Tracktion 12 Free or Bitwig 8-Track for homerecording newbie?

[deaf80]

Hi folks! I'd like to start recording music at home and I'm trying to decide on some DAW.
The music I'd like to record is electric guitar with elements of electronic music.

I started working with Tracktion Free and I really liked it (user interface, clarity, price ) and have recorded some experiments with audio and MIDI clips but recently I encountered significant audio engine stability issues (discussed here viewtopic.php?t=586576) and so after some investigation on the internet I got the Bitwig 8-Tracks which is even more eye-candy (I just like it) and reportedly more stable.

I have collected some free 3rd party VSTs to start with (Stochas sequencer, Spitfire Audio LABS with some drums, pads, etc., Surge XT synth) and one could spend a century getting new ones so I started wondering if maybe it would make it easier for person like me to focus on tools provided by DAW and if so - which DAW out of those two deliver better (easier to use?) tools.
If I go more serious I can pay for the Bitwig 16-tracks or Waveform Pro license, it's just now that I want to use free tools to see if that's for me.
If that doesn't matter, fine, I will understand such comment, what I would like to avoid is learning one DAW to have to leave for another one due to some silly limitation or just lack of vendor/community support.

[Watchful]

For what you're describing, either should work so you should experiment with both. The biggest difference is in the number of tracks. If you can work with 8-tracks, Bitwig should be great. If you need more, you'll either need either Waveform or pay for Bitwig's 16-track version.

Or you might try Cakewalk.

Or you might keep the free ones and get comfortable switching between both as you need to.

[Danilo Villanova]

If one crashes and the other doesn't it should be pretty obvious. Although BW 8-track is pretty limited though, maybe Cakewalk, as mentioned by Watchful. It's actually pretty nice and stable. It looks pretty nice with the 'Apple Scruffs' UI theme (you can get it from their forum).



EDIT: photo.

[anxiousmofo]

Cakewalk by Bandlab. Or Reaper. But the first one is actually free. Some spent relative shit tons of money before it became free so take advantage of that investment.

[pdxindy]

If one crashes and the other doesn't it should be pretty obvious.

Stability would decide it for me.

I updated Tracktion (later Waveform) for years but it always remain crash-prone. I finally gave up on it.

[syntonica]

Traktion/Waveform is nice in theory, but it's always acted pretty dodgy for me. Bitwig is excellent, if limited. Ableton Lite is capable, as well as the Cubase Lite (I forget what it's called.) You always get something bundled with your hardware.

However, I'd save my pennies for an under $100 proggie: Mulab, Studio One Lite (I forget what it's called. ), etc. Both offer incredible value with the extra plugins. The free ones tend to be overly limited.

(No opinion here on Cakewalk, which is PC only.)

[dupont]

I DL waveform 12 free yesterday and had a crash to desktop on mac when I assigned a modifier to a plugin parameter.
This was the same issue with W10, W11 ... crash fest.
On the contrary, I got a licence for the full Bitwig version last year, I have used it for techno live gigs with an with an APC 40, intensively in the studio, never had a crash...
I also uses Reaper, it is rock solidand has a quid of perpetual free full version, after 30 days (or 90 I don't remember), you only have to close the pop up window which ask you to purchase a licence. If you close this window, Reaper is ready. Of course, you can purchase the licence wich is worth and cheap.

So my advice if you are on a budget :
1-Reaper "free" (you can purchase the cheap licence later to support the devs), no limits
2-Bitwig 8 but you will have 8 tracks limitation of course.

Note : if you are on mac, garage band is free.

[ElVincente]

Bitwig will give you good synth and sampler to play with, but no amp sim. But yeah, rock solide and very creative when you start playing with modulations.
Reaper IS ultra powerfull too but it has it's learning curve. Almost no synth nor ampsim with it, but you can search for all those jsfx the community has written for it.

[deaf80]

Bitwig will give you good synth and sampler to play with, but no amp sim. But yeah, rock solide and very creative when you start playing with modulations.
Reaper IS ultra powerfull too but it has it's learning curve. Almost no synth nor ampsim with it, but you can search for all those jsfx the community has written for it.

Thanks!
For amp sims I already have my plugins (Bias FX2, Amplitube, NeuralDSP) so the DAW doesn't need to come with ones. Basically for synths I also have a few of them already but if there's a good stock one it'd be great.
One thing I will miss in Bitwig is comping that only comes with full version of Bitwig and Waveform Free does have it. Bitwig full version is way beyond my budget unfortunately

[Watchful]

You can always comp in Waveform and pull the rendered tracks into Bitwig. You're never required to use only one tool for everything.

[jens]

The non-full versions of Bitwig do not have comping/multi-take recording, so for someone recording a lot of guitar they're pretty much off the table. I'd say...

[jens]

You can always comp in Waveform and pull the rendered tracks into Bitwig. You're never required to use only one tool for everything.

Why would someone who is really aiming to be productive go through the immense hassle of this?

[jens]

Btw.: strange that nobody mentioned Studio One Prime yet...

https://www.presonus.com/produkte/de/st ... -vergleich

[Danilo Villanova]

Btw.: strange that nobody mentioned Studio One Prime yet...

https://www.presonus.com/produkte/de/st ... -vergleich

Why would someone who is really aiming to be productive go through the immense hassle of a DAW with no VST support?

[jens]

Because it already includes everything you need to start being productive?

I am convinced that if there is any correlation between using - and especially hoarding - VSTs and productivity it's most probably rather a negative one for most peeps.