Sternenherz One Looper (Free)

1. Requirements for using Sternenherz One Looper (Free)

1.1 Activate Sternenherz Extension

Copy and paste, or simply drag, the “Sternenherz Extension.bwextension” file into Bitwig’s “Extensions” folder. On Windows, it is located here: C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents\Bitwig Studio\Extensions.

The Mac filepath is: “Documents\Bitwig Studio\Extensions”

For Linux it’s “~/Bitwig Studio/Extensions”

After you have copied or moved the file into the correct folder, start Bitwig Studio and open Settings and Controllers from the dashboard. Use “Add Controller” to select “Sternenherz” and “SternenherzExtension”. The “Add” button adds the extension to the controller list above.

To activate it, you only need to select a MIDI input and output. You can select anything here, or preferably use a virtual MIDI port. The same virtual MIDI port can be used for both input and output. Windows 11 will soon get native support for creating virtual MIDI ports; it can already be downloaded from Microsoft’s github.io page under the keyword “Windows MIDI Services is Here”. Alternatively, you can use the free Windows tool “Loopmidi”. To create virtual MIDI ports on a Mac, use the built-in IAC (Inter-Application Communication) Driver. On Linux, you can use Jack MIDI or ALSA MIDI, for example.

Note: any additional OSC communication on the same ports (9000/8000) can disturb the Looper. Deactivate the OSC script by drivenbymoss if you used it before.

1.2 Use the recommended Bitwig Project Setup

The Looper can only work with this project structure (see image above), because it expects its Looper group or groups on very specific tracks. So please recreate the structure exactly as it is – or make it easy on yourself and just use the Bitwig project that came with the Looper.

A little explanation of the routings

The most important central point is the “IN (Put Effects here)” track. This track itself has “none” selected for both input and output, and monitoring is “on”. All individual tracks inside the Looper group, such as Looper 1-1, Looper 1-2, and so on, use the “IN (Put Effects here)” track as their input, as does the Monitor1 track.

The Monitor1 track has monitoring switched “on” as needed and can then be toggled on or off from the Looper UI. The “IN1” and “IN2” tracks serve as microphone input tracks. Their inputs are set to the microphone inputs, and “IN (Put Effects here)” is their output.

The very first track, “IN (Put Latency inducing Fx here)”, is deactivated and also has a microphone input selected. This setup makes it possible to use VST effects that increase latency or CPU load across the whole project only temporarily, and then deactivate those effects together with the track again.

Of course, you can always add more sound sources below this track structure and feed them into the “IN” track. Below this track structure, you can basically do whatever you want – personally, I have a bunch of MIDI tracks with instrument selectors there, because I also record MIDI clips alongside the audio looper.

Note: Transport Loop should be off for live-playback safety reasons. If you’re unlucky, transport playback can run into a transport loop, which will alter the rhythm or metronome ticks of your Looper playback.

1.3 Load the Looper as VST/CLAP or Standalone

As the final step, start the Looper, either as standalone or as a plugin. When using the plugin, make sure that the additional track you create for loading the plugin does not disturb the Bitwig project setup shown above in 1.2 Use the recommended Bitwig Project Setup. Simply create a track somewhere below the “IN 2(Microphone 2)” track and load the Looper there.

Important note: When launching the Sternenherz Looper for the first time, Windows or macOS may display a security warning such as “Windows protected your PC” or “Apple could not verify the developer.” This happens because Sternenherz Looper is not signed with a paid Microsoft/Apple developer certificate. If downloaded from the official Patreon source, the app can safely be opened via “More info -> Run anyway” on Windows or “Open Anyway” in macOS Security Settings.

