Bitwig Oikontrol User Guide

Bitwig Oikontrol holds controller extensions for Bitwig Studio, currently for:

• Novation Launch Control XL Mk2
• Akai Fire

This guide is the user-facing reference for setup, modes, preferences, and common workflows. The bundled Help entry in each extension should open the same guide content.

Installation and setup

1. Build or install the .bwextension for the controller you want to use.
2. In Bitwig Studio, open Settings > Controllers.
3. Add the Oiko controller entry for your hardware:
   • LCXL Oikontrol
   • Fire Oikontrol
4. Use the extension preferences if you want to change launch, pinning, or controller-specific behavior.

Launch Control XL

The Launch Control XL extension keeps the Bitwig factory templates intact while adding deeper user-template workflows for:

• device remote pages
• drum machine control
• arpeggiator performance

Controller assumptions

For the custom user-mode workflows, the factory-default user template mappings are assumed.

• All controls send on the MIDI channel that matches the selected template number.
• All buttons are configured as momentary.

User template note and CC assumptions:

• Top row knobs: CC 13-20
• Middle row knobs: CC 29-36
• Bottom row knobs: CC 49-56
• Faders: CC 77-84
• Send Up/Down: CC 104/105
• Track Left/Right: CC 106/107
• Right-side mode buttons: 105-108

Factory templates

Factory templates keep the same general role as the Bitwig factory script:

• Template 1: 2 sends and selected device controls
• Template 2: 2 sends and per-track device page 1
• Template 3: 2 sends and project remotes
• Template 4: 3 sends
• Template 5: 1 send and 2 per-track device controls
• Template 6: 3 per-track device controls
• Template 7: not supported
• Template 8: 3 track remote controls

In factory templates, the eight faders, knob columns, and bottom-button columns follow the eight-track Bitwig controller feedback box. Track Left/Right moves the controlled track window by eight tracks. When Show deactivated tracks is off, deactivated tracks are skipped by the factory track bank; when it is on, they remain available in the bank.

User Template 6: Device pages

User Template 6 turns the controller into a fixed page remote-control surface.

• Each hardware row maps to a fixed page of the selected device's preset remotes.
• This is useful when one patch exposes several remote pages and you want a stable one-template layout.

Quick start:

1. Select a device in Bitwig.
2. Switch the controller to User Template 6.
3. Adjust the rows, faders, and buttons as the current device pages require.

User Template 7: Drum machine

User Template 7 is the drum workflow.

• Faders control chain volume.
• Knobs map to the first device on each visible drum pad chain.
• The upper pad row selects and can audition drum pads.
• The lower pad row controls pad remote 4 by default, or mute/solo depending on the active sub-mode.

Preferences that matter:

• Auto-attach to first Drum Machine and Arpeggiator
• Exclusive Track Arm: when on, record-arm buttons select the armed track and disarm the other visible strips; when off, record-arm buttons allow multiple armed tracks and do not change selection
• Audition on drum pad select
• Drum accent buttons momentary

Quick start:

1. Load a Drum Machine on a track.
2. Switch the controller to User Template 7.
3. If auto-attach is enabled, the script will focus the first Drum Machine it finds.
4. Use Track Left/Right to move across pad banks.
5. Use the upper pad row to select pads and the knobs/faders to shape each sound.

User Template 8: Arpeggiator

User Template 8 adapts the Richie Hawtin / Eric Ahrens rhbitwig arp workflow.

• The arp layer controls the focused Bitwig Arpeggiator.
• Pitch offset, velocity, gate, and step behavior are spread across the rows and mode buttons.
• Auto-attach can focus the first Arpeggiator in the project when enabled.

Quick start:

1. Add an Arpeggiator device in Bitwig.
2. Switch the controller to User Template 8.
3. Use the row controls for pitch, velocity, and gate shaping.
4. Use the side mode buttons to access the arp sub-modes inherited from rhbitwig.

Akai Fire

The Akai Fire extension is organized around four top-level workflows.

Button	Workflow	Role
DRUM	Drum workflows	Drum XOX; press again for Nested Rhythm, then Drum Pads
NOTE	Live note input	16x4 melodic / harmonic note surface
STEP	Step sequencing	Enter Poly Step; from there press again for Melo Gen, then Fugue
PERFORM	Clip launching	16x4 clip grid and track actions

DRUM, STEP, and PERFORM remember the last page used under that button. The first entry uses the defaults above, or the configured Startup Mode on controller startup; after that, leaving and returning restores the last page in that family.

Shared pitch context is global across NOTE, Melo Gen, Poly Step, and the settings overlay. Root Key, Scale, and Octave changes in one of those places update the others.

Pad colors in DRUM and PERFORM follow Bitwig track, drum-lane, and clip colors. Pad Brightness and Pad Saturation control how strongly those project colors translate to the Fire LEDs.

Shared controls

Control	Action
PLAY	Toggle transport; when stopped, launch from the current play start
ALT + PLAY	Retrigger current clip
STOP	Stop transport; when already stopped, move play start to the beginning of the arrangement
REC	Clip launcher overdub in Drum XOX; arranger record in other modes; hold for pad-target recording in PERFORM
ALT + REC	Arranger overdub
PATTERN	Write automation
PATTERN + REC	Record the selected track into the next free launcher slot, regardless of mode
PATTERN + GRID LEFT/RIGHT	Create an instrument track before/after the selected track; when an FX track is selected, create an FX track instead
ALT + PATTERN + GRID LEFT/RIGHT	Create an audio track before/after the selected track; when an FX track is selected, create an FX track instead
SHIFT + PATTERN	Metronome
ALT + PATTERN	Clip launcher overdub; when enabling, also enables automation write in touch mode
KNOB MODE + PATTERN UP/DOWN	Previous/next remote page for the active encoder page, when that page controls remotes
KNOB MODE + touch encoder	Reset that encoder's current value when the target supports reset
SHIFT + DRUM	Tap tempo
SHIFT + NOTE	Toggle record quantization, restoring the previous grid or 1/16
BROWSER	Open or close Bitwig popup browser
SHIFT + BROWSER	Latch or close global settings overlay
ALT + BROWSER	Open browser after the current device / insertion context
SHIFT + ALT + BROWSER	Open browser before the current device / insertion context

Plain PLAY does not relaunch the selected Launcher clip, so clips that were already offset keep that offset. Use ALT + PLAY to retrigger the selected clip from its start.

After a second STOP resets the arrangement start, the next PLAY also asks Bitwig to retrigger playing Launcher clips before launching from the play start.

When the popup browser is open, SELECT turn moves through results, SELECT press or PLAY commits the selected result, and STOP or BROWSER closes the browser.

When KNOB MODE + PATTERN UP/DOWN changes a remote page, the OLED shows the target page name and a bottom-row N/M count when there is more than one page. If the active encoder page has no remote target, the OLED reports No remotes. A single-page target reports Page 1/1, and page boundaries report First page or Last page. These chords are not treated as encoder-page cycles.

Hold KNOB MODE and tap an encoder to reset the value under that encoder. The OLED reports No reset or Unmapped when the current encoder slot cannot reset, and the KNOB MODE tap is not treated as an encoder-page cycle. Parameter-like controls use their existing target defaults for reset.

Use PATTERN for Bitwig 6's unified automation write toggle. PATTERN drives both arranger and launcher automation-write states together so the controller follows Bitwig 6's single Automation Write model. Use ALT + REC for arranger overdub, and use ALT + PATTERN for launcher overdub when adding data to existing Launcher clips. Turning launcher overdub on from the controller also enables automation write in touch mode; if that gesture enabled automation write, turning launcher overdub off turns automation write back off. PATTERN + REC is the quick launcher capture chord: it records the selected track into the next free launcher slot regardless of mode. Plain REC remains the arranger-record path from Perform Mix pages. Press REC again to stop a launcher recording started from either PATTERN + REC or REC + pad.

