Hi all - I’m having real issues getting my Tracker Mini to play nice with Bitwig. I have it set up with all the inputs (much like the template Mitch provided ages ago), but my issue is with sync. Ideally, I want either Bitwig to launch the Mini when I hit play on the transport bar, OR for the Mini to do the same, purely so that when I hit play, I can capture the pattern or song into Bitwig.
Try as I may, I can’t work it out… Right now I have the MIDI settings as follows on the Mini:
Clock in: Internal
Clock out: USB
Transport In: Internal
Transport Out: USB
Notes in: Off
Notes in channel: ALL
MIDI out: USB
CC in: Off
CC in channel: ALL
Middle C: C5
Clock Sync correction: 0
No matter what combination I try, I can’t seem to figure this out. I assume I might also need to configure something in Bitwig, but given I’m not too au fait with this, I’m unclear whether I need to configure both the Mini and Bitwig, or whether just configuring the Mini will suffice.
Also (sorry) where would I set which is the master? Given I’m basically just trying to capture a song into Bitwig, I’m assuming it doesn’t really matter, because I’ll be recording it in and then just disconnecting the Tracker Mini to finish the song in Bitwig anyway.
OK - tried this and whilst I couldn’t get Bitwig to be in control, I could get the Mini running in control with no bother. So, thank you for that - I’ve now been able to track out my song into Bitwig to finish it off!
Sidenote: if you are monitoring the audio from the Mini itself, do you get a lot of popping and clicking? I do. Luckily it doesn’t seem to translate to the recording so isn’t of massive consequence, but I just thought it was worth mentioning. I am on the latest beta though so it’s possible it might be a bug in that…
Huge thanks for your help though - great to get this sorted!
Sandroid - on this, I am revisiting to see if tracking audio in with Bitwig as the master clock might fix this sync issue I am having. But when I try to set it up per your images above, I don’t get the option to select ‘none’ as the midi input clock; I always have the Mini in there and I can’t seem to deselect it to just have ‘none’ instead.
@mr_trick , there we go finally uploaded (available up to 4K):
I think this happens when it’s the only MIDI device available in Bitwig. It autoselects it and you have to turn MIDI Sync off as shown in the video then.
Syncing any device with a DAW is always a pain in the ass, the more MIDI devices you try to sync the worse it gets. They all drift at different speeds/lengths, that’s just the nature of MIDI in general. I’ve read your other post and what you are trying to achieve is something i do very often (record parts from the tracker and then add more parts from within the DAW or other devices).
I personally switch often between either having Bitwig as the Master or having a Tracker or other device being the master. There’s no rhyme or reason, just whatever i feel like at that moment.
When having anything else but Bitwig be the master, the best way to deal with additional tracks afterwards, is to keep using the external clock to record things in.
As you already noticed as well, quantization becomes an issue at some point. For me personally this isn’t much of an issue as i don’t like to quantize things to hard anyway. But if you need to do additional sequences that are specific for beats, you might want to sequence them externally and record the notes that way, instead of adding/sequencing them from within Bitwig.
So essentially, once you have chosen a device as a master, keep sticking to that master clock for everything else as well, this usually causes the least friction in my opinion.
And as you already discovered, make sure all the audio tracks that are recorded are not quantized to the bitwig grid (setting the Audio Playback Mode to Raw for the recording). Bitwig seems to be extra annoying when it comes to wanting to stretch audio.
Thanks so much for this - that solved all manner of issues!
So I was able to get the Mini tracking into Bitwig following Bitwig’s master clock, and that in turn certainly addressed the bulk of the issue I was having per my other post. As you’ve already mentioned, it seems there’s no rock solid consistency between devices, but with Bitwig set as the master clock, it was considerably better and wasn’t dropping a beat every 10 bars or so.
I have been trying to track in a bassline but you’re right that quantising stuff just doesn’t work. I feel like I’m going mad though as I played in a bassline, saved it, came back and re-opened it, and now the bassline feels off. Truly odd. But that’s not a Tracker issue; that’s evidently just the whole midi timing thing that you were referring to.
Many, MANY lessons learned today. Not all good, I’ll admit - I think the general aggro involved in trying to pull a work in progress over into Bitwig makes it far less desirable than it was about 24hrs ago, but let’s see. All good things to learn though, so thank you again for taking the time to walk me through that all. Massively appreciated!
Glad i was able to help and feel free to ask more questions anytime!
As with everything - it‘s a learning process. The goal being to find a flow that works for you and that causes the least friction for you.
It took me many iterations as well.
Not just when it comes to recording, but everything (the whole studio setup, routing of all the various devices, etc).
So i’m more than happy to share what i’ve learned and the mistakes i’ve made along the way - believe me, there were many and i‘m sure there will be a lot more to come .
Great tutorial @Sandroid! What about a common tips & tricks subforum, where users can share all the neat little things to newcomers for the different devices? This should go definitely in there!
I have to be honest: today has been one of the most frustrating ones I’ve had in a LONG time, but I think I’m over the worst of it, heheh. I’m glad I got to understand the whole midi clock side; that’s a huge hump to get over in general I suspect.
Now I just need the bloody audio to render without clicks and pops and I might get closer to finalised mixes!
So a quick update on this: I set up my M1 Mac exactly as outlined above, and whilst the master clock is working (with BW acting as the MC), no audio is being recorded. All the inputs are set correctly, and everything is armed to record; there’s just no audio passing through.
USB audio is set to input & output, the MIDI config is all correct, the Mini is set as the audio interface in Bitwig… and still it doesn’t work.
The irony is that I’m only trying this on my Mac because the Linux laptop I have Bitwig on worked great for recording the audio in… except it was full of pops and clicks that rendered the audio unusable.
Have to say once again: getting 4 songs off this Mini to overdub tracks onto ahead of release has been the singularly most insanely frustrating experience I’ve had in making music. I’d detail everything that’s gone wrong but it would take all day to write it out. I really hate saying this but at this point I’m concluding that I should get the four songs off, then just sell all my Polyend kit (2 trackers and a Play) because they’re simply too much aggro to work with.
That seems odd and i’m sorry you are having so many issues.
As you have seen in my video, that shouldn’t be the case (once things are connected correctly). Out of curiosity:
What’s the Sample rate set in Bitwig (Settings → Audio → Sample rate) when you have the Mini connected? It should be 44100 Hz . Anything above can lead to issues.
Is the cable you are using atleast a USB 3.1 (ensuring that datatransfer doen’t run into any issues)
If you don’t feel like going through the process again that’s totally fine. Just know, if you need help. I’ll gladly help you - even with a online conf/meeting if need be
Thanks again for your help on this Sandroid - it is much appreciated…
To answer your question: Sample Rate is set to Automatic, so should default to 44.1khz on the basis that’s the output of the Mini. Happy to set it at 44.1khz and try again though.
I honestly couldn’t tell you if the cable if USB 3.1; it’s just a USB-C to USB-C cable that works fine in the sense of giving a reliable connection. I guess it’s possible that’s a causal factor in the pops and clicks that occur now and then on the Linux machine though? I can root about and try some other cables to see if that sorts it.
Basically where I got to in the end was tracking the songs into the linux machine a few times each, then comping tracks to ensure I had one complete, pop-and-click-free take.
So I’m more or less there now, but yeah, it’s just sad that it’s been such a total pain in the ass getting here. With time being tight it gets pretty annoying when you’re spending a lot more time trying to get tracks into Bitwig without errors than it actually took to compose the tracks in the first place…
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