Bitwig 6

[pdxindy]

It would be good for grid controllers, you could just set them to a C major scale and then use the BW key and scale stuff to map everything nicely.

Grid controllers already work that way. There are no white and black keys. No matter what key you are in, the chords shapes are the same.

[Ghostwave]

I've been using Bitwig for a few years and love tinkering with its unique features but I find it very hard to finish a track. I've come back to Studio One for a few weeks (went from v4 to v7) and things seems to be quick, simple and limited in good way. IMO, Bitwig is a great DAW but not just for everyone and every use.

[monolithx]

The same way it's hard to finish a live setup. They have problems at improving things overtime to a mature state. Updates are too disparate at keeping adding things. My 2 cents..

[BobDog]

It would be good for grid controllers, you could just set them to a C major scale and then use the BW key and scale stuff to map everything nicely.

Grid controllers already work that way. There are no white and black keys. No matter what key you are in, the chords shapes are the same.

So you are saying If I take a grid controller and I set it to a key and scale, so a non chromatic scale then the midi it outputs is the same as if I had set it to chromatic as I play the pads?

So I have a Ableton move here for example, I set it to a C major scale. Are you saying that it outputs chromatic notes somehow? Are you saying that the chord shapes are the same, whatever scale and key I set it to? Or are you thinking of a subset of grid controllers, like say the Linnstrument where the function of the pads is always the same (chromatic) even though you can light up the leds to show scales and keys? Do you think all grid controllers are like this?

Just incase I have explained myself badly:

Of course a lot of grid controllers are exactly like this.

[billinder33]

The beta seems a little unstable. 3 crashes so far. That's probably more crashes than I get in a typical year. Last two times I could feel it getting wonky before it died. Just updated to the most recent update, so maybe that will stabilize it.

[pdxindy]

Are you saying that the chord shapes are the same, whatever scale and key I set it to?

I was referring to chromatic mode and that unlike a regular keyboard, there is no need to learn different chord patterns for different keys. If you learn how to play in C, then you automatically know how to play the same thing in any key.

Of course the caveat is that some grid controllers like Move have so few pads that there is little room to play. Those sorts of controllers are almost forced to have scale modes to extend the range.

[BobDog]

So you are saying that it's best for a grid controller to be set into chromatic mode to use the new key and scale functionality?

So all the user has to do is learn the key and scale on that controller to play the same thing that BW is then mapping to and waste the space of having pads that are not in the scale. So there is no use at all for the new scale and key stuff in BW when you are playing from a controller?

As @tumface says, if BW had an option to take a C major input and map that to the key and scale I guess it would then make the new BW stuff actually useful, otherwise I don't really see the point of it apart from for the internal devices and for people that like randomly entering or playing notes. Just my opinion though.

[muzicxs]

As @tumface says, if BW had an option to take a C major input and map that to the key and scale I guess it would then make the new BW stuff actually useful

Can't you already do that with the Key Filter device?

[icaria36]

And / or the Note Transpose device?

[Dionysos]

You can, but what's recorded in the piano roll will be your original C Major input. Be nice to have it mapped & looking right in the editor straight away without a separate track to record the transformed notes into.

EDIT: Or, more generally, I'd love it if Bitwig allowed adding Note effects to a dedicated "live effects" area, meaning that they would only apply to live midi input & be recorded as if their output was what you played.

[ere2learn]

You solved your own problem, set up dedicated midi track with your midi multi-note/keyfliter etc, note receiver on destination channel, record into that channel

[Ou_Tis]

You solved your own problem, set up dedicated midi track with your midi multi-note/keyfliter etc, note receiver on destination channel, record into that channel

But since the functionality is already there wouldn't it be relatively trivial for Bitwig developers to provide a way to do it without having to display the devices and the extra track in the gui?

[Dionysos]

You solved your own problem, set up dedicated midi track with your midi multi-note/keyfliter etc, note receiver on destination channel, record into that channel

Now compare this process (which I've tried, it's too much faff) with what it could be if there was a simple "Map input to global scale" switch on a track.

In any case, I bet the Root key/Scale feature will see some more updates either before or soon after the release of v6. Out of all the new features it seems to be the most "basic" one in its current form.

[tumface]

Can't you already do that with the Key Filter device?

Nope. Can't even do it with the Transpose device if you're trying to make it work with the global scale. Like I said, I don't actually find Live's and Bitwig's scale system useful.

Which is fine. I know some people like it, whatever their reason may be. I just want to turn it off and hide it. I don't want C Major staring me down in the transport bar the entire time I have Bitwig Studio open.

[muzicxs]

Can't you already do that with the Key Filter device?

Nope. Can't even do it with the Transpose device if you're trying to make it work with the global scale.

I'm trying to understand what you'd want it to do. So you want to input nodes in the piano roll in C major, but those notes shouldn't be C major but a different scale, for example, G major, and then at the same time you want to make sure the piano roll, with only notes in C major, actually respects the global G major scale? So the F should become F#. How would that work if you'd only like to use the white keys?