Bitwig Studio 5 Released (good news for 16 track users as well)

[musicproducerdee]

Bitwig Studio 5 just dropped.

Release notes: https://downloads.bitwig.com/5.0/Release-Notes-5.0.html

Bitwig now available in 3 editions: Essentials, Producer & Studio

Bitwig Studio will remain the top of the line flagship product, followed by Producer & Essentials.

The good thing is that there are no track limitations on any version, yes, even on essentials.

16-Track will no longer be available for purchase
All Bitwig Studio 16-Track users with an active Upgrade Plan (registered in the last 12 months) are eligible for a free upgrade to Bitwig Studio Producer. 16-Track will continue to work, and 16-Track Upgrade Plans remain active — but users won't be able to renew them when they expire. There are also special upgrade offers for those who own older versions of 16-Track. Log in to your user account to learn more.

So, for anyone using 16 track version and has an active plan, gets unlimited tracks for free

[fedexnman]

Yeah really the Essentials doesn't seem like a bad deal $79 .

[Korg Supporter]

I just bought the EDU version from KVR for $180! Doing FX per voice using instrument layers in the instrument selector is so freaking cool! For example, in each layer, I have a monophonic instance of Charlatan that goes through Echobode in MIDI mode. When I round-robin the duplicated layers, I now have a polyphonic sideband synth!

[ralfrobert]

Yeah really the Essentials doesn't seem like a bad deal $79 .

Very little restrictions when used with external plugins for mixing.

[jonljacobi]

Eff me. Up to version 5 (I had the original beta release), and the zoom/scroll algorithm for the ruler is still finicky, undo still undoes every take of a looped recording, onset markers are barely visible, and there's no way to add stretch markers en masse. "Studio"?

[muzicxs]

undo still undoes every take of a looped recording

If it are already takes, why would you want to undo? You could just pick the take you're happy with and bounce the clip.

[fedexnman]

Yeah really the Essentials doesn't seem like a bad deal $79 .

Very little restrictions when used with external plugins for mixing.

Yes ... For someone that wants a cheap clip launcher or scratchpad and feels limited by Live lite or intro this seems like the ticket .

[jonljacobi]

undo still undoes every take of a looped recording

If it are already takes, why would you want to undo? You could just pick the take you're happy with and bounce the clip.

Because most of the time, I know the take I want when I hear it, and only want to undo the last partial take that starts before I can stop. CMD+Z is much quicker than dragging the partial take's edge back, or perusing takes as you suggest.

[? ? ?]

The only reason I would consider buying Bitwig is for it's modular features (the Grid part).
Checking into the version comparison chart, it looks like the Producer version has enough features where one could dive into some deep modular experiments? Can any experienced Grid users confirm this?

EDIT: Just double checked and saw there's no FX and no Note Grid for the Producer version. Isn't that a big chunk of using the Grid's capabilitieas lost with those limitations?

[muzicxs]

Because most of the time, I know the take I want when I hear it, and only want to undo the last partial take that starts before I can stop. CMD+Z is much quicker than dragging the partial take's edge back, or perusing takes as you suggest.

You can get that behaviour if you start using the "Post Record Action: Record into Next Free Slot". When you record a looped region, every take will become a clip. By pressing undo, you'll only undo the last recorded clip.

bitwig-post-record-action.jpg

[elnn]

Because most of the time, I know the take I want when I hear it, and only want to undo the last partial take that starts before I can stop. CMD+Z is much quicker than dragging the partial take's edge back, or perusing takes as you suggest.

You can get that behaviour if you start using the "Post Record Action: Record into Next Free Slot". When you record a looped region, every take will become a clip. By pressing undo, you'll only undo the last recorded clip.

bitwig-post-record-action.jpg

You can recreate an additive synth using a bunch of subtractive synths as well. I hyperbolize, but you get what I mean.

[JustBoots]

AUTO-ADMIN: Non-MP3, WAV, OGG, SoundCloud, YouTube, Vimeo, Twitter and Facebook links in this post have been protected automatically. Once the member reaches 5 posts the links will function as normal.

Any opinions about the new Essentials vs Producer editions?
I was about to buy 16-track and then they pulled that right from under my nose.
Apart from the unlimited tracks the Producer edition is what 16-track used to be.

I'm just starting to explore electronic music production and I'm also interested in sound design.

https://www.bitwig.com/feature-list/ (https://www.bitwig.com/feature-list/)

[fedexnman]

Yeah , I want to get the cheapest version Essentials , because I use 3rd party VSTs effects and instruments . But I wonder what's the limit in this ? Does it have drum racks and the sampler ? I just don't want it to be like a Live Lite or intro .... What do you guys think of Essentials ???

[musicproducerdee]

Yeah , I want to get the cheapest version Essentials , because I use 3rd party VSTs effects and instruments . But I wonder what's the limit in this ? Does it have drum racks and the sampler ? I just don't want it to be like a Live Lite or intro .... What do you guys think of Essentials ???

It does have the sampler, although multisample editing is not supported, if that's useful to you. It does have the Drum Machine as well, if that's what you mean by drum racks.
Check out the feature list here: https://www.bitwig.com/feature-list/

[muzicxs]

You can recreate an additive synth using a bunch of subtractive synths as well. I hyperbolize, but you get what I mean.

For sure, I fully understand, but let's be clear. There's not a single DAW that fits like a glove for every single feature. Only the author can decide which compromises he's willing to make. But either way he will need to compromise something. For not choosing Bitwig he will compromise on modulations. Whether that's something he can live with is up to him.