for its own sake. Especially in a future where AI might do most things for us, having these kinds of creative tools is about personal enjoyment and musical play.

If you want slower, more focused tutorials on any of the techniques I touched on, let me know in the commentsthis video was more fast-paced and conceptual, but I’m happy to break things down further. Thanks for watching, and I hope to see you in the next one!

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] Yo, folks, welcome back.
[00:00:01] So this is probably another video to show you why I think Bitwig Studio is great because
[00:00:07] I can explore all the modular concepts without using external VST plug-ins or, you know,
[00:00:13] buy another VST plug-in on another hardware device or anything like this.
[00:00:18] I just have Bitwig Studio and I can explore all kinds of different directions.
[00:00:22] Of course, you need the knowledge, but it's also not that hard, but you can explore, right?
[00:00:28] You can try out something and see if it works for you.
[00:00:32] So here in Bitwig, we have a completely empty project, nothing special.
[00:00:38] And let's say I want to create a track.
[00:00:40] I have no idea.
[00:00:41] I have no plan or anything like this.
[00:00:42] I just use maybe a Polymer synthesizer here.
[00:00:47] There are some modulators here attached, which I just delete for now.
[00:00:51] And you can just play the synthesizer on the keyboard.
[00:01:00] Let's say you don't want to use the Wavetable synthesizer because it's very boring.
[00:01:04] You switch this over to Pulse Oscillator here.
[00:01:10] Maybe open up here the filter, maybe use a different envelope, only AD without sustain.
[00:01:18] And you want to modulate here the pulse width with a random modulator.
[00:01:24] Can do this bipolar smoothing up and this is the modulation strength.
[00:01:35] And normally I would just put here a reverb at the end, so let's say a VST.
[00:01:47] I can also detunia the left and the right oscillator.
[00:02:03] But instead of using here this VST reverb, you can use the Bitwig internal reverb, let's
[00:02:09] say the normal algorithmic reverb here, this is my default preset.
[00:02:15] Which doesn't sound great, but we can use the Tank FX here, which is the feedback box.
[00:02:21] You can put a convolution reverb in there.
[00:02:25] That's OK.
[00:02:30] Which is kind of nice, but we can also use the Delay Plus, which has some diffusion algorithms
[00:02:43] here.
[00:02:52] But what I like to do is to do my own reverbs with a bit of, let's say, a test tone here.
[00:03:00] And this gives us here a Dirac signal.
[00:03:04] Just a small burst of noise and you can feed this into, let's say, maybe a supermassive.
[00:03:12] Pop goes up, feedback goes up, filter goes a bit more open here.
[00:03:18] That's OK.
[00:03:19] Then we hit record here on the master recording.
[00:03:26] Then we get a bit of noise out of the supermassive.
[00:03:33] So let's go here to this and we have here this impulse response.
[00:03:40] We can use then here in the convolution reverb, just put this in there, maybe start here.
[00:03:56] So we have a reverb from the supermassive here.
[00:04:00] But we can also combine, let's say, does this here an impulse response.
[00:04:04] It's pretty static because it's just one sample.
[00:04:06] So we can put here in the WTFX only on the tail, on the reverb tail.
[00:04:11] You can put the chorus here and make this a bit more modulated in a way.
[00:04:18] Or use the reverb of Bitwig here to add an algorithmic reverb.
[00:04:26] So with this we have a convolution reverb with the sample, chorus, the modulated and
[00:04:31] then a reverb here, an algorithmic reverb.
[00:04:34] So we combine algorithmic and convolution.
[00:04:57] Maybe I can make this a bit even fatter by using voice stacking.
[00:05:02] So we use four voice stacks here.
[00:05:05] So this patch is playing basically four times now and then uses stack spread, going from
[00:05:13] minus one to plus one for the padding.
[00:05:17] So voice one gets on the left side, voice two is here, voice three is in the middle and so
[00:05:21] on.
[00:05:22] Let's go to one.
[00:05:26] And then on each voice I wanted to tune it slightly.
[00:05:43] So each voice then gets a different amplitude envelope and slightly different filter envelope
[00:05:48] and it makes everything a bit more organic and very wide and fat.
[00:06:02] And also very loud.
[00:06:04] So that's that.
[00:06:06] Maybe it makes it a bit shorter, let's say we want to play a melody with this.
[00:06:18] But also I want to have some kind of rhythmic effect here on the reverb.
[00:06:24] Maybe we put the filter here on top of that just to get rid of some of the top end.
[00:06:34] Maybe use here the transfer curve to expand the sound.
[00:06:42] That's better.
[00:06:50] So let's say I want to make this a bit more rhythmically or rhythmic call.
[00:06:56] I create let's say a polygrid.
[00:07:00] In the polygrid we have a default setup here, sinus, selector, amplitude envelope.
[00:07:05] Let's get rid of this and use white noise in stereo and use an AD here.
[00:07:14] Go into that.
[00:07:15] So this is an amplitude envelope and we want to trigger this here, of course, not with
[00:07:20] the keyboard.
