Need help replacing some Ableton stock plugins while moving to Bitwig

[Tendou]

wow, thats.. I dont know weired?!

You see, the "problem" with Bitwig is that it's so inviting and easy to tweak stuff, complicate it and experiment with it, that there's risk you'll end up doing this endlessly and won't finish anything.

Obviously it's a matter of self-discipline and lots of people do release music with Bitwig, but if - like me - you don't really have the pressure or need to finish tracks, it's much easier to not do that in Bitwig than in any other DAW

But in the end it's up to you. It's like blaming Ferrari for having broken the speed limit and having to pay the ticket

not quite sure if this is a bad or good thing!

[antic604]

not quite sure if this is a bad or good thing!

That's why I wrote "problem" to acknowledge the dichotomy.
For some, it will feel liberating, open up their creativity and provide new ways to express themselves.
For others it will add several new dimensions in which to pursue - but never find - perfection.

I'll shut up now, because it starts to sound as if using Bitwig was a spiritual experience

[Dombaeb]

I'll shut up now, because it starts to sound as if using Bitwig was a spiritual experience

pretty much all of our actions except instinctive ones are spiritual experience, actually.

on another forum, there was a very interesting discussion about how people are now so oversaturated with tools that their choice takes more time than the creative process itself. A very interesting question was posed: "How many people would be involved in music if not a large number of DAWs, synthesizers, samplers, romplers, libraries, etc.?".

A simple common question, but when I think about it, I find that very often the tools become more important than the goals. Brrr, it's sobering! I'll go back to my table and sticks.

[Kinh]

ya dont naweed ta change dawz. any daw can do any genre.

[dangayle]

I think part of it is muscle memory. Because Bitwig and Ableton are so close conceptually, there is a lot of overlap. And where there are differences, it can be really frustrating. I imagine it would almost be easier to switch from something like Logic or Cubase, where there is less overlap.

Also, again it comes down to how you want to use Bitwig. If you use Bitwig, and just Bitwig, as an entire ecosystem, as an entire instrument, I feel like you'll do much better off. If you try to use it as a container for other VSTs and don't take advantage of the built in devices, you're going to end up a little more frustrated.

[Tendou]

I think part of it is muscle memory. Because Bitwig and Ableton are so close conceptually, there is a lot of overlap. And where there are differences, it can be really frustrating. I imagine it would almost be easier to switch from something like Logic or Cubase, where there is less overlap.

Also, again it comes down to how you want to use Bitwig. If you use Bitwig, and just Bitwig, as an entire ecosystem, as an entire instrument, I feel like you'll do much better off. If you try to use it as a container for other VSTs and don't take advantage of the built in devices, you're going to end up a little more frustrated.

makes sense but I want to replace some of my go to plugins to be able to create quality music while exploring the inside outs of the new DAW. I think it would be more frustrating to me if I switch and every track I produce sounds like shit bc I miss some parts of my old workflow. Imho I can only improve my workflow with ie The Grid even tho I use plugins/techniques of my old workflow...

[pdxindy]

One gets used to the tools in one DAW, finds the sweet spots, strengths and weaknesses and almost unconsciously swerves towards the strengths and avoids the weaknesses.

Then switching to another DAW, one tries to do the same things in the same way and it feels like the new DAW doesn't do it or is not as easy. I think it is helpful to kinda start fresh (conceptually) and see how to do things in the new DAW, not just transplant what one was doing.

Also, just accept there is going to be a period where one is not as proficient or productive. For me it is about a 3 month process of getting fluid with the new tool. It is inevitable to have some frustrations along that way.

Obviously Bitwig has no convolution reverb, so that has to be replaced with 3rd party plugin. The rest can be done in Bitwig with Bitwig devices. It will take some time to find which ones will satisfy you or not. They are not going to sound exactly the same as Ableton devices and a cursory check will almost inevitably be disappointing. They will have different strengths and weaknesses which have to be discovered. There are plenty of 3rd party plugins to fill in any gaps over time.

I prefer the Bitwig Reverb to the Ableton one. One can put other devices into the Reverb feedback in Bitwig which makes it very flexible as a sound design tool. For straight gorgeous reverb, I use VST's.

[pdxindy]

Bitwig's AMP is pretty good... needs some exploring.
Same with Saturator.

You can save any configuration as the default preset for any device. That includes with modulators which really helpful.

[Neon Breath]

7.) Erosion
I don't know exactly what it does but as far as I understand its some sort of ring modulation. I was thinking about Hornet's Corrosion which seems pretty similar????

Technically, to answer your question here's the explanation from Ableton effect reference:

The Erosion effect degrades the input signal by modulating a short delay with filtered noise or a sine wave. This adds noisy artifacts or aliasing/downsampling-like distortions that sound very ”digital.”

