Bitwig Studio - Bitwig Device Library for NKS-like Integration without Komplete Kontrol

Bitwig Studio has device panels which are rather like NKS mappings but with several advantages. For a start the editor for creating them is much more flexible than Komplete Kontrol's NKS editor as you can freely move around pages and also map the same param to multiple pages (eg if you want to create a Perform panel at the front). Also panel mappings can be per preset or per device, and as you can use the Bitwig browser to browse presets for many plugin formats, including all u-he plugins and most CLAP format plugins (which have built-in preset discovery), this means not having to save potentially hundreds of patches as NKS. The system works equally well with Bitwig native devices (which are pre mapped) and plugins and supports any plugin format Bitwig supports, not just VST/VST3 but also CLAP.
If you also use the MOSS extension for Bitwig you get the additional benefit of not only being able to directly control params using the Keyboard knobs (something you can do with the built-in NI script) but also visualising them live on the keyboard display (which goes one better than NKS) and can swap between this and the mixer view. eg:
So with this in mind I setup an online repository for Bitwig Device panels along similar lines to the NKS User Library here, and got a thread going on the KvR forum to encourage other users to contribute - some have gone on to create dozens themselves and setup their own repositories to share them, so we have covered between us a lot of plugins by now (maybe as many as are NKS compatible?)
Instructions on how to import these into Bitwig are also in the KvR thread (post 1)
Comments
-
Thanks for sharing Kymeia!
0 -
If anyone is interested I recently added device panels for the CLAP version of most u-he plugins including the new Filterscape 1.5 - I chose the CLAP versions as these allow for additional interactions on a deep level with Bitwig modulators, vastly extending the capabilities of each synth and effect
0 -
I've added Device panels now for the new CLAP versions of Fabfilter Twin3, Timeless 3, Saturn 2, Pro R 2 and Volcano 3 - more to come, CLAP is really taking off now. The nice thing about the FabFilter CLAP versions is they include browser support for their presets so it's almost like having Komplete Kontrol built into Bitwig.
0 -
I made a short video showing the Device Map functionality with the MOSS extension which allows you to visualise the params in the keyboard screen and swap pages using the left/right arrows
0 -
Bitwig also makes an excellent prototyping editor for NKS layouts. For complex plugins like Avenger this is essential as it's so easy to create a multi page mapping only to realise you really could have used another filter page or forgot to add something, only you can't then go back and add those pages after they are built without remaking them. Unlike in Komplete Kontrol, in the Bitwig remote controls editor, you can get a complete overview of all user pages in one screen, add additional pages and can move them around using drag and drop as you like till you arrive at the layout you want (or even quickly change it to suit a particular patch)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/qscrlokmtfvrk2y/Screen%20Recording%202024-07-18%20at%2017.27.46.mov?dl=0
I so wish KK had this functionality!
0 -
Added a Device Panel for Serum 2 and some others today
0 -
Thanks - where it fills a particular gap is control of effects - since KK doesn't come as an effect and has no automation of effects it's pretty useless in that department. For complex instruments I'm still preferring to use KK but this is great when I have a mix of Bitwig Native devices and plugin effects - plus it is dead easy to toggle between NKS mode and MIDI mode.
0
Categories
- All Categories
- 18 Welcome
- 1.6K Hangout
- 66 NI News
- 863 Tech Talks
- 4.4K Native Access
- 17.7K Komplete
- 2.1K Komplete General
- 4.6K Komplete Kontrol
- 6.1K Kontakt
- 1.6K Reaktor
- 398 Battery 4
- 894 Guitar Rig & FX
- 456 Massive X & Synths
- 1.4K Other Software & Hardware
- 6.2K Maschine
- 7.9K Traktor
- 7.9K Traktor Software & Hardware
- Check out everything you can do
- Create an account
- See member benefits
- Answer questions
- Ask the community
- See product news
- Connect with creators