[00:07:22] We want to trigger this with a trigger module four times for each bar.
[00:07:35] That's maybe okay.
[00:07:37] Maybe I also use here free run when stopped.
[00:07:40] So every time I hit stop here on the thing, it doesn't do anything.
[00:07:48] So let's use a phase signal, which is exactly one bar long.
[00:07:51] You can see this is a ramp signal going up from zero to one and we use this as a modulation
[00:07:57] signal to modulate the decay time here.
[00:08:00] So over time this gets longer.
[00:08:09] And maybe we start you with 16 and then go slower, say this.
[00:08:24] It's kind of okay.
[00:08:30] Maybe a high pass here.
[00:08:36] High pass does a little bit.
[00:08:39] And then I trigger here for the left and right channel at the same time.
[00:08:44] So what I do is I use a stereo split to split the gate signal into two signals, the left
[00:08:52] signal and the right signal.
[00:08:54] So I can just delay, let's say the right channel by, what's this here, 16, one 16 note.
[00:09:05] So the right channel is slightly delayed.
[00:09:10] So it sounds kind of like a ping pong delay.
[00:09:23] Maybe I make this a bit longer.
[00:09:24] So instead of using this here, this I'm using a transport.
[00:09:34] So here I can change the phase length from just one bar to, let's say, four bars and
[00:09:43] also use the modulation and then make the same thing.
[00:09:48] Let's go to minus 12, see how this sounds.
[00:10:01] And I also want to increase the high pass and I want to go down in volume.
[00:10:07] So it gets quieter over time.
[00:10:27] I think this is fine for now, I don't want to make it overly complicated, maybe I can
[00:10:31] put an R pass here in there, but I just leave it for now.
[00:10:36] So we have four bars, I think this should be okay, so let's bounce this.
[00:10:45] Maybe I may make it a bit longer, let's see if this looks better.
[00:10:51] Yeah, that's okay, four bars, I see it, I see my problem here.
[00:10:56] Oh, that's the wrong track, let's bounce this.
[00:11:08] This is much, much better, so this looks good.
[00:11:12] This is now our reverb, anyway, and then I put this here onto the convolution reverb
[00:11:24] on the first track again.
[00:11:27] Go back to my files here, put this in there, we can delete here this whole grid, we don't
[00:11:32] need it, also this one.
[00:11:35] So now we have here a very rhythmic reverb and it's also synchronized to one on 10 BBM,
[00:11:40] it's also important to know.
[00:11:53] So then we can put here another delay at the end, it's maybe a bit too long, so we can
[00:12:12] fade this out here, or maybe do something like this.
[00:12:37] See all the sounds when I have your longer attack.
[00:13:06] So now I could just draw in here some notes.
[00:13:35] But I also could just take here, let's say, a note grid in front.
[00:14:04] And just say, I want to generate the notes.
[00:14:09] So for generating the notes, I'm using, what do I use?
[00:14:15] Something very strange, I use a scroll oscillator here.
[00:14:21] So instead of using this as an oscillator, I'm feeding this here a phase input, which
[00:14:27] is also just one bar long, ramp signal, 100%, and I go down to zero.
[00:14:32] So this plays here, over one bar.
[00:14:37] So it plays the waveform shape over one bar.
[00:14:41] Just you can see the shape in here then.
[00:14:43] So in here, I can use a draw thing and just draw some random points in.
[00:14:50] Maybe stay on zero here at the end, and then select everything and use chaos here.
[00:14:59] Scale it back.
[00:15:00] Chaos.
[00:15:01] Scale it back.
[00:15:02] It doesn't really matter.
[00:15:06] So we get here some kind of random up and down movement.
[00:15:11] And we use this to feed this into pitch quantizer.
[00:15:17] And then use here, use my scale, my D sharp minor scale, transpose.
[00:15:24] So I transpose this up by three, and the reason for this is I want to land on D sharp, but
[00:15:31] zero in here means C, which is not what I want, I want to have D here.
[00:15:37] So zero in here means D sharp, but just a root note.
[00:15:43] Can I increase this here?
[00:15:45] Maybe I put this down to zero here, just to make sure to have here the root in the beginning
[00:15:50] at the end.
[00:15:51] That's maybe important to get a kind of meaningful melody.
[00:15:56] So we have a changing melody here.
[00:15:57] So we also need some triggers, so we can use two trigger modules here.
[00:16:03] One is 16-note, and the other one is something odd, maybe nine.
[00:16:09] Clock quantizer.
[00:16:10] And we use this to trigger here the note output.
[00:16:15] So we trigger notes, and we get the pitch here.
[00:16:19] Use also sample and hold.
[00:16:27] So now we can change the melody by just selecting this here, and use the chaos.
[00:16:49] So the more you scale it up, the higher, so the more the value is here, the higher the
[00:16:55] pitch is, and the lower the pitch is.
[00:17:06] So now the pattern, or the melody pattern, is exactly one bar long, because this phase
[00:17:10] signal is one bar long, so we can again use the transport thing, and switch this to bar,
[00:17:16] and say two bars, and feed this in here.
