Bitwig 6 Beta coming soon

[Cyoon]

I support the idea of having CLAP modules within the grid, it makes a lot of sense also strategically to further position CLAPs benefits. However, it may be smart to apply some restrictions, to keep everything stable and performant.

[stamp]

I find it a bit weird in general that online conversation around Bitwig is often framed as if it was massively struggling to find users, without any evidence.

Me too.

[JHernandez]

Bitwig’s biggest problem is that with the tools it offers, you can’t really achieve the wow factor for the average listener.

The average listener




Pretty sure it's possible in Bitwig.

[Sonic Illusions]

Score export and video editing.

[feedbackmachine]

The average listener




Pretty sure it's possible in Bitwig.

Sounds like indigestion, surely possible.

[gulugulufish]

Bitwig’s biggest problem is that with the tools it offers, you can’t really achieve the wow factor for the average listener.

What does this even mean. Bigwigs instruments are really nice. I really like Polymer and the other synths are great too. They don’t sound amazing out of the box but that’s kind of the point imo. I do think Logics, Ableton, and FLStudios instruments sound better out of box, but that’s mostly due to how sparse the presets are for Bitwig. They have all these cool tools but don’t really showcase them in a way that inspires. I’ve definitely favorited a few polymer patches that have wowed me.

U-he plugins do sound good but they come at a cost. They are usually pretty cpu heavy and imo sometimes they are not that easy to use. I like my synths simple and straightforward. No visual clutter.

I feel like you can say the same about Reaper's built-in plugins, that it's very basic. Bitwig goes for a very utilitarian approach. It doesn't bundle effects or modulators, it expects you to add those on and do your own routing. I really like it personally, also I've found some very nice presets in bitwig. It may not be the biggest bestest most analog modeling synth or something but do we really want them spending time building that kind of thing? It's funny because I thought everyone was complaining the OPPOSITE, that bitwig's biggest problem is that it spent too much time adding shiny new devices and not updating the core DAW features. Personally speaking, If bitwig wants that kind of out of the box shiny they should just do what logic did and buy out third party synths and effects to round out the bundled content. If anything I find bitwig's devices MORE enticing than other daw's because they fit in so well with the core workflow concepts and you can do things that no other daw can do, normally I wouldn't think about what stuff it has bundled because I bring my own preferred plugins! However, since I can do things like spectral splitting and put custom effects in the reverb chamber, I care a LOT more about what bitwig offers than I would any other DAW.

[pdxindy]

Bitwig’s biggest problem is that with the tools it offers, you can’t really achieve the wow factor for the average listener.

This doesn't really make sense to me at any level.

random search in google,

"Bitwig synths jus don't sound anywhere near as good as other ones I have. I'd love to be able to use less third party plugins but there are too many that sound unique and too great. I barely use the bitwig instruments at all." viewtopic.php?p=8263570#p8263570 and it wasn't me happy?

let's say, that’s a bit too harsh — Polymer is perfectly fine, just not outstanding, but I’d definitely appreciate it if the u-he synths suddenly became native to Bitwig.

I wouldn't say that is too harsh, but it is out of date. That post was made in 2021 and there have been lots of additions to the Grid since then. The newer Osc's and Filters sound better and are more musical. I still wouldn't put the Grid on the level of my favorite synths in terms of sound quality, but rather a step down which is plenty good for lots of sounds. The sound quality vs cpu use is excellent. I have an EP type sound that is lovely and I can easily have 20 voices playing at once.

Also the Grid is very flexible and can do lots of stuff I cannot easily do elsewhere. For example, none of the 3rd party synths I regularly use can have an MSEG as the Amp Env.

Since my favorite u-he synths all have CLAP versions that support Bitwig's modulation system, including PolyMod... plus Bitwig's Note Expressions, there's really not much benefit from having the u-he synths native to Bitwig.

[tumface]

One thing I've noticed about Bitwig's filters is that they seem to saturate too much at the default settings. If you back off of the drive knob's default setting, giving the resonance more headroom, they don't sound as crushed and floppy. Still wouldn't say they're great, but it helps.

[Trancit]

... I still wouldn't put the Grid on the level of my favorite synths in terms of sound quality, but rather a step down which is plenty good for lots of sounds. The sound quality vs cpu use is excellent. I have an EP type sound that is lovely and I can easily have 20 voices playing at once.
...

I know my opinion isn´t very popular amongst Bitwig users and I know the typical arguments... nonetheless I wanted to have it said one more time:

The question isn´t just to count how many voices you can play with it, the question is more how many voices you can play with a 3rd party instrument which sounds even more lovely...

