Opinions on Bitwig

[kooshan]

Ok I’m a long time reason user and considering to try and use bitwig .just have couple of questions:

1- what do you think about bitwig stock devices? I mostly tend to use just the stock devices (As I’ve always did in Reason) so are they good (the same as reason) in bitwig?

2- Is bitwig a mature daw as it was designed around 2014. So how is it feature wise? Compared to reason and other famous daws which were developed many years ago .

3- I don’t see much toturials, sound packs and stuff about bitwig anywhere compared to Reason , ableton , logic . Is there a reason behind that? Do many people actually use it to make music?

4- I’ve been using reason for about 20 years and have zero problems using that . It’s just I’m a little bored looking at the same thing for over 2 decades and because of that I decided to try a different daw . Is bitwig a good choice for me ? As a reason user

5- is bitwig going to have a bright future? I don’t really want to invest in a daw that the company behind it might abandoned it in like 2 years.Ofcourse no one could say for sure but I would like to hear your opinions.am I thinking in a right direction here?

Thank you very much indeed .

[polysix]

I think Bitwig is very well done and I'm always amazed at what they can think of. Unfortunately, I have little idea about mixing and mastering, I find it very quiet, but great sounds are created with your own instruments. Unfortunately, I increasingly find the diversity and modularity to be a disadvantage for me. Since at bitwig I often have to think about which modular door should do something ... And sometimes I can't remember where I see the modern abstract representation of instruments as a disadvantage ... With reason, I can answer very intuitively, but bitwig scores with its open controller API great browser ... I think it's good and sometimes exhausting. I would try the demo to see if the concept is something for you.

[slic]

I have had Bigwig since V2, I also have Live 11 suite and really if you like the clip based and racks paradigm its between those 2. If not, look at Studio One which is also very good if you don't want a clip launcher!

I don't think the stock sounds or instruments/fx are anything great on there own, but when you add in the grid and the unified modulation system you can make everything sound very good (and quite unique).

Live has better sounds (packs), instruments and fx (like stuff by AAS and Cryonics) in suite but its more expensive. You also have about 5000 free or cheap MAX instruments and fx you can add in and arguable the best hardware integration available (PUSH 2)

What Bitwig has is great workflow, advanced racks, the unified modulation system, a great browser, in clip editing , the grid (easy to use custom patching) etc- Live has groove pool, audio to midi, arguably better clip handling, a looper and can play and even edit video in the timeline....and you get MAX4Live with the suite edition (very advanced but harder to learn!)

....so you really need to decide what you need and demo both! (PS- nether has audio pitch editing/quantising!)

[Mohammadyarahmad]

Hello,
I'm using Bitwig and Reason.
- My friend and I, who uses Ableton, are trying to make a progressive house track there. Sometimes, I, who invited him to try Bitwig, think about using Ableton ). Many more have this feeling.
-Most of the tutorials are on YouTube. They have an unofficial Discord channel, which 90 of the people are amateur.
-Working with effects is a little hard, but it's doable. The browser makes it easy to find the effect you need.
-The built-in instruments are not professional. The most pro instrument is The Grid.
-Furthermore, instrumental devices, like pianos, Guitars, and Cellos,... use much RAM, compared to other DAWs like Ableton or Reason(Friktion, Radical Piano).
- They are trying to build a future since they are adding interesting effects but as slow as a turtle.
-Their sound packs are downloadable through the DAW.

Although I have struggled to use Bitwig, I have made my tracks in Reason Studios (also the new track that finished today) because it's much easier.

[spacepluk]

I think Reason’s stock stuff is a lot better. And I don’t like their licensing scheme. The modular grid is cool but at the end of the day I find Reason is way more inspiring for me.

[Stamatz]

I use Bitwig and also have Reason 12 Suite. If Reason Studios had a clip launcher and support for launchpads I would have never left.
Now I use Bitwig as my main DAW and use RRP to access all of Reasons devices.
Hoping they will intorduce these features in R13 so I can move back to Reason DAW but I got tired of waiting and no info on what they are working on made the decision to move for me.
Coming from a hardware/analog background Reason is easier for me to use and understand but having fun learning Bitwig too.
Bitwig 5.2 dropped, looking forward to checking that out.

