Bitwig NAMM 2019 videos

[antic604]

Im thinking about pairing the new Grid system with the upcoming KORG Volca Modular. Getting that analog into Bitwig.

Volca Modular uses some weird thin cables & sockets for its modularity. Is it even compatible with standard modular gear and DC-coupled audio interfaces?

(genuine question, I've no clue about modular hardware)

[JHernandez]

Im thinking about pairing the new Grid system with the upcoming KORG Volca Modular. Getting that analog into Bitwig.

If I were to spend 199.00 to pair a tiny synth with Bitwig, my money would be on the Behringer Crave. Not so tiny though.

I'm liking the form factor and MPE features of the new Joue.

https://www.play-joue.com/en/

I'm a little lost here. As far as I can tell the Joué this is a midi controller (a really neat one), and seems to costs a lot more than $199.00.

[Yokai]

Im thinking about pairing the new Grid system with the upcoming KORG Volca Modular. Getting that analog into Bitwig.

If I were to spend 199.00 to pair a tiny synth with Bitwig, my money would be on the Behringer Crave. Not so tiny though.

I'm liking the form factor and MPE features of the new Joue.

https://www.play-joue.com/en/

I'm a little lost here. As far as I can tell the Joué this is a midi controller (a really neat one), and seems to costs a lot more than $199.00.

Yeah, I think I misunderstood the context.

[Apheo]

Volca Modular uses some weird thin cables & sockets for its modularity. Is it even compatible with standard modular gear and DC-coupled audio interfaces?

(genuine question, I've no clue about modular hardware)

It has CV IN and audio out. So brining it out and into Grid is possible. also the CV in means that you can connect it to other modular stuff But I dont own any.

[JHernandez]

Im thinking about pairing the new Grid system with the upcoming KORG Volca Modular. Getting that analog into Bitwig.

If I were to spend 199.00 to pair a tiny synth with Bitwig, my money would be on the Behringer Crave. Not so tiny though.

My first discovery was the Behringer Crave but after some time with comparing the 2 I have fallen in love with the volca modular. I like the Orange-Orange combo with the Crave-Bitwig tho.

That's cool, go with what you love then!
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Speaking of, I haven't heard anything really musical out of the Korg yet, not even on Korg's site, just the usual modular showcases, blips, blops, sirens, and noise. I'm sure someone out there will get around to it eventually. Maybe I haven't looked in the right place? I'm just curious what it can do. I have no intention of buying it or the Crave.

[Apheo]

Im more thinking about doing some crazy stuff there and after putting them into sampler and transfer it into something musical there more psychedelic sound design

[JHernandez]

Oh yeah, no doubt. I love me some noise too, I just happen to have some already. Just curious.

[Enkerli]

Was the Synthtopia vid shared, already? Just noticed it now. Kinda like the “interaction”.
http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2019/ ... k-preview/

[Enkerli]

I asked because saying you have a hard time liking someone that you haven't met "as a person" when his online persona is "affable music nerd" is fairly irrational and I was curious.

Well, he just doesn't come across - to ME - as an "affable music nerd". He's super talented and writes some great music, though. And he definitely has the viewer count. But I would be more interested in seeing what Cuckoo has to say about Bitwig, than Andrew. That's it.

Since I introduced Huang’s name to this thread, I feel a bit of responsibility for this interaction. And, as I said earlier, I actually thought about Cuckoo first and switched the line to be about Huang. (It’s also important for me to note that Thavius Beck does a great job of explaining Bitwig in an understandable way.)
The thing to me about the difference in Youtube persona between Andrew Huang and Cuckoo is that, to simplify matters a bit, the latter plays better to the Superbooth audience while the former can help bring things to the mainstream, including across ages and genres. Maybe because he sounds like my students (well, he’s from Ottawa and that’s where I’m teaching now). Cuckoo sounds like my geekier friends. Jade Wii would be another good spokesperson in the DAWfree jamming side of things.
Also, Andrew Huang has been a pretty interesting advocate for modular systems since he’s come out as Eurorack geek.

Thing is, I’d agree with Shaboogen that the “as a person” part of the comment sounds rather strange in this context. We’re talking about real human beings who have very distinctive online personas. You may be put off by the persona but it’s quite a bit hard to tell how these people are as human beings even if you get to interact with them personally on a few occasions.

[Enkerli]

When i see this video my first thought is "it will be lot of fun to build all this with my touchscreen !" .
I see that they made a big work to be the most touchscreen friendly device with this "Grid" !

Same here (though maybe with another vid). Talk about a seamless workflow! Sliding modules in and out using a mouse isn’t necessarily tedious, but it’s not that “organic” an interaction with the machine.

