Bitwig 8-Track "free" with CM Magazine.

[shidostrife]

Also Am I the only person who has Soundbridge and Ardour downloaded as well? lol

I have soundbridge installed lol

[Russell Grand]

Computer Music seem to be deliberately obtuse when it comes to their plugins. Sure, they are very generous with what they give away, but finding out what they are 'giving away' is the trick.

I spent a couple of hours researching this. I cut my losses. I no longer care. I'm bored. I'm kind of sickened in fact of Bitwig and I haven't even used it yet! (I did use it on Linux a while back...)

One good thing about Computer Music and the software though is that you can buy it for 3.99 from the internet! Saves a couple of quid from the hard copy and you get it instantly.

You do, however, have to download the whole shebang these days (about 2 Gigs) to get the software to wade through to see what is on there. They give you enough info to tease you, but you'll never really really know until you suck it and see.

After a couple of hours I came to the conclusion that this version of Bitwig is a 8 track version of V2. As opposed to V1. Who knows? Bitwig aren't saying. CM aren't saying. Best just buy the mag and find out eh?

It's a really good setup that CM have these days with the updated 'Vault' or 'Silo'. But the lack of transparency will just drive people away out of virtue of the fact it's bloody annoying. Having to download 2GB files as well just to get a 600KB .dll will irk some also.

I thought it was pretty cool getting Thorn and U-he Bazille and Dune for the price of a beer, plus dozens of other plugins.

CM need to lose the fear. Become more transparent. It's a pretty unique business model as far as I can tell. But no, I'm not going to spend another 2 hours trying to work out why this version of 8-track Bitwig is different from the 8-track Bitwig I can download from their website.

Computer Music has come along in the last couple of years. I'll check back in, in 2020 to see if it's improved again.

Missed opportunities. Great distribution mechanism.

But let's keep it a secret.

This lack of transparency has to be by design and not accident.

Lose the fear. You would sell much more software if people knew what was in the bloody downloads. It's not supposed to be a xmas cracker!

For what purpose would Computer Music be deliberately obtuse about what they offer (for free)? Besides, they advertise what's new in each issue...on the front cover. Sure, they don't constantly list every single plugin that's in their vault month after month, but that doesn't scream "deliberately obtuse" to me.

[toonertik]

Well Mr Grand,
when I read codec_spurt's post... I just went

Quote C-S "After a couple of hours I came to the conclusion that this version of Bitwig is a 8 track version of V2. As opposed to V1. Who knows? Bitwig aren't saying. CM aren't saying. Best just buy the mag and find out eh?" .
Ermm... the mag's cover "Bitwig studio 2 8-Track
took me about 10 mins to find out, quick trip ti BW site, read on comparison chart>> done!!!
As for the rest... don't we all love conspiracy theories
oh the speculation

[future-bit]

Bitwig 8-Track is too limited. I tried and deleted.

Reason 10 Lite is better. No restrictions in RE and VST. Yes, a little less than native plug-ins, but most importantly, you have Thor, Europa, Kong, both samplers and other powerful plug-ins.

Yes, there are also restrictions on the number track - also 8. But with the help of the Matrix sequencer, you can have an unlimited number of mono tracks.

Only, Reason 10 Lite is harder to get - you need AKAI or Korg equipment. Or buy here for a few dollars. But still, this is better than Bitwig 8-Track.

[Bug Music]

Well, curiosity got the better of me and I got my serial # from CM and downloaded Bitwig 8-Track.
It crashes on every launch, right after the splash screen comes up.
Looking through the crash logs it looks like the crashes are caused by Java errors.

Do I seriously need to install Java to run this ?
Java is not listed as a system requirement that I could see anywhere on the Bitwig site.

I think that the last serious program that I needed Java for it to to run, also required 64K of protected memory, a 286 or better, and maybe even an active AOL account (this was back around 1986 I think).

Maybe I'm totally wrong here, but I don't do Java on this machine, I mean it is 2018 after all.

- Jay

[toonertik]

It does indeed use JRE... this it installs in it's own folder structure and for me is well behaved (well as much as Java can be) I do not have the normal Java on my machine.
BTW, I don't remember Java back in 1980's.. was more early/mid 1990's
So answer NO you don't have to have the Java run time installed.
Can't think why your's has errors, maybe just a bad install

[duskhoax]

I dont understand the mentality of "well my storage space and time costs me so dont call it free'. I got a free couch and I needed to go get it and its sitting in my studio. It folds out flat like a bed and its red and flakey. Stairs were a bit tricky but yknow.

Just have fun and see what the program does, push things around and modulate things and whatnot and see how it works to explore. Someone can buy it with a "free" magazine thrown in for a few bucks. That seems pretty rad, its a fun toy (reduced featureset still seems good tbh) for the price of an indie game, or some beers (unless you brew your own). And a way to save money if the features dont hold up to your gearlust filled imagination. If someone wants a free fully featured program and expects the developers to acquiesce to that demand then just let people who are willing to support them developing the program do so.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

For starters it's not free I pay $5 every month for the magazine. Also storage space and time spent is not free.

But from the sounds of it, it sounds like it's too cut down for me to enjoy. I already got Ableton10 lite with 8 tracks, and StudioOne 4 artists edition that has unlimited tracks but doesn't allow any 3rd party vsts which makes both of them useless to me.

