With Labor day fast approaching I thought it was time to post again. Life has gone on mostly smoothly, I am on the job market which is always fun, and in the meantime I have made some fun adjustments. I posted previously about trying to learn Max/MSP, and I struggled quite a bit with this endeavor. I had heard of Bitwig and it’s Grid, and eventually decided to sell my Push and give it a try. I’m so glad I did!
My early efforts with Bitwig revolved around integrating my fledlging hardware modular setup with the Grid, which is straightfoward and rewarding to do. But this weekend I finally decided to tackle a more ambitious project, which I originally was trying to do in Max/MSP. It is a synth patch that I refer to as an “Auto Tremolo MPE Organ.” It incorporates 3 dimensions of MPE sensitivity per voice, X Y and Z. X maps to pitch as usual, and Z to overall volume, but Y deviates from its normal use as a “timbre” control and instead affects the rate of an LFO that is hooked into the VCA to give a Tremolo effect. Below is a demo of what is possible with this configuration:
Note that both the Y and Z dimensions of control are affecting volume. In other words, the effect I achieve here could theoretically be achieved by a skilled player simply manipulating the Z dimension in a rhythmic fashion. But I doubt I personally could achieve the sound that I do with this configuration without the LFO-enabled auto tremolo. And there is still some room to route the Y and Z controls to additional destinations to achieve some deeper control over tone for an even more expressive patch. But before going down that route I simply want to explore what is possible compositionally, the demo above is just a black key jam that I threw together with minimal effort. Below is the preset in case anyone ever wants to try it themselves.
Overall I can not thank the Bitwig team enough for their efforts in creating this intuitive virtual modular environment, I really struggle to express how much simpler it was to achieve my vision with this system compared to my struggles earlier trying to learn Max/MSP. I am sure Max has it’s place, especially in providing greater flexibility for full-time music technologists, but as a hobbyist finding time for music around the demands of a full time career I think the Grid is truly brilliant in its simplicity and accessibility.