Bitwig Studio 5.1 Now Released (Dec 6th)

[Atlatnesiti]

Yes, I agree about XNB. His tutorials are done professionally. I've learnt other things from him like how to use my DeepMind synth.

Well, regarding Bitwig, I'm still testing my minimalistic setup in Linux, but I added Diva, so more reason to stay in Linux

Out of curiosity, what is the state of Linux music production.
It looks like it is minuscule but, perhaps I’m wrong…
What DAWS are supported and most importantly what VST’s…

[dellboy]

Out of curiosity, what is the state of Linux music production.
It looks like it is minuscule but, perhaps I’m wrong…
What DAWS are supported and most importantly what VST’s…

Linux is free, so why not try it?

No need to dual boot anymore, it runs fine from an SSD drive plugged into a USB port. I find its useful to have an oid laptop handy to install the Linux distro with. Use "Rufus" to install the ISO to a USB stick, boot the USB stick, install the distro of your choice to the laptop SSD. Take the SSD out and plug into a USB and boot it - job done. You can now install Bitwig - Reaper - Waveform - Studio One (new), which are all now Linux native. Oh, and you can save to the USB SSD just as if it was installed in a computer.

[EnGee]

Yes, I agree about XNB. His tutorials are done professionally. I've learnt other things from him like how to use my DeepMind synth.

Well, regarding Bitwig, I'm still testing my minimalistic setup in Linux, but I added Diva, so more reason to stay in Linux

Out of curiosity, what is the state of Linux music production.
It looks like it is minuscule but, perhaps I’m wrong…
What DAWS are supported and most importantly what VST’s…

It depends on what/why you want use Linux for music making/production.

I have dual boot PC with Windows 11/ Mint Linux. I use Windows mainly for work (tied to Microsoft business plan) and gaming mostly. It's ready for music production as well.

Currently, I spend most of my time with Linux (even gaming). It's limited in everything compared to Windows and Mac, but this is what I want! To be limited.

Reaper and Bitwig are the most used commercial native DAWs. S1 is getting there I hope. There are several free DAWs in Linux but I tried them many years ago, so I don't know how good they are now.

I use Bitwig with Hive, Vital, Surge XT and Diva. I find it's enough for me.

I use MuseScore to learn notation and guitar (writing notes from the books, so I hear the examples).

I tried several live ones on my USB stick first, then I installed Ubuntu first, but I had problems with bugs all over the place, so Mint Linux was the best. Then I installed it on external SSD T7 drive.

[uOpt]

Out of curiosity, what is the state of Linux music production.

See above for DAW and synths. It's good.

What I personally miss are native effect plugins as smooth as U-He's synths.

[BBFG#]

Still haven't updated. But for some reason I started getting CPU overloads today that I've never got before. Haven't changed a thing and while CPU usage shows 17% it suddenly shows the app usage in it at 38%?
Changed the buffer from 256 to 512 and while that works, I don't understand why it suddenly is different.

So I'm wondering if its time to register my new plan here and if that might help?
Opinions?

Oh, BTW, I tried the same sets on Waveform with a 256 buffer without issue. I just don't understand why Bitwig 4 just started having this issue when it never has before.

[xx JPRacer xx]

Are you sure your computer wasn't doing something in the background?

[BBFG#]

Are you sure your computer wasn't doing something in the background?

No, I'm not sure of that, but did check for that was much as I could. And extensively looked at power settings, internet/network and video resources. Really at a loss at what and why it suddenly started, so open to all suggestions to check further.

Trying to hold out until 5.2 to start my new Bitwig plan.

[pdxindy]

Really at a loss at what and why it suddenly started, so open to all suggestions to check further.

My suggestion... contact support.

[BBFG#]

Just checked my studio computer, which is Win7, and everything works great with B4. And everything works fine on my home computer running Win10 except for B4. So deductively, I think something has changed in the system and not Bitwig itself. Seems like contacting support would get an expected reply of "you need to upgrade to a current version and upgrade plan, first".
Anyone know if MS has snuck in something in a recent update?
(It wouldn't be the first time they've caused problems.)

