by Semitone
Bitwig Platform
A chromatic quantizer that snaps a pitch signal to exact semitone values.
What it does
by Semitone removes the fractional part of a pitch by selecting the nearest chromatic note. It is useful after continuous modulation, pitch detection, or arithmetic when the result should remain in twelve-tone chromatic tuning without applying a particular scale.
Controls and ports
| Control | Label | Official description |
|---|---|---|
in |
In | Signal in to be quantized to exact semitones |
Practical uses
- Turn a smooth random or LFO-derived pitch into a chromatic stepped melody.
- Clean up small deviations from Zero Crossings or another rough pitch source.
- Place it before a fixed chord construction when chromatic notes are desired but microtonal drift is not.
Things to know
- This is chromatic quantization; it does not know the global key signature and does not restrict the result to a scale.
- All microtonal offsets are discarded because the output lies on integer semitone values.
- The exact half-semitone tie rule has not been recovered for this wrapper; do not assume it matches Math Round without a boundary test.
- No dedicated Nitro body has been identified, which is consistent with a simple graph primitive.
Technical details
No Nitro implementation has been confirmed for this visible module. The behavior is described conservatively from module metadata and editorial research.
The functional model is out = fromSemitones(round(toSemitones(in))). In the user-facing Grid pitch convention this is equivalent to snapping the value to an integer semitone around C3 = 0. The precise rounding primitive, negative tie behavior, and any parameter-free stereo lane handling remain unverified because the visible wrapper is absent from the atlas.
Open questions
- Measure -1.5, -0.5, +0.5, and +1.5 semitone inputs to establish the exact tie rule.
- Test values immediately around every boundary, extreme pitches, NaN, infinity, signed zero, stereo independence, and voice scope.
- Confirm whether the operation is sample-accurate and stateless at audio-rate pitch changes.
Version and sources
Checked against Bitwig Studio 6.0.6. This page combines Bitwig's module metadata, the existing Grid course and guides, and Nitro analysis where the mapping is strong enough to support a technical statement.
Related material
Return to Bitwig Grid Modules or the Grid Modules course lesson.
Also matches: Bitwig by Semitone module, Bitwig Grid by Semitone, by Semitone Grid module