Anybody who needs a free DAW needs to look no further then Cakewalk and Traktion. I bought Waveform9 because I liked Traktion so much. And Reaper is $60 and probably worth atleast 3 times that considering everything it comes with and how powerful it is.

Too cut down for you to enjoy? These aren't intended to be free daw's for you to enjoy, but limited setups which are designed to give you enough to learn the workflow over an extended time-period, in a way that a short, full, demo cannot. It is not designed to be a free, full daw. Although, as has been correctly pointed out, there is enough provided to make great music, should you so desire.

It saves a lot of hassle. Either the workflow doesn't click, and the user saves shelling out a lot of money, or the user ends up really diggin' the program and decides to buy in.

Neither Tracktion, nor Cakewalk offer a similar workflow to what Bitwig offers, so aren't really worth comparing.

[Bug Music]

It does indeed use JRE... this it installs in it's own folder structure and for me is well behaved (well as much as Java can be) I do not have the normal Java on my machine.
BTW, I don't remember Java back in 1980's.. was more early/mid 1990's
So answer NO you don't have to have the Java run time installed.
Can't think why your's has errors, maybe just a bad install

Thanks for the reply !
OK maybe it was a bit of exaggeration but it's been many, many years since I was forced to install Java to run anything I needed to run (thinking of OpenOffice I needed for work, late '80's maybe early '90's).

But, if as you say this installs it's own JRE engine, without the need for an external Java install then my problem must lie somewhere else.
I went so far as to emptying my entire VST and VST3 folders, thinking maybe a plugin was causing a crash during the initial scanning, but still no joy.

Couldn't get past the splash screen, so I deleted it and gave up.
Oh well, as I said it was just curiosity, I already have a couple of DAW's I'm happy with and wanted to see what Bitwig was like.

Thanks again for the resopnse !

- Jay

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

Live Lite is just as limited, no?

No.

It doesn't restrict the amount of VSTs you can use. That's a pretty severe limitation on top of a limited track count.

Oh I agree, sprn. I didn't realize Lite allows unlimited VSTs but since they do, Bitwig is foolish to place such a limitation on their own intro product.

Foolish?

Many users such as myself, who already own a primary daw, find that Ableton Lite is the perfect addition to our workflow, as it offers enough that we need to upgrade the product. So, if you are going to call anyone foolish (should you so need), then perhaps aim the insult at Ableton, as they are no doubt losing sales.

For a long-established company like Ableton, it's probably not going to affect them negatively. Could be very different for a much younger company to lose sales by providing a tool that offers just enough for those who already run another daw, to never have to pay.

[toonertik]

Thanks again for the resopnse !

- Jay

Sorry we couldn't get it working for you, as it has a few interesting tricks going on.
Like you, I have other main DAWs for different tasks.. and this could be a decent addition for some Bitwig specific action (think the modulators).

Colin.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

.. and this could be a decent addition for some Bitwig specific action (think the modulators).

Indeed! And the effects within effects feedback loops thingie One day, I'll put some time into learning it

[SLiC]

You seem to think that it is a logical fallacy for someone who owns a lot of equipment to think that you do not need to own a lot of equipment to make good music. Implying that I am a hypocrite (I can only assume that is what you are implying by constantly repeating the phrase 'straw man' like a mantra) because I own a lot of gear whilst saying 8 tracks will be useful/enough for some people (as will the cheap upgrade to the full version) is you opinion and you are welcome to it.

If all I had was Bitwig 8-Track, Bazille, RePro, a guitar and a Mic, I could make very satisfying music.

What people mean when they call it useless is that it is not as convenient as they want it to be. The entitlement is amazing. There is an unending amount of quality software that is free or inexpensive. There is essentially no real limitation these days, and still there is so much complaining.

I could not agree more. It’s like, If the free version did XY and Z then i could do what I need without buying the software.....I am pretty sure that is what Bitwig are trying to avoid in their business model.

I could understand it if there wasn’t a full demo to try but there is, so you don’t need a free version to evaluate the software and no one is forcing anyone to download this free software if the limitations don’t suit you.

I do get the calls for a 3rd way, say a paid 99usd version that is full but say limited to 16 tracks, Cubase has a lot of versions and you can probably find a price to features ratio to suit you, but Bitwig are a very small company and this complicated their delivery model, right now you may be better picking up a bargain licence on KVR!

[Grumbleweed]

What a thread! If installing the program infected your computer with a virus then there would be something to gripe about - otherwise what's the problem? It's not a DAW - it's a taster of a DAW.
I install most of the free content I get from my subscribed copy of Computer Music but figured it wasn't worth doing this month as I don't want to waste my brain cells on it.
If I was to criticise CM mag it would be for SynthMasterCM. It's a buggy piece of poo that hasn't done them, or the developer, any favours as far as I'm concerned.
Carry on.....

[toonertik]

.. and this could be a decent addition for some Bitwig specific action (think the modulators).

Indeed! And the effects within effects feedback loops thingie One day, I'll put some time into learning it

Effects within effects loops thingy.. thhanx for the heads up on that... One day.. tick tock, slow down the clock