Got a touchscreen Lenovo dual-booting Windows 10 and Ubuntu MATE. Almost never used the touchscreen outside of the onscreen keyboard BWS2. But the grid encouraged me to learn more about the gestures. They do help a lot and “tablet mode” is pretty neat. Got a few snags on the Linux side, but it’s still quite a valuable way to interact with modules, especially with multitouch and the modulation system. Could imagine myself creating a relatively simple grid focused on the few points of modulation which matter in a given context, creating macro knobs for them. Sure, we can already do a lot of this. But it wasn’t so obvious to me until now because The Grid really opens up my mind to new possibilities.
Besides, since the PolyGrid is almost certainly MPE (sounds like it from the SynthAnatomy vid), it could be cool to have external controllers, onscreen keyboard, macro knobs, and grid modules all manipulated through touch. Better stage presence than most laptop shows, no?

[Enkerli]

Fingers crossed they improve the manual for this release, I'm going to need it..

Excellent point!
Some people assume that good design makes it so that a manual isn’t necessary. Others find “Read the fine manual” to be an insightful answer to questions about features, regardless of how the manual was written. In the case of a DAW adding a whole new “paradigm” (and the term is rather appropriate, here), we need an improved manual. The kind of manual which helps people understand what can be done.
An effective manual doesn’t make you feel “stoopid”. It makes you feel empowered.
Cambridge computer scientist Sam Aaron who designed the Sonic Pi livecoding platform has this notion that it’s his responsibility if someone doesn’t understand something about SPi.

To be perfectly honest, though, I’m not completely sure the Bitwig team has put that much energy into creating the best possible manual for BWS3. Hence the comments about Thavius Beck, Jade Wii, Cuckoo, Andrew Huang, etc.

[Enkerli]

Yes I am sure you are right...Again it was just me "wishing" it was a priority now.

A fine wish!

My wish from the videos is that more people asked them questions.

For example, I would like confirmation that the Poly Grid is automatically MPE capable, that it can use per voice modulations and voice stacking like other Bitwig synths.

Good questions.
The Synth Anatomy did involved some pretty useful questions (especially the ones about CPU load). And, since Dave used the onscreen keyboard in a way which sounded like the “pitchbend per note” mode, it’s close to confirmation that MPE works as it should, in The Grid.
Modulation per voice and voice stacking are separate issues but, at this point, it almost feels like the company should warn us if they’re not supported.

[Enkerli]

lol that was harsh pdxindy...But Rivanni said what I was saying for the most part. I love Bitwig Studio too. They make cool shit. And maybe it's arrogant to want them to have a great showing of their product even though I didn't make it. But from my point of view I just want them to do well. Be nice . Wait that's arrogant. Would you please be nice? That is, if. you want too .

Yeah, you are right... that was a little harsh. Sometimes I get annoyed with all the they should do this or they should do that comments. I've been on the other side of a big project and it is an endless criticism directed always at the people doing interesting things.

tbh, this comment reassured me. Acknowledging where a bit of harshness comes from can do a lot to improve things, in a space like this one.
In all sorts of places, online and off, I noticed a bunch of difficult interactions during the past few days (probably because I’ve also been stressed). And there’s a tendency for one tough comment to generate tougher reactions, quickly spiralling out of control. To my mind, this one was handled responsibly and respectfully.

Thanks for this!

[Enkerli]

Anyone know if there will be any developments in groove extraction and audio clip quantize in v3.
I really miss the Studio One feature set for this in Bitwig, and I hate how I need to slice an audio to be able to quantize it.

Sounds unlikely but it’s been one of the biggest items on my wishlist. The Grid is a better bet for them, given their orientation towards modularity instead of traditional DAWing like comping and quantizing. But there are some important features to add, now that Bitwig Studio is getting a bit of the spotlight.

[Enkerli]

Im thinking about pairing the new Grid system with the upcoming KORG Volca Modular. Getting that analog into Bitwig.

Volca Modular uses some weird thin cables & sockets for its modularity. Is it even compatible with standard modular gear and DC-coupled audio interfaces?

(genuine question, I've no clue about modular hardware)

Something to note is that those pin-type patch points are 3v3 (like, say, the Raspberry Pi, which coincidentally uses the same cables) instead of 5v. It’s possible to work with both voltages, but it’s not a simple matter of using a special cable.
The rest of the non-MIDI I/O sounds like it’s the same as the other Volca models (CV-IN, IN-SYNC-OUT). Although, I haven’t checked the other Volca manuals so this part could be wrong.

Volca Modular manual (PDF)