Solo & Mute Note Rows

Soloing & Muting note rows in clip editor.
When doing intensive editing of Drum Machine patterns in the clip editor, it would be convenient to be able to mute pads from the piano roll, on a per-clip basis.

What problem(s) would this feature resolve?

Isolating or removing note rows from playback.

How does this feature fit in Bitwig as a product?

It would make the clip editor more efficient for editing drums

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

You can switch to the Device panel and mute the pad, but this can break the flow.

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

No

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

No

Relevant links (optional)

clipEdit

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Just to make sure I’ve understood, do you mean effectively muting a whole note so you never hear that note being played within that clip? If so you could achieve a similar result by automating mute on the pad, though this is not quite so convenient and wouldn’t work on other instruments…

For example, I would like to be able to mute (or solo) all notes assigned to the Op Hat within the clip. I imagine a little mute button next to the speaker icon on each row. (The same could be said for solo buttons.)

Right below the Detail Editor Panel (shown in your screenshot) you have the option to switch to the Device Panel. Assuming that you are using a Drum Machine, you can mute and solo each note row there.

Switching between panels is rather straightforward. There are even shortcuts to do so (D and E).

@icaria36 - the problem with muting it is that it would not be per-clip. Though with automation of the mute parameter it could be…

I find switching to the panel inconvenient. It would be much more intuitive to do it right from the row.

I hope this doesn’t turn into the workaround site.

I can understand this feeling, it can be frustrating to be presented with workarounds when you have already considered them. The reason why we suggest workarounds is really down to the intention of the site. We would ideally like to attract the attention of the Bitwig developers so we can engage them with the hopes of their community of users. It’s therefore important that what we present to them is a set of realistic and clearly specified feature requests which they would be likely to consider. This means it’s also important that the features that are requested are for things which are not already possible, or for which the workaround is sufficiently arduous that a new feature could be justified. This latter point is subjective of course; personally I find it straightforward enough to mute a drum pad within a clip, but then I don’t do this very often. Suggesting workarounds isn’t about dismissing the request, only to try to cut through the subjectivity in order to establish how needed the feature really is. It’s not about saying “you can’t request that because you can do x instead”. If you feel that switching to the device panel and automating the mute parameter is inconvenient then that’s totally valid and although we will reference the workaround, it’s still perfectly acceptable to request a feature to make this more convenient.

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Fair enough, and thanks for the well-written (IMHO) response. To give further context, I have a bunch of midi drum clips saved that I can drop into a sequence or clip slot. A clip may have elements like toms that may not be needed for a given track. Being able to quickly audition muting the toms right from the clip without having to go the device or creating automation would be a time saver. It would also help keep the creative flow going. At least it would for me.

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@who no problem :slight_smile: I edited the original post to put it in third person. How does that read to you?

Sounds good to me!

I thought of another use case: Suppose I drop a chord progression clip into a clip slot with the intention of picking notes for a bass line. If I could mute/solo rows, I could quickly audition different notes for the bass line.

I just realized you can mute rows of notes from the inspector. While the notes do change in appearance, it’s not quite as immediate as seeing the status next to the row name. Furthermore, it doesn’t look like you can solo.

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@who thanks for coming back to share this information. So, we could perhaps reformulate this as a request for an enhancement of the existing functionality by making it more immediate and adding solo.

Another combination:

  • In the Footer on the left, select “EDIT”. This way you have your clips on the Central Panel Area.
  • Also on the Footer, select the Device Panel icon. This way you have the Drum Machine on the Secondary Panel Area, below your clips.

Now you can play the loop and solo and mute as needed through the Drum Maschine. If I understood your workflow, this would provide the same without having to change windows.