[tomusurp]

I'm in a similar boat except I just like to learn new tools and DAW's for fun. For whatever reason I trialed Bitwig and didn't like it, which I know sounds very vague so take it with a grain of salt, but I don't even recall why. With that said I'm an owner of FL and Logic, the only two other DAW's I would happily use if I didn't have Reason, but I have not tried Reaper, Studio One, or Ableton yet. The only thing is pitch correction and mixing is super clunky in FL studio, but it's got a fun easy interface and wonderful piano roll. I've made a few bangers in there, it's just that the mixing takes a bit more time where in Reason mixing and mastering is super streamlined because of the Spectrum EQ and SSL console. Because of that I'm always mixing on the go in Reason and very productive with it. Logic is very solid overall but again without stuff like SSL console and spectrum EQ the mixing simply takes longer, which is not a big deal but when you've been spoiled by Reason's mixing access speed it's hard to want to open another DAW. Overall Reason is still the best

[DaveyG]

I'm in a similar boat except I just like to learn new tools and DAW's for fun. For whatever reason I trialed Bitwig and didn't like it, which I know sounds very vague so take it with a grain of salt, but I don't even recall why. With that said I'm an owner of FL and Logic, the only two other DAW's I would happily use if I didn't have Reason, but I have not tried Reaper, Studio One, or Ableton yet. The only thing is pitch correction and mixing is super clunky in FL studio, but it's got a fun easy interface and wonderful piano roll. I've made a few bangers in there, it's just that the mixing takes a bit more time where in Reason mixing and mastering is super streamlined because of the Spectrum EQ and SSL console. Because of that I'm always mixing on the go in Reason and very productive with it. Logic is very solid overall but again without stuff like SSL console and spectrum EQ the mixing simply takes longer, which is not a big deal but when you've been spoiled by Reason's mixing access speed it's hard to want to open another DAW. Overall Reason is still the best

There are no rules about sticking to one DAW for everything. It's fine to make all or most of a track in one DAW then to transfer stems to another for finishing and/or mixing. It might even make you more productive because it's less easy to go back to tweak synth sounds etc.

I often start stuff in FL Studio or Live and, (less often) Reason, but everything ends up in Studio One. Bitwig didn't really light my fire and I don't like their update policy/pricing. The Grid is the wow feature of Bitwig but subsequent updates have not included much stuff that interests me. It feels a bit like they are running out of ideas!

[gkillmaster]

I was using 5 other DAWs at one point and decided to focus on just 1 which is Bitwig. I dropped Studio One, Logic Pro and Ableton Live and Cubase. I got a Reason license to be able to use the rack plugin for my rack extension. I take to Btiwig and find it a easier and more direct than any of the others. I'm not even sure why this is. I guess it's just personal taste or maybe it's in sync with how my brain works or something. Though Ableton is so similar, I could never get used to the clip launching and tiny arrangement work area.

I'm not into the Grid, but it's there and you can do so much with it if you are into modular and it keep being improved. The devices are superb in my opinion. It has more features than I'll ever need personally and they do seem to be focused on adding more continually. I wouldn't agree with you point 3. There are a ton of tutorials and huge support community. Tons of soundpacks being created by third party youtubers and others, but it's mostly supported outside of Bitwig as far as I can tell. I don't know the answer to point 4 but since you can run the rack plugin in Bitwig, I don't think you are missing out at all. Trying to use the Reason sequencer makes me feel hamstrung, but then again, I haven't used it as much as Bitwig and probably won't use it again. I think they do have a very bright future. They are past the hard survival stage and are now developing new fun tools and it's not just that they add new tools, but for me, it's the way they are implemented that I love most. Very deeply thought through. Always much more that what may be immediately apparant.

I also love the upgrade plan. Upgrade as you wish. For me, this is super economical cause I can skip many version until they release an update that has features I'd personally actually use. It's kinda like Reason I guess.

my 2 cents.

[spacepluk]

You can try it for free for 30 days and see if it works for you: https://www.bitwig.com/download/

[rcbuse]

I've been loving bitwig since version 4. It just keeps getting better and better with each release. Frequent updates have always had lots of nice improvements. It plays really nice with the Reason rack. The unified modulation scheme is nuts, lets you add modulation to just about anything, which can be translated to CV in reason, and reason can translated CV back out to Bitwig via MIDI CC.

Try the full demo for 30 days.

[guitfnky]

it’s fine. really nice to look at, and seems very oriented towards folks who want to dive deep into sound design and coming up with fun, tweaky ideas. I found that I spent too much time playing around with settings and not enough making music, but I think it depends what’s important to you.

[Reminiscence]

Bitwig at least is giving you a bang for your buck, whereas if you were a Reason+ user you'd be thinking "oh Reason Studios, where art thou?"

