Mapping Macro control to Faders

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I would like some solution to be able to assign a macro knob to a range of a Volume Fader, similar how macro knobs can be assigned to custom ranges of various parameters in a device chain.

What problem(s) would this feature resolve?

I’d like to use a MIDI controller to mix the levels of my track in Bitwig (specifically the Twister). While it is extremely easy to map a volume Fader control to a MIDI device knob or fader, this has the problem of assigning the entire fader range to the 127 possible values of the MIDI controller.

This leads to not-fine-enough jumps between the values (eg. each individual ‘tick’ accounts for a larger change in volume than needed) as well as accounting for a large range of values I will never set my Volume Faders to! I would create a range where the top is 0dB and the bottom is perhaps -30dB.

In other parts of the program, this can be solved by creating a Macro control knob, assigning it to the parameter you wish to control with a specified range, and then assigning your MIDI controller to that Macro instead of the parameter itself.

Now as far as I can tell, I can’t create a macro anywhere that is allowed to be mapped to a fader. Macros seem to be limited to controlling the device they are created on, or sub-devices (so adding a macro to an FX-Chain allows for control of many devices)

How does this feature fit in Bitwig as a product?

I’m not exactly sure: one idea would be to allow some of the “global” parameters such as Volume Faders, Track Record Arm, Play Pause playback to be assignable from any device macro.

Is there already an alternative way to achieve this on Bitwig?

Not that I know of! If anyone has any ideas please let me know! This is currently my #1 feature request for Bitwig, to be able to have more fine-grained control over the Mixer’s Volume Faders with a freely assignable Midi Controller.

Could it be implemented using Bitwig components or APIs, without Bitwig team’s support?

Could it be provided by a VST or something else reasonably integrated with Bitwig?

It may be possible to write a controller script that translates incoming MIDI Data to set specific values on a fader, eg. 127 = set 0dB, 126 set -0.02dB, etc. However even then that would be hard-programmed for different CC’s to control different tracks, and when building a project there may be many tracks and groups created so the control really needs to be assignable.

Are there other products that offer this feature?

I’m not very familiar with other DAW’s.

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@DuneArchitect What about this:

  1. Select the track you want to control.
  2. Add the Tool device at the end of the device chain.
  3. Add a Macro modulator and assign it to the desired Volume range (you can also modulate the Gain, if that helps).
  4. Map the Macro modulator to the knob in your controller.

… And you still have the track fader untouched, which still can be used for meticulous mixing without interfering with your controller knobs for playing around.

I have tried this and it does what you are describing above. It takes a couple of steps but once you have mapped the 16 tracks to the knobs of your Twister (or whatever you want to do to) then you can save this as a project template and that’s it.

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