Bitwig 5 is up

[pdxindy]

MSEG doesn't excite me, but it seems like they've added some related cool stuff that I might potentially care about. I'll wait for the actual release rather than the beta, but it seems like a good update to me.

So who's ready to speculate about Bitwig 6? Grid containers, including a plugin host?

One of the cool things about the MSEG's is that you can finally make any basic envelope shape you want. Want a 60 second release time? Yes, finally! There are all sorts of simple shapes now possible. MSEG's don't have to be complex shapes with dozens of points. Also, you can MSEG presets

[pdxindy]

The bright point for me is the browser. It's a little different but seems very powerful. Maybe even a bit overkill? I guess better to overkill than underkill.

The rest of the features fall squarely into the don't need or care category.

I find it a little silly they do all these new mseg and curves updates but no updates to how to draw automation, when it is one of the weakest parts of Bitwig. Would have been nice to get some more QOL updates too like maybe scale highlighting in piano roll or proper auto save or something like that.

It wont matter for this update, but all the curve drawing tools and shapes can later be added to automation.

[pdxindy]

really happy they added msegs, drawable wavetables and waveshapers. I don't care about the other things too much, but maybe modulating the mixer could be useful. That seems like a pretty big overhaul which is what makes it worthy of a version 5 update, but I could live without that as automation is fine.

I haven't tested it out... but the MSEG has the option to turn off smoothing (or set the amount of smoothing down to 0.01ms). Which if that works sharply with various automatable parameters can then be used to bypass the automation which is always smoothed (too much imo)

Also, because modulators can now be global, I can have one knob affect a bunch of track levels at once regardless of where they are in a project. I can now have a mod knob that fades one track down and another up. That means you now would only need one automation lane for doing such complex operations!

[pdxindy]

So this update is like bitwig with included LFOTool?

Way beyond that!

[liquidsound]

So this update is like bitwig with included LFOTool?

Way beyond that!

Except for the LFOTool filters

[apoclypse]

I'm not a tinkerer nor do I make experimental stuff. Is it too much to ask to get audio quantization and groove templates at least? I'm sure this update is exciting to some but frankly it's been almost a year between updates (4.3 came out in June of 2022) and this doesn't feel like a years worth of updates to me.

[Jac459]

I am very excited by the new browser but there is something I don't manage to do and I wonder if it is me or normal....

Normally I see in the browser the presets of Serum, Hive 2 and softube Parrallels.
ALL the other plugins presets don't show (phase plant, Pigments, Falcon, Avenger, etc...).

I understand it may be a question of format but is there any solution/workaround?

[poonna]

I believe it's a matter of time until people realize the potentials of project-wide remote control. I can't demo it right now as my plan already ran out, but I think this will enable Bitwig to do many mundane DAW things. It's not as nerdy as it seems.

Just the other days I'd been trying to find a way to compare multiple plugins across multiple tracks. There was a way to switch between them all at once using a combination of FX Selector and global keyboard binding, but it's quite limited. I think project remote control might be able to deal with that more easily.

What about other things it might do outside nerdy stuff? I mentioned these earlier on page 4, but I think people will find a lot more uses for this feature as time progresses.

- VCA fader groups as in Pro Tools or Cubase
- Mass plugin enabling/bypass/selection (with FX Selector)
- Mass preamp gain for those who use preamp or tape plugins across many tracks (probably emulating some of the Mix Engine FX aspects in Studio One?)

These are things that would enhance the workflow for people who mix in Bitwig, not just for modulation madness as it might seem.

It might be fiddly to set up. I don't know yet. As I said, I'm not able to check it out yet until I renew my plan. But I believe a lot of possibilities are there.

[billcarroll]

I'm not a tinkerer nor do I make experimental stuff. Is it too much to ask to get audio quantization and groove templates at least? I'm sure this update is exciting to some but frankly it's been almost a year between updates (4.3 came out in June of 2022) and this doesn't feel like a years worth of updates to me.

Audio quantization and groove templates Would be a cool addition. Have you sent those in as suggestions to Bitwig? They do listen to well reasoned user input

[poonna]

I'm not a tinkerer nor do I make experimental stuff. Is it too much to ask to get audio quantization and groove templates at least? I'm sure this update is exciting to some but frankly it's been almost a year between updates (4.3 came out in June of 2022) and this doesn't feel like a years worth of updates to me.

They improved onset detector in this version. It's directly related to audio quantization. So it might come soon, I hope.

The change to the modulation system affects the whole application, so I think, while it might not seem big to the user, it's really a big internal change to the developer. This kind of changes usually requires a lot of time to refactor and test. It warrants the long downtime it's taken for them to develop, IMO.

[Fannon]

First I was a bit disappointed that they went for the nerdy features again and not the "basics" (I may be missing MIDI comping most).

BUT when reading through the changelogs, I'm impressed. They for sure are true to themself in this regards. They did not make Bitwig better by doing what the others do, they were really thinking how to move Bitwig as a DAW to places where there is no one else yet. What they added in this release is consistent and well thought out with where Bitwig is already good at.

Maybe some more basic functionalities will get added on minor releases yet? One may still hope

[dlandis]

Has anyone actually got it running? I cant (win 11) and I see a few others cant either.
Juts doesn't do anything for me when I click it.

No issues or crashes here at all: Win10 Pro.

I'm thinking that with all the implications that go with MSEGs, transfers and the extensions of the modulators, this is truly a paradigm-broadening upgrade. I think it's going to work out in a really big way. It looks really good.

[jarnold]

Happy that people who've wanted MSEG for so long have got what they wanted. Not a lot here for me though so I'll see what they do over the next few months before looking at renewing again.

[Tj Shredder]

The whole look and feel had been redesigned, that is a huge amount of thought, work and testing to make it consistent and not breaking things.
Its a beta, I bet it still will break things, but its already pretty stable. I am glad my plan is covered until 5.1 comes out… That will be the version with more new toys…
I dislike the new Icon. Too square for me - did they run out of color nuances?

[BobDog]

I'm happy for everyone that wanted MSEGs, this update definitely helps those.

The browser changes look nice to me, modulating the mixer I'm not sure about. Probably a feature not for me unless I'm missing something?

I'm a bit disappointed they didn't add containers and scripting to the grid, seems like such a good idea!

I'm out of my support time now so will wait until 5 is released and then have a good think about upgrading...