Global settings overlay

Press SHIFT + BROWSER to latch the global settings overlay. Press SHIFT + BROWSER again, press BROWSER, or press a plain mode button from the latched overlay to close it. Press KNOB MODE to switch between settings pages.

Page	Encoder 1	Encoder 2	Encoder 3	Encoder 4
Pitch	Shared root key	Shared scale	Shared octave	Note OLED notes/chords: pads only or pads plus DAW
Input	Global velocity sensitivity	Global velocity center	Pad brightness	Pad saturation
Clip	Create: default empty-clip length	Record: launcher record length	--	--
Pins	Pin track	Pin device	Pin clip	--

On the Pins page, turn an encoder right for On and left for Off; the pin controls stop at those two states and do not wrap. The Input velocity settings are shared by live NOTE, Drum Pads, and Poly Step input. The global settings screen also shows whether launcher and mixer track views are using all tracks or only active tracks. Press the bottom-right pad from the overlay to toggle Show deactivated tracks; the same persistent option is available in the controller preferences and defaults to off.

The Screen Message Hold hardware preference controls how long transient OLED messages stay visible before persistent screens return: Short is 750 ms, Normal is 1.5 s, and Long is 3 s. While playback is running, idle OLED pages can return to mode-specific meters. When playback stops, those meters keep refreshing briefly so levels can ring out, then the idle OLED falls back to the selected track name instead of silent meter displays. Numeric Peak/RMS pages sample the cached Bitwig levels at 5 Hz and only resend rows whose formatted values changed; graphical meters retain their smoother 10 Hz refresh. The VU Meters hardware preference defaults to Selected: Off disables every Fire meter display and unsubscribes all dedicated meter sources, Selected retains only the selected track or pad source used by numeric Peak/RMS pages, and All also subscribes the full visible banks used by graphical meters. The Idle Perf & Drum OLED hardware preference defaults to Context; set it to Meters to prefer decorative VU-style idle displays on Launcher/Mix and Drum XOX pages when VU Meters is All. The Note OLED Notes/Chords hardware preference defaults to Pads: live Note pads show notes/chords on the OLED, while selected-track DAW playback notes do not take over the idle display. Set it to Pads + DAW if you also want playing clip notes/chords to appear during playback.

Where the active mode has a four-encoder page, the OLED can keep a compact legend for the current encoder assignments. This is used by live Note and the shared step-sequencer encoder pages, including Drum XOX, Multiclip Seq, Melo Gen, Poly Step, Nested Rhythm, and Fugue. The Encoder Legend Position hardware preference defaults to Bottom; set it to Top if the top row is easier to read in your controller setup.

Single-clip sequencers follow Bitwig's primary selected launcher clip without changing passive DAW selections. Entering Drum XOX, Nested Rhythm, Melo Gen, Poly Step, or Fugue without an available primary clip shows No Clip / Select clip. Select a clip in Bitwig or use an explicit Fire clip-row gesture; live Note input and other inactive modes do not replace Bitwig's additive clip selection.

Sequencer grids follow the selected clip's loop region rather than assuming that it begins at 1.1.1. If the loop is moved later in the clip, Drum XOX, Multiclip Seq, Nested Rhythm, Melo Gen, Poly Step, and Fugue display and edit that moved segment; their playhead and clip-start feedback remains relative to the loop window.

Baked Note Variation

Sequencer and generator modes can write stable, clip-wide variation into continuous per-note values. This is Baked Note Variation: values are written once into the notes and do not change again merely because the clip loops.

On an eligible note-parameter encoder:

• SHIFT + ALT + turn sets that parameter's session-local variation amount from 0% to 100%.
• SHIFT + ALT + touch writes a fresh variation to every note-on event in the active clip loop, across all pitches and MIDI channels.
• Turn the amount down to 0%, then use SHIFT + ALT + touch, to reset every targeted note to the mode's insertion baseline or expression centre.
• KNOB MODE + touch still resets the ordinary encoder target and takes priority over variation.

The first variation policy, Scatter, favors values near the current default and gives notes at the same onset the same value, so chords and layered unisons move together. Pitch expression stays within 12 semitones of its default. Held steps, selected notes, the visible page, and the selected drum pad do not narrow the operation. If the controller cannot observe the complete loop it reports Clip too large and changes nothing.

Mode	Eligible mapped values
Drum XOX	Velocity, Pressure, Timbre, Pitch expression, Chance, Velocity spread, Note Gain, Note Pan
Poly Step	Velocity, Pressure, Timbre, Pitch expression, Chance, Velocity spread, Note Gain, Note Pan
Melo Gen	Velocity, Pressure, Timbre, Pitch expression, Chance, Velocity spread, Note Gain, Note Pan
Nested Rhythm	Velocity, Pressure, Timbre, Pitch expression, Chance
Fugue	Velocity and Chance

In Drum XOX, Poly Step, and Melo Gen, go to User 1 and press ALT + KNOB MODE to latch the secondary expression page. Its legend is Velo / Gain / Pan / PExp; press ALT + KNOB MODE again to return to Velo / Pres / Timb / PExp. Note Gain and Note Pan use ordinary edit/default/reset behavior on that latched page, so their SHIFT + ALT variation gesture needs no extra held button.

Applying variation again produces a new stable result. A later deliberate generator action in Melo Gen, Fugue, or Nested Rhythm may rewrite those values. Variation amounts are shared by parameter across compatible modes for the current extension session, but are not stored in controller preferences or project metadata.

Main SELECT encoder

Tap SELECT to swap between Last Touched Parameter and the current alternate role. Press SHIFT + SELECT to cycle the alternate role. Press ALT + SELECT to open or close the selected device window. Press SHIFT + ALT + SELECT to delete Bitwig's explicitly selected device. If no device is selected, the OLED reports No Device and nothing is deleted.

Global SELECT turn chords:

Control	Action
Hold SHIFT + turn SELECT	Move the playback start by the current arranger grid resolution
Hold SHIFT + PATTERN + turn SELECT	Move the playback start by fine 1/16-beat steps
Hold PATTERN + turn SELECT	Jump to previous/next cue marker
Hold ALT + turn SELECT	Zoom the arranger/detail timeline horizontally
Hold SHIFT + ALT + turn SELECT	Zoom arranger/detail lanes vertically

Role	Turn	Press / hold behavior
Last Touched Parameter	Adjust last touched Bitwig parameter	Reset parameter to default
Shuffle	Adjust groove shuffle; 0 disables shuffle	None
Tempo	Adjust project tempo	None
Note Repeat	Select repeat division; Off disables repeat	Active repeat control
Track Select	Previous / next track	Hold while turning to jump by visible pages
Drum Grid	Drum-step grid resolution	DRUM mode only

DRUM Mode

Drum XOX is the default sequencer-oriented workflow for a Drum Machine. Repeatedly press DRUM to cycle through the surfaces in this order:

Current surface	Next DRUM surface
Drum XOX	Nested Rhythm
Nested Rhythm	Drum Pads
Drum Pads	Multiclip Seq
Multiclip Seq	Drum XOX

If Drum Mode Pinning is Auto-select First Drum Machine, Drum XOX focuses and pins the first Drum Machine it finds. If it is Follow Selection, Drum XOX follows the selected drum context.

When Drum XOX is idle, the OLED shows the selected pad name with the current encoder legend when Idle Perf & Drum OLED is Context. Set Idle Perf & Drum OLED to Meters to show vertical RMS meters for the 16 visible Drum Machine pad chains with the same legend. On the Mixer encoder page, it instead shows selected-pad maximum peak/RMS on the first large row, current peak/RMS on the second large row, and the compact encoder legend.