You confirmed already that Bitwig´s internals aren´t on the same level with your favourite synths in terms of quality but I bet the 3rd party instrument with the even more lovely sound lets you play at least the double amount of voices... and that is a problem, isn´t it?
Overdriven said: Delivering like a noob but charging (in terms of CPU hunger) like a Pro cannot be a good ratio imho.

I don´t use much of Bitwig´s internals because the sound quality/CPU ratio is often ridiculous especially for the more modern devices/modules...
I don´t know how others feel but I find less quality than 3rd party but at least double (if not 4 times of the...) CPU consumption not very appealing... the Grid and devices which are based on the Grid like Polymer and many others take a crazy amount of CPU compared to other instruments sounding much better out of the box with much less CPU...

I can easily live with the fact that most stock plugins no matter of which DAW cannot defeat specialized 3rd party stuff and I am absolutely fine with that...
But having this issue (which Bitwig devices definetely do) for a price of 4 times the CPU use, is for me a personal no-go and makes Bitwig internals in many situations something to avoid at all costs.

I know many of you simply feel good if they can throw around "big numbers"... i.e. producing at 96kHz even if I render afterwards to a 128bit mp3 ...
That´s your choice...
But getting it forced on me without any option to turn this off ... I am sorry but I cannot speak about a good sound quality/CPU ratio...

[xbitz]

could cheat with FreqTube, but then would have to pay the price of Bitwig x 2 all over again — expensive hobby this is
yupp, if the Grid sounded like The Legend combined with a hardware distortion unit, I wouldn’t have a word to say.

[pdxindy]

You confirmed already that Bitwig´s internals aren´t on the same level with your favourite synths in terms of quality but I bet the 3rd party instrument with the even more lovely sound lets you play at least the double amount of voices... and that is a problem, isn´t it?

You would lose the bet. The softsynths that I use that I put in the top tier for sound quality use a lot of CPU. Bazille for example can crush my cpu. Various of my typical Grid synth patches use way less CPU than Bazille.

In terms of the highest possible sound quality, my Eurorack Modular is unmatched by anything in software. Most of the time though, softsynths are good enough that it doesn't really matter.

There are plenty of simpler sounds I create that any decent synth can make. For those sounds in particular, the Grid is great because it is so flexible. I can make lots of beautiful sounds in the Grid that are easy on the CPU. I have plugins that cover what it cannot do and for me, the Grid is a regular workhorse.

Yes, there are some Bitwig devices that use a lot of CPU, but also plenty that don't. I have some lovely pads using the lowly Organ device. It's kinda pathetic... except each partial can be modulated separately, including at audio rate and since it has the voice stacking, suddenly it can do some lush sweet sounds. With longer release and the voice stacking, I can easily have 30 or 40 voices playing at once and it barely touches the CPU meter.

I also have a bunch of beautiful sounds using FM-4. It's pretty low for CPU use. When you include the modulation possibilities, voice stacking and note expressions, it becomes more capable than it might seem.

The reason DAW's can use plugins is because they cannot do everything, and I assume hardly anyone expects them to. To me there is no problem if not every Bitwig device suits my needs.

[Trancit]

You would lose the bet. The softsynths that I use that I put in the top tier for sound quality use a lot of CPU. Bazille for example can crush my cpu. Various of my typical Grid synth patches use way less CPU than Bazille.

...

I think we spare us the discussion...

[gulugulufish]

One thing I've noticed about Bitwig's filters is that they seem to saturate too much at the default settings. If you back off of the drive knob's default setting, giving the resonance more headroom, they don't sound as crushed and floppy. Still wouldn't say they're great, but it helps.

yeah some of them do saturate at a pretty low threshold. Saw some video about it

[pdxindy]

One thing I've noticed about Bitwig's filters is that they seem to saturate too much at the default settings. If you back off of the drive knob's default setting, giving the resonance more headroom, they don't sound as crushed and floppy. Still wouldn't say they're great, but it helps.

yeah some of them do saturate at a pretty low threshold. Saw some video about it

Lowering the input level (Drive) for sure reduces saturation. Also, in the Inspector is the Q-Limit parameter. That one is worth understanding. I'm not a fan of the default setting for it.

[shatteredmindofbob]

I am so confused. Bitwig is a DAW. U-he makes plugins to be used inside a DAW... including Bitwig.

I really don't understand what one has to do with the other.