Midi Fighter Twister support for Bitwig 2

[M-Prod]

It just occurred to me. What happens is simply that the further you dial the knob from the center, the more course (or 'faster') the value increase becomes. That explains everything that happens. You can see it if you dial one way in a consistent speed, the dial speed increases.

[pawnbroker]

Hmm, can't easily reproduce the encoder issue but will examine more.

I released a v 0.6 where i changed the layout for the mixer page (good idea) and added a 16 track volume control (accessed via top right side button, use top right and bottom right side buttons to scroll 16 tracks at time). I also worked on getting colors to match between encoders and bitwig, so when selecting a track, some of the encoders will change color and all encoders on the volume mixer page will have the track color (hopefully I got them to match close enough).

https://github.com/axelhjalm/bitwig-mid ... es/tag/0.6

[M-Prod]

ok I did some more testing. I still have the device control issue. As soon as I turn of Bitwig, everything turns to normal (meaning the led's show consistent knob behaviour).

Here are a few movie. The first one is with the Ableton script and preset. The second is with the Bitwig script and preset. I also notices some inconsistencies in the led ring so I kept on filming a little longer. That doesn't bother me that much because I tend to look at the screen anyhow. The last one is what happens when the encoder is set to full right and I turn left fast. It almost does not move.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/f5v372h1b7v6 ... hok7a?dl=0

I tried to set the knobs to cc instead of ENC 3FH/41H and then the effect is that the knobs only increase even when turning left.

I hope you can reproduce any of this.

Thanks for adding the volume page! it's amazing and very useful that the colours match. The volumes act strange on groups. For instance, create a project like this:
a normal channel
4 channels grouped and expanded
What happens here is both encoder 2 and encoder 7 act on channel 2 (the group channel).


thanks again it must be quite some work to code something like this.

[M-Prod]

Also, do you know if Bitwig supports a 'current selected parameter' knob function? In Ableton, when a plugin is selected and there is an unassigned knob on push, that knob is set to control every parameter you select with the mouse. Amazingly useful. I think not though because, unlike Ableton, Bitwig does not indicate a parameter as being selected.

[pawnbroker]

Hi,

thanks for the movies, my twister does not behave quite as extreme as that, but I can get similar behaviour. I made a 0.6.1 version where I changed how parameter values are updated, and it seems to work better. I use that new implementation for the volumes page also (will allows me to switch between coarse and fine control for volumes). The send knobs will now have the same color as the FX channel, track color can be changed by knob 8 of the mixer page.

https://github.com/axelhjalm/bitwig-mid ... /tag/0.6.1

Couple of things:
- The volume page will default to use fine control, this seems to be MFT changing the knob state when sent a color...
- The group track having multiple encoders controlling the volume seems to be a Bitwig thing, I get two tracks for every group. Will have to ask Bitwig about that...
- I don't knob if you can get that 'last touched parameter' behaviour, haven't found anything so far.

Working with this is quite fast actually, once the basic stuff like mapping midi cc to controls have been set up. Adding the volume page took like 30 minutes...

[M-Prod]

I found it! user error as often... I had a clear moment and thought let's remove all other controller scripts and try again, mainly because you did not experience the same behaviour so reckoned it must be something on my end (and stupid for not trying that before..). I don't know which one it was (I had a couple of generic controllers, OSC and push2 installed). But that did the trick. The encoders work flawless now! If I find out what the conflicting script is, I will post it. Now that it works fine let me express again how much I love this script. I use it all the time. Especially the select track, volume, mute, solo, balance start stop, play head position. I use it a lot more then my beloved Push.

Also what would be nice if we could lock the device controls to a specific device. Meaning If you switch tracks to adjust volumes while the device knobs remain focussed on that particular device. This is possible in Ableton but again, I'm not sure if it is in Bitwig.

About the volume page, I love default (fine) settings as it is right now. Perfect for tuning a mix. And I think I would rather have a solo (quickly select a few tracks and adjust the sub mix) under the push control then a switch to course setting. Again, this is from a production point of view. For live I guess a more course setting would be preferable. I'm not sure though, I haven't used this page that intense yet.

Another idea would be to have a device page for 16 controllers. That would e.g. enable control over 2 envelopes, filter settings and some osc or master (e.g. drive) settings in one overview. I'm not sure if Bitwig supports that though. I might be getting eager here though.

Also I like the sequencer but don't seem to use it (yet). I think I'd rather build a drum rack similar to https://maps.djtechtools.com/mappings/2878 and use the nice built in sequencer if needed. But I also have a push and other hw sequencers for that matter so have less need for a sequencer, so ymmv.

The preset selection is a little fast. Easily to overshoot selection. Also I'm not sure what the cursor scroll speed is for.

Lastly I preferred the zoom function (and maybe add a scroll view left right function) over the color select. Imo colour selection is something is use very little and is quicker done with the mouse.

