Bitwig Studio 3 gets 10 out of 10 from MusicTech Review

[dellboy]

I thought to try other distributions but first Bitwig was tested on Ubuntu, so this is the recommended one (the normal one, with Unity desktop or Gnome). People has working one with Manjaro (which I liked a lot), but why complicate things. They are all Linux! Just make sure to enable 3rd party when you install Ubuntu and install the nVidia drivers later instead of the xorg ones, otherwise it will keep freezing. This is in the case of nVidia. Other cards, I really don't know. Anyway, Ubuntu has a very nice community and very good resources:

Does Bitwig recommend Ubuntu ?

I have only just noticed that the download states Ubuntu.

[EnGee]

Yes, here:
https://www.bitwig.com/en/support/faq.html

[CasualHobbyist]

@dellboy I personally don't think Bitwig Studio is the only DAW "viable" or "worth bothering" with in the whole Linuxscape, as ALL the other DAWs available there have something to offer and do quite well. That being said, if it's the only viable or worth bothering for you, great! so long as we don't generalize opinions as facts.

In general, I feel BItwig is a..particular piece of work. Is definitely not a bad DAW, it has a rather different approach to do things, and the things it does well (modularity, grid, etc.) are quite "innovative" I suppose? I imagine it works quite well for loop-based tracks or composers who aim for electronic music such as dubstep or modern techno. Not my kind of thing personally but I do appreciate that the company has made the effort to have it crossported (then again, I heard a rumor this was programmed originally on a Linux machine and then ported over)

As for NI porting their plugins on Linux. Hmm...that's a hard one, mostly because they don't seem like the kind of company who embraces change or would pay their developers to port their software over Linux. I imagine a lot of business inquiries have to be done in order to do this and the like. It is mostly smaller companies that actually port their stuff over to Linux (like Overtone or uhe plugins)

[dellboy]

@dellboy I personally don't think Bitwig Studio is the only DAW "viable" or "worth bothering" with in the whole Linuxscape, as ALL the other DAWs available there have something to offer and do quite well. That being said, if it's the only viable or worth bothering for you, great! so long as we don't generalize opinions as facts.

In general, I feel BItwig is a..particular piece of work. Is definitely not a bad DAW, it has a rather different approach to do things, and the things it does well (modularity, grid, etc.) are quite "innovative" I suppose? I imagine it works quite well for loop-based tracks or composers who aim for electronic music such as dubstep or modern techno. Not my kind of thing personally but I do appreciate that the company has made the effort to have it crossported (then again, I heard a rumor this was programmed originally on a Linux machine and then ported over)

As for NI porting their plugins on Linux. Hmm...that's a hard one, mostly because they don't seem like the kind of company who embraces change or would pay their developers to port their software over Linux. I imagine a lot of business inquiries have to be done in order to do this and the like. It is mostly smaller companies that actually port their stuff over to Linux (like Overtone or uhe plugins)

I agree, my answer was subjective, and their may be other DAWs that are viable for others on Linux.

Ardour is ok. So is Reaper. I own Tracktion Waveform but it crashes in Linux on my machine. I also own Energyxt, but that is dead and I could not get Alsa working.

Are we left with any othe viable candidates ?

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.

[EnGee]

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

[antic604]

Makes you realise just how much has been added since V2!!

Yup! We don't appreciate it enough

https://www.bitwig.com/en/previous_releases

[CasualHobbyist]

@dellboy "Viable" is always going to be a subjective word that depends on what you're going to do with the DAW itself. One of the posters in this thread https://linuxmusicians.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=20362 does manages a nice resume about what each of the DAWs in Linux do well (Renoise if you're into trackers, Qtractor for midi or VST sequencing, LMMS if you want something with an UI similar to FL while providing its own thing, etc.), all of them are viable and good enough depending on what you want to do with them or if you prefer the workflow of one over the other, basically, picking ice-cream flavors.

Big companies entering into Linux wouldn't really affect it much actually. They can either opt in or opt out, and technically speaking, it's been awhile since they've entered or contributed to Linux itself (Google, Samsung, even MS themselves, etc.) but nobody can control or tell Linux how to behave, that's the reason why so many distributions of it exist, all of which following different philosophies or bases to go on through.

I welcome more companies adding plugins compatibility but big companies move very slowly and take decisions based on the "big man" or they need someone to respond to, they take ages to react to new changes in short.

