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Nektar Impact iX49 & iX61 User Guide www.nektartech.com
Bitwig Studio and Impact iX49 Working Together
With installation complete, it’s time to take a look at how the Impact iX49 integrates with Bitwig Studio.
Launch Bitwig Studio.
Create a few audio tracks
Move the fader all the way up and down. The Bitwig Studio mixer volume for the currently selected track is now
controlled by the fader on your Impact iX49. To avoid parameter jumping we also implemented soft-takeover. Read the
section at the bottom of this page for more information about how that works.
Next, press the [Octave Down] + [Transpose Down] buttons at the same time. This assigns the 4 round buttons to
control transport functions in Bitwig Studio.
Now press the [Octave Down] button. It activates Play. [Octave Up] activates Record and press
[play] again to stop. The two Transpose buttons are assigned to Rewind and Forward.
Press the [Octave Down] + [Transpose Down] buttons at the same time to return to controlling
Octave and transpose with the buttons.
You can also assign the Transpose buttons to control track or patch change in your DAW.
Here’s how you assign the two buttons to change the track in Bitwig Studio:
Press the [Setup] button. The LED above the button will blink and the color is orange to indicate setup is active.
Press the key D#2 (labeled “Track”) on your iX keyboard to assign the Track Select function.
Press Enter (C5). This will accept the change and exit Setup.
Pressing the Transpose up/down buttons will now allow you to step through tracks in your DAW.
The process for assigning the buttons to change the patch in your virtual instrument is the same, only press E2 instead of
D#2.
If you are not getting the results described, please check your installation one more time as well as the Nektar support tab on
our website www.nektartech.com
Soft Take-Over
When changing tracks and adjusting Bitwig Studio’s mixer volume with a control, you would normally experience parameter
jumping. This happens when a control’s physical position is not the same as the position of the parameter you are controlling.
When you move the control, the parameter therefore jumps to the value the control is sending out.
To avoid parameter jumping when using the fader, your Impact iX is equipped with Soft Take-Over. This means that if the
fader is not in sync with current channel volume, moving the fader will not cause a change, until it’s position matches the
value of the parameter.
Try changing tracks in Bitwig Studio and move the iX49 fader on each track to get a feel for how this works.