Bitwig 5 is up

[pdxindy]

You could argue that Ableton have had a bit of a PUSH to get things out lately

Joking aside its been 2.5 years since Live 11 came out...take a look how much 'new' stuff Bitwig have pushed out in 2.5 years (Live is now 11.3 but the 3 point updates in Live are mainly improvements rather than new stuff other than 'Drift' synth and adding 'cloud' both to support PUSH I suspect)

Either way- It's not a zero sum game, I have Live and Bitwig and love that both are being developed or improved at a rapid pace, I am especially pleased how all in Ableton are with MPE now. Being impartial as a user of both I would say most of Lives big developments in the last few years have been catching up on some of Bitwigs features (MPE, probability stuff) but they are still miles behind on modulation accessibility, in clip editing functions and of course the browser....I suspect most of Lives short term innovation will now be driven by PUSH 3 and that may of course also help people who don't use PUSH...

I haven't paid much attention to the specifics of recent Live updates, but my impression is that Live is doing an excellent job.

I'm satisfied with the direction and speed of development of Bitwig. I'm sure I would be satisfied with Live too.

The main thing I would wish for with live is that they implement recording midi channel data per note. That is still a significant limitation for MPE. There are ways that I use my MPE controllers that in Live will not necessarily play back what I originally recorded. I depend on recorded channel data all the time in Bitwig. Other than that, I am very happy to see Ableton focusing on MPE support. That is good for everyone who is into MPE regardless of whether they use Live.

[simmo75]

Bitwigs been really buggy, and seems like they’re lacking some inspiration too, with the lackluster updates. I’m using Live more and more again, and really noticing how improved Live has become lately.

Are you mixing stable releases and beta versions? Bitwig is rock solid on its stable releases

For your point that Bitwig has lackluster updates, it is clearly not the general consensus here, why don't you phrase your post in a way that makes it more evident that it is your own opinion and not the absolute reality?
Anyway, enjoy ableton, it is a good DAW too.

I’m referring to the beta’s, I should’ve said that.
And all I said was my opinion, I have no idea what the opinion of others is.
My opinion is that Bitwig’s development seems stagnant, compared to that of Live’s lately.

I am totally respectful of your opinion even if mine is opposite. I just wanted to precise for people new to this forum that it was not a general consensus.

I’m sure people can make up there own mind.
As a Bitwig User, I’m always going to air my mind.

[pdxindy]

After several weeks now, I think 5 is a crazy update with countless new possibilities.
I'm a longtime cubase, live and bitwig user and the last bitwig update is the biggest step I've seen in years.

...I even start to like the new browser.

I mainly use key commands for the popup browser. Now, anything can be reached at any time, including presets and its blazing fast. For key command use, the new browser is a huge improvement over the old one!

[BobDog]

...
The main thing I would wish for with live is that they implement recording midi channel data per note. That is still a significant limitation for MPE. There are ways that I use my MPE controllers that in Live will not necessarily play back what I originally recorded. I depend on recorded channel data all the time in Bitwig. Other than that, I am very happy to see Ableton focusing on MPE support. That is good for everyone who is into MPE regardless of whether they use Live.

I'm pretty sure they will never do this, enough people have hassled them repeatedly about it and they have done nothing, I have given up now (hassling them not using Live).

[Tulihenki]

Izotope's Iris2 is crashing here with Bitwig. In Reaper its fine. Does anyone else happen to have Iris2 and can test it?

[Jac459]

Izotope's Iris2 is crashing here with Bitwig. In Reaper its fine. Does anyone else happen to have Iris2 and can test it?

It was working in 4.x, I will give it a try tomorrow....

[Tulihenki]

Izotope's Iris2 is crashing here with Bitwig. In Reaper its fine. Does anyone else happen to have Iris2 and can test it?

It was working in 4.x, I will give it a try tomorrow....

Hi! Just tested with beta version 8 and not crashing!

