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Quantizer

Bitwig Platform

Quantizer module panel in Bitwig Grid
Quantizer in Bitwig Grid 6.0.6.

An amplitude quantizer that rounds the signal to evenly spaced levels, with optional antiderivative antialiasing.

What it does

Quantizer replaces each input value with the nearest multiple of Step. Large steps create obvious staircase waveforms and bit-crusher-like distortion; small steps preserve more amplitude resolution.

Controls and ports

Control Label Official description
amount Amount Sets the amplitude steps used as a level

Practical uses

  • Increase Step for digital grit and reduced amplitude resolution.
  • Quantize modulation or envelopes to create discrete control levels.
  • Use HQ on audio-rate material when staircase aliasing is too harsh, while recognizing that the stepped character remains.

Things to know

  • This reduces amplitude resolution, not sample rate; it is not a sample-and-hold decimator.
  • Rounding occurs around multiples of Step and treats negative values with the same floor-plus-half rule.
  • Step zero is mathematically singular and must be protected or clamped by the visible wrapper.
  • HQ changes transition treatment but does not remove the discrete output levels.

Technical details

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

The exact grid/shaper/quantizer body calculates invStep = 1/step. With antialiasing off, out = floor(x/step + 0.5)*step. With it on, the normalized signal enters the ADAA helper's four-point Round operator and is scaled by Step afterward. This explicitly establishes nearest-step amplitude quantization and a stateful antialiased alternative.

Nitro port Type
x InputAudioPortType
step InputAudioPortType
antialias InputValuePortType
out OutputAudioPortType

Open questions

  • Measure the wrapper's minimum Step and exact behavior at or near zero.
  • Quantify rounding boundaries, negative ties, HQ latency, alias suppression, and transient overshoot.
  • Confirm Amount unit/range, automation smoothing, stereo state, and sample-rate dependence.

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 Quantizer module, Bitwig Grid Quantizer, Quantizer Grid module