ArrangerKing is designed to provide support and inspiration when you need to get things done in the arrangement phases.
When functions are comparable between different DAW's we provide screenshots from Ableton Live in all manuals.
If you experience challenges using ArrangerKing with Bitwig Studio please let us know
Download and install ArrangerKing: Open Bitwig Studio and add it to any track. Open the ArrangerKing window.
Click on the ArrangerKing logo and select 'Color Coded Buildings' for an alternate view.
Shift+Click on the Palette icon on the lower left side to enable match of top & bottom colors
An ArrangerKing Guide Track can help with overview and marker placing. It's created with a drag-and-drop:
Guide Tracks come in different varieties and both as MIDI and Audio.
By default, ArrangerKing will move the mute triangles by one bar. You can change this setting in the settings menu.
When needed you can move looping parts in place in Bitwig Studio and also add new tracks that are not looped, with for example effects, vocals etc. This is a good opportunity to use a Guide Track
Quick Chords tracks are a rudementry but fast way to get a note structure into your daw, already organized to match your arrangment.
Click the Quick Chords button at the Top Left of the ArrangerKing window to access the Quick Chords tool:
Click again to return to the arranger view.
After drag-dropping you can do manual editing, turning the quick chords into melodies, use third party chord progression software, draw bass patterns, or you can add MIDI manipulators like Arpeggiators, pitch, scale corrections etc to the track.
Press the Chords Button and select "Reset to Default" to load the default chord set. This feature is designed so you can for example quickly test the sound of a synth or an arpeggiator without having to spend time on first making some chords that makes sense.
In the Quick Chords window, toggle the Send button to enable live MIDI send from ArrangerKing. This functions the same as Quick Chords instantiated, but as a live send. This allows you to control all notes in your entire song from one central place and edit them live for a fast, iterative workflow and efficient song creation.
NOTE: Due to the architectural structure of the VST/AU plugin systems, ArrangerKing cannot send MIDI to the track it is on. However, a track with ArrangerKing can receive MIDI chords from another track with ArrangerKing. A typical and optimal workflow is therefore as follows:
Now you have a live MIDI signal that you can use as input on any other track. You can add arpeggiators and other MIDI manipulators to your tracks, turning this setup into a powerhouse, especially for a modular synth setup when combined with Mute Patterns.
If you place ArrangerKing as the last plugin in your effects stack, cutoffs will be instant. However, if you place it as the first plugin and, for example, add a delay effect afterward, the delay will ring out even after ArrangerKing has muted the track.
Learn how to extract arrangments from reference tracks:
Find a straightforward pop song, load it into Bitwig Studio as an audio track and add ArrangerKing to the track.
Here's an example of some drums that was added to the beginning of the song.
They are not part of the arrangement, the arrangement starts only when patterns emerge. Cut your audio to start there.
Having problems? Send us a link to a YouTube video with the track You have are having trouble with and we may rip it for you :)
INTRO: Is it distinctive, playing at the beginning of the song?
It's an Intro. Not all songs have one.
Can you not make it fit with the pre-defined lengths in ArrangerKing? Cut off more or less from the start as producers tend to slap on various extra stuff before the actual arrangement kicks in.
Sometimes the intro is re-introduced
VERSE: Does it feature the same melody or catchy chord progression repeated with variations?
Mark it as Verse.
BRIDGE: Is it toned more down than the verse, or does it feel like you've found a separate part that wont fit in elsewhere, maybe a filler part or is something apparently causing a verse to be an odd length?
Mark it as a Bridge. Thats what we call them parts here!
PRE-CHORUS: Does it build tension leading towards the chorus - or do you have problems matching what you think is the chorus with the fixed lengths in ArrangerKing?
You've found a Pre-Chorus. They can be sneaky.
They're sometimes used as teasers without being attached to a chorus the first time.
CHORUS: Is it the most memorable and repetitive part, containing the main theme, probably the name of the song?
That's the Chorus.
SOLO/BREAK: Is there a focus on instrumental performance or a significant vocal but not the most memorable part, and does it sound different from everything else?
It's a Solo/Break.
OUTRO: Does it conclude the song, possibly by repeating elements from other sections but tapering off in volume or intensity and perhaps all sorts of everything introduced on top of each other?
You have an Outro. Not all songs have one.
AIR: Is it an effect, or rhythmic break or round and are you sure it will not fit into the rest of the arrangment if you try to re-think the other parts?
You .. may have found what we call Air. Be really sure as only very few songs have them and wrongly inserting for example a verse+bridge -combo as Air can spoil an elsewise elegant solution. So Air parts are rare, but they exist, and they sometimes are what makes a rock song have "an extra round of guitar" at the end of a verse for example.
Try adding ArrangerKing to your effect tracks. Then when your music for example is on a break for the last bar with everything muted but the kick and a reversed crash, also mute the effect tracks with ArrangerKing. You'll hear how muting any delay and reverb instantly will make a crisp break.
Shift/Ctrl click on the blue background behind "the white buildings to quickly mute/unmute the entire track.
In some live sessions, it might be useful to mute everything, and this can easily be done by simply adding ArrangerKing on the Master Track and for example mute the last part of a Drop. Or make the Outro twice the needed length and mute it halfway through.
If you group tracks, you can control their muting with one instance of ArrangerKing by simply placing it on the group.
Your Arrangements are all stored in a text file so you can easily share them all, store them all, move them all to another computer, or maybe even do some spring cleaning. You access them here:
OSX:
~/Library/Application Support/ArrangerKing
Windows:
%appdata%\ArrangerKing
Click on the Logo -> DAW start position to for example enable an 8 bar pause or "shift" before playtime.