Bitwig Studio 5

Excellent sequencer but disastrously poorly developed memory and internal memory resources of this DAW. They haven't stopped incorporating modules and effects that simply use up any coherent memory used, unless you have 128GB of RAM, good luck as it will crash within a few tracks. The developers of this company surely test it on computers obtained from NASA. I have spent my money badly here, I regret it very much.

Ive been a music production hobbyist for 25 years, used cubase as my only DAW for 23 years, and I've used a ton of other software from many brands in the VST ecosystem. I have very high standards for stability, performance, and quality in a DAW and I never thought I would find a DAW that could replace cubase, but I am happy to say it's Bitwig!.

I've had Bitwig since just before 5.0 launched(about 2 months), so I began on 4 and just migrated to 5. Everything has been great, the application is rock solid and I love the multithreaded sandboxed plugins!!!! The main application comes with a large trove of goodies such as instruments, interesting MIDI 'devices' and modules, this very cool modular environment called "the Grid", and a load of other stuff that allows for very interesting, efficient, modern project workflow and musical expression.

It took me a few hours to understand my workflow and find my musical space, then just a few more hours of practice to already feel confident that I can do everything I need to do in Bitwig and much more. I am free of steinberg, at last, and I feel like Im trusting my large library of plugins and content with a DAW that is less likely to crash catastrophically and cause me headaches and lost time.

I cant recommend Bitwig 4/5 any more strongly, and so far I've had zero issues with anything Ive plugged into it or thrown at it in any way. The browser can be a little slow sometimes on startup (mine is set to check for library changes on startup). I love this DAW.

Bitwig 5 is a THE daw.

The GRID is insane.

The synth and FX who come with the daw are really good and you can modulate EVERYTHING .

Switched to bitwig after 15 years of Ableton.
I was tired of all the bugs and crash in ableton and also the needed features not being delivered so i've made the choice to switch to a daw that looked the most advanced.
Switching to bitwig was a breeze it took me more or less 13 hours total to get most of the features absorbed.
A month with it 1-2h a day i was starting to build muscle memory.
This daw is super powerful. The modular are so powerful that i've sold all my eurorack gear because ive found a way better workflow in full bitwig.

Yeah the DAW has flaws but they are updating it and delivering and working on a solid base. While ableton has lots of dead code and is buggy as fuck.

Even if Bitwig doesnt have all the features you want its the best bet long term because they are updating it..
While ableton actually dont deliver great updates its just FX and synths..

It will take a while to build up the same memory i did in thousands of hours in ableton but i've already made quiet amazing progress and interesting sounding music.

The best daw, I can't live without it, it gives you freedom and imagination, whether it's audio editing or synth modulation, it has a silky operation flow.

Unbelievably slick, smooth and intuitive. Everything is so well thought out, it's a joy to use.

Yes.

Switching from Ableton everything made sense and was intuitive. Workflow is much smoother for me.

I dont use The Grid so i cant attest to that.

+ The browser is Godly making it very easy to have everything organized (Specifically the 5.0 beta is awesome for organizing).

+ Stability. Never had Bitwig crash on official releases. Plugin Sandboxing is next level.

+ CLAP integration.

+ Modulate everything.

+ Audio Comping is very easy.

Some requests i have for the devs.

- MIDI Capture / Comping (I'm not that great of a keyboard player).

- A Single button for Low latency mode.

- Better Piano Roll functionality (Scales, etc.).

- I really miss a Slicer (Ableton Simpler) device.

It's simply the best DAW. It's the most coherent, logical, not bloated as many others. Sounds great and let's you create great sounding stuff easily. UI simply makes sense, the simplicity of using modulations and the way they're visualized makes you be able to understand more and create more. After using Ableton and Logic for some time I finally found the perfect one for me. And pricing really makes sense. Just go ahead and buy it.

Bitwig is perfect for my needs.
It is what Ableton should have evolved into.

I used Ableton from version 4 to 11 - I even read the manual cover to cover way back in 2005 -

Max4live was it's Achilles heel. This was because, if you were an artist and mainly interested in spending your time making sounds and songs - you just wouldn't invest the time in learning how to program M4L devices. As a result, if you wanted the flexibility that M4L offered you had to buy those devices. But since version 4 max for live devices had (on a regular basis) crashed live.

The workaround was to constantly save projects, especially just before you inserted a M4L device.
unfortunately, opening projects with such devices also caused Ableton to crash (about a third of the time I opened such a project).

