Poly → Mono

A voice-reduction module that combines active polyphonic values into one shared Last, Sum, Average, Min, or Max result.

What it does #

Poly → Mono gathers the value from every active voice and produces one common result that is available identically across voices. Its five modes choose the newest/last voice value or reduce all active voices by summing, averaging, taking the minimum, or taking the maximum.

Controls and ports #

In receives the per-voice signal. Mode selects Last, Sum, Average, Min, or Max, and Out distributes the resulting mono value back as the same signal for all voices.

Practical uses #

• Derive one shared modulation value from per-note pressure, pitch, envelope, or random signals.
• Use Max or Sum to make any active voice influence a global effect or amplitude control.
• Use Average for a shared center value or Last for a last-played-note style control signal.

Things to know #

• This is a polyphonic voice reducer, not a stereo-to-mono audio converter.
• Sum grows with the number and magnitude of active voices; Average compensates for voice count.
• Min and Max choose numerical values, which may not correspond to quietest/loudest when signals are bipolar.
• The meaning of Last, no-active-voice output, voice-order changes, and smoothing are not documented by a recovered Nitro body.
• Voice stealing and note release can change the shared result abruptly.

Technical details #

No Nitro implementation has been confirmed for this visible module. The behavior is described conservatively from module metadata and editorial research.

The installed course and localization establish five reductions over active voices: Last, Sum, Average, Min, and Max. Conceptually, Sum is Σx_i, Average is Σx_i/N, and Min/Max are the numerical extrema. No Nitro body has been identified for the cross-voice aggregation primitive, so active-voice membership, Last ordering, empty-set output, lane handling, update timing, and numerical precision remain open.

Open questions #

• Measure every mode with one, two, and three known voice values, including negative and equal values.
• Determine Last ordering, note-off behavior, voice stealing, retrigger behavior, and output with no active voices.
• Test stereo lanes, update timing, smoothing, Sum headroom, Average divisor, and voice-stack interaction.

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 #

• Grid Modules course reference

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