DrivenByMoss: Bitwig extension for many hardware controllers (version 26.6.1)

[moss]

Hello fellow users,

I am currently using Komplete Kontrol S25 mk1 and Launchpad X to control Bitwig. All working nicely with the drivenByMoss script but I am having some problems when mapping parameters to external vsts. Take Arturia's Mini V for example:
1. mapping plugin buttons
the VST button is OFF when the knob is "0" and ON when the knob is ">0". This works but being not symetrical (only 1 value for OFF and many values for ON) makes it somewhat less immediate. Now, this can be fixed by first mapping the VST button to Bitwig's modulator button and then mapping the modulator button to the controller in the Preset Page. It has to be Preset Page and not Device Page, even though built in instruments like Polysynth support buttons in the Device Pages. Does anybody know why is this? Or is there an alternative way to map VST buttons? Or perhaps a controller with both knobs and buttons can work better? (Like Push 2, KK mk2 or Maschine)

2. mapping plugin multi-select switches
They are encoders but with finite number of positions. On Mini V this is the waveform select switch for example. When I mapp the multi-select switch in the Device Page (or the Preset Page) the selection is very "choppy". Turning a knob on S25 doesn't change anything until I turn it fast, but then it might skip a few selections because of this. I was experimenting with the "knob sensitivity" setting in the KK script by Moss, however I can't seem to find a good setting.
A workaround I found is again to use Bitwig modulator. Mapp multi-select switch to Macro and then the macro to Device page. This restores the smoothness but makes the knob on the KK display % value of the Macro as opposed to the multi-select value (in this example the waveform name: square, sawtooth etc.) Is there alternative way? Perhaps toggle different states with a button press instead of rotary encoder?


I'm on Bitwig 3.2.8, the controller settings for KK display "BETA" in case this is important
Using DrivenByMoss 11.5.2

Sorry for lengthy post, I hope it makes sense and someone can point me in the right direction. And thanks for the awesome work with the scripts!

Best Regards,
Maciej

Thanks for sharing your workaround! This is still an open issue. Since your workaround works, I wonder if it cannot be applied automatically in Bitwig. Maybe you can drop a mail to Bitwig support.

[Forbidden303]

Feature Request:
Ability to send/lock individual modulated device parameters on global broadcast channel.

What i am trying to do:
I am looking to control my L.E.D strip with bitwig's modulators. I have an osc server running on my raspberry pi which i have successfully controlled with bitwig's modulators in turn controlling my leds, however broadcast osc msgs are only active while the channel which is sending the modulated parameter is selected.

Is it within the scope of DrivenByMoss to implement locking parameters to the global broadcast or is this a bitwig api limitation?

I fully get that this is a fringe case, however being able to broadcast on the global send could be useful.

regards F

[moss]

Feature Request:
Ability to send/lock individual modulated device parameters on global broadcast channel.

What i am trying to do:
I am looking to control my L.E.D strip with bitwig's modulators. I have an osc server running on my raspberry pi which i have successfully controlled with bitwig's modulators in turn controlling my leds, however broadcast osc msgs are only active while the channel which is sending the modulated parameter is selected.

Is it within the scope of DrivenByMoss to implement locking parameters to the global broadcast or is this a bitwig api limitation?

I fully get that this is a fringe case, however being able to broadcast on the global send could be useful.

regards F

You can monitor several devices but this needs to be implemented specifically for what you are trying to achieve. So, this is clearly outside the scope of DrivenByMoss.
But very interesting application! Please share a video when you have it working.

[Forbidden303]

Thanks for your reply,
I realise that i can use my second installation of bitwig on my laptop to dedicate to controlling my leds, synced with osc.
I shall post some footage of it working.

Kind regards F

[Tj Shredder]

While Bitwig has to be adapted to the MacOs arm platform, we might get through that process a version of Bitwig which will run on a raspberry pi... (that wouldn’t block your laptop...; - ) On the other hand having some leds controlled by OSC doesn’t require Bitwig I guess... A Pd patch should do...

[vincnttan]

Loving this for the Akai apc40 mkII! Does anyone know how to set a fixed length for an audio recording? I can't seem to record any input audio when I use shift+record, because I believe you can't overdub audio clips in bitwig. So if I record manually by pressing a clip pad, if I dont hit stop in time, I'll get one bar of unwanted space in my clip. Or is there a way to set the clip start and length using the apc? Thanks

[moss]

Loving this for the Akai apc40 mkII! Does anyone know how to set a fixed length for an audio recording? I can't seem to record any input audio when I use shift+record, because I believe you can't overdub audio clips in bitwig. So if I record manually by pressing a clip pad, if I dont hit stop in time, I'll get one bar of unwanted space in my clip. Or is there a way to set the clip start and length using the apc? Thanks

Up to my knowledge that is not possible.

