What problem(s) would this feature resolve?
Certain category for effects are supposed to be added post fader such as metering, multi-channel analysers and some channel strips and gain-staging related plugins.
Examples are having a analog style metering on each channel where the fader (native Bitwig channel fader) affects the metering as the metering comes after the fader. Without post-fader insert, these meters make little sense.
Another example is analog-style saturation or clipping chain which would react to how hard the channel is driven (again, using Bitwig native channel fader and not utility gain).
NOTE: Post-fader Insert FX is not same as Post-fader Send FX! They are easy to confuse with each and other, and you see this mistake in a lot of the discussions in the net.
How does this feature fit in Bitwig as a product?
A bit surprisingly not many DAWs support this, so it would be a major selling point.
It improves and simplifies the workflow related to gain staging and metering considerably.
Is there already an alternative way to achieve this on Bitwig?
Currently the only way to do this is to create an additional channel next to the main channel, and route the audio post fader to that channel. But this becomes extremely tedious if you need more than few channels, and becomes very distracting (double of channel count with every other channel nothing in the timeline).
Other solution is to use an utility plugin (like Tool) to implement “fader” between your desired pre-fader and post-fader inserts. But this then means that the channel fader should left untouched (at unity gain), which then nullifies meaning of the pre- and post-fader SEND FX.
Could it be implemented using Bitwig components or APIs, without Bitwig team’s support?
Other than creating separate sidechannels or using Tool gain automation, no.
Could it be provided by a VST or something else reasonably integrated with Bitwig?
No, it needs to be a core feature of the Bitwig as it requires a modification to the internal signal chain.
Are there other products that offer this feature?
The only ones I know of are Cubase and FL Studio. Studio One has 2 post fader inserts, but ONLY on the master channel. What we need is per channel post fader insert fx.
Relevant links (optional)
https://www.reddit.com/r/Reaper/comments/zv98zv/are_we_ever_gonna_get_post_fader_inserts/