Transport

A project-position-derived phase and half-cycle gate generator with musical length, offset, shuffle, and free-run controls.

What it does #

Transport converts Bitwig's beat position into a normalized repeating phase. Length and Timebase define the cycle duration, Offset moves the cycle relative to the project, Shuffle can use the grooved beat position, and Free Run determines whether the phase continues when transport playback stops.

Controls and ports #

Control	Label	Official description
timebase	Timebase [bars or beat-length]	Unit used for rate
length	Length	Wavelength of the device's phase signal, in the current Timebase
offset	Offset	Timing offset in Timebase units, to shift the output early (positive) or late (negative)
shuffle	Shuffle	Applies the transport's groove (when enabled) to this module
free-run	Free-Run	Continues running regardless of the transport status

Practical uses #

• Drive Data sequencers from Transport when their pattern must return to the same step at the same arrangement position.
• Enable Shuffle so phase-addressed triggers and gates follow the project's groove rather than straight beat time.
• Use Offset to rotate a pattern without editing its stored steps, or enable Free Run for modulation that continues while playback is stopped.

Things to know #

• Without Free Run, stopped transport holds the host-derived position instead of advancing an independent clock.
• With Free Run enabled, the recovered implementation advances stored beat state while the transport is stopped and resumes following host position during playback.
• Shuffle switches the source between straight and groove-adjusted beat positions; it does not alter the stored pattern itself.
• The logic output is high only for the first half of the phase cycle and is suppressed unless playback or Free Run is active.
• Offset is applied before phase wrapping, so positive and negative shifts rotate the same repeating cycle.

Technical details #

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

The exact grid/lfo/transport_module body selects b = shuffled_beats or beats. During playback it follows that host position; when stopped with Free Run enabled, it increments stored state by beats_per_frame. Its helper returns b/(bar_length*length) for the bar unit, or 0.25*b*unit/length + offset/unit for other units. The process then adds another offset/unit, wraps with phase = c - floor(c), and emits gate = 1 when phase < 0.5 and either playback or Free Run is active. The double offset term in non-bar modes is an observed source detail whose visible parameter scaling still needs verification.

Nitro port	Type
isPlaying	InputValuePortType
shuffle	InputValuePortType
beats	InputAudioPortType
beatsWithShuffle	InputAudioPortType
beatsPerFrame	InputAudioPortType
length	InputValuePortType
offset	InputValuePortType
unit	InputValuePortType
freeRun	InputValuePortType
barLength	InputAudioPortType
relative	InputValuePortType
out	OutputAudioPortType
step	OutputAudioPortType

Open questions #

• Measure Offset in every Timebase to determine how the wrapper scaling relates to the two recovered non-bar offset terms.
• Verify phase continuity when playback stops or resumes with Free Run, including timeline jumps and loop boundaries.
• Measure Shuffle against the project groove, unusual bar lengths, negative offsets, and the exact half-cycle gate boundary.

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.