[pdxindy]

...
The main thing I would wish for with live is that they implement recording midi channel data per note. That is still a significant limitation for MPE. There are ways that I use my MPE controllers that in Live will not necessarily play back what I originally recorded. I depend on recorded channel data all the time in Bitwig. Other than that, I am very happy to see Ableton focusing on MPE support. That is good for everyone who is into MPE regardless of whether they use Live.

I'm pretty sure they will never do this, enough people have hassled them repeatedly about it and they have done nothing, I have given up now (hassling them not using Live).

You may be right... and they have now invested a lot of effort into working around it, which makes it even less likely.

I'm so glad Bitwig listened to all of us who mastered them about it and midi channel support. It's so useful!

[Teksonik]

The browser is still a mess in Beta 7. I sent in yet another bug report.
It got me to thinking....my BUP which I received with my original purchase is good until July 3rd but if I had paid for a year of BUP I would basically have paid them to beta test and bug hunt their software. That just rubs me the wrong way.

If you don't want to test betas, then don't. Nobody is forcing you to do it.

But if we don't do it then they're not going to catch the bugs. It's obvious that their internal beta team (if the even have one) is not catching these bugs because we are catching them.

If we leave it to them the bugs will never be fixed and now they're calling Beta 8 a "Release Candidate" while the Browser is still buggier than a Florida swamp.

Look I get it, you're loyal to BW and that's fine but blind loyalty serves no one. The developer or the end users.

[SLiC]

Izotope's Iris2 is crashing here with Bitwig. In Reaper its fine. Does anyone else happen to have Iris2 and can test it?

Works fine for me (Win 11)

[SLiC]

If we leave it to them the bugs will never be fixed and now they're calling Beta 8 a "Release Candidate" while the Browser is still buggier than a Florida swamp.

What are the bugs that remain out of interest, I haven't really tested beta 8 yet...

[BobDog]

I’m a bit confused with the release candidate label, where does that come from? When I installed the update on my Mac it didn’t say that.

[Teksonik]

saying you don't care about modulations as a bitwig user is like saying you don't like meat in a barbecue party... blasphemy....

It's because I'm a musician not a producer. I care more about composition than modulation. I'll leave modulation for the kids to play with.

It is factually unrealistic to hope that a software as complex as Bitwig (or any DAW) will work straight out of the box with your computer, your midi setup, your VSTs, your audio card without beta.

I have been a private Alpha and Beta tester for several DAWs. I know how the whole thing works....or at least the way it should work.

Sure, no software is 100% bug free even after extensive private testing but no developer I know of just expects their user base to do all the beta testing for them and then pay them for the privilege of doing it (well maybe IK Multimedia is an exception but then they don't have a paid update plan where the users are expected to pay then work for free as beta testers)

But there should not be any major zero hour bugs getting past the private testing and left for the user base to discover mere minutes after installing the public beta. Yes it happens, but no it shouldn't.

Their New Browser is a buggy mess and they're calling Beta 8 a release candidate.

The performance of Bitwig (the company) is amateurish in my opinion and that opinion is based on decades of experience.

I realize that opinion triggers the fan base but it is what it is.....

[pdxindy]

I’m a bit confused with the release candidate label, where does that come from? When I installed the update on my Mac it didn’t say that.

It's not a release candidate. Someone's confused (and it's not you).

[pdxindy]

If we leave it to them the bugs will never be fixed and now they're calling Beta 8 a "Release Candidate" while the Browser is still buggier than a Florida swamp.

What are the bugs that remain out of interest, I haven't really tested beta 8 yet...

There's not much left as far as confirmed bugs. I was not able to reproduce Teksonik's issues. They may have something specific to their setup going on like corrupted preferences. I was having similar issues in previous betas but not in Beta 8. It's getting there, but there are still a number of outstanding bugs in other areas.

Neither in my account nor in the changelog is beta 8 called a release candidate.