Pacer4Bitwig

You need

• Bitwig Studio 6 and a Nektar Pacer connected over USB.
• Chrome, Edge or Opera on a desktop to write presets with Pacer Studio (it needs Web MIDI with SysEx).

Tested on Windows 11 with Windows MIDI Services, which lets Bitwig, Pacer Studio and the tools share the Pacer's ports.

With Pacer Studio

1. Open Pacer Studio in Chrome or Edge, click the connection pill, then Allow MIDI access.

2. Choose Templates › Bitwig Pacer and pick D1.

3. Click Send changes. Before the first write of a session Pacer Studio asks you to save a full backup: save it, it is your undo.

From a terminal

The writer refuses a file that targets a different slot than --confirm names, and backs that slot up to backups/ before writing.

cd tools
node pacer-backup.mjs
node pacer-preset.mjs
node pacer-send.mjs ../presets/bitwig-pacer-D1.syx --confirm D1

How you hear yourself

SW 6 and the mode menu

Hold SW 6 and the menu opens; it stays open when your foot comes off. Tap a mode and you are there. Tap SW 6 again to close the menu without changing anything; with the menu shut, a tap goes back to the mode you were in before.

Double-tap SW 6 runs whatever SW 6 double-tap says: any action, by default the shift layer on/off. So that a double-tap never toggles the mode first, SW 6's tap then waits out the Double-tap speed window before it toggles; set SW 6 double-tap to Nothing for an instant tap. With the menu open, a tap closes it at once.

Navigation leaves the menu open, so you can step through rows or tracks with repeated taps.

The display

The display names the mode, or what the mode is doing when that says more: the FX mode names the focused instrument, the Looper and Song modes the row you are on — the scene's name in Bitwig, its name from Names for new rows, or ROW 3. Show what the mode is doing on the display turns that off.

Events take the display for a moment and then give it back (Show events on the display, on by default):

Each event costs two name writes — the word, then the name again 1.5 s later — and each flashes LOAD SYS.

Another preset loaded. The extension paints whatever preset is loaded, so it checks first that it is still its own: it reads the loaded preset's name back (a read-only request) before painting when its last answer is more than 1.5 s old, and every 5 s. On another preset it leaves the Pacer alone — Bitwig says so once — until you select the Bitwig preset again, or press one of its switches (a press on the Bitwig preset is proof enough). At startup it paints once the first answer is in (after a second, if the Pacer does not answer at all). The same check notices a Pacer that was unplugged and plugged back in, and paints it again. Check the Pacer is on its preset sets how: every 5 s and before painting (the default), only before painting, or off.

Three gestures on every switch

Tap

Runs on press whenever timing matters (loops, the one-button looper, tap tempo) or when the switch has no hold action; otherwise on release, so a hold never runs the tap first.

Double-tap

The first tap always runs straight away. A second tap within the Double-tap speed window (0.25, 0.35 or 0.5 s) runs the double-tap action instead of a second tap. Double-taps are built in only on the FX mode's switches and on SW 6, where one raises the shift layer.

Hold

Half a second. Actions that delete loops ask for 1.5 s by default, or 2.5 s (Hold time for clearing actions), so a heavy foot never clears a take.

Default layout

Tap tempo and transport play/stop are on the shift layer's SW D, and on the Song mode's SW 5. To change a switch, point the custom layout at this mode and set only what differs (see Your own layout). The footswitch jacks have settings of their own and do the same in every mode.

The shift layer

Every mode can have a second layer on the same switches. Double-tap SW 6 (the default SW 6 double-tap) and SW 6 turns gold, the display says SHIFT for a moment, and every switch with something on its shift layer does that instead; double-tap again to go back. A switch with nothing on its shift layer keeps its normal job, and SW 6 stays the mode switch. Changing mode drops the shift layer.

Three actions raise it, for SW 6's double-tap, a footswitch jack, or any switch in your own layout:

The Looper's shift layer is where loop tracks 5–8 live; set Loop tracks to 8 to use them.

The FX mode's shift layer puts FX 5 and FX 6 on SW A and SW B (hold: momentary) and previous / next instrument on SW C and SW D. The Mixer and Song modes have none yet: their switches keep their jobs when shifted. The custom layout lays out the shift layer too (Custom layout: shift layer, see Your own layout), so this is the place to build your own workflow.

Smart loop

One switch per loop. What a tap does depends on the slot in the current scene row:

Loop switches fire on press. A hold therefore runs the tap first, which is harmless with the default hold: whatever the tap started is deleted.