Pad row	Role
Row 1	Clip slots
Row 2	Visible drum slots
Rows 3-4	32 visible steps for the selected lane

Encoder page	Encoder 1	Encoder 2	Encoder 3	Encoder 4
Channel	Note length	Chance	Velocity spread	Repeats
Mixer	Selected pad volume	Selected pad pan	Selected pad send 1	Selected pad send 2
User 1	Velocity or default velocity	Pressure or default pressure	Timbre or default timbre	Pitch
User 2	Selected pad-device remote 1	Pad remote 2	Pad remote 3	Pad remote 4

Control	Action
STEP	Enter Poly Step
SHIFT + STEP	Latch accent mode
Hold step pad(s) + STEP	Toggle accent on the held steps
ALT + STEP	Fill
PATTERN UP/DOWN	Page visible steps
ALT + PATTERN UP/DOWN	Scroll the visible Drum Machine pad window
GRID LEFT/RIGHT	Move or rotate pattern
SHIFT + GRID LEFT/RIGHT	Fine nudge
ALT + GRID LEFT/RIGHT	Halve / double clip length
MUTE_1	Select
SHIFT + MUTE_1	Toggle Mute pad mode
MUTE_2	Last Step
SHIFT + MUTE_2	Toggle Solo pad mode
MUTE_3	Copy / paste
MUTE_4	Delete / reset
Hold drum pad + turn SELECT	Select a direct device in that pad's chain
Hold drum pad + BROWSER	Open Bitwig's browser for that pad
ALT + KNOB MODE on User 2	Cycle Pad Remotes, Drum Machine Remotes, and Euclid targets

Hold one or more step pads, then use the timing gestures to move those held notes directly. Fine-nudged notes stay attached to the held target during the gesture.

User 2 defaults to the selected pad device's first four remotes; hold ALT for remotes 5-8. Hold a drum pad and turn SELECT to choose another direct device in that pad's chain, which is remembered independently for each pad. Hold a drum pad and press BROWSER to replace that selected device, or to browse from the pad's insertion context when its chain is empty. On User 2, press ALT + KNOB MODE to cycle from Pad Remotes to the parent Drum Machine's remotes, then to Euclid length, pulses, rotation, and accent density, and back to Pad Remotes. The two remote targets both use ALT for remotes 5-8, and KNOB MODE + PATTERN UP/DOWN changes the active target's Bitwig remote page.

Hold MUTE_3 and press a clip slot, drum pad, or step to paste from the selected item of the same type. Clip-row paste falls back to the playing clip on that track if no clip was explicitly selected.

In Drum Pads, the third DRUM surface, Grid64 plays a 64-pad Bitwig Drum Machine window. The starting page puts C1 on the lower-left pad, then pads run left-to-right from the bottom row. LEDs use explicit Drum Machine pad colors when set; pads with a sound but no explicit color use the track color, and empty pads stay dark. Pressing a pad shows the Bitwig pad name. PATTERN UP/DOWN scrolls the pad window by 16 pads; GRID LEFT/RIGHT reminds you to use Pattern for this, while ALT + GRID LEFT/RIGHT still undo/redo Bitwig project history. On the Channel page, encoder 1 selects layouts (Grid64, Velocity, and Bongos) and encoder 2 controls velocity sensitivity / SHIFT: velocity center. In Velocity and Bongos, the left 4x4 block selects the sound. Velocity uses the remaining 12x4 pads as fixed velocity zones; Bongos leaves separator columns between the selector and two 5x4 bongo surfaces, uses hit velocity for note velocity, and maps surface position to per-note pressure.

Multiclip Seq mode

Multiclip Seq is the fourth and final DRUM surface because it requires a specific Bitwig track layout. It sequences up to sixteen full child tracks rather than device channels, making independent clip lengths and play starts available for polyrhythms. It deliberately focuses one child clip at a time so the Fire pattern and Bitwig Detail Editor always refer to the same clip.

Set up the Bitwig project as follows:

• Put the receiving instrument on a group track. This can be a Drum Machine, synth, sampler, or another note-processing/device construction.
• For a multi-output plug-in, use Bitwig's Add Missing Chains action if its output chains should be available to the Multiclip Mixer page.
• Add one to sixteen direct child instrument or hybrid tracks.
• Keep the group track's own Launcher slots empty; its role is to host the shared receiving instrument.
• Put each pattern's child-track clips in the same launcher scene and route note output to the group track.
• To view the pattern, open the Detail Editor in Hybrid view and set Edit only selected layers to Off (recommended).

Choose either discovery path before entering Multiclip Seq:

• Explicit selection: Select the target group or one of its direct child tracks. A compatible selected context is authoritative and does not require [PolySeq] in the group name. Selecting a child clip also opens that exact lane and scene for editing.
• Named discovery: If the current selection is elsewhere, include PolySeq in the name of exactly one suitable group; [PolySeq] is the recommended spelling. If several groups match, select the intended group or child explicitly.

Multiclip Seq tries explicit selection first. If the group is selected, the mode pins it and chooses an eligible direct child lane. If a direct child is selected, the mode moves to and pins its nearest parent group while keeping the selected child clip authoritative for editing. An explicitly selected context is accepted when it is a group with at least one MIDI-capable direct child; the extension cannot verify that the children's MIDI routing reaches the group.

If that selected context is unsuitable, Multiclip Seq uses named discovery across the whole project. Matching ignores case, spaces, hyphens, and underscores. Exactly one matching group is pinned; No PolySeq means none was found, while Multiple PolySeq asks you to select the intended group explicitly. A named group must still contain at least one MIDI-capable direct child. Deeper nested sequencing tracks are not included.

Direct child order is the lane contract. Positions 1-16 map to Lane 1-16, API MIDI channels 0-15, and MIDI notes 36-51. Track and clip names do not affect mapping; reordering tracks intentionally changes it.

Pad row	Role
Row 1	Launch or select sixteen project scenes
Row 2	Sixteen direct child Track Lanes
Rows 3-4	32-step pattern for the active Lane Clip

Encoder page	Encoder 1	Encoder 2	Encoder 3	Encoder 4
Channel	Note length	Chance	Velocity spread	Repeats
Mixer	Matching group-device channel volume	Channel pan	Channel send 1	Channel send 2
User 1	Velocity or insertion velocity	Pressure or insertion pressure	Timbre or insertion timbre	Pitch expression
User 2	Lane Clip Euclid length	Euclid pulses	Euclid rotation	Accent density

Control	Action
DRUM	Cycle to the next Drum surface
PATTERN UP/DOWN	Page the active clip's time window by 32 steps
SHIFT + PATTERN UP/DOWN	Page scenes by sixteen
GRID LEFT/RIGHT	Move the active Lane Clip play start (lane rotation)
SHIFT + GRID LEFT/RIGHT	Fine-move the active Lane Clip play start
Hold step(s) + GRID LEFT/RIGHT	Fine-nudge only the held notes by 1/64
ALT + GRID LEFT/RIGHT	Halve / double the active Lane Clip length
SHIFT + ALT + GRID LEFT/RIGHT	Fine-nudge all notes in the active Lane Clip by 1/64
Scene pad	Launch that existing child-only scene from the start with project launch quantization, then follow it as the editing scene
ALT + scene pad or hold MUTE_1 + scene pad	Select that scene for editing; append missing empty project scenes when needed
Hold MUTE_3 + scene pad	Paste the active Lane Clip into that lane's destination slot
SHIFT + MUTE_3 + scene pad	Paste an exact child-only snapshot of the active scene, including empty source lanes
MUTE_1	Select modifier
SHIFT + MUTE_1	Toggle child-track Mute mode; row-2 pads then toggle lane mute
MUTE_2	Last Step modifier; press a pattern pad to set the active clip length
SHIFT + MUTE_2	Toggle child-track Solo mode; row-2 pads then toggle lane solo
ALT + MUTE_2	Select the containing PolySeq group without forgetting the active lane
Hold MUTE_4 + pattern pad	Delete that step immediately; scene and lane pads are protected from deletion

The four TRACK status LEDs beside the rows follow the shared sequencer convention: Select, Last Step, and Copy/Paste are green, while Delete is red. Each is half-bright while idle and full-bright while its button function or latched Multiclip alternate is active. Pressing a button shows its function and valid pad target on the OLED; SHIFT + MUTE_3 identifies the whole Child Scene paste rather than the single Lane Clip paste.

