Option to add polyphony voices (as if for instrument) to the Chain device. When put in the nested chain of the native instrument, have an option to use instrument’s polyphony for the Chain device.
This would also enable polyphonic mode for modulators attached to the Chain, which is mostly the point of it. The way it would work is that the whole chain would have stacked instances for each voice. Since it’s a potentially CPU taxing feature, it might be a good idea to have a separate Poly Chain device with this capability, which you could convert to from regular Chain and back.
What problem(s) would this feature resolve?
(Current lack of) ability to easily stack whole chains in polyphony, making use of keytracked effects in different context since they are usually not polyphonic. (Current lack of) ability to use polyphonic modulators not just on native instrument devices, but on anything. Although it won’t force polyphonic modulations to internal VST voices, at least you could set the VST in monophonic mode and just use stacks of it as polyphony instead, where Bitwig’s modulators can work polyphonically on VST.
Additionally, while it’s possible to use the Instrument Selector device in the Instrument’s nested chains to try for polyphonic effects, in reality it won’t work in expected way, because the Selector would only receive summed audio from the instrument either way, while the goal sometimes is to isolate each voice
How does this feature fit in Bitwig as a product?
It’s an extension of Bitwig’s current polyphonic capabilities.
Is there already an alternative way to achieve this on Bitwig?
Currently only using Selector devices, where layers can be used as ‘Voices’, although modulators still do not work in polyphonic mode for these devices, so you’re forced to have duplicates of same modulators inside each layer and then link up their parameters to macros on Selector. It’s same level of tediousness across the board when you specifically want the same chain used polyphonically, with only saving grace that you can copy parameter value to all layers or apply same modulation routing to parameter for all layers, but you have to do it manually one-by-one for each parameter. So yes, tedious to the point that most people wouldn’t even explore or consider using this.
Could it be implemented using Bitwig components or APIs, without Bitwig team’s support?
Not in the described way.
Could it be provided by a VST or something else reasonably integrated with Bitwig?
No, at least not with ability to include Bitwig’s polyphonic modulators and devices.
Are there other products that offer this feature?
Reaper has a similar feature.