Bitwig Studio 3 gets 10 out of 10 from MusicTech Review

[dellboy]

I'm not telling you that you have to like them, or that you should use them for that matter. Ignore them if you wish but try not to make wrong assumptions or statements about them without researching first please.

Actually I do not yet have a Bitwig licence apart from the 8 track version. I have been using the demo which does the job nicely. I assume you have given it a good work out as well on your favorite distro ?

As for researching free Linux DAWs it has been a long time since I gave Rosegarden or Muse etc for a spin. I will do that now and see if much progress has been made since 2005- ish.

Rosegarden and Muse are mostly sequencers that are focused for either score compositions or midi or VST work. A lot of work has been done indeed but their interfaces remain mostly consistent from before as they are more focused on adding functionality and vital features, along with consistency. Up to you if you like them or not.

Didn't know about that Bitwig fact of yours! as for Bitwig itself. Well I tried it and...is just not my thing. I used Bitwig 2 for a little while (which I heard isn't too different from 3 minus the additional plugins and the Grid), and is definitely a DAW that can fit loop-based compositions but also functions just fine as your normal DAW, I think?. But I wasn't a fan of its interface, is definitely colorful and does looks pretty, but is harder for me to find the functions that I want out of all the UI. I'm sure if I gave it a more through use, checked out manuals and so I could, in theory, adapt to it, but I prefer it simpler. However, I know a lot of people like the interface and colors of the DAW along with the way it handles things, so this is just personal preference.

You can try Bitwig on any Debian or Debian-based distro like the Ubuntu family, since the whole thing is shipped on a .deb file iirc. But yeah, I think is a nice DAW for those who like it, definitely another ice-cream flavor to choose from and it comes with a comprehensible amount of stock plugins and content, which for some people is nice as they have everything they may need, and for others not but again, that is just personal preference of each person!

I have just tried Rosegarden, Muse and LMMS in Ubuntu studio and the their GUIs are very much how I remember them. I could not enable audio in any of them even though jack registered their inputs. In contrast Ardour was very easy to get up and running - as is Audacity. As I am an old time musician who records audio into a DAW just about anything would do the job - even Audacity at a push.

I was not a Bitwig fan on windows but if I switched to Linux it would be my first choice. I have a Waveform license, and it would be nice to use that in Linux,but it keeps crashing.

[CasualHobbyist]

@dellboy Ahh! they fit a specific user case/base which is why I told ya they haven't changed much UI-wise, since they are small projects relatively focusing on their own strengths (Rosegarden for scores and VST/Midi and Muse as a combination of taking elements from Musescore with a full DAW itself), strange that you didn't get audio yourself though, you should ask at Linuxmusicians or contact their devs, I'm sure they'll tell you what's wrong with those pretty quickly. In general is recommended to build from source to get full compatibility but compiling is not considered newbie-friendly so give them a call or two, they might help you out.

Good that you got Ardour working on your first try, it is the most popular DAW used on Linux (iirc) so it has a well developed amount of support. If you just record audio, yes, even Audacity should be able to work fine!

Bitwig has recording features but I don't think it was a DAW geared for that? I believe its direction is more about innovation, modular synths, colorful UI, etc. I believe it is possible to work around it to make it function like such though.

[dellboy]

Bitwig has recording features but I don't think it was a DAW geared for that? I believe its direction is more about innovation, modular synths, colorful UI, etc. I believe it is possible to work around it to make it function like such though.

I have no idea where this myth that Bitwig is not a linear DAW came from.

It might not be the first choice for a Pro Tools producer, but it functions extremely well as a standard linear DAW. In fact it boots into linear DAW mode, unlike Ableton which boots into the session (loop) view. The fact that the EDM \ electronica crowd have hitched their wagon to it does not stop it working as a linear DAW.

I am a complete novice with using Bitwig, but I am sure it has most of the basic functions for linear audio or midi recording, If I am wrong perhaps an expert could put me right.

[SLiC]

Bitwig has recording features but I don't think it was a DAW geared for that? I believe its direction is more about innovation, modular synths, colorful UI, etc. I believe it is possible to work around it to make it function like such though.

I have no idea where this myth that Bitwig is not a linear DAW came from.

It might not be the first choice for a Pro Tools producer, but it functions extremely well as a standard linear DAW. In fact it boots into linear DAW mode, unlike Ableton which boots into the session (loop) view. The fact that the EDM \ electronica crowd have hitched their wagon to it does not stop it working as a linear DAW.

I am a complete novice with using Bitwig, but I am sure it has most of the basic functions for linear audio or midi recording, If I am wrong perhaps an expert could put me right.

Bitwig is a linear DAW like Logic and a Loop Based DAW like Live. It is a hybrid!

It works perfectly as a linear DAW - I made a all live instrument linear track just last night and despite owning Studio One and Cubase 10 I still find my self booting up Bigwig as a blank canvas if I am songwriting.

It doesn't have a ton of in depth audio and midi tools, but I cant say I actually missed anything yesterday other than comping (there are ways around this but its a bit of a pain).

As I said a few posts earlier, I expect that if Bitwig continues to develop at he rate it has, it will give a few DAWS that 'only' do linier a run for their money soon....but I also expect that no matter what it added, it wont be enough for some peope

[dellboy]

Bitwig is a linear DAW like Logic and a Loop Based DAW like Live. It is a hybrid!

It works perfectly as a linear DAW - I made a all live instrument linear track just last night and despite owning Studio One and Cubase 10 I still find my self booting up Bigwig as a blank canvas if I am songwriting.

It doesn't have a ton of in depth audio and midi tools, but I cant say I actually missed anything yesterday other than comping (there are ways around this but its a bit of a pain).