The active lane is normally the active Bitwig child track. Press a row-2 pad to change it; selecting a child clip in Bitwig updates both the lane and scene. On entry, that selected child clip remains authoritative for editing, just as the selected clip does in Drum XOX; playback does not silently replace it. Playing scenes slow-blink and queued scenes fast-blink, so a non-playing scene can remain selected for preparation without hiding what is sounding. Row-2 lane pads remain steady because Multiclip launches at scene level rather than launching individual Lane Clips. The active lane is brightest and other eligible lanes use the same soft-dim intensity as unselected Drum XOX pads; the much darker state is reserved for muted or excluded solo lanes. After ALT + MUTE_2 selects the group for direct device access, pressing a row-2 pad returns to child-clip editing. Ineligible or nonexistent child-track pads remain off. The positional child order remains authoritative even when tracks or clips have duplicate or misleading names.

Selecting a Multiclip Scene with ALT or MUTE_1 creates only missing project scenes; every track slot, including the group-track slot, remains empty. This edit-only gesture can prepare a non-playing scene in advance. A plain scene-pad launch follows the triggered scene immediately as the editing scene and retargets the active lane to that scene's child slot, while playback still observes project launch quantization. Pressing the first pattern step creates a Default Clip Length clip only in the exact active child slot, waits for Bitwig to expose it through the selected-track cursor, and then writes the step. Every retarget confirms both child-track position and absolute scene before edits are enabled, so a pad press cannot fall through to the group track or a previous scene.

Bitwig may display a group-track sub scene when its child tracks contain Launcher clips in that scene. This is an alias and visual summary of the child clips, not an additional group-track clip created by Multiclip Seq. Scene-row LEDs ignore it and derive population, color, queued, and playing feedback only from eligible child-track slots.

Each child clip retains its own loop length and play start. Fire displays the active clip's existing notes and playing-step feedback across rows 3-4. Existing notes on unexpected MIDI channels are preserved and can still be removed or nudged; the positional MIDI channel is the convention for newly inserted notes.

The encoder pages use the same assignments and OLED feedback as Drum XOX, but resolve their targets through Multiclip's split context. Channel and held-step User 1 edits act on notes in the active Lane Clip. With no held step, User 1 encoders 1-3 edit the velocity, pressure, and timbre defaults applied to the next inserted notes; pitch expression requires a held step. With a Drum Machine, Mixer controls the pad at the active lane's positional mapping through the group-rooted device cursor. Otherwise it controls the corresponding materialized device/output chain when the group's first instrument exposes one to Bitwig; multi-output plug-ins may require Add Missing Chains first. If no matching channel exists, Mixer reports Unmapped; it never controls the silent note-output child tracks. Remote-page navigation follows the group's first instrument. User 2 keeps session-local Euclid settings independently for each lane and scene and applies the pattern to the active clip's visible page only.

The OLED keeps the compact four-encoder legend visible. Tap KNOB MODE to cycle pages, or hold MUTE_1 and tap KNOB MODE to show all four assignments for the current page without changing it. Touching or turning an encoder shows its current target and value; KNOB MODE + touch encoder performs the same supported reset gesture as Drum XOX.

During normal sequencing, empty steps inside the active Lane Clip's loop are dim, occupied steps are bright, and pads beyond the loop are off. A non-zero play start is purple and the moving playhead is white, including when it crosses the play-start step. A plain press beyond the loop is blocked to avoid creating an inaudible note; hold MUTE_2 and press that pad to extend the clip first. While MUTE_2 is held, the current last step is white and pads beyond it remain off. Each boundary and edit applies only to the active clip.

Copy/paste has no captured buffer. The active lane and active editing scene remain the live source until you change them. Scene-set paste touches only eligible direct child slots and never copies to, creates, clears, or selects the group-track slot.

Multiclip Seq never selects the group track's scene or sub scene as an editing target. It uses one ordinary selected-track cursor and selects the exact active child slot once, matching Bitwig's single-clip Detail Editor model. It never depends on additive GUI clip selection. Edit only selected layers: On is not a supported Multiclip Seq template setting.

Nested Rhythm mode

Nested Rhythm is the second DRUM surface. It generates rhythm from nested segment divisions, writes exact timing to a hidden fine clip grid, and projects the generated hits back to the Fire. It is suited to tuplets, ratchets, asymmetric subdivisions, and layered rhythmic structures that are awkward on a coarse step grid.

Entering the mode never overwrites an existing clip. If there is no selected clip, the OLED prompts you to select or create one. Creating a clip from the Nested Rhythm clip row generates a starter pattern. Existing clips are protected from encoder-driven generator changes until you explicitly press PATTERN DOWN to overwrite and claim the clip for Nested Rhythm editing.

Pad row	Role
Row 1	Clip row; becomes recurrence mask while a hit is held
Rows 2-3	32-bin projected rhythm view
Row 4	First 16 generated hits in hit order, shown by velocity with playhead highlight

If clip play start is shifted, the nearest visible projected-rhythm column is tinted blue across rows 2-3.

The Channel encoder page is the primary Nested Rhythm surface: it changes the generator structure. User 1 and User 2 shape generated or held-hit expression, while Mixer remains the shared track-control page.

Encoder page	Encoder 1	Encoder 2	Encoder 3	Encoder 4
Channel	Density / ALT: density direction / SHIFT: recurrence	Tuplet / ALT: Tup.Div / SHIFT: target phase	Ratchet / ALT: Rat.Div / SHIFT: target phase	Cluster / ALT: play start / SHIFT: rate
Mixer	Volume	Pan	Send 1	Send 2
User 1	Velocity spread or held-hit velocity / ALT: center / SHIFT: rotate	Pressure spread or held-hit pressure / ALT: center / SHIFT: rotate	Timbre spread or held-hit timbre / ALT: center / SHIFT: rotate	Chance / ALT: baseline / SHIFT: rotate
User 2	Linear pitch	Pitch Expr spread or held-hit pitch expr / ALT: center / SHIFT: rotate	Clip length / ALT: play start / SHIFT: rate	Reset hit edits / ALT: ratchet mode

Control	Action
STEP	Enter Poly Step
ALT + STEP	Fill
PATTERN UP or ALT + MUTE_4	Reset hit edits for the selected clip
PATTERN DOWN	Generate current nested rhythm into the selected clip
GRID LEFT/RIGHT	Move clip play start
SHIFT + GRID LEFT/RIGHT	Fine move clip play start
SHIFT + both GRID buttons	Snap clip play start back to the nearest coarse grid position
ALT + GRID LEFT/RIGHT	Halve / double clip length
MUTE_1	Select clip-row pads without launching
Hold MUTE_2 + projected rhythm pad	Set last step within the 32-step edit view
MUTE_3	Copy / paste clip-row content
MUTE_4	Delete clip or hit target while held
Hold projected rhythm pad	Hold the nearest generated hit for recurrence or expression editing
Tap bottom-row hit pad	Toggle that hit
Hold bottom-row hit pad + expression encoder	Edit that hit directly
SHIFT + hit pad	Reset that hit's local edits

Nested Rhythm reads the selected clip loop length from Bitwig when the clip is selected or the mode is activated. Clip length adjusts from that DAW value, and ALT + GRID LEFT/RIGHT halves or doubles it.