Oh and I love how the Bitwig screen layout follows the mode you select

[M-Prod]

I found out the track selector does not like deactivated, hidden tracks. It stops scrolling when it runs into a hidden track.

reproduce:

Create a project with e.g. 10 tracks

deactivate 2 tracks e.g. track 5 and 6

hide deactivated tracks (cross button next to show effect tracks)

It won't scroll down past track the hidden track 5. If you select track 8 manually, it won't scroll up past the hidden track 6

[pawnbroker]

Glad you solved the problem with the encoders! There was actually an issue with how i implemented it, so thanks to you feedback I found a better solution.

https://github.com/axelhjalm/bitwig-mid ... /tag/0.6.2
I've changed the volume page to solo tracks on button push.
Zoom is still there (need to click in arranger window or a clip for it to work)
I updated the documentation to reflect to new functionality.

Will begin work again tomorrow after vacation, so updates will not be as frequent

[M-Prod]

I understand, update frequency has been ridiculous . Good luck tomorrow! I still have one week to go..

PS could you maybe also make the volume on knob 2 in the device page also more fine, similar to the 'mix' page? It's hard to dial in the right volume. They all could be a little finer for that matter (pan, scrub, preset selection etc).

thanks for the update on the volume page.

[M-Prod]

Hi Axel,

This is the least I could do in return for your excellent script:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/7cb4dyke5md0 ... uzhHa?dl=0

It's s Bitwig project that works with the Midi Fighter drum sequencer.

It's based on the Ableton project from padi_04 https://maps.djtechtools.com/mappings/2878. Bitwig's drum rack is less sophisticated so I had to create a few workarounds (44 audio receivers..). There might be a smarter/simpler way to do this, but it works.

I added a "generic keyboard with 8 device knobs" connected to the midi fighter midi out. The track of the drums is set to this controller and channel 8 and midi sync out to the MFT. The MFT starts on every whole beat so it should be easy to record.

And like padi_04's Ableton project, you can change the samples to your liking (or replace the devices to e drums e.g.).

The bottom row's are mapped to the filters on the 4 FX channels. You can change the fx as you wish. Just be sure the re map the bottom 4 encoders to the parameters of your liking.

Have not tested it yet. It might conflict with your script. Also you might add note and cc input on channel 8 in your extension to enable the sequencer.

Have fun (and any others that want to use this). Any comments are welcome!

[pawnbroker]

Hi, will try out your script later this week!

Volume / Pan control speed is easily fixed, as should speed for preset scroll as well. Hopefully later this week.

I tried to make a 16 knob device parameters controller earlier, but since Bitwig only has 8 macro knobs available in the UI, I needed to handle two pages or parameters at the same time, which was quite error prone (turning knobs on different pages easily got things messed up). Might have another shot at it sometime though.

[M-Prod]

Ok I tested my mft Bitwig drum machine and it definitely conflicts with you controller. Meaning if I enable the generic keyboard with 8 device knob with the mft as the midi input, then you controller no longer works. It's fun to create some beats this way though I myself expect the novelty will wear of quickly and I will be back to my own templates for beat making (mostly a combination of arpeggiator, step modulator and some other modulators, similar to what this guy is doing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWWFWVB ... gs=pl%2Cwn

[M-Prod]

Ok I played around with the volume page which is amazing. The colours are helpful and trying arrangements by hitting the solo's is really cool. It would be great if the MFT indicates what channels are set to solo.
Also I miss a page for freely assignable knobs but I guess there are only 4 pages. Maybe you could have the user select wether they want the sequencer or a page with assignable knobs.

I noticed that if you are in mixer mode and navigate back to device mode, the device panel becomes hidden. So for example when I'm mixing with the mix page and select a device that I want to adjust, then navigate back to the device page, the device panel gets hidden.

Also if a clip is selected the zoom works in the clip but the loop selection works in the arrangement which is confusing to me. Also when I play around with this page I often accidentally change the colours of the track and it takes a lot of undo's to fix that

That said, in practise I don't seem to use that page. I use the device page 95% of the time when composing and then the mixer page later on to play around with tracks and mix volumes.

But as always this is all imho and ymmv.

[pawnbroker]

Thanks for the feedback and suggestions!

I'm currently working on:
- fixing track scrolling (so it doesn't get stuck on hidden inactive tracks)
- removing the extra group channel volume knob on the volume page
- making volume and pan knobs using fine adjust mode by default

Should be a simple thing to make the functionality of the second page switchable between sequencer and unassigned knobs.

I'll try making solo:ed track pulsate on the volume page.

Device panel being hidden sounds like a bug, will look into that.

I think the zoom works kinda bad overall, so I might remove it if I can't fix it. Could't maybe replace it with undo/redo instead.

I'll see if I can make the loop section marker affect the clip if working in clip mode.

[M-Prod]

Hi Axel,

hope you had a good first week at work!

I do think zooming and loop selection is a good (if not essential) combination so I hope you get it to work. I do miss the possibility to scroll the view since the loop selection easily moves out of focus.
I would opt against undo redo since that is best done on the keyboard imo.

If zooming does not work, then I think It would be better to rethinking this page. Maybe a simple 8 volumes, 8 sends could be useful. Or better yet, 8 volumes (plus mute on the buttons), and 8 freely assignable knobs. That would be a nice page for live performance.

Cool that a page could be made switchable. I would really love that blank unassigned knob (and buttons) page. Please have the lights below the knobs reflect on off state if possible.

Looking forward to the next version!