Shaping the loop switches

How many

Loop tracks: 1–8, default 4. SW 1–4 are the Looper mode's loop switches for loop tracks 1–4, and the same switches on the shift layer for 5–8. A loop switch beyond the project's loop tracks does nothing: with three tracks, SW 4 is idle. For loops somewhere else, give any switch, shift gesture or footswitch jack the tap Loop track 1–8 (see Your own layout). FS 1 and the row actions run every loop track.

Hold to record

Loop switch mode = Hold to record, release to close: press and hold an empty loop to record, let go to close it, like a punch-in. Let go before recording started and it closes one quantization step after it starts. Loops that already exist keep tap and hold.

Double-tap

Double-tap a loop switch: stop, mute/unmute, clear or undo. Clear turns an accidental record into "never mind".

Building a performance

One-button looper

The classic single-pedal looper spread over the loop tracks: each tap closes the loop that is recording, or starts one on the first empty track of the row. Hold clears the most recent loop.

Mute, don't stop

Tap on a playing loop = Mute/unmute keeps the clip running silently, so it comes back exactly in time. Mute/unmute all loops makes a break; Solo/unsolo selected loop isolates a layer.

Mute on the one

Mute timing = On the next beat / bar holds a mute until the next beat or downbeat, even if your foot is early. A waiting mute blinks fast; tap again to cancel it.

Count-in

Count-in from a stopped transport = 1 or 2 bars starts the transport with the metronome, counts in and records on the next bar. Tap the same switch again to cancel.

Beat counter

In the Looper mode, while counting in or waiting to record (amber) and while recording (red), SW A–D show the beat of the bar: A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, D = 4. With While recording, SW A-D count = Bars since the recording started they count bars instead once the recording runs — A = bar 1, B = bar 2 … and A again for bar 5; count-ins always count beats. It runs on the Looper whether the custom layout changed it or not, and on a custom mode of its own once it has loop switches — never over a loop switch on the top row.

Match the first loop

Loop length = Match the first loop of the row: the first loop of a row is free, and its length in bars becomes the length of every later loop in that row, which then close by themselves.

Double and halve

Double selected loop duplicates the clip's content (2 bars become 4 of the same material); Halve shortens the loop to its first half.

Rows as song sections

Each scene row is a set of loops. Record the verse in row 1, tap SW B and record the chorus in row 2, launch rows with SW C. Duplicate row copies a row with its loops and moves there. With Previous / next row while loops play = Move to it and play it, moving to a row that has loops while the song plays launches it on the launch quantization, so a section change is one press; an empty row is left alone, so the old loops play on while you record the new section.

Row names

Names for new rows such as Intro, Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Outro name rows created from the Pacer by position, and notifications show them: Row 3: Chorus.

Fades

Fade out and stop all loops ramps the loop tracks down over the Fade length (1, 2, 4 or 8 bars), stops them and restores their volumes. Fade in the row launches it from silence. Tap again during a fade to cancel.

Status at a glance

Show looper status pops up Row 2: Verse | 1 ▶ (muted) 2 ● 3 ■ 4 –: ▶ playing, ● recording, ■ stopped, – empty. It shows even with notifications off.

Panic

Reset the looper stops every loop, cancels count-ins, fades and waiting mutes, unmutes, unsolos and disarms the loop tracks and turns launcher overdub off.

Your own layout: change a mode, or build a fifth

Settings › Custom layout lays out one board, switch by switch. The custom layout changes decides whose board it is:

Its own mode

The default: the fifth menu slot, CUST, starting from an empty board, with pedals of its own (EXP 1 · Custom, EXP 2 · Custom).

The Looper, FX, Mixer or Song mode

That mode, changed in place. It starts from the mode's own board and keeps its menu slot, its name, its pedals and (the Looper) its beat counter; the CUST slot goes dark meanwhile.

Every switch except SW 6 has five settings, and each one starts at As in the mode, so you only set what differs:

Plus Name on the display: five characters; blank keeps the mode's own name, CUST for a mode of its own. Changing any of it repaints the Pacer at once while you are standing in the mode.

The shift layer has its own category, Custom layout: shift layer: SW n · shift tap / shift double-tap / shift hold, each starting at As in the mode — the mode's own shift layer, which for most switches means "keeps its normal job". Set any of them and the switch does that while shift is up; its colour then comes from the action, and it lights the same LED as normally. A switch whose shift gestures all do Nothing keeps its normal job.

Loops anywhere

Give a switch the tap Loop track 1 … Loop track 8 and it is a full loop switch for that track: the smart loop, Hold a loop switch, Double-tap a loop switch, hold to record and the loop LED all apply, and its own hold and double-tap settings are ignored. So loops can sit on the top row, on the shift layer, and a footswitch jack set to Loop track n is a loop switch too.