I read in many places that my experience was common, and cannot fathom why it was never fixed.

maybe it just cannot be.

simply and succinctly- bitwig does not crash on me and I get more freedom in creative sound design.

the grid is for artists like myself that want the power of modular without the infuriating time sink of the Reaktor/M4L learning curve.

I will give it a 4 because its so cool. The modulators and clip area is why its great. They do provide the Grid which is pretty cool as well. If you have ever used VCV Rack then the Grid is for you.

Been using it for about 1 year now up to most recent version. Here are the cons - There are still some bugs in it and it needs better workflow enhancements to avoid using the mouse so much when selecting devices and layered devices etc. Moss scripts for various controllers saves Bitwig. Without his scripts I dont think Bitwig would work as well for me as I want to use an integrated controller. They should take his scripts and make it a permanent part of Bitwig.

And even then Bitwig is still not flawless. The more you use it the more you find these small oddities here and there as to things not displaying correctly or plugins not responding 100% correctly. You just need to be aware going into it. Bitwig does eventually respond to support emails but they dont address if they are going to do anything to address your issues or feedback. Its all on their timetable if and when they update. At least they take feedback requests. My advice is every user should immediately report to them when you find these bugs or oddities. Do not settle with these quirks until Bitwig runs flawlessly for you.

The point is there is currently no perfect one fit solution DAW. But Bitwig comes closest IMO.

For me Bitwig Studio is the no #1 choice if you are an electronic producer who want to enjoy as much freedom as possible.

Bitwig is so "open"and versatile. There isn't any other DAW on the market that offers such a freedom. You can modulate everything and there are so many possibilities of customisation. Also the dev-team is very responsive, bringing constantly great updates and they are listening to the customers. It's a mixture of pure awesomeness and freedom. Thanks Bitwig.

Das Rating ist so, weil ich es für mich in dem Umfang nutzen kann, ohne größere Defizite zu haben. Weiterhin, weil auch die Lizenzphilosophie für mich aktuell okay ist. Die Bitwigger leisten sehr gute Arbeit auch mit der Community, die wirklich schnell gewachsen ist. Natürlich hat jeder Newcomer seine kleinen Defizite, doch ich bin sehr optimistisch, dass da noch einiges gutes ansteht.

Ich habe seit Jahren FL benutzt. Die losen Fenster, die grafischen Dinge vor allem, sind leider nicht schön. Dinge, die man auch nicht einfach modifizieren kann. Seit Bitwig als Nebenspieler zu Ableton, hat mich dann doch sehr überzeugt, eine andere Strategie zu versuchen und mich nicht mit dem umherschieben der Fenster zu beschäftigen. Wer schon mal eine DAW unter den Fingern hatte, wird relativ intuitive mit Bitwig arbeiten können. Sicher war es in FL auch nicht so kompliziert. Ich bin fähig mit allen DAW's wenigstens die Basics zu verstehen, da ich fast alle probiert habe. Somit war Bitwig kein Problem. Ich kenne DAW's die sind da anders.

Als nun Bitwig ins Haus kam, konnte ich relativ fehlerfrei meine Plugins implementieren, 32 und 64-bit, meine Samples einfügen und schon loslegen. Super einfach, mit geringem Grundwissen über das Programm. Die feste Struktur und GUI macht es sehr einfach Überblick zu bekommen und zu behalten. Die Chains sind wirklich wahnsinnig hilfreich, wenn man Effekt-Ketten hinter seinen Synthies legt. Das Anreihen von Tools ist einfach und übersichtlich. Und alles in einer Chain-Datei speicherbar. Somit hat man immer das komplette Paket und kann seine favorisierten Sounds jederzeit finden und wieder benutzen. Jedes Plugin wird in eine Bitwig-Eigene Form gebracht, die nur aus Knöpfen besteht, somit muss die GUI des Plugins nicht offen sein. Leider kann diese Knopf-Liste unangenehm lang werden, wo man sich gerne mal eine zweite oder dritte Reihe wünscht. Jedes Plugin startet in einer Sandbox, somit muss man bei Fehlern nicht das Programm neu starten, sondern nur das Plugin. Super .

Warum ich nicht Ableton nahm? Ich habe Ableton probiert, kam damit klar konnte es mir aber nicht leisten. Der Reiz des neuen hatte mich auch fasziniert und außerdem hat Ableton genug Nutzer, weswegen ich mich auch wirtschaftlich gesehen lieber für Bitwig entschied, das war kein Fehler. Die 12 Monatslizenz mag ein wenig unangenehm sein, aber wer es sich leisten kann und die Updatedate-Philosophie bisher okay fand wird gerne ein paar Credits für den next level sh*** hinlegen. Bitwig ist wirklich gut im Rennen und steht den anderen DAWs, bis auf wenige Dingen, in nichts nach. Es gibt da draußen sicher Musiker und Experten die evtl. spezielle Anforderungen haben, die Bitwig noch nicht erfüllen konnte oder erst noch wird, doch für mich reicht das zurzeit völlig aus, um komplexe Beats zu bauen in einem angenehmen Arbeitstempo.

