Happy new year, report for Bitwig, Questions :D

[nowiamone]

Hello dear Bluecat Audio,
at first: happy new year , and all the best for this year!

1. Bitwig issue: Sorry that i have to report on some issue this early in the year, haha,
here's what i have found out by testing patchwork:
The parameter names of "assigned controls" won't get communicated to Bitwig, when mapping them via Bitwigs Remote Control page. Instead, you see the Standard Names "Contrl01" and so on, as if they never were mapped to a parameter.

blue cat still named ctrl in remote control pages.jpg

In Ableton, it seems to work properly. A similar "macro mapping" action (mapping to the macros of a audio effect rack) will display all the Parameter Names of the assigned controls - as expected.

Ableton rack is getting info.jpg

I'm asking because i have a Touch Control Interface (built with Touch OSC) which is supposed to show remote control names of parameters automatically, of Bitwig devices.

2. However, what even would be 100% better and more awesome is, if Patchwork would have direct OSC communication with the "outside world" Any chance that Patchwork will have OSC capabilities in the future?
Like getting control over the assigned controls parameters, their names/status ? That would be 100% awesome, because this would mean that Patchwork could fully live up to the strengths of Komplete Kontrol - which is: You load a preset, and you immediately see the parameter names and their values on your external controller! I could then build a template for Touch OSC showing the 8 Controllers with their names/values and Faders/Knobs for them, and share that template with the Patchwork community.
Example of how it could look (Touch OSC is usable on android/ipad/macos/windows/Mac/linux - i am not affiliated with Touch OSC in any way, just a very happy user of it)

bluecat example OSC interface.jpg

Another great thing which would be possible with OSC communication would be a Browser Display, where presets could get browsed by name - via external touch controller/Ipad/Android/or even on the same machine!
I think Touch OSC and other OSC software is incredibly underrated, but would surpass the strengths of Komplete Kontrol, if used together with a OSC-enabled Patchwork

3. Is there a way to remote-control (midi assign) the opening/closing of the Plugin Windows of Plugins inside of Patchwork?

[Blue Cat Audio]

Hi,

Thank you for the report and suggestion. Do you know any plug-in that successfully updates the parameters names in Bitwig? I must say I am not very familiar with it but I am not sure if it supports dynamic parameters names, as this feature worked fine in all hosts that we have tested so far.

Regarding OSC, why not at some point, but it is currently not on the radar.

For (3) it is currently not available, but we'd like to add some MIDI control capabilities to the user interface too in the future.

[nowiamone]

Hi,

Thank you for the report and suggestion. Do you know any plug-in that successfully updates the parameters names in Bitwig? I must say I am not very familiar with it but I am not sure if it supports dynamic parameters names, as this feature worked fine in all hosts that we have tested so far.

Regarding OSC, why not at some point, but it is currently not on the radar.

For (3) it is currently not available, but we'd like to add some MIDI control capabilities to the user interface too in the future.

Hello, thanks for the reply,
yes, as far as i can tell, all other plugins (vst instruments like Serum, Sylenth1, omnisphere, Kontakt 6) i tested seem to 'communicate' their parameter names to Bitwigs track remotes.
Example of kontakt 6:

kontakt 6.jpg

However, it has to be noted that those plugins like Kontakt 6 have a fixed name for the parameters, unlike Patchwork, where the name is created/altered by the user.
So the only "fair" comparison to make is probably between Komplete Kontrol and Patchwork:
I renamed a Knob inside Komplete Kontrol, and then assigned a remote control of Bitwig to it. The result is: The new name is appearing as expected. However, Komplete Kontrol adds annoying numbers in front of that name, haha! So, it's working in Komplete Kontrol, but with annoying side-effect.

bluecat.jpg

[nowiamone]

Parameter names still do not function properly inside Bitwig. Parameter Names of VSTs (like sylenth1 as vst2) are reflected correctly inside Patchworks Macro knobs, but as soon as i assign those Patchwork-macroknobs to Bitwigs Macro (Device) Knobs, the names get lost and are replaced by the generic "Contrl01, Contrl02,..." names.
Which is very weird, as in Bitwigs assignment list (see right column inside the Bitwig Device area in the screenshot) they are named correctly (Filter A Cutoff, Reverb dry/wet, Filter A Reso in my case)

device knobs.jpg

Trying the same assignment steps in Ableton results in proper namings inside of Ableton Device-Macro-Knobs.

