Bitwig Studio User Guide
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A Musical Swiss Army Knife

Bitwig Studio's various viewers and editors are called panels. These panels are the heart of the program and the places where all work happens.

The Arranger Timeline Panel lets you see all of your project's tracks, create an arrangement with timeline clips, and edit track automation.

The Clip Launcher Panel allows you to trigger clips both freely and in sync with the transport, copy clips into and out of the Arranger, and sort clips into scenes.

The Inspector Panel displays all parameters for any selected clips, notes, audio events, or tracks (and modulation parameters for any selected devices).

The Detail Editor Panel is the graphical editor for both notes and audio, and their affiliated data.

The Automation Editor Panel gives you detailed control over track automation, clip automation, and MIDI control messages.

The Device Panel shows the full device chain for the selected track, including an interface for each Bitwig device and VST plug-in in use.

The Mixer Panel presents the channel strip for each track and any subsidiary signal chains.

The Browser Panel allows you to preview, load, save, and tag content from your Bitwig Studio library and elsewhere on your machine.

The Project Panel manages your project's metadata, gives access to all Arranger cue markers and Launcher scenes, and shows the status of files and plug-ins being used.

The Output Monitoring Panel gives audio control options, such as routing the main audio buss to any pairs of speakers and headphones, solo and cue behaviors etc.

The Mappings Browser Panel allows you to make and edit project-specific connections of your computer keyboard and/or MIDI controller(s) to your project's parameters.

The On-screen Keyboard Panel provides visualizations of the selected track's playing and incoming note messages, pitch expressions, and timbre expressions, as well as an input method for these data streams.

The primary interfaces in Bitwig Studio are called views. Each view gives you access to a set of panels chosen to help you carry out a particular musical job.

  • The Arrange View lets you focus on assembling music, particularly by recording and ordering clips. The Arranger Timeline Panel is central to this view along with the optional Clip Launcher Panel. All panels are available here, and all project tracks are viewed together.

  • The Mix View focuses on mixing tracks and triggering clips. The Mixer Panel is central to this view along with the optional Clip Launcher Panel. Except for the Arranger Timeline Panel, all other panels are available here, and all project tracks are viewed together.

  • The Edit View is for making detail edits to clips. The Detail Editor Panel is central to this view along with the optional Automation Editor Panel. Except for the Arranger Timeline and Clip Launcher panels, all other panels are available here.

When working in any of the timeline editors, Bitwig Studio has two ways of making a selection. Each method has its own unique functions and keyboard workflows, so it is also possible to Switch between selection kinds in the Edit menu.

  • Object selection starts with choosing one or more timeline objects (such as clips, audio events, note events, expression points, or automation points). This is usually achieved by clicking objects with the Pointer tool. The computer keyboard's arrow keys default to whatever makes sense in each particular case — for making selection (with clips and points), or for moving events (with notes and audio events) — but the alternate case is available via the ALT key.

  • Time selection captures any events (or partial events) within a span of time. This is usually achieved with the Time Selection tool. Clicking into an editor with this tool selects a single moment of time, which then allows the computer keyboard's arrow keys to jump between significant events (such as audio onsets, or note starts and ends). This allows quick, precise editing right from the Arranger, or at any other level.

Bitwig Studio offers several window arrangements called display profiles. These configurations adjust the placement of panels and even provide additional application windows when appropriate. This is all in the name of optimized workflows, allowing the program's layout to match your current screen arrangement and the task at hand.

  • Single Display (Large) is intended for use with one monitor, using a single application window to focus on one of Bitwig Studio's views at a time. This is the default display profile (and the one used for screenshots within this document).

  • Single Display (Small) is similar to the Single Display (Large) profile but is optimized for use on a smaller monitor.

  • Tablet is intended for use with a supported tablet computer. This profile is optimized for touch-and stylus-based interfaces, allowing you to play and create notes thru a specialized Play View. (Depending on your operating system and hardware platform, this option may not be available.)

    [Note]Note

    Information on Bitwig Studio's tablet computer-specific features can be found in chapter 18: Working on a Tablet Computer.

  • Dual Display (Studio) is intended for use with a two-monitor setup, such as a laptop screen and an external display. This profile keeps the Arrange View on your primary display and toggles your secondary display between the Mix View and the Edit View.

  • Dual Display (Arranger/Mixer) is intended for use with a two-monitor setup. This profile is fixed, keeping the Arrange Viewon your primary display and the Mix View on your secondary display.

  • Dual Display (Master/Detail) is intended for use with a two-monitor setup. This profile keeps the Edit View on your secondary display and toggles your primary screen between the Arrange View and Mix View.

  • Dual Display (Studio/Touch) is intended for use with a two-monitor setup where one of the monitors is a touch-screen tablet. This profile provides one standard window (like the Single Display (Large) profile) for your standard monitor and a slightly modified Tablet-style window for interacting with Bitwig via your touch-screen interface.

  • Triple Display is intended for use with a three-monitor setup. This profile is fixed, keeping the Arrange View on your primary display and the Mix View and Edit View on your secondary and tertiary displays.

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