A mute per loop

Mute/unmute loop track 1–8 gives each loop a mute switch of its own, looper-pedal style. It honours Mute timing, lights blue while the loop is muted and blinks while the mute waits for its beat.

Actions you can assign

These actions are available as tap, double-tap and hold in the custom layout (its shift layer included) and on the footswitch jacks, and any of them can be SW 6's double-tap.

Set up your instruments

1. One track per live instrument, e.g. Vocal, Guitar, Bass, with the interface input, monitoring On and its effects: the dedicated input track setup.

2. Optional: add a remote controls page named Pacer to each track and map

   • slots 1–4 to what SW A–D switch (FX 1–4), such as an effect's mix or a chain's volume. The mapping's range is what the switch toggles between, so delay mix 0–35 % is set up in Bitwig. Slots 5–6 are FX 5 and FX 6, on the shift layer's SW A and SW B;
   • slots 7–8 to what EXP 1 and EXP 2 move: wah frequency, delay feedback, reverb size.

   Save the track as a preset (Guitar rig, Bass rig, Vocal chain) to bring it to any project.

3. Assign the tracks: select the guitar track in Bitwig and hold SW 1 until Bitwig shows Instrument A is now Guitar. Repeat with SW 2, SW 3 and SW 4.

Default layout

The shift layer (double-tap SW 6; SW 6 turns gold) reaches the rest. SW 1–5 keep their jobs.

To change this layout, point the custom layout at the FX mode (see Your own layout), shift layer included. FX 5 and FX 6 can also go on a footswitch jack, which keeps its own settings in every mode.

What an FX switch controls

Tap latches, hold is momentary, on the same switch: the effect flips on press with no delay, and if you held the switch longer than half a second it flips back when you let go. That is a delay throw on one word of a vocal.

Snapshots

What is stored

The state of FX 1–6 for the focused instrument: each device on or off, or each remote control's exact value, so a delay mix set to 35 % with a knob comes back at 35 %. Remote controls 7–8 stay with the pedals.

How many

Snapshots per instrument: 2 by default (an A/B pair such as rhythm and lead), up to 4. Saved per project.

Using them

Tap SW 5 for the next snapshot, double-tap to go back to the first, hold to store the current sound in the snapshot you are on. An empty snapshot changes nothing until you store into it. The display shows SNAP2 for a moment when snapshot 2 is recalled, SAVE2 when it is stored.

Changed since

SW 5 blinks when you have switched something since the snapshot was recalled or stored.

Instruments

By name

An instrument is remembered by its track name, saved with the project. After renaming a track, assign it again. Instruments are found among the first 64 tracks, group members included.

Safe assignments

Assigning uses Hold time for clearing actions, so choose Long if you tend to rest a foot on a switch.

Swapping guitars

Double-tap the instrument's switch to mute its track while you unplug; its LED blinks until you unmute.

Selecting too

Switch on Focusing an instrument selects its track in Bitwig if you want the mixer and devices to follow.

Example Pacer pages

Starting points only; map whatever your rig uses.

Loop switches

A switch whose tap is Loop track 1–8 lights the same way; the Looper's shifted loop switches (loop tracks 5–8) rest in cyan instead of the mode colour. The four loop colours can be changed in Pacer LEDs. Every switch rests at its mode's colour, dimmed, and lights in the colour of whatever it is doing, so the board reads even when nothing is playing. Colours are written to the Pacer as SysEx, which flashes LOAD SYS on its display for a moment; the extension only writes one when a colour really changes.

Other switches

A switch lights when its tap action has something to do: undo or redo possible, loops playing (play/stop all is green while playing, amber when loops are loaded), another row to go to (next row shows blue when it would add a scene), overdub on (red), metronome on, transport running (green), a loop muted (blue), the selected loop soloed (amber), input monitoring on (green), something to reset (purple). The one-button looper shows the loop it is busy with; fade actions blink while a fade runs; Mute/unmute loop track n is blue while that loop is muted and blinks while its mute waits for the beat. In the Looper mode, and in a custom mode of its own with loop switches, the beat counter takes over SW A–D while counting in and recording (beats, or bars with While recording, SW A-D count = Bars), except a top-row switch that is a loop switch itself.

SW 6 is white, gold while the shift layer is up, and blinking gold while it is up for the next press only. A switch whose tap raises the shift layer lights gold the same way.

FX mode

Nektar DAW mode

Switch on Nektar DAW mode (USB port 2) › Serve the Track and Transport presets and assign port 2. The Pacer's built-in DAW presets then work as they did with Nektar's script.

Moving the loop region left or right is not supported yet.