Density thins the generated phrase without stretching retained notes. ALT + Density toggles whether density prefers structurally strong hits or weaker decorative hits. Cluster packs retained hits into a smaller phrase region; ALT + Cluster adjusts clip play start.

Tuplet sets how many phrase spans are transformed, and Tup.Div sets how many divisions each selected span receives. Ratchet sets how many parent cells are subdivided, and Rat.Div sets the subdivision count. Tuplet and ratchet divisions support every integer from x2 through x16; cells that are too short to split cleanly are skipped.

Rate scales the structural grid before tuplets and ratchets. Compound eighth-note meters such as 6/8, 9/8, and 12/8 use dotted-quarter anchors at 1x; 3x brings eighth-level detail back as optional material.

Chance is play probability. User 1 / Encoder 4 adjusts chance, ALT sets its baseline, and SHIFT rotates the chance contour. Timing is not directly editable from the Fire in this mode; the pads are a projection of generated clip notes, not the literal Bitwig note grid.

NOTE mode

NOTE is a 16x4 playing surface with melodic and harmonic input modes. The melodic input mode can be chromatic or in-key. The shared note octave is initialized from Default Note Input Octave.

Area / Control	Role
Pad matrix	16x4 note grid
Pad LEDs	Root, in-scale, and out-of-scale feedback
NOTE	Toggle between melodic note input and harmonic note input
ALT + NOTE	Toggle the current layout variant: chromatic / in-key in melodic and Poly Step builder input, bass columns / full field in harmonic input
STEP	Enter Poly Step; press again for Melo Gen
SHIFT + STEP	Toggle Bitwig Step Input helper for the selected clip
GRID LEFT/RIGHT	Shared octave down / up
ALT + GRID LEFT/RIGHT	Undo / redo Bitwig project history
PATTERN DOWN/UP	Next / previous shared scale
ALT + PATTERN DOWN/UP	Lower / higher shared root key
MUTE_1	Sustain
MUTE_2	Sostenuto
Tap MUTE_3	Toggle Note Repeat
Hold MUTE_3 + turn SELECT	Choose the repeat division without changing whether Note Repeat is on or off
MUTE_4	Hold only the pad notes already down when Hold turns on; held-note pads blink and release when pressed again or Hold turns off
KNOB MODE	Cycle live-note encoder pages

Encoder page	Encoder 1	Encoder 2	Encoder 3	Encoder 4
Channel	Mod	Pitch bend	Pitch Gliss / ALT: gliss mode	Timbre
Mixer	Track volume	Track pan	Send 1	Send 2
User 1	Global velocity sensitivity / SHIFT: velocity center	Aftertouch	Breath	Pitch expression
User 2	Selected device remote 1	Device remote 2	Device remote 3	Device remote 4

Note Repeat divisions run from fastest to slowest as 1/32T, 1/32, 1/16T, 1/16, 1/8T, 1/8, 1/4T, and 1/4; the default is 1/16.

When live NOTE is idle, the OLED returns to useful selected-track context after transient encoder values. Playing Fire pads show the current note or detected chord on the OLED and hold that display briefly across short gaps so repeated notes do not flash the screen. On the Mixer page during playback or meter ring-out, it shows selected-track maximum Peak/RMS and current Peak/RMS with the compact encoder legend. On Channel, User 1, and User 2, it falls back to the selected track name with the current encoder-page legend. Device remote labels use mapped parameter names when Bitwig exposes them, otherwise the legend falls back to D1-style labels.

SHIFT + STEP opens the selected launcher clip in Bitwig's Detail Editor, selects Bitwig's Step Input tool, and tries to move the editor position to the first item. The OLED shows Step Input, an estimated one-based Step N/M position, and the current encoder footer. Fire pad note/chord gestures advance the estimate once per released note-entry gesture. While the helper is active, BANK RIGHT sends Bitwig's right-arrow command for rest/advance or held-note extension, and BANK LEFT sends left-arrow for back. Press SHIFT + STEP again to return Bitwig to the Pointer tool.

Harmonic input

Harmonic input is a scale-aware lattice built from the shared root, scale, and octave. Press NOTE while already in Note mode to toggle between melodic note input and harmonic input.

The harmonic field walks through every other scale degree, so neighboring pads tend to produce harmonically related stacks rather than adjacent scale steps. Rows move upward by octave and are offset two columns to the right, which keeps the same harmonic anchor recurring diagonally across the grid.

When bass columns are enabled, the first two columns are a single-note bass grid. The rest of the pads play harmonic stacks. When bass columns are disabled, all 16 columns become the harmonic field. ALT + NOTE toggles this directly, and the same setting is available on the harmonic Mixer page.

While harmonic input is active, the Mixer encoder page changes from track mixing to harmonic layout controls:

Harmonic Mixer page	Encoder 1	Encoder 2	Encoder 3	Encoder 4
Mixer	Notes per pad: 1, 2, or 3	Octave span: 1-3	Bass Grid on / off	Voicing: Drop 2, Close, or Open

Harmonic input starts with 3 notes per harmonic pad, a 1-octave span, the Drop 2 voicing, and the bass grid enabled. Notes per pad controls how many notes each harmonic pad produces before octave expansion. Voicing changes the register of that initial group, then Octave span adds octave copies above it. Close packs the notes above the pad's harmonic root; Open widens that close shape; and Drop 2 preserves the original lattice voicing. Bass-grid pads always stay single-note, even when notes-per-pad or voicing changes. Hold several pads to play the union of their notes; overlapping notes sound once and remain active until the last pad containing them is released. Pitch Gliss remains available on Channel encoder 3.

Melo Gen mode

Press STEP from Poly Step to enter Melo Gen; press STEP again to enter Fugue.

Melo Gen is a generative and editable mono phrase sequencer for basslines, motifs, and melodic hooks. It edits a 2-bar / 32-step window and keeps generated phrases constrained to the current pitch pool.

Pad row	Role
Row 1	Clip row; becomes recurrence editor while active steps are held
Row 2	16-note pitch pool
Rows 3-4	32-step melodic phrase

Control	Action
Tap pitch-pool pad	Add / remove that pitch
Hold step + pitch-pool pad	Assign that pitch to the held step
Tap step	Toggle, place, clear, or select step depending on state
Hold step + encoder	Edit held step directly
SHIFT + STEP	Latch accent mode
Hold step pad(s) + STEP	Toggle accent on the held steps
ALT + STEP	Fill
PATTERN UP / ALT + PATTERN UP	Generate / mutate pitch pool
PATTERN DOWN / ALT + PATTERN DOWN	Generate / mutate phrase
SHIFT + PATTERN UP/DOWN	Cycle Notes, Expression, and Process views
GRID LEFT/RIGHT	Move clip play start
SHIFT + GRID LEFT/RIGHT	Fine-move clip play start
ALT + GRID LEFT/RIGHT	Halve / double clip length

Left-side button	Action
MUTE_1	Select clip without launch
MUTE_2	Last Step target mode
MUTE_3	Paste to clip slot
MUTE_4	Clear step or clip contents
SHIFT + MUTE_4 on clip pad	Remove clip object

Encoder page	Encoder 1	Encoder 2	Encoder 3	Encoder 4
Channel	Engine / ALT: subtype	Density / ALT: thin-fill current phrase	Pitch-pool octave / ALT: shared root / SHIFT: shared scale	Mutation type / ALT: strength
Mixer	Length / ALT: channel shape	Swivel / Mirror x2 / ALT: tension	Reverse / ALT: legato	Invert down / up / ALT: recurrence info
User 1	Velocity	Pressure	Timbre	Pitch
User 2	Note length	Chance	Velocity spread	Repeats

Current generator modes are Acid, Motif, Call/Resp, Rolling, and Octave. If you manually edit the pitch pool, it becomes user-owned and is not auto-replaced on mode switch.