[tomusurp]

I'm in a similar boat except I just like to learn new tools and DAW's for fun. For whatever reason I trialed Bitwig and didn't like it, which I know sounds very vague so take it with a grain of salt, but I don't even recall why. With that said I'm an owner of FL and Logic, the only two other DAW's I would happily use if I didn't have Reason, but I have not tried Reaper, Studio One, or Ableton yet. The only thing is pitch correction and mixing is super clunky in FL studio, but it's got a fun easy interface and wonderful piano roll. I've made a few bangers in there, it's just that the mixing takes a bit more time where in Reason mixing and mastering is super streamlined because of the Spectrum EQ and SSL console. Because of that I'm always mixing on the go in Reason and very productive with it. Logic is very solid overall but again without stuff like SSL console and spectrum EQ the mixing simply takes longer, which is not a big deal but when you've been spoiled by Reason's mixing access speed it's hard to want to open another DAW. Overall Reason is still the best

There are no rules about sticking to one DAW for everything. It's fine to make all or most of a track in one DAW then to transfer stems to another for finishing and/or mixing. It might even make you more productive because it's less easy to go back to tweak synth sounds etc.

I often start stuff in FL Studio or Live and, (less often) Reason, but everything ends up in Studio One. Bitwig didn't really light my fire and I don't like their update policy/pricing. The Grid is the wow feature of Bitwig but subsequent updates have not included much stuff that interests me. It feels a bit like they are running out of ideas!

I know for sure I didn't learn or test out Bitwig enough. But for Reason FL and Logic I was just inspired to dive all in and learn a bunch when I bought them respectively. I personally don't see a point in using two DAW's but I understand if there's a built in synth you want to use in one DAW and then mixing preference in another. For me I have most of the plugins I need for mixing along with the SSL and spectrum eq the mixing speed is unmatched in Reason for me. I think at least Reason and FL will keep me occupied for quite a while. Logic I use least, only because I use it for my iPad which I use occasionally on the go

[Mohammadyarahmad]

A golden hint: The DAW you choose to work with unconsciously affects the way you make music.

[Theo.M]

Bitwig is an AMAZING DAW that has come such a long way, and is one of the few to implement Ableton LINK functionality flawlessly with true transport sync between 2 apps just like rewire.
The only deficit that I see is that midi editing revolves around plugins and without them, there is really no midi functionality other than a basic piano roll, quantise, legato and time stretch functions. That's it. Everything else is controlled by either midi plugins or controller values. If you can get used to that, there's a ton to love, and the PDC is exceptionally well implemented also.

[MirtazapineDream]

I've got a licence for Reason, Renoise, Reaper and Bitwig. I got more done in Reason, get distracted by Renoise, can't stand Reaper and find Bitwig too fussy. Some of the UI elements are TINY and my older eyes can't take it. If Reason had a native tracker view as opposed to piano roll I'd be extremely happy. I spend too much time looking at alternative ways of working and procrastinating though. There are things I do like about all DAWs above but I can't seem to settle on one and focus. Very annoying trait of mine.

[selig]

I've been loving bitwig since version 4. It just keeps getting better and better with each release. Frequent updates have always had lots of nice improvements. It plays really nice with the Reason rack. The unified modulation scheme is nuts, lets you add modulation to just about anything, which can be translated to CV in reason, and reason can translated CV back out to Bitwig via MIDI CC.

What is the resolution? I have noticed in Reason that using MIDI loopback has very low time/level resolution, making it unusable for smooth or fast modulation. But are you able to stay in the DAW when doing CV to MIDI in Bitwig, and how does the resolution compare to doing the same thing in Reason with CV?

A golden hint: The DAW you choose to work with unconsciously affects the way you make music.

The musical instrument you choose to work with also does this, as does every other tool you use in the creative process from pen/paper to AI tools!

[rcbuse]

I've been loving bitwig since version 4. It just keeps getting better and better with each release. Frequent updates have always had lots of nice improvements. It plays really nice with the Reason rack. The unified modulation scheme is nuts, lets you add modulation to just about anything, which can be translated to CV in reason, and reason can translated CV back out to Bitwig via MIDI CC.

What is the resolution? I have noticed in Reason that using MIDI loopback has very low time/level resolution, making it unusable for smooth or fast modulation. But are you able to stay in the DAW when doing CV to MIDI in Bitwig, and how does the resolution compare to doing the same thing in Reason with CV?

I'm 99% sure its the same as the block size you set in audio preferences. So if you can get your block down to 64 ~1.3ms without dropouts, you are matched to Reasons CV block size.

Aside from CV to CC values, I've done testing using Bitwig as a Host, Reason Rack as a VST, I've loaded up my players in Reason, used this 2nd VST after Reason to capture MIDI, https://www.birdsthings.com/midi-cap, and the resultant midi timing has been dead accurate. Combining this capture VST with Bitwig Bounce-in-place is a replacement for Reason's send-to-track.