[Savage1969]

I haven't read through all 193 pages of the topic, but FYI the install documentation is incorrect for Win10. It states the location to be "Windows: %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Bitwig Studio\Extensions\" but that does not work. Where I was able to place it to function correctly was "Program Files\Bitwig Studio\(version)\resources\Extensions". Just letting you know as I try (I just found this lovely extension, thank you Moss) to figure out Flexi to conform to ioStation. Regards.

[moss]

I haven't read through all 193 pages of the topic, but FYI the install documentation is incorrect for Win10. It states the location to be "Windows: %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Bitwig Studio\Extensions\" but that does not work. Where I was able to place it to function correctly was "Program Files\Bitwig Studio\(version)\resources\Extensions". Just letting you know as I try (I just found this lovely extension, thank you Moss) to figure out Flexi to conform to ioStation. Regards.

No, you should not put it in the Programs folder. I guess you misread the folder from the manual. It is not the Windows folder, it depends on your user name:
C:\Users\YOUR_USER_NAME_HERE\Documents\Bitwig Studio\Extensions
e.g. mine is:
C:\Users\mos\Documents\Bitwig Studio\Extensions

Or simply open your Documents folder and then "Bitwig Studio/Extensions".

[Savage1969]

No, you should not put it in the Programs folder. I guess you misread the folder from the manual. It is not the Windows folder, it depends on your user name:
C:\Users\YOUR_USER_NAME_HERE\Documents\Bitwig Studio\Extensions
e.g. mine is:
C:\Users\mos\Documents\Bitwig Studio\Extensions

Or simply open your Documents folder and then "Bitwig Studio/Extensions".

Odd problem then. I created the directory structure described since it wasn't already there (my Bitwig data is on another drive), placed the file there and it doesn't work. Very strange, can only get it to work via the programs folder. Note: since my Bitwig user data is on another drive (in my case D:\Documents\Bitwig Studio) so I made an "Extensions" subdirectory there too, placed the file and that didn't work either.

To summarize I created the following without success:
1. C:\Users\(my user name)\Documents\Bitwig Studio\Extensions
2. D:\Documents\Bitwig Studio\Extensions (only tried this because my user data is under this Bitwig directory)

I'm guessing the issue is because I have my Settings/Locations for Projects, Library, and Controller Scripts under the stated secondary drive location D:\Documents\Bitwig Studio

[teknoman]

AKAI FIRE

---------------
I see that the step automation sequencer idea has already been suggested and it's not yet possible with the controller API, but I thought I'd post anyway. There are also some suggestions here to help refine the script.
--------------

Thanks for your work, Moss!!

I recently picked up an AKAI Fire. If anyone is doing electronic pattern based music, it's worth checking out. For its size and current price, I'm not sure anything else is quite as useful. I've owned and used APC40 MKII, Push 1, Push 2, APC Mini, Sensel Morph, Dubler, MIDI Fighter Twister, and many others. I find the Fire to be more natural for me and easier to learn. I was completely surprised that the grid layout buttons are velocity sensitive, and the screen is SOOOO valuable to have.

---------------------
PER STEP AUTOMATION SEQUENCER:
OK, here's where I think this piece of hardware could be even more powerful (this could apply to other devices as well). In the drum sequencer, we currently have the ability to change the gain, pan, note length, and velocity - PER NOTE and PER STEP. The workflow here is already implemented and is already excellent.

But what if this functionality could be expanded to whatever parameters/macros are assigned to the knobs? So you could automate mixer changes, FX sends, but more importantly any parameter you choose in the USER 1/2 modes or simply any selected device parameter.

I realize automation data is not treated the same as the 'per note' parameters, so changes could affect the whole patch and many notes depending on how you have your patch set up. But that's up to the user and is already a limitation of Bitwig, which is fine. There is also the issue of automation curvature and smoothing when creating the automation data since BW currently doesn't have a rigid concept of 'per step' automation.

IMO, Bitwig is massively missing a user friendly step/parameter sequencer. I've been using Bitwig since 1.0 and I'm aware of the modulators and all of the stuff that can mimic this behavior. The point is having a piece of hardware that could make easier/quicker/finer adjustments without mouse or keyboard input. If the automation data is a little rough, you could clean it up later with keyboard/mouse. But getting the groove worked out on the hardware would be a huge creative win. For sure the results of such a method would generate content that would be very difficult to conceive and enter with traditional keyboard/mouse methods.