For recurrence editing, hold one or more active melodic steps. Row 1 becomes an 8-pad recurrence editor; tap pads to toggle recurrence hits, or hold the first pad as a span anchor and tap another pad to set the recurrence span.

Poly Step mode

Press STEP from normal performance modes to enter Poly Step. Press STEP again to enter Melo Gen. Press NOTE to return to live note input.

Poly Step is the polyphonic note-step workflow for single notes or chords. The builder starts blank in chromatic view and uses the same shared root and scale as live NOTE.

Pad row	Role
Row 1	Clip row
Row 2	Curated chord slots or builder notes
Rows 3-4	32 visible steps

Control	Action
Tap empty step	Place selected chord
Tap lit step	Remove chord
Hold source pitch/chord pad(s) + tap lit step	Replace its pitches while preserving timing, duration, velocity, probability, expression, and conditions
Hold step pad(s) + chord pad	Rewrite held steps with that chord
Tap chord pad with no held step	Audition chord, if enabled
STEP	Enter Melo Gen
SHIFT + STEP	Latch accent mode
Hold step pad(s) + STEP	Toggle accent on the held steps
ALT + STEP	Fill
PATTERN UP/DOWN	Page visible chord-step window
SHIFT + PATTERN DOWN/UP	Set builder latch off / on
GRID LEFT/RIGHT	Move clip start
SHIFT + GRID LEFT/RIGHT with no held steps	Fine move clip start
SHIFT + both GRID buttons with no held steps	Snap clip start back to the nearest coarse grid position
ALT + GRID LEFT/RIGHT	Halve / double clip length
Hold step(s) + GRID LEFT/RIGHT	Experimental micro-timing nudge for held chord material

Each note or chord is owned by the step pad nearest to its note-on position. Fine nudge keeps that ownership until the note-on crosses the midpoint to the neighboring step, then transfers it as one event. A long note still lights, selects, and clears only from its owning pad; its duration may extend across later steps without making those pads occupied.

Left-side button	Action
MUTE_1	Select / load step
MUTE_2	Last Step target mode
MUTE_3	Paste to target step or clip slot
MUTE_4	Delete step or clip

Encoder page	Encoder 1	Encoder 2	Encoder 3	Encoder 4
Channel	Chord octave / ALT: shared root / SHIFT: shared scale	Global velocity sensitivity / SHIFT: velocity center	Pitch/chord set / ALT: set page	Interpretation / ALT: invert chord / SHIFT: builder layout
Mixer	Track volume	Track pan	Send 1	Send 2
User 1	Note velocity	Pressure	Timbre	Pitch
User 2	Note length	Chance	Velocity spread	Repeats

On the User 1 and User 2 pages, an encoder edits held or selected notes when they are available. With no note target, it instead changes the session-local default for the next note or chord inserted in Poly Step; touching the encoder shows that default. Hold KNOB MODE and touch the encoder to restore its original default. These defaults cover velocity, pressure, timbre, pitch expression, note length, chance, velocity spread, and repeats.

Chord banks are static libraries of chord formulas and voicing variants. Press several chord-set pads together to combine their rendered pitches into one grip; the combined grip remains selected after release and can be auditioned, written to empty steps, or used for source-first pitch replacement just like a multi-pad Builder grip. Changing shared Root Key or Scale does not switch bank, page, or slot; it only changes how the selected slot or combined grip is rendered. As Is transposes the stored chord shapes from the current root. In Scale rebuilds them from the current shared scale and root.

Coarse nudge is intentionally disabled in Poly Step; micro-timing should still be smoke-tested after changes to clip observation or note editing.

Fugue mode

Press STEP from Melo Gen to enter Fugue. Fugue treats MIDI channel 1 as the source line and generates related lines on channels 2-4.

Control	Action
KNOB MODE	Cycle active line: channel 1 source, then derived lines 2-4
MUTE_1-MUTE_4	Enable / turn off the corresponding line; turning off a derived line clears its MIDI channel
PATTERN UP	Cycle preset for the active derived line
PATTERN DOWN	Reread channel 1 from the clip and rebuild derived lines
GRID LEFT/RIGHT	Move the source clip play start, or adjust the active derived line's start offset
SHIFT + GRID LEFT/RIGHT on channel 1	Fine-move the source clip play start
ALT + GRID LEFT/RIGHT	Halve / double clip length
STEP	Enter Poly Step
Encoder turn on a derived-line page	Immediately rebuild that line with the new parameter
Channel 1 pads and encoders	Edit the source/template line

Active line	Encoder 1	Encoder 2	Encoder 3	Encoder 4
Channel 1 source	Shared root / ALT: source velocity	Shared scale / ALT: source chance	Clip length / ALT: source gate	Clip play start
Derived lines 2-4	Direction / SHIFT: preset / ALT: velocity	Tempo / ALT: chance	Start / ALT: gate	Interval / ALT: octave jump
Held channel 1 pad	Velocity	Chance	Gate	Pitch

When a sequencer clip start is shifted in Poly Step, Nested Rhythm, Melo Gen, or Fugue, the nearest visible pad-grid column is tinted purple. Fine shifts use the nearest coarse column.

For a source-only clip, Fugue starts with derived lines 2-4 off. Enable a line to generate it from channel 1; turn it off to clear that generated MIDI channel. If channels 2-4 already contain notes when you enter Fugue, those notes are protected and the OLED prompts for PATTERN DOWN. Pressing PATTERN DOWN explicitly replaces all three derived channels and enables them for subsequent Fugue editing.

If you change channel 1 notes or expression directly in Bitwig, press PATTERN DOWN to update the generated lines from the current DAW clip state. Fugue deliberately avoids live regeneration during Bitwig note-editor drags, so you can audition an alternate source line in isolation and avoid rewriting derived notes while the DAW is still editing the source event.

For immediate derived-line feedback, change source expression from the controller instead. Controller-owned edits update the clip and regenerate from the controller's current source state.

Launcher mode (PERFORM)

PERFORM opens the 16x4 launcher surface. Filled slots select and launch from the clip start. Empty slots create a new clip using Default Clip Length, then launch from the clip start.

Perform Clip Launcher Layout chooses whether the launcher starts as LauncherV or LauncherH. ALT + PERFORM still toggles the launcher layout for the current session; Mix remains a 16-track page.