Go Go Bitwig u have my Voice.

Cheers.

capracan/c.a.p./NOWISM.

It doesn't do everything, but what it does it unique and worth the cost.

Bitwig doesn't do everything, it isn't a 'standard' liner arrangement DAW or a Standard looper. Its a hybrid but it is also a modular synth, CV generator and creative and inspirational instrument-DAW...I think it has moved from a 'version' of Live with many requested features (like in clip editing) toi an entirely new type of creative DAW.

I rate it 5 out of 5 for what it is, other want it to be what it is not (Live has the same issue, some people want to use it as a standard DAW- its a designed to be a 'LIVE' instrument/creative arranger....Bitwig will get you a bit closer to a linear DAW with clips and racks, but wont replace Pro Tools if you are going to record a band.

What Bitwig 'is' is fast, fun, creative and a modulation/cv playground, a music tool modulates and adds life to your existing VST collection and puts a smile on your face.

I have found Bitwig at 2.4 very stable, more stable than my Live Suite and Cubase 9.5 which I also use occasionally. My other main DAW is Studio One 4 which compliments BWS Very Well.

I purchased the first version in 2015. A lot of cools features but buggy as hell. I sent some emails some bugs and they stopped to reply at the 3rd one. (It was about a different bug each time).
I purchased the second version to support them saying to myself "they must have fixed those bugs to release this version". More nice features in this version, but still buggy as hell.

3 years after, the bugs in V1 are still not fixed and are in the V2 too. Plus for some project I can't even play them. (Audio Engine always crash).

It's embarrassing because it has a lot of nice features but it's not ready for a professional use with a lot of hardware and plugin. Its dev is maybe faster than Ableton Live, but maybe it's because Live takes the time to fix bugs before releasing something.
I'll check out in 10 years to see if it's usable but for now, back to Ableton, sorry Bitwig.

All-around excellent DAW. Purchased Bitwig not long after seeing the announcement for Ableton Live 10 and being very disappointed. I've been a Live user since Live 7. It's been a great tool, but lacked a lot of workflow features that Bitwig simply nailed. The one flaw in Bitwig is that some of the buttons and functions onscreen aren't clear and can be a bit confusing. I find myself hovering over the buttons a lot to see if it's the function I want. That aside, it's a superb DAW with a great GUI, runs quickly with no crashes (yet) and the modulation possibilities are insanse. It allows for the intuitive and quick workflow of Live with excellent MIDI editing (like FL Studio). I was on the fence when it first launched. Got the demo version and wasn't terribly impressed, but with version 2, it really won me over. Highly recommend Bitwig.

I started using Bitwig 2 after obtaining the Roli Seaboard 49. After a while, I sold the Roli because Bitwig does MPE really easily with a mouse so after learning how it works, I went with the Nektar. Apparently, they need to re-calibrate Nektar to Bitwig 2 as the browser and presets have errors on them and some plugins won't work the same like the Korg Mono/Poly. It was mapped for Bitwig 1. That's really isn't saying much about Bitwig itself as software though. What I can say is that I have just fell right in love with it. The workflow is so well thought of. My favorite part is the clip launcher as it feels like a traditional DAW with automation and recording. Ableton wasn't as easy to use coming from Studio One V3. The Bitwig sampler works great with looping, the filter sounds the best that I have heard on a VST. I am used to Falcon by UVI and have a EMU 6400 Ultra and its quite close to that when it comes to holding the low end. The FX are really well done. Very usable. I also use a lot of UAD plugins so comparing to them, they fit well in the mix and not feeling that I need to purchase any other UAD plugs. Only reason why there is no 10 is because they still have some fixing to do with CPU compared to Studio One 3 which runs Imposcar at 10-15% of my CPU (i7 with 16 gigs of ram) That is even on every mode with Bitwig for Plugins settings. It spikes and it's about 25-50%. However, I don't leave plugins going all day long as I bounce when happy and re-sample if needed. Overall, workflow with Nektar is amazing still and when they fix up everything, itll be that much better but tbh, I use the mouse on things that slow me down with Nektar so its the ebst of both worlds. Programming synths it does amazing and if you save ur presets to bitwig browser then it's like having Komplete Kontrol for Bitwig. Oh, Bitwig Drum Machine, you can load VST Synths into it :D. You should download Bitwig 2 demo, it's a game changer. Very inspiring.

