Bitwig's per-note gain expressions open up a dimension of mixing that most producers overlook. This bit walks through how polyphonic gain works in practice, starting with a simple three-note chord and showing how each voice can have its own volume curve over time, creating an undulating, constantly shifting texture from what would otherwise be a static chord.
The real payoff comes when that polyphonic gain feeds into a distortion unit. Because distortion is sensitive to input level, each voice pushes the effect differently as volumes rise and fall, and the result is a beating, textural quality that evolves on its own without any automation drawn in.
The bit then moves into AM synthesis territory, revealing that amplitude modulation is already baked into Bitwig's architecture. Every polyphonic instrument has a voice gain control, and when you route a pitch-tracked LFO to that control, the modulation frequency locks to the note being played, which is exactly how AM synthesis works. The key distinction here is the difference between a monophonic output control and a polyphonic voice gain: in mono mode, one LFO tunes to the last note played and affects all voices together; switch to poly, and each note carries its own independent modulation shape and pitch.
This reframes AM synthesis not as a special technique requiring a dedicated module, but as something available on any polyphonic instrument in Bitwig, including Grid patches, the moment you assign a pitch-tracking LFO to voice gain.