Control	Action
REC + pad	Record into the targeted launcher slot using Launcher Record Length
PATTERN + REC	Record the selected track into the next free launcher slot
MUTE_1 + pad	Select without launching
MUTE_2	Double selected visible clip length
SHIFT + MUTE_2	Halve selected visible clip length
MUTE_3 + pad	Paste selected clip to target slot
MUTE_4 + pad	Delete
GRID LEFT/RIGHT	Scroll tracks by visible page
SHIFT + GRID LEFT/RIGHT	Scroll tracks by one
ALT + GRID LEFT/RIGHT	Undo / redo Bitwig project history
PATTERN UP/DOWN	Scroll scenes by visible page
SHIFT + PATTERN UP/DOWN	Scroll scenes by one
KNOB MODE	Cycle Launcher encoder pages
PERFORM while in Launcher	Toggle launcher / Scene Launch pad page
ALT + PERFORM	Toggle vertical/horizontal launcher layout; Mix stays 16 tracks
SHIFT + PERFORM	Toggle latched Mix pad page
SHIFT + ALT + PERFORM	Toggle Birds-Eye launcher navigation

The Mix page rows are select, solo, mute, and arm for the 16 visible tracks. The select row uses each track's Bitwig color. Solo and mute pads do not change the selected track. Arm pads allow multiple armed tracks and do not change selection unless Exclusive Track Arm is enabled; with that preference on, arming a track selects it and disarms the other visible tracks. Hold ALT while pressing an arm pad to invert the preference for that press: additive arm when exclusive arm is enabled, or exclusive arm when it is disabled. On the select row, hold ALT and press a pad to stop that track. While the Mix page is active, MUTE_1 jumps to the loop start or project start, MUTE_2 and its nearby status LED light when any track is soloed and clear all solos, MUTE_3 and its nearby status LED light when any track is muted and clear all mutes, and MUTE_4 jumps to the loop end or zooms the arranger to the full project and jumps to the project end. Press PATTERN DOWN on Mix to switch from track actions to device view for devices 1-4, press PATTERN DOWN again for devices 5-8, and press PATTERN UP to step back through device pages and then return to track actions. In device view, hold KNOB MODE and press PATTERN UP/PATTERN DOWN to move the selected device remote page. Each column remains one visible track, rows 1-4 represent the current four-device page on that track, lit pads indicate enabled devices, dim pads indicate bypassed devices, and unoccupied device slots are off. Press a device pad to select it and show its device name on the OLED; hold the main encoder while pressing a device pad to select that device and open or close its window. The last selected device slot is remembered per track, so selecting that track again from the Mix select row restores the remembered device when it still exists. Hold ALT and press a device pad to toggle it on or off. Hold ALT and press MUTE_1-MUTE_4 to toggle the matching visible device row across all visible tracks: if any occupied slot in the row is enabled, the row turns off; otherwise it turns on. The selected enabled device is brightest, and the selected bypassed device is softly lit. Entering device view switches the encoders to the selected device remote page, and returning to track actions restores the previous encoder page. Tap KNOB MODE to cycle the Launcher encoder pages while the Mix pad page is active.

If the selected device has layers, press PATTERN DOWN once more from device view to open the Device Layers page. Columns address the first 16 layers of the selected Instrument Layer, FX Layer, Instrument Selector, or FX Selector. Rows select, solo, mute, and turn the layer on or off. Press PATTERN UP to return to device view.

The Birds-Eye page is for large launcher sets. Each pad represents one launcher viewport block in the current vertical or horizontal layout; lit pads have tracks and scenes behind them, and the bright pad is the current viewport. Press a pad to jump both the track bank and scene bank to that block. Press PERFORM to leave Birds-Eye and return to the normal launcher page, or press NOTE, DRUM, or STEP to leave Birds-Eye and switch modes.

When the Launcher or Mix page is idle, the OLED shows the selected track name with the current encoder legend when Idle Perf & Drum OLED is Context. Set Idle Perf & Drum OLED to Meters to show vertical RMS meters for the visible tracks with that same legend. Track selection changes coming from Bitwig or another controller briefly show the selected track name before returning to the persistent idle display. On the Mix page's Mixer encoder page, the OLED shows selected-track maximum peak/RMS on the first large row, current peak/RMS on the second large row, and the compact encoder legend.

Hold REC and press a pad to target recording directly into that visible slot. Hold PATTERN and tap REC to record into the first free slot on the selected track, regardless of the active mode. Default Clip Length controls empty clip creation and is always a fixed length. Launcher Record Length controls launcher recording: fixed values set Bitwig's clip launcher post-record action to play the recorded clip after that length, Manual records until stopped without post-processing, and Round records until stopped, then rounds the recorded clip loop length to the nearest whole bar. Press REC again to end a launcher recording started from the controller and launch the recorded clip, even after switching to another mode. Filled MIDI clips can overdub MIDI according to Bitwig's clip launcher behavior; audio launcher clips do not support audio overdub, but automation can still be written with ALT + PATTERN launcher overdub, which enables PATTERN automation write in touch mode when needed.

The Scene Launch page keeps the same encoder and navigation controls as Launcher. Its top row addresses the 16 visible scenes: press a scene pad to launch, hold MUTE_1 and press a scene pad to select it as the scene copy source, hold MUTE_3 and press a scene pad to copy the selected scene to that target, and hold MUTE_4 and press a scene pad to delete it. If no scene source is selected, scene copy falls back to the first visible scene with playing clips, then the first visible scene with recording clips. MUTE_2 is unused on this page.

On Scene Launch, GRID LEFT/RIGHT also scrolls the visible scene window, with SHIFT + GRID LEFT/RIGHT scrolling by one scene.

On remote encoder pages, hold ALT while turning an encoder to control remotes 5-8 on the same page.

Encoder page	Encoder 1	Encoder 2	Encoder 3	Encoder 4
Channel	Global Remote 1	Global Remote 2	Global Remote 3	Global Remote 4
Mixer	Selected track volume	Selected track pan	Selected track send 1	Selected track send 2
User 1	Selected track remote 1	Track remote 2	Track remote 3	Track remote 4
User 2	Selected device remote 1	Device remote 2	Device remote 3	Device remote 4

In SHIFT + PERFORM, remote encoder pages idle to the selected track name with the compact encoder legend when Idle Perf & Drum OLED is Context. Set Idle Perf & Drum OLED to Meters to restore visible-track meters with that same legend. The legend uses mapped remote parameter names where available, and scoped fallback labels such as G1, T1, or D1 when Bitwig reports only generic remote slots.

Generative mode background

The control tables above describe where the functions are. This section describes what the generative modes are trying to do musically.

Poly Step background

Poly Step starts as an open pitch builder. The default Builder family lets you choose one note or a chord directly from the pad rows. It starts blank in chromatic view, so one selected source pad behaves like melodic step input and several selected source pads form a chord. With builder latch off, tapping a source pad replaces the current builder notes, while pressing several source pads together captures that grip as the current chord after release. Hold steps while changing the builder grip to rewrite those steps immediately. Conversely, hold source pads first and tap an occupied step to replace only its pitches while preserving its other note parameters; deactivate the step first when you want a completely fresh note. Use SHIFT + PATTERN DOWN for latch off and SHIFT + PATTERN UP for latch on. With builder latch on, source-pad taps add or remove notes from the builder until you change, invert, reset, or reload it. Use SHIFT + encoder 4 on the Channel page, or ALT + NOTE, to switch the builder row between chromatic notes and in-key notes from the shared root and scale.

The preset banks are the more opinionated side of the mode. They use interval sets designed to move harmonic content without forcing a song key or a functional progression. Many of the voicings are deliberately open, so they tolerate inversion, transposition, and scale remapping better than tightly closed block chords. Changing shared Root Key or Scale does not move to a different preset slot; it changes how the selected slot is rendered.

The preset slots are also ordered to keep neighboring chords in a similar sounding range. The voicing generator favors stable outer contours, especially the bass and top note, so stepping through a bank tends to change the internal color without making the whole part jump wildly around the keyboard.

Raw interpretation keeps the chord shape as semitone intervals from the current root. This is useful when you want the exact color of the stored formula: dominant, diminished, quartal, cluster, sus, or drone shapes. InKey interpretation casts the formula through the current Bitwig scale, so the same slot becomes a scale-aware color shape. This is good for modal writing, parallel harmonic color, and material that will later pass through Bitwig scale-aware devices.