[BBFG#]

I'm still on v4 until I see 5.2 land out of beta. But in the last few weeks I've noticed a strange behavior in CPU usage jumping to 50-60% just on opening and before adding a single track/VST. This seemed to be after a couple of Windows updates (W10), so I did some digging and the only thing I could find was multiple listings under the firewall allowances (twenty or more with private access and two with public access). After removing all but one with private access, I reopened and it did reduce the CPU down to 19% on opening and then settling down to around 12%. Even this is much higher than it has ever been as I'm used to it running closer to 15% WITH multiple tracks/VSTs. Any idea what else could be happening here?
(Win10 Xeon 32GB)

Or is jumping on the beta the thing to get back the efficiency?

BTW, tested Cubase and while there was an increase there also, it was minimal. Which has me thinking it's mainly due to the Windows update, but affecting Bitwig the most.

Edit/add: task Manager shows over half of that is an anti-malware program. This tells me that the last Windows update doesn't trust Bitwig. Went into privacy settings and blocked all public networks (which have never been allowed anyway) and I'm back down to 15%-17% running three tracks/VSTs. I don't remember even seeing these privacy options before and I believe Windows chose these defaults.
Still open to anything else others suggest to be on the look out for though.

[D-Fusion]

I noticed a change in how the bounce function works on the latest version that i don't like.

In the older versions when i bounced invidual tracks on my multitimbral hw synth it only made audlo from the selected track but now it plays back all midi sequences and record all the midi tracks from the hw without muting the other tracks.

So now i have to select all tracks and clck the active button to turn off all tracks and then i
have to select the track i want to bounce and make it active.

[BBFG#]

Windows processes in task manager keep shifting to another one every time I modify/turnoff/disable/ one. Had to set Feedback hub to "Never" and then go back to a complete disable. Change Defender settings and Windows seems to freak out each time it sees it's not getting it's share of the CPU (which adds 25%-50% more usage each time. And it seems to have a hard on for Bitwig. Cubase doesn't trigger these Windows Processes. Runs between 11%-13%. Which is relative to Bitwig until Windows FOMO jumps into it.

In addition to what I did above, (found multiple listings under the firewall allowances, removed all but one instance each for private access and completely removed any Public Access.)
I've also:
Set Feedback Hub to "Never" and Disable.
_________________
Task Scheduler:
To resolve the issue about its high CPU usage, you can disable this service in the Task Scheduler by following the steps below:
1. Click Start, type Task Scheduler, and then press Enter.
2. On the TaskScheduler window, go to this path: Task Scheduler Library\Microsoft\Windows\Application Experience.
3. On the Application Experience folder, look for Microsoft Compatibility Appraiser.
4. Right-click on it, select Disable, and then confirm to complete the process.
_____________
Windows Defender:
The error is mainly due to its Windows Defender real-time protection feature. Kindly follow the steps to change Windows Defender’s schedule to fix it.
Press Windows key + R. This will open Run. Alternatively, you can go to Start and search for Run.
In Run dialog box, type taskschd.msc and hit enter.
Navigate to Task Scheduler Library > Microsoft > Windows > Windows Defender.
On the right hand pane, double-click on Windows Defender Scheduled Scan.
On the General tab, uncheck the option Run with highest privileges.
Click on Conditions tab and uncheck all the options.
Click on OK.

Both are once again back to around 16%-17% with multiple tracks running/recording.

Add: Feedback Hub started going crazy, adding another 20%-35% CPU. Disabled that and it's notifications and that helps. Defender keeps turning itself back on, so that's an issue. Can't understand why Windows has such a hard on for Bitwig that it doesn't have for Cubase though...

[BBFG#]

So another Windows 10 update just inflicted itself upon my system (and yes, I've had updates turned off for a long time). And the first time opening Bitwig shot the CPU use to 100% and decreased to 46% without loading any project, track, or plugin. 46% idle.
Did they make MS mad? It really seems like it's Windows doing it to them since Bitwig didn't change until that update.
So just for reference, I opened up Reaper, which idles at 4%, then Tracktion - idles at 7% and Cubase -idles at 12%. This is before adding anything else.
Thoughts?