[pdxindy]

There's no support of Native Instruments Reaktor on Linux...that's another one to add to my previous list... that would be a huge hole I'd miss with having many plugin ensembles I've bought in addition to those available vie NI's user library and the huge number I've downloaded over the years, if I ever did consider using Linux as an alternative platform.

Is the grid a viable alternative to Reactor ?

I own NI Komplete and have been messing with Bitwig on Linux and I not missed it. A lot of the appeal for me is to downsize and declutter and just use native Linux stuff.

Reaktor is a full development environment. The Grid would be more comparable to Reaktor Blocks... not exactly... but more like that

[dellboy]

@dellboy "Viable" is always going to be a subjective word that depends on what you're going to do with the DAW itself. One of the posters in this thread https://linuxmusicians.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=20362 does manages a nice resume about what each of the DAWs in Linux do well (Renoise if you're into trackers, Qtractor for midi or VST sequencing, LMMS if you want something with an UI similar to FL while providing its own thing, etc.), all of them are viable and good enough depending on what you want to do with them or if you prefer the workflow of one over the other, basically, picking ice-cream flavors.

Big companies entering into Linux wouldn't really affect it much actually. They can either opt in or opt out, and technically speaking, it's been awhile since they've entered or contributed to Linux itself (Google, Samsung, even MS themselves, etc.) but nobody can control or tell Linux how to behave, that's the reason why so many distributions of it exist, all of which following different philosophies or bases to go on through.

I welcome more companies adding plugins compatibility but big companies move very slowly and take decisions based on the "big man" or they need someone to respond to, they take ages to react to new changes in short.

The trouble with free DAWs is that they are free.

None of the ones mentioned hold any appeal to me because they all look dated and progess at a snails pace, if at all. Ardour is ok, and can be used professionally apparently, but is boring.

Bitwig is dynamic and new and works out of the box on Linux. It can do linear audio, in fact that is how I have been testing it on Linux. It also does loop recording and the resulting clips can be dragged onto the time line and used in a linear way.

Tracking is something I never understood on the Amiga.

[dellboy]

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

So if Google, Microsoft,Apple Facebook became big time interested in Linux it would remain the same ?

Linux is about free.

Big corporations exist to monetise and control.

[CasualHobbyist]

@dellboy "The trouble with free DAWs is that they are free"...so is Linux, and all of its DEs, and many of its components, etc. There is absolutely no problem with this.

"None of the ones mentioned hold any appeal to me because they all look dated and progess at a snails pace, if at all" There is a common Japanese proverb, "hana yori dango" which describes functionality/practicality over aesthetics, besides, beauty is in the eye of the beholder (Considering REAPER, that's not surprising) and imo they all look fine. Also, wrong, very wrong. All of the ones I mentioned (and in that thread too) have been progressing quite lately, evolving and adapting quite well. Qtractor got its last update literally the last month, the others got updates this year and are planning features or updates as well. The reason why you don't hear about them is because they don't have marketing companies or magazines publishing their features over and over like some companies do. (Ardour may be fairly "boring" (I consider it fun though), but it does the job well and looks really nice if you ask me, also, all other DAWs can be used professionally if you want too)

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. After all, if you're comfortable with your current DAW, well, keep using it, is yours after all and is the one you feel most comfortable with. (All people like or use different DAWs after all!)

Can't tell you much about Renoise though, I have no experience with that DAW, or trackers for the matter, people swear by it so it must be as good as the others, only with a particular workflow.

To the topic of plugins once more, it is true only the smaller companies are working on those. Perhaps the day you see Image-Line or Steinberg shifting their attention to the other platform may produce some change but I doubt it myself, change is slow in those companies anyway. Companies (Big-sized, some of them) have recently though been more comfortable when it comes to making their own stuff available on Linux, again, some of them. This may indicate some change in the future.

[pdxindy]

I could be pretty happy on Linux since there is Bitwig and u-he plugins. I would miss Valhalla reverbs.

[Passing Bye]

I could be pretty happy on Linux since there is Bitwig and u-he plugins. I would miss Valhalla reverbs.

Me too, another huge plus is that RME cards are supported, would be cool if someone like FabFilter joined too, that would seriously did it for me.

[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.

[CasualHobbyist]

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!