Topics / Bitwig Studio / Bitwig Grid / Bitwig Grid Modules / Grid Data Modules / Gates

Gates

Bitwig Platform

Gates module panel in Bitwig Grid
Gates in Bitwig Grid 6.0.6.

Turns a phase position into a programmable binary event pattern with Gate, Pulse, and Trigger timing modes.

What it does

Gates stores an on/off value for each step. The current phase chooses the active step, and Mode determines whether an enabled step is held, shortened to its first half, or treated as a discrete sequencer event.

Controls and ports

Control Label Official description
steps Steps [toggles] One toggle for each available step
mode Mode How transitions are handled:

Practical uses

  • Program drum, envelope, or reset events and let the device phase pre-cord advance them with the transport.
  • Patch one master phase into several Data modules to keep their patterns aligned.
  • Use Gates as a phase-addressed mask by scanning it with a custom or modulated phase signal.

Things to know

  • The phase pre-cord is active by default: internal device phase is added to a patched Phase signal rather than replaced by it.
  • Turn the phase pre-cord off when the cable should have exclusive control of the selected step.
  • In the recovered implementation, Gate holds for the complete enabled step and Pulse only for its first half.
  • Mute When Stopped forces the event output low while transport is stopped.

Technical details

A high-confidence Nitro implementation candidate supports the technical summary, but the visible-module mapping remains inferred.

The mapped implementation computes p = fract(phase + device_phase) when the phase pre-cord is enabled, otherwise p = fract(phase). It selects i = min(floor(p * steps), steps - 1) and treats stored values of at least 0.5 as enabled. Gate mode holds the complete step; Pulse mode adds the condition fract(p * steps) <= 0.5. Trigger mode uses previous-step and previous-gate state to create boundary events rather than merely exposing the stored bit.

Nitro port Type
phase InputAudioPortType
steps InputValuePortType
data InputValuePortType
mode InputValuePortType
useDevicePhase InputValuePortType
devicePhase InputAudioPortType
muteWhenStopped InputValuePortType
transportPlaying InputValuePortType
stepOut OutputAudioPortType
out OutputAudioPortType

Open questions

  • Render the exact Trigger-mode pulse width and behavior across consecutive enabled steps.
  • Confirm stereo phase handling, the visible maximum step count, and audio-rate boundary behavior.

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.

Return to Bitwig Grid Modules or the Grid Modules course lesson.

Also matches: Bitwig Gates module, Bitwig Grid Gates, Gates Grid module