As I said a few posts earlier, I expect that if Bitwig continues to develop at he rate it has, it will give a few DAWS that 'only' do linier a run for their money soon....but I also expect that no matter what it added, it wont be enough for some peope

Ah, its missing comping.

Not s deal breaker for me.

[pdxindy]

Bitwig has recording features but I don't think it was a DAW geared for that? I believe its direction is more about innovation, modular synths, colorful UI, etc. I believe it is possible to work around it to make it function like such though.

I have no idea where this myth that Bitwig is not a linear DAW came from.

It might not be the first choice for a Pro Tools producer, but it functions extremely well as a standard linear DAW. In fact it boots into linear DAW mode, unlike Ableton which boots into the session (loop) view. The fact that the EDM \ electronica crowd have hitched their wagon to it does not stop it working as a linear DAW.

I am a complete novice with using Bitwig, but I am sure it has most of the basic functions for linear audio or midi recording, If I am wrong perhaps an expert could put me right.

Plus Bitwig has a solid workflow. It comes with a powerful sampler, some useful instruments, supports MPE, etc.

I'd say that Bitwig is the premium DAW for Linux.

[CasualHobbyist]

Ah, all right then! guess it can work as both then. That gives some flexibility for those who want to have one workflow or the other then.

@pdxindy If by Premium we mean the one with the most stock plugins, sound content and approach to that then yes, Bitwig definitely has the biggest amount of them. I agree, it is akin (or similar) to what Steinberg Cubase is to Linux, or the most similar in terms of content provided I mean.

[SLiC]

Bitwig is a linear DAW like Logic and a Loop Based DAW like Live. It is a hybrid!

It works perfectly as a linear DAW - I made a all live instrument linear track just last night and despite owning Studio One and Cubase 10 I still find my self booting up Bigwig as a blank canvas if I am songwriting.

It doesn't have a ton of in depth audio and midi tools, but I cant say I actually missed anything yesterday other than comping (there are ways around this but its a bit of a pain).

As I said a few posts earlier, I expect that if Bitwig continues to develop at he rate it has, it will give a few DAWS that 'only' do linier a run for their money soon....but I also expect that no matter what it added, it wont be enough for some peope

Ah, its missing comping.

Not s deal breaker for me.

I suspect (*based on no evidence) that we will see some more standard (limier DAW) updates now that the grid is out and working really well...sure, they can add more to the grid over time,. but I think they will switch now to keep all the 'other' types of user happy

Unless of course they go for the 'network' side of Bitwig that was said to be a future feature way back when V1 was launched....

[tapper mike]

In many ways its good that big corporations like NI are not yet targeting LInux. The day all the big corporates move in is the day I move out.

eh?! Why is that? I would be happier if more companies support Linux. It is not under control by a specific company or country, so it is like a global OS. It is not like I feel 'special' when I use Linux

Most likely because releasing to Linux requires you open your source code. Meaning that you are practically giving your software away to anyone who wants to recreate and rebrand it.

[dellboy]

Most likely because releasing to Linux requires you open your source code. Meaning that you are practically giving your software away to anyone who wants to recreate and rebrand it.

Really ?

So is Bitwig for Linux open source ?

Is there no way to have a closed source license on Linux ?

[dakkra]

Most likely because releasing to Linux requires you open your source code. Meaning that you are practically giving your software away to anyone who wants to recreate and rebrand it.

This is false. You can release binaries for linux without needing to provide source code. The reason why many open source projects would rather have you build the binary yourself is so that the user can get the most optimizations out of their machine (provided that their compiler can optimize for their specific platform). But there are several companies out there that provide linux binaries without providing source code (Bitwig being the most obvious in the context of this thread).

There are also some (admittedly odd) cases where the software is open source and the binaries are commercial (Ardour takes the cake on that).

[EnGee]

Guys you need to read more about Linux and the licenses.
Short answers:
There is no obligation to release your source.
Big companies are already making money from Linux (Android).
MS tried to crash Linux years ago but it couldn't. Now they have released some patents to the open source world.
Not even Trump can touch Linux, so that I choose it

[foosnark]

I think Bitwig just found an audience in the modular crowd that would sustain it. Just look at the number of posts about that versus the other features. I also think that’s a primary interest of theirs. As a plain DAW, it still has a ways to go.

I make music with modular, but the grid was approximately 0% of the reason why I decided on Bitwig. I didn't even try the grid until I'd owned the software for a week.

It turns out the grid is actually pretty great for me though, saved me from buying another Eurorack module for a specific usage, but at the same time it convinced me to go for some Expert Sleepers hardware for tighter modular/DAW integration.

I have no idea where this myth that Bitwig is not a linear DAW came from.

It might not be the first choice for a Pro Tools producer, but it functions extremely well as a standard linear DAW. In fact it boots into linear DAW mode...

Funny thing is, when I was trying to teach myself Bitwig I didn't even realize it had the Clip Launcher. I thought it was 100% linear. I wasn't sure I could have it loop a MIDI sequence but put the mix level under hardware control while recording live, etc.

[antic604]

Yet another Bitwig 3 review:

https://synthandsoftware.com/2019/09/re ... -studio-3/

Bitwig Studio’s side-by-side Clip Launcher and Arranger Timeline with drag-and-drop between the two does wonders for productivity. With the addition of The Grid to Bitwig’s already one-of-a-kind ubiquitous modulation system, the program is a wellspring of possibility for adventurous musicians and producers. This software has a way of capturing the hearts of those who try it. The harder trick may be getting them to try it.

So true!

[reggie1979]

Great software, bad owner.