15. MIDI Controllers

As we discussed in chapter 8: Introduction to Devices, all actual device control elements are found within the Device Panel. In this section, we will revisit the Device Panel to see how it facilitates soft control assignments.

"Soft control assignments" refers to controller assignments that can dynamically shift, following your focus on different tracks and devices within a project. By default, this functionality only targets the currently selected device.

In the example above, the Delay-2 device is currently selected, as its slightly brightened device header indicates. By clicking on the E-CLAP device, it will become the currently selected device and receive focus. If a recognized MIDI controller is connected and set up in Bitwig Studio, the device's interface might even get a splash of color.

The colored interface items represent the eight current soft control assignments. The details of these mappings are available in the device's Device Mappings pane, which is shown when the Remote Controls button (which looks like a group of six controller items) is clicked.

The Remote Controls paneshows the soft control assignments that come with being the currently selected device. Each assignment is represented here by a color-accented controller. And since your controller's eight hardware controls will be used over and over again, they are always colored in rainbow order (red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, indigo, and violet) to help you mentally connect each particular hardware control with its ever-changing software assignment.

	Note
	Depending on the type of parameter under control, either a knob, button, or chooser (a drop-down menu, indicated with a downward-facing arrow on its far right) will be used.

Remote controls work similarly on the track level, regardless of whether you are on a "low-level" audio or note track, somewhere in a nested group track, or on the project level with the master track.

If a track has no remote control page, preset or user-created remotes for the best matching device can be aliased to the track level (see Settings Tab). But you are always free to create new remote control pages at any of these levels. Otherwise, all the rules for device remote controls apply on the track level as well.

To rename a soft control: double-click the soft control's name. If no name is provided, the name of the parameter under control will be used.

Clicking on the Remote Control Pages menu exposes all current mapping pages.

There are three different types of mapping pages:

To create a new preset page: click on the Remote Control Pages menu, and then choose the Add New Page option.

The Wi-Fi icons represent controls which are not yet assigned.

To make a soft control assignment: first click on an available controller's Wi-Fi icon, and then click on the device parameter you wish to assign to it.

We can now switch to other remote control pages (via the Remote Control Pages menu) and then return to this preset page. This new preset page was named Perform by default, but similarly to the soft controls, you can click on the preset page's name in order to rename it.

Clicking the Remote Controls Editor button causes the Remote Controls Editor to appear in the central panel area.

You will notice that the Remote Controls pane itself is now showing an unassign button (as an x icon) in the top right of each assigned controller.

To remove a soft control assignment: click the assigned controller's unassign button, either in the Remote Controls pane or in the Remote Controls Editor.

Note

A soft control assignment can also be removed directly from the Device Panel either by: Right-clicking in the soft control's area, and then selecting Delete Remote Control from the context menu. Holding ALT and mousing over the Remote Controls pane will cause an unassign button (the little x icon) to appear in the top right of each assigned soft control. Continuing holding ALT and click on any of these buttons to remove that assignment.

The Remote Controls Editor is scrollable. Changes made to pages in the Preset Pages section are stored immediately. Changes to pages in the Device Pages section must be saved, either by clicking the Save and Apply button or by using the save dialog that appears when you close the Remote Controls Editor.

To reorder remote control pages: click and drag the pages within their section.

To duplicate a remote control page: hold ALT, and then click and drag the page you wish to duplicate within its section.

	Note
	Pages cannot be moved or copied between sections.

To rename a page: double-click the current name of the page.

To add tags to a remote control page: click in the bottom row of the page area, beneath the bottom four soft controls.

To add a ninth slot to any remote controls page: right-click on the title bar of the remote controls page in the Remote Controls Editor, and then select Allow 9 Slots from the context menu.

This can be especially handy if you are using a MIDI controller with nine faders.

To create a new remote control page: click the Add Page button (the large plus +) icon at the end of the Device Pages section. (The plus sign at the end of the Preset Pages section can also be used to create a new preset page.)

To delete a remote control page: click the Delete Page button (the x icon) to the far right of the page name.

Before we move on, let's consider a use of the rainbow order in another context. Most controllers that support soft control assignments can also support a "mixer mode."

The following images demonstrate a project in Mix View both without and then with mixer mode engaged:

Notice how the volume and pan knobs for the first eight tracks are using the first eight soft controls, as shown in rainbow order again.