Retrospective Midi Recording

Hey folks, welcome back! Today, I’m sharing a cool new script I’ve been working on: Retrospective Recording for MIDI notes in Bitwig Studio. This feature allows you to capture your ideas even if you forget to hit record while playing. It's not perfect, but it’s a handy tool that can save your creative moments.

Key Points:

• How Retrospective Recording Works

  • You play your instrument and if you forget to hit record, the script captures the MIDI notes as you play.

  • It works by tracking MIDI input and storing the events in a buffer with the timestamp (using JavaScript’s date object).

  • Notes are placed in the grid based on the tempo and time difference between each event.

• Buffer Behavior

  • The script keeps a 16-bar buffer that always updates as you play.

  • If no new notes are played, it retains the last recorded notes. When new notes are played, the older notes shift left in the piano roll.

  • You can also use this with a note clip in the launcher, and it behaves similarly.

• Controller Script Setup

  • To use it, you need to swap out your current MIDI controller script with a new one called "Retrospect".

  • The script records all incoming MIDI data into a buffer and passes the notes into Bitwig Studio.

• Scale Mode and Diatonic Transposer (Coming Soon)

  • I’m working on adding a diatonic transposer to the script. This will allow you to record corrected notes based on a selected scale directly into the note clip.

  • Currently, you need to create a separate track and use the key filter for this, but with the update, the corrected notes will be recorded right away.

• New Scales Added

  • I've included new scales from Frank at Jana Brothers, which you can access in the new zip file I’ve provided.

• Download and Try It Out

  • I’ve put everything in a zip file, and you can download and extract it into your controller script folder.

  • It works as intended, but I’m still testing it, so let me know how it works for you.

Final Thoughts:

• This script is a simple but powerful way to never lose your musical ideas, even if you forget to record.

• I’ll be adding more features like the scale mode soon, so keep an eye out for updates.

• Let me know what you think in the comments, and if you enjoy it, give it a try!

• Download (all zip): https://bit.ly/3X8UX3R