I have owned BitWig since the first day of its release and must admit it was love at first sight. (So you might already see how this review is gonna conclude...).

What BWS provided me was what I had not found in Ableton, a fast workflow that bridged the way I worked in other my other DAWS (Cubase and Reaper) and live performance.

After some time I also found that the native plugs and instruments is really powerful with a lot of functionality and sounds good.

I still use Reaper for tracking (Since its by far the fastest DAW I ever worked with for tracking), but all production, mixing and performance I now do in Bitwig.

I also love the fact that you get three licenses when you buy it so that you can have the Software both on a desktop machine in your studio and on a laptop (plus av bkup-laptop for redundancy) for live performance.

(And a big plus for giving the Linux crowd a really good pro DAW.).

Conclusion:

+ Super fast intuitive workflow.

+ Very good for production, mix and live performance (I still use another DAW for tracking).

+ A lot of good native plugs and instruments. The sampler upgrade in 2.4 as well as the addition of the Phase-4 from 2.3 is great.

+ Good multi-platform support (big plus for Linux).

+ Very good support for a wide variety of controllers and open-source API for scripting new controllers.

+ Plus for giving three licenses for three PCs/MACs when you buy it.

Bitwig shows much promise however still lacks many basic features, multitimbral instruments, VST3 support, MIDI routing, automation tools, grouping, fades... + many more. But what it does do it does extremely well. Awesome modular system with incredible containers. I can't wait for this DAW to come of age and shed it's bugs.

*Disclaimer: I'm a songwriter, producer, and educator. My writing style may read like a billboard ad, but my user review is sincere and authentic. I only appraise a product I consider extraordinary, hence the high rating. I don't work for the developer. In fact, I rarely work at all. :-) I hope you find my review useful. — Tommy Zai

INTRO

Bitwig Studio is a slick new DAW that effectively combines the best features of linear and live-based music production software. It's still a baby at v1, but I'm sure it won't be long before we can call it "full-featured." It boasts a fresh, new coding and has a clean interface that is user friendly and doesn't get in the way of creativity. The inspector is very intelligent and neatly designed. It has three main views (arrangement, mixer, and edit). Experienced eMusic trackers will feel right at home with the relationship between arrange and mix (clip) page, which can appear on the same page or may be toggled between. The relationship between these two views is really tight. The edit view is where you can alter MIDI clips and edit audio. The mixer is easy to configure and is responsive. During my demoing, I discovered all the usual DAW stuff and some pleasant surprises along the way. Bitwig Studio offers many basic workstation features; however, its real strength is in music creation.

FAVORITE FEATURES

• Streamlined application footprint at 300MB.
• Clean interface and fast, but detailed workflow — looks and feels nice.
• Fast loading time and library scan with crash prevention when plugins fail (kept safely and conveniently in individual containers).
• Effective browser and sample clip management.
• Single clips can host multiple audio files, which is great for loop manipulation.
• Clip animation during selection.
• View options play nice together.
• Histogram to illustrate parameter changes in real time.
• "Hybrid" tracks allows users to bounce sections of a MIDI instrument track to audio — very cool.
• Global modulation.
• Assignable LFOs to set up modulation intensity.
• Global overdubs.
• Layered MIDI editing for simultaneous multiple tweaking.
• Jack support.
• Automation.
• Responsive channel strips and VU meters.
• Extremely stable considering it's a v1 release.
• Open API enable scripting options.
• Innovative, energetic developer.

OTHER THOUGHTS

• Track grouping would be a nice feature.
• Rewire would be a nice feature.
• Wish it had a scalable, customizable GUI color scheme option.
• I heard there might be some sort of internet collaboration coming soon.
• Using this DAW did not scare away my muse.

SUMMARY

Bitwig Studio is a dream DAW for any eMusician, producer, DJ, etc., who yearns for a hybrid platform that falls somewhere between the likes of Logic/Cubase and Live — leaning a bit more towards the latter. Bitwig Studio effectively bridges that gap and adds much, more. It does a great job of enabling and inspiring creativity without sucking the life out of it. This DAW is clearly, "Designed by musicians, for musicians." Although this might not be the workstation choice for dedicated old-time, linear chaps, it will certainly appeal to those who are comfy working in a hybrid, loop/clip-based environment. Tommy Zai gives Bitwig Studio two thumbs up. Thank you Bitwig, for creating such a groovy, new DAW. One can only imagine the power packed by later versions.

*I'm sure later updates will bump my rating up and over 10.