The available families mix the open builder with preset color banks:

Family	Character
Builder	Manual chord source built from selected notes on the pad rows
Audible	Common chord formulas with compact, synth-friendly voicing behavior
Barker	Quartal and open-fifth colors adapted from Sam Barker's Octatrack chord-chain sequence
Sus Motion	Suspended second / fourth colors for unresolved movement
Quartal	Fourth-stacked harmony and open modal shapes
Cluster	Add9, 6/9, sus, and close-color rubs
Minor Drift	Minor, m6, m7, sus, and b6 colors for darker modal movement
Dorian Lift	Minor shapes with major-sixth / Dorian lift colors
Root Drone	Pedal-root shapes for drones, bass anchors, and static tonal centers

Use the builder when you want to define the chord yourself from the current scale. Use the preset banks when you want harmonic color that can stay on one tonal center, shift with a mode, cast into another scale, or produce suspended / quartal / cluster material without writing a functional chord progression.

Melo Gen background

Melo Gen generates mono phrases, then lets you edit them as normal steps. All engines write into the current pitch pool and shared pitch context, but each engine has a different phrase grammar.

Engine	Tendency
Acid	Root-oriented bass hooks with accents, slides, octave leads, and short answer figures
Call/Resp	A first-half call followed by a transformed reply: down, up, inverted-around-root, or cadential
Rolling	Repeating bass cells for driving low-end movement; useful for pocket, root drive, and late-lift patterns
Octave	Simple pulse material built around root / octave jumps; direct, forceful, and easy to steer
Motif	Small repeated phrase cells with tails, sequence replies, truncation/extension, and hook returns

Density mainly changes how much of the phrase is populated. Acid spans from a three-hit metric backbone per 16 steps at 0.00 to its complete seeded rhythm skeleton at 1.00, restoring stronger positions first. Rolling similarly grows from four characteristic family hits per 16 steps to an active note on every step, without changing the selected family as density moves. Tension allows wider or more colorful scale-degree movement. Legato encourages longer gates and slides where the engine supports them. Octave activity changes how willing the phrase is to jump registers. After generation, ALT + PATTERN DOWN, transform encoders, held-step editing, and pitch-pool edits are the intended way to keep an idea but bend it toward the part you need.

Nested Rhythm background

Nested Rhythm is a rhythm-structure generator. It builds nested metric divisions, ranks candidate pulses, then thins, clusters, ratchets, and shapes expression from that structure. The result is useful for tuplets, asymmetric subdivisions, layered percussion, and rhythms that would be slow to draw by hand on a fixed 16th grid.

The mode intentionally separates generated structure from local edits. PATTERN DOWN claims or rewrites the selected clip from the current generator state, while held-hit edits let you change recurrence and expression without abandoning the generated pattern. For more theory behind this mode, see docs/nested-rhythm-musical-grounding.md.

Fugue background

Fugue is based on contrapuntal transformation rather than random generation. MIDI channel 1 is the subject or template line. Channels 2-4 are generated as related voices, so the result behaves more like canon, imitation, augmentation, diminution, retrograde, and transposed answers than like a normal step sequencer.

Each derived line has its own direction, speed, start offset, and scale-aware pitch interval. Slowing a line down acts like augmentation; speeding it up acts like diminution. Reverse gives a retrograde version of the source, while PingPong reflects the line back through the phrase. Start offsets let the voices enter later, giving simple canon-like overlap. Pitch offsets move by scale degrees, so fifths, fourths, octaves, and wider answers stay connected to the shared root and scale.

The preset names are quick experiments against the current source line: Bass /8, 3rd 2trp, 10th x2, High /2, Rev x2, 5th x2, 4th Rev, and 8ve Ping. They are meant to find useful relationships quickly, then you can adjust direction, speed, start, interval, velocity, chance, and gate by line.

Use Fugue when you already have a melodic idea and want related material around it: bass shadows, high echoes, doubled answers, reversed fragments, or fast decorative lines. It is Bach-inspired rather than a strict species-counterpoint checker; the goal is fast, playable related voices that can be muted, compared, and routed by MIDI channel in Bitwig.

Preferences

Launch Control XL preferences

• Auto-attach to first Drum Machine and Arpeggiator
• Exclusive Track Arm: record-arm buttons select the armed track and disarm the other visible strips when enabled; defaults off for standard multi-arm behavior
• Audition on drum pad select
• Drum accent buttons momentary
• Show deactivated tracks: includes deactivated tracks in Launch Control XL factory track banks; defaults off so deactivated tracks are skipped

Akai Fire preferences

• Clip Launch Mode
• Clip Launch Quantization
• Perform Clip Launcher Layout
• Default Clip Length
• Launcher Record Length
• Startup Mode
• SELECT Encoder Startup
• Default Root Key
• Default Scale
• Default Note Input Octave
• Melodic Seed Mode
• Default Velocity Sensitivity
• Melodic Fixed Seed
• Pad Brightness
• Pad Saturation
• Screen Message Hold
• VU Meters: choose Off, numeric Selected track/pad meters, or All meters; defaults to Selected
• Idle Perf & Drum OLED: choose contextual idle text/values or visible-track/pad meters for Perform and Drum XOX
• Encoder Legend Position: choose whether compact OLED encoder legends appear on the bottom or top row
• Note OLED Notes/Chords: choose whether live Note pad notes/chords stay pad-only or also follow selected-track DAW playback notes
• Euclid Scope
• Drum Mode Pinning
• Exclusive Track Arm: arm pads select the armed track and disarm other visible tracks when enabled; defaults off for standard multi-arm behavior
• Step Seq Pad Audition
• On-screen action notifications

Startup Mode chooses the first active Akai Fire page when the extension starts. The available startup pages are Note, Harmony, Drum XOX, Launcher, and Mix.

Pad Brightness and Pad Saturation interact with the Bitwig track colors used by DRUM and PERFORM, so the same settings can read differently across different project palettes.

Melodic Seed Mode controls how Melo Gen chooses its initial generator seed when the controller session starts. Random starts each session from a new seed. Fixed starts from the configured Melodic Fixed Seed value, which makes the sequence of generated melodic phrases reproducible across reconnects or reloads. Each Generate press still advances forward from that starting point.

The melodic seed controls are grouped into their own Generative control preference section so they stay together in Bitwig's settings UI.

Troubleshooting

The wrong device is being controlled

• Check the relevant auto-attach or pinning preferences.
• In Fire Drum XOX, use Follow Selection to work on the currently selected drum track/device, or Auto-select First Drum Machine for a dedicated first-drum-machine workflow.
• Re-select the target track or device in Bitwig.
• Re-enter the relevant mode or template after changing focus.

LEDs or mode state do not match what you expect

• Re-open the matching mode or user template.
• Power-cycle the controller if Bitwig started with another script attached first.
• Make sure the controller is using the expected template or default mapping.

Attribution

• rhbitwig by Richie Hawtin and Eric Ahrens provided the Akai Fire drum sequencer which has been adapted for use here, as well as the arp workflow used on the LCXL User Template 8.

• The fine-grid step nudging is based on Wim Van den Borre's AkaiFireNudger fork of rhbitwig, and developed further here.

• Note/chord OLED detection is adapted from Wim van den Borre's BitX: https://github.com/wimvandenborre/BitX

• The Barker chord family is adapted from Sam Barker's Octatrack chord-chain MIDI/sample workflow: https://www.voltek-labs.net/octatrack

• All LCXL factory modes were taken from Bitwig's original bitwig-extensions for the Launch Control XL controller

Canonical source for this guide is maintained in the repository as docs/user-guide.md. This bundled HTML is generated during the Gradle resource build.