Additional Note: Patchwork is the only Plugin i encountered which has this kind of problem in Bitwig. When assigning parameters to Bitwigs Device-Macro-Knobs directly, i never encountered such problem. Assigning parameters directly works fine with all VSTs i have and results in proper naming. (E.g. Omnisphere, Diva, Sylenth1, Native Instruments Massive, ...)

Additional question: Is it possible to change the default behavior of the LEARN buttons inside of Patchworks Params Map Editor? My desired default would be that LEARN buttons automatically deactivate as soon as i add another control or control-assignment. And that "Add" always automatically activates the LEARN button of the newly added assignment. Because that's the only quick/efficient way to go assign many single parameters, without going insane due to redundant clicks.

[Blue Cat Audio]

That's really an odd behavior specific to Bitwig. I don't see why the parameter names would be updated in one place and not in the other... I guess we'll have to get in touch with the Bitwig team to investigate. Have you already filed a bug with them?

Regarding the learn behavior, it would indeed be nice to have a fast procedure, with a "Learn Once" button (you want to keep the learn button to add multiple parameters).

If you are working with just one plug-in, you can add multiple parameters faster using the other learn features in the "Params Map" sub menu when clicking on the plug-in slot.

[nowiamone]

That's really an odd behavior specific to Bitwig. I don't see why the parameter names would be updated in one place and not in the other... I guess we'll have to get in touch with the Bitwig team to investigate. Have you already filed a bug with them?

Regarding the learn behavior, it would indeed be nice to have a fast procedure, with a "Learn Once" button (you want to keep the learn button to add multiple parameters).

If you are working with just one plug-in, you can add multiple parameters faster using the other learn features in the "Params Map" sub menu when clicking on the plug-in slot.

Hello, thanks for the answer. Now i filed a bug-report to Bitwig. I will report back what they say.

[nowiamone]

That's really an odd behavior specific to Bitwig. I don't see why the parameter names would be updated in one place and not in the other... I guess we'll have to get in touch with the Bitwig team to investigate. Have you already filed a bug with them?

Regarding the learn behavior, it would indeed be nice to have a fast procedure, with a "Learn Once" button (you want to keep the learn button to add multiple parameters).

If you are working with just one plug-in, you can add multiple parameters faster using the other learn features in the "Params Map" sub menu when clicking on the plug-in slot.

Hello again,
Bitwig told me this
"This only works with names that remain static in the plugin. With dynamically assigned names, these are not adopted for remote controls."
So the solution, it seems, would be, that Patchworks "static" internal namings of the patchwork-macro-knobs (Cntrl1, Cntrl2, etc) get updated by the actual (assigned) names which are shown in the patchwork display.

[Blue Cat Audio]

That's exactly what Patchwork does (updating the name of the parameters). Bitwig's customer support replied that this is not supported, so the names will not update.

[nowiamone]

That's exactly what Patchwork does (updating the name of the parameters). Bitwig's customer support replied that this is not supported, so the names will not update.

I'm not sure if i understand it: this means , that the problem is how Bitwig handles your plugin, and they don't want to / can't change that ? And you can't do anything about it? It would be a pity if it stayed this way

[Blue Cat Audio]

I'm not sure if i understand it: this means , that the problem is how Bitwig handles your plugin, and they don't want to / can't change that ? And you can't do anything about it? It would be a pity if it stayed this way

Not this plug-in in particular, but plug-in with parameter names that you can change, yes. That's my understanding.

[nowiamone]

I'm not sure if i understand it: this means , that the problem is how Bitwig handles your plugin, and they don't want to / can't change that ? And you can't do anything about it? It would be a pity if it stayed this way

Not this plug-in in particular, but plug-in with parameter names that you can change, yes. That's my understanding.

Would it be possible for you to make Patchwork hand out the "updated" parameter names? (By making the static parameter names being updated inside of patchwork, or something like this) I know it's maybe much to ask for, just for one single DAW, ... but i have to ask

[Blue Cat Audio]

Well if the parameters names are not updated by PatchWork, they will not be updated outside either! So it will be worse, as they will appear as "Control 01..." everywhere outside PatchWork.