The way DBM is set up, this functionality could easily be added to other DBM supported devices as well.
---------------------------

Now, a couple other suggestions. The clip navigation seems backwards maybe? The Pattern UP button chooses the clip below the currently selected clip and Pattern DOWN selects the clip above. Maybe this is a bug?

Selecting and then navigating through nested devices doesn't appear to be supported currently. Maybe I'm missing how to do this? Since the device hierarchy is arbitrary with infinite combinations, this functionality could be hard to implement, but perhaps some clever SHIFT or ALT combos would be able to tackle it.

Browser - very useful with the knobs. However, I have a ton of plugins and scrolling with the Select knob is very slow. Using ALT + Knob 4 fixes this, but doesn't accurately display and highlight the device or preset name until after you are done scrolling. Holding down the Select knob to skip 3 menu entries is a good addition, but hard to get right.

Browser - if the browser is up and you are scrolling through items, if you press browser again, it basically selects that item, the same as if you pressed the Select knob. It might be best if pressing Browser again was just the as Cancel. That way it won't change anything in your patch in case you don't want to replace your device/preset/sample/etc.

Moss, I would love to help out with this device any way I can, including purchasing more units for multi-device support to lock the hardware to specific devices for example and edit two different tracks simultaneously. Maybe this is already possible with another hardware and instance of the script? Like you mentioned in your video, I don't really see a need for multiple devices to be combined into a single larger device.

Thank you again for all of your work with this. Bitwig should definitely expose the automation system to the scripting API so we can have this. I'm really hoping the step automation idea is something that could be done in the future. I have a feeling (hope) that BW is working on a real step sequencer implementation as well as customizable keyboard macros to speed workflow. I guess we'll have to wait and find out.

[moss]

No, you should not put it in the Programs folder. I guess you misread the folder from the manual. It is not the Windows folder, it depends on your user name:
C:\Users\YOUR_USER_NAME_HERE\Documents\Bitwig Studio\Extensions
e.g. mine is:
C:\Users\mos\Documents\Bitwig Studio\Extensions

Or simply open your Documents folder and then "Bitwig Studio/Extensions".

Odd problem then. I created the directory structure described since it wasn't already there (my Bitwig data is on another drive), placed the file there and it doesn't work. Very strange, can only get it to work via the programs folder. Note: since my Bitwig user data is on another drive (in my case D:\Documents\Bitwig Studio) so I made an "Extensions" subdirectory there too, placed the file and that didn't work either.

To summarize I created the following without success:
1. C:\Users\(my user name)\Documents\Bitwig Studio\Extensions
2. D:\Documents\Bitwig Studio\Extensions (only tried this because my user data is under this Bitwig directory)

I'm guessing the issue is because I have my Settings/Locations for Projects, Library, and Controller Scripts under the stated secondary drive location D:\Documents\Bitwig Studio

You should send this to Bitwig support, sounds like a bug. I remember also issues when people had Microsoft cloud activated.

[moss]

AKAI FIRE

---------------
I see that the step automation sequencer idea has already been suggested and it's not yet possible with the controller API, but I thought I'd post anyway. There are also some suggestions here to help refine the script.
--------------

Thanks for the comments. Regarding the step sequencing you should write to Bitwig, the more people ask about such things the higher the priority gets.

For your other wishes I feel that there is already a lot of stuff I crammed into this poor little device And there are already maybe too many button combinations. But who knows...

[Forbidden303]

Feature Request:
Ability to send/lock individual modulated device parameters on global broadcast channel.

What i am trying to do:
I am looking to control my L.E.D strip with bitwig's modulators. I have an osc server running on my raspberry pi which i have successfully controlled with bitwig's modulators in turn controlling my leds, however broadcast osc msgs are only active while the channel which is sending the modulated parameter is selected.

Is it within the scope of DrivenByMoss to implement locking parameters to the global broadcast or is this a bitwig api limitation?

I fully get that this is a fringe case, however being able to broadcast on the global send could be useful.

regards F

You can monitor several devices but this needs to be implemented specifically for what you are trying to achieve. So, this is clearly outside the scope of DrivenByMoss.
But very interesting application! Please share a video when you have it working.

Here's a demo of that.

[moss]

You can monitor several devices but this needs to be implemented specifically for what you are trying to achieve. So, this is clearly outside the scope of DrivenByMoss.
But very interesting application! Please share a video when you have it working.

Here's a demo of that.

Awesome!