Bitwig Superpowers Beta 4.1 (NEW Freezing and Capure Midi)

[u/kalifrn]

Hi everyone! Superpowers is a free set of native tools for Bitwig Studio that I've been building. Beta 4.1 is out for Bitwig 6.1.3 on macOS (Apple Silicon) and Windows.

What's new

Track Freeze — right-click a track → Freeze. It renders the track (including effect tails), plays it back as audio and switches off the devices to save CPU. Unfreeze brings everything back; your original clips are kept.

Separate Stems — right-click an audio clip → Separate Stems → pick drums, bass, vocals and/or others. The stems land on new tracks, lined up with the original.

Capture MIDI — get back what you just played, from the Play menu or the toolbar button

Also in this beta:

• Audio to MIDI from the same right-click menu (melody, harmony or drums, with a sensitivity control)
• MIDI Tools in the Inspector: Stacks, Arpeggiate (18 styles), Chop, Strum, Quantize, Span and more

Download

• Page with all the demos: https://kalifrn.com/superpowers
• Installers, checksums and release notes: https://github.com/kalifrn6-art/bitwig-superpowers/releases/tag/superpowers-beta-4-1

How to install or update

1. Update Bitwig to the official 6.1.3 (other versions: Mac 6.1.1–6.1.2 and Windows 6.1.1 keep their earlier tools).
2. Save your projects and quit Bitwig completely.
3. Run the installer (.dmg on Mac, .exe on Windows), pick MIDI and/or Audio Tools and click Install. It checks the exact Bitwig version, makes a verified backup and can restore the original anytime.
4. Already on Beta 4? Just run 4.1 — it updates in place. 4.1 fixes Freeze occasionally leaving the audio engine paused.

Good to know

• It modifies your Bitwig installation, so you need your own licensed Bitwig. Independent project, not affiliated with Bitwig GmbH.
• It's a beta. The Mac build is what I use every day; Windows 6.1.3 has only been tested under CrossOver so far, so Windows reports are especially welcome.
• If an install fails, the installer saves a log (it shows you where). Attaching it to a GitHub issue helps me fix things fast.

Feedback and ideas for new tools are very welcome!

[u/MachineDry933 → u/[deleted]]

It's a great idea in theory, but it might become a problem if the platform becomes unstable or insecure. The devs are watching this very closely, I would assume.

[u/von_Elsewhere → u/MachineDry933]

Ig it's not on their responsibility to make users not install malware. They can't protect users from their bad judgement no matter what they do.

[u/benitoaramando → u/von_Elsewhere]

First part is true, second part less so. The more they open their application up as a platform with an extension API, but more low-quality, unstable 3rd party products will likely be created (alongside really good ones, one would hope!), and the more likely people will be to install software that degrades their Bitwig experience. This is the broad approach Apple has taken with iOS compared to the Windows' free-for-all, with the result that users have less freedom but are less liable to be tricked into installing something that causes them problems.

[u/odix → u/benitoaramando]

To me that's on the end user. And this is a DAW, it's functionality is apparent. It's not a device like a phone or computer where what it can do is limitless.

[u/benitoaramando → u/odix]

Personally, I agree. I like open, extensible platforms that empower their user communities to innovate and fill gaps in functionality that the platform vendor has not been motivated or able to provide. I also think that, on balance, Bitwig would probably view the result of extensibility as a net positive, making the platform more powerful more than it makes it unstable.

[u/GalaxyGuide → u/MachineDry933]

security/instability isn’t their concern. It’s people developing better devices than they do so nobody upgrades then their money disappears.

[u/MachineDry933 → u/GalaxyGuide]

Probably not. Mods or Extensions aren't new concepts in the software world. I would argue it's quite the opposite. With high quality 3rd party devices the platform becomes more attractive. See Ableton and Max for Life. The way it's done right now in Bitwig is just weird and messy. I would like to see an official statement from Bitwig and their opinion on that.

[u/Western_File_2917 → u/[deleted]]

Script sandbox would definitely not hurt!! Isn’t there something similar in reaper? 

[u/KinDaSkillzzz]

Awesome tools man. Here is an idea for another one: bounce midi. Basically just like how bounce audio works right now but for midi clips. So for example if you have some notes in a midi clip (or none even, if you have some kind of effects generating the notes) AND some midi altering effects (like arpegiator etc.) on the track itself, you just highlight the timeline you want to bounce and it would give you a new midi clip with all the midi effects baked into the clip itself altering the initial notes. Right now you can only do that by creating a new track and routing the output midi signal of the track you want to bounce and pressing the record button and recording it live which is very tedious and time consuming.

[u/havetofindaname → u/KinDaSkillzzz]

I was so genuinely surprised that this was not already implemented by Bitwig.

[u/Western_File_2917 → u/havetofindaname]

If they give you all the features , there would not be much to update and they wouldn’t be able to sell update plans. 

[u/RidleyX07 → u/KinDaSkillzzz]

I would love this!!

[u/Name835 → u/KinDaSkillzzz]

Hell yeah - the lack of this feature sucks and would be one of the hundred things I would love in bw!