[00:17:20] So now the melody is two bars long, so it plays back this shape over two bars.
[00:17:41] Just make sure we have some D-sharps in here, which is the root.
[00:17:51] So now we can also change here the trigger over time.
[00:18:18] So let's use a modulator here, and remember this is here the ramp signal that goes from
[00:18:25] 0 to 1 over the cross of two bars, so you can modulate here this.
[00:18:50] So I have a melody playing here.
[00:18:53] I can also implement here a button, and let's call this fifth, and with this button I just
[00:19:03] want to transpose everything, five semitones down, maybe in front of the pitch quantizer.
[00:19:14] Let's do this, minus five, or let's say make it really a fifth by going up seven semitones.
[00:19:40] I also could maybe block all the notes coming in from the piano roll, and say I want to
[00:19:52] have a pitch in, and instead of using plus three, and the transpose, I just kill this,
[00:20:09] and use add, and use the pitch in.
[00:20:14] So I add basically my pattern to the pitch coming in, and the pitch coming in is more
[00:20:20] or less my root note, something like this, and I make this longer, four bars, and then
[00:20:30] I go maybe down here, and down here.
[00:20:57] So right again to find a different root pitch, and everything then follows, but the pattern
[00:21:02] is the same.
[00:21:03] So I transpose the pattern up and down by, what's this here, a second, one, two, one,
[00:21:10] two here, but in my opinion it sounded a bit better before, huh?
[00:21:32] So, you can see you can create sounds and rewaves just in no time, create melody patterns
[00:21:59] just with the grid here, misusing a lot of different modules, and I also already create
[00:22:08] with the reverb here, kind of a pad below everything, it's almost like using multiple
[00:22:17] sounds at once.
[00:22:30] I could also use, do something stupid here and say I split this in half also into left
[00:22:46] and right channel, so the left channel goes into that, and just place the melody, but
[00:22:51] the right channel, I use reverse, so I reverse the signal, and for that, I'll maybe merge
[00:23:07] this, and then I'll split here again, so the left signal is untouched here, phase signal,
[00:23:21] we get the normal melody signal from here, and we use this for the melody, but for the
[00:23:27] right signal it's reversed, and for that, we use this maybe as a signal for the velocity
[00:23:40] here, but here it's below zero, which is a problem, so maybe I use apps for that.
[00:23:51] And I increase this with an amp, so the range or the value range is bigger, and then I go
[00:24:03] into velocity here, so this is more or less here the velocity here, velocity, holy shit,
[00:24:19] then we can use expressions here, use the velocity for something else, maybe the filter
[00:24:26] modulation amount, so this is just one simple example, I could do this basically now for
[00:24:56] hours, that's why I usually do streams, but you can explore in so many different directions,
[00:25:04] just without touching the piano roll at all, or maybe you just stay in here and explore
[00:25:12] kind of different signals, and use different signals for different things, and modulate
[00:25:18] everything and create your own reverbs, and then you can see it's almost like having a
[00:25:23] pad sound or a drone sound in the background, because I'm using here the convolution reverb,
[00:25:29] and then some kind of arp on top playing a melody, and we can change the melody at any
[00:25:34] time by just changing the signal, which also changes here the velocity, and you know, everything
[00:25:41] influences everything in a kind of interesting way, I could also maybe properly use here an
[00:25:49] audio rate modulator, and then use the output of this whole chain, so you see the output
[00:25:59] of the polymer post, and get the output here in front, and then modulate something in here,
[00:26:07] I don't know what exactly, but maybe I can also put this in here post effects, does this
[00:26:12] work now, so let's put this in here, just influence here the filter with the output,
[00:26:29] that's too much, but yeah, I could also put this here,
[00:26:54] and amplify here the signal, just the signal,
[00:27:22] see it gives you a bit of noise in there, but maybe you can influence this in a bigger
[00:27:27] way, but you can do everything basically, so that's my point of this video, it's not like
[00:27:33] the result we're having now, it's more like I can explore in all kinds of different directions,
[00:27:39] and just use simple modular concepts in every place, without touching any VST, and create
[00:27:47] my own sound, my own melodies, get new ideas, and have some fun, that's why we're doing
[00:27:53] this, right, we want to have some fun, I mean in the future it's probably also that we are
[00:28:01] kind of replaced with AI at some point, so it's not the point of having a release, because
[00:28:06] release you just type in the prompt and you get a release, we are doing this because we
[00:28:12] have fun doing music and doing sounds, so this is a perfect way of having fun doing
[00:28:19] sounds in my opinion, anyway that's it for this video, thanks for watching, see you in
[00:28:25] the next video probably if you have some questions let me know, maybe I can do some specific
[00:28:31] tutorials to explain everything a bit slower, this one was a bit fast, it was more like having
[00:28:37] a point why I'm using Bitwig, but yeah, maybe I can do some specific tutorials about specific
[00:28:45] things I showed today, that's it, thanks for watching, see you in the next video, bye.
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