[SneakyBeats]

Im eying Bitwig for 2 years now but Im afraid I cant keep my quality of production when switching and dont having certain tools Im used to...

I switched from ableton to bitwig.. 4 years ago? 5? Anyways, it's quite normal that the "quality" has a tiny freefall while switching. It's because you don't know stuff yet. Pretty much like switching your old trusty fiat127 to a ferrari. You'd still drive 50km/h for the first week or two

But now my music is 10x better than what it was while using ableton.

[El°HYM]

7.) Erosion
I don't know exactly what it does but as far as I understand its some sort of ring modulation. I was thinking about Hornet's Corrosion which seems pretty similar????

Technically, to answer your question here's the explanation from Ableton effect reference:

The Erosion effect degrades the input signal by modulating a short delay with filtered noise or a sine wave. This adds noisy artifacts or aliasing/downsampling-like distortions that sound very ”digital.”

I believe Corrosion might be your best bet here, there are other Options which can do similar Things, like https://www.meldaproduction.com/MNoiseGenerator & https://www.voxengo.com/product/crtivshumovick.

[Tendou]

nice, shumovick seems like it could replace my issue with missing the white noise vocoder

[dangayle]

Technically, to answer your question here's the explanation from Ableton effect reference:

The Erosion effect degrades the input signal by modulating a short delay with filtered noise or a sine wave. This adds noisy artifacts or aliasing/downsampling-like distortions that sound very ”digital.”

I believe Corrosion might be your best bet here, there are other Options which can do similar Things, like https://www.meldaproduction.com/MNoiseGenerator & https://www.voxengo.com/product/crtivshumovick.

See, this is where things break down. Instead of throwing a plugin at it, do it the Bitwig way. Take a short Bitwig delay and use a filtered noise or sine wave to modulate the input signal. The raw tools for this sort of thing are extremely powerful in Bitwig, and if you're not taking advantage of the modulation system, why are you even bothering with it?

[antic604]

...I want to replace some of my go to plugins to be able to create quality music while exploring the inside outs of the new DAW. I think it would be more frustrating to me if I switch and every track I produce sounds like shit bc I miss some parts of my old workflow.

I'll preface this with an apology, because I might be completely off base here, but...

This sounds like you make your music - at least in some part - on an "auto-pilot", i.e. you've learned your tools, probably "borrowed" some techniques from others, can quickly get the desired effect by piecing together elements that you know, you use templates and pre-made stuff (racks, patches), etc.

And by no meanst that's NOT a bad thing, in fact in creative endevour - lika making music - it can be really helpful and gets distractions out of the way, just like a good driver doesn't have to really know how the car works or a programmer doesn't have to be able to build a CPU or even know machine code.

BUT, when we talk about Bitwig a lot of its appeal is in the "DIY" mentality, where - to get the most of it, definitely the most satisfaction - you're expected to break down things to small, functional components and understand how they work and how they create the bigger whole. So for example instead of expecting to have different filers out of the box (and there are few, just to be clear) you're invited to research and understand how ladder, sellen-key or oberhaim filters differ and then are given the tools to replicate them, e.g. by modifying the input (drive, saturation, waveshaping) or response (envelope reacting to level, range or dynamics of signal), etc. That's why the native synths & FX are very basic and vanilla, because you're expected to chain them, stack them, nest them, modulate them, etc. Again, DIY.

Obviously, you can use Bitwig like any other DAW, but you'll quickly find that a lot of "typical" DAW features are either rudimentarily implemented or are missing completely. This changes slowly, but as of now this is how it is - the devs focused on making Bitwig familiar but different & unique first, to draw in people that really think "the Bitwig way".

So the real question is whether what I described sounds appealing to you? I'm not saying you need to exclusively be a DSP researcher to enjoy Bitwig, but a bit of such inclination is very welcome to make the experience valuable and worthy of initial hurdles. Otherwise you'll just be frustrated.

Lastly, for completness sake, the appeal of Bitwig for particular person might not be in its modular structure, but for example in MPE support, Eurorack support, touch screen support, native bridging & sandboxing of plugins, so the above isn't to be treated as the one & only true way of looking at it

[Trancit]

7.) Erosion
I don't know exactly what it does but as far as I understand its some sort of ring modulation. I was thinking about Hornet's Corrosion which seems pretty similar????

Technically, to answer your question here's the explanation from Ableton effect reference:

The Erosion effect degrades the input signal by modulating a short delay with filtered noise or a sine wave. This adds noisy artifacts or aliasing/downsampling-like distortions that sound very ”digital.”

There is somebody offering Erosion as a free VST: https://www.reddit.com/r/FL_Studio/comm ... y_crunchy/

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