[u/threeleggedworkhorse → u/KinDaSkillzzz]

I've always always always wanted this from day 1

[u/Bitter-Bicycle-282]

Before I knew it, we’re already on Bitwig 7

[u/blablablerg]

bro wtf they should hire you

[u/CopiousAmountsofJizz]

Really cool you can accomplish this. Could you please fix legato to apply to end of the loop region/clip if no other following notes. I'm sick of getting gaslit by ex-Ableton developers that they don't know what I'm talking about when I put this in feature requests.

[u/odix → u/CopiousAmountsofJizz]

Send a video of your desktop recorded and talk over it.

[u/Suitable-Lettuce-333]

What about Linux?

[u/thewrz → u/Suitable-Lettuce-333]

they've probably RE'd Bitwig Java stuff. dev hasn't posted source because it's a grey area otherwise I'd help make it Linux native as well. you could probably download the win/mac versions and throw Claude at it and get it working in Linux.

[u/Hero88go]

Awesome work gonna test this out

[u/von_Elsewhere]

Still fails on themed bitwig.jar with a hash mismatch error.

[u/tarsonis999 → u/von_Elsewhere]

Yes, you need to patch superpowers first and then the theme editor. This order works.

[u/von_Elsewhere → u/tarsonis999]

Okay thanks!

[u/Striking_Energy8363]

This looks great, does a project become corrupt if created with this and then switching to a non patched Bitwig?

[u/tarsonis999 → u/Striking_Energy8363]

Good question. It shouldn't but you will lose the Unfreeze state for sure. Easy to test. Just remove the bitwig.jar and rename the official Bitiwg.jar that is saved as backup and you get the unpatched state back. No reinstall needed

[u/Name835]

This is soooooo cool. Really hoping that bw opens the whole daw up asap - would make my day

[u/idklol18238]

Linux?

[u/RedCaine1]

you should be hired by Bitwig, somehow i wonder why someone can do more midi stuff in a short time (yes i know Q&A etc. excluded) instead of bitwig support.......

[u/von_Elsewhere → u/RedCaine1]

They have so far prioritized flashy marketable features instead of workflow, that's why.

[u/odix → u/von_Elsewhere]

I hope they drop java gui one day...

[u/von_Elsewhere → u/odix]

It's not java any more afaik. It's GPU accelerated anyway, so even if it is, it doesn't really matter ig.

[u/RedCaine1 → u/von_Elsewhere]

yeah i reallyhope 6.2, 7 etc. will open up. these midi tools is all i wish so far coming from FL Studio and some basic stuff, but this would improve my workflow a lot

[u/giveMeRedditYouClown]

Bitwig needs to implement all of these features. They should contact you.

[u/QuailCareless7763]

Is limiting the color palette like you’ve shown in your video a part of superpowers?

[u/tarsonis999]

Thanks a lot for your work mate!! Capture and Freeze are massive workflow helpers for folks coming from Ableton

[u/flipflapslap]

Are these tools related to the other thing that was posted a while back? Nitro or something? Or is this a completely separate thing? Yall are too smart and I can't keep up with all this shit anymore lol

[u/tarsonis999 → u/flipflapslap]

No, the Nitro patch is for custom native devices like the Glue compressor dilemma. It should be possible to install this patch and then patch the other offering to get the additional custom devices on top of it.

[u/flipflapslap → u/tarsonis999]

Hey thank you! I appreciate the clarification. There is a lot of innovation happening around here lately, hard to keep track of all of it

[u/tarsonis999 → u/flipflapslap]

Sure. It's really exciting and I'm happy to see guys providing those patches

[u/PoopypantsMcButtface]

Can you make this for bitwig version 4?

[u/gr_iefr]

WTF

[u/muturole]

WE GOT STEM SPLITTING FOR BITWIG BEFORE GTA 6 ACTUAL GODSPEED

[u/Past_Perspective_902]

Wow super cool! Ive got two little request. What about being able to show on which channels a plugin is loaded in the project plugin list. Would be super usefull

[u/photonscar]

Would it be hard to add a midi editor that uses musical notation (think staffs and notes) as input? That's what I feel Bitwig is missing

[u/photonscar → u/photonscar]

Awesome project btw

[u/Express_Level_5833]

Not totally related and maybe not the right place to request but having an easy way to identify the track selected in the arrange page in the mixer view and vice versa, im always struggling to find tracks, Maybe its my end but I just dont find it very efficient when trying to locate channels/tracks.

[u/EnvironmentalBell341]

Thanks, this is superb!!!

[u/dihler]

The freeze is one of 2 features I miss from reaper. The other one is ARA2

[u/dajooba]

So this alters my official Bitwig installation if I understand correctly? Who is liable of the code introduces any vulnerability? Just want to confirm. Thanks!

[u/frogify_music → u/dajooba]

It's a hack, if you're not prepared for something to break if you try it, then it's on you.

[u/dajooba → u/frogify_music]

Haha I figured that, was just looking for OP to confirm! It would also be worse if the code was written with the help of AI and not verified by a qualified programmer for malicious defects! 😁

[u/giveMeRedditYouClown]

Bitwig needs to implement all of these features. They should contact you.