2. Overview of all features

Image	Name	Function
	Settings	Opens the Settings menu.
	Play	Starts playback. Pressing again stops playback.
	Stop	Stops playback and resets the play marker to the first beat.
	Record	Records in the Arranger.
	Metronome	Toggles the metronome on or off. The metronome volume level can be adjusted in the Settings.
	BPM Display/Button	Shows the current BPM value. Pressing it opens a fader for setting the BPM. If "Auto-Rounding up" is enabled in the Settings menu, the fader can be forced to move in 1 BPM steps without decimal values.
	Time Signature Display/Button	Shows the current time signature. Pressing it opens a dropdown menu for changing the time signature. Note: for touch control, the BPM touch area is slightly more dominant because it is used more often. The time signature touch area is slightly lower than the display suggests. Fun fact: changes to the numerator directly affect the number of Looper beat count LED elements.
	BPM Arrows	These arrow buttons decrease or increase the BPM in 0.5 BPM steps.
	Tap Button	Lets you set the tempo (BPM) by tapping the button regularly.
	Beatcount and Time-Displays	They show the current timeline beat count and time status.
	Transport Loop	Turns the transport/timeline loop (repeat) function on or off.
	MIDI Refresh	Asks Sternenherz Extension to resend the current Bitwig MIDI-related state to the UI, updating all widgets in the UI that receive MIDI data.
	OSC Refresh	Performs a full OSC data refresh and requests the current values from Bitwig. This can take a few seconds to complete.
	Launch Quantization	Shows the launch quantization currently set in Bitwig. Pressing the button opens a dropdown menu where the launch quantization can be adjusted.
	Fixed Cliplength Settings (Post Record Delay Time) Buttons and Fader.	Pressing the buttons or sliding the fader below them adjusts the clip length for new recordings. Available settings range from 1 bar to 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, and 32 bars. This setting affects all Clip Launcher recordings in Bitwig, including MIDI recordings. The Looper also uses this setting in its Fixed and Overdub modes.
	Fixed Cliplength Settings (Post Record Delay Time) Knob	Same as the buttons/fader, but offers more adjustment options, starting from 0.25 bars and above.
	Undo and Redo	Undo and Redo for Bitwig.
	Duplicate Looper Clips	Duplicates all clips from a specific scene within the chosen Looper group into the next scene. Requires selecting any clip inside a Looper group; otherwise, the program does not know which Looper group you want to copy.
	Free Length Mode	In this Looper mode, the main Looper button starts recording without a time limit. Pressing the main Looper button a second time is required to stop the recording.
	Fixed Length Mode	In this Looper mode, the main Looper button starts recording with the bar-count limit currently active in the Fixed Cliplength Settings. Pressing the main Looper button a second time is not required; recording ends automatically after the configured number of bars has elapsed.
	Overdub Mode	In this Looper mode, the main Looper button starts recording with the bar-count limit currently active in the Fixed Cliplength Settings. The Looper automatically records overdubs this way until the Looper group is full; up to 5 overdub clips can be recorded in total. To cancel the process, press the main Looper button a second time.
	Monitoring (for Looper)	Mutes or unmutes the monitoring track of the Looper template inside Bitwig, which listens to the IN track, meaning the track that feeds the Looper groups. Usually this means that all monitoring for the microphones from the IN1 and IN2 tracks, and the MIDI instrument from the MIDI IN track, will be turned on or off.
	Microphone Mute Buttons	Mutes/unmutes the microphone input tracks.
	Track-Select Buttons with Group fold	The track-selection buttons make it possible to select tracks in Bitwig. If a track is a group track, it has an additional colored stripe on its left side in the group color, spanning all child tracks. The white symbol on group tracks can also fold or unfold the group.
	Volume Fader	Controls Bitwig's volume fader for the track.
	Send knobs with Send-knob-Reset-Button	The knobs control Bitwig's send volume. The FX button resets all send knobs of that track to 0.
	Recarm	Turns record arm on or off for that track. For group tracks, Recarm is greyed out, just like in Bitwig.
	Solo	Turns Solo on or off for that track. For group tracks, the S symbol has an additional circle around it to distinguish it from normal tracks.
	Mute	Turns Mute on or off for that track. For group tracks, the M symbol has an additional circle around it to distinguish it from normal tracks.
	Stop Track	Stops any currently running Clip Launcher clip inside that track. For group tracks, the Stop symbol has an additional circle inside it to distinguish it from normal tracks. The number in the middle of the Stop symbol is the track number in the overall context of the Bitwig project. Fun fact: the real track numbering is something Bitwig does not show in its own UI.
	VU Meters	Simple VU meters for each track. VU meter colorization is not very precise, internally using raw thresholds of 0-90 for green, above 90 for orange, and above 125 for red on a 0-127 meter scale.
	Scene Launch Button(s)	Starts the respective scene. In the horizontal Clip Launcher, where tracks are displayed above one another, the Scene Launch Buttons are positioned above all clips, just like in Bitwig. In the vertical Clip Launcher layout, which is only available in the larger Looper versions, the Scene Launch Buttons are arranged to the left of the clip rows, also matching Bitwig's layout.
	Cliplauncher-Slots	Mirrors Bitwig's Clip Launcher, showing existing clips with colors and tiny names. Names can be deactivated in the Settings. Slots can also show a playback or record symbol, and even clip playback progress. Clip playback progress is only available in the bigger Looper versions. The currently selected clip has a white outline. Group clip slots have diagonal lines on them and can show the tracks they contain as color layers if the tracks in the group have different colors.
	Quick-Delete Lock	Locks or unlocks the Quick-Delete buttons below to prevent accidental quick deletion. Unlocked by default.
	Quick-Delete-Buttons	Offer a way to instantly delete clips of the currently selected Looper group or scene, chosen via the Scene Selection button, which is visualized with orange outlines around the clips. Group track buttons have an additional circle around their X symbol and delete all clips inside that group. For Looper groups, these Big Delete Buttons therefore equal the typical Clear Looper functionality.
	Looper Title	Click to select the Looper. This turns record arm on for all Looper tracks. This optional selection method is not required for audio looping, because using the main Looper button auto-rearms all Looper tracks anyway.
	Main Looper Button	Triggers the main function of the Looper. Depending on the selected Looper mode, such as Free, Fixed, or Overdub, this can start recording and stop recording. When the Looper is full, meaning it has no free clip slots left for recording, the Main Looper Button only acts as a playback button. The button provides two kinds of visual feedback: the inner symbol and its color, and the color of the outer ring. The center symbol reflects what the button will do next: Gray record when recording is possible. Gray overdub outline when overdub is possible but no clip exists yet. Gray queued record or overdub outline variants when recording is queued. Green play when the Looper is effectively full and the main button will behave like group playback. Red record when normal recording is active. Orange overdub when overdub recording is active. The inner main-button ring changes by Looper group state: Gray when no clip exists in the selected Looper scene. Clip color composite ring when clips exist but none are currently recording or playing. Green when clips are playing. Red when a clip is recording. Orange when overdub recording is active.
	Looper LED Ring/Beatcount Display	The number in the center is the current Bitwig beat count, which is also reflected by the illuminated LED segments. Setting a numerator other than 4 in the time signature directly affects this visualization. In the Settings, the beat-count animation can be changed from stepwise LED lighting to continuous growth. The circular LED beat ring changes color according to the currently active Looper mode: Free: white. Fixed: purple. Overdub: orange. Free into Fixed: white-to-purple gradient per active segment. Free into Overdub: white-to-orange gradient per active segment.
	Looper-Group-Stop	Stops playback of the whole Looper, meaning the Looper group.
	Looper-Group-Play	Starts playback of the whole Looper, meaning the Looper group. Depends on the currently selected scene via the Scene Selection button.