The BITWIG Thread

nice sound!

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Since I recently got into modular I have grown more interested in Bitwig. I have Ableton 11 Suite and can’t get rid of it due to my existing projects, but I think I need to try the Bitwig demo again, because this guy:

I discovered him through his Beads demo, but I’ve found his Bitwig tutorials to be incredibly well-presented and engaging (I enjoy his philosophical videos as well).

The one thing I’d miss from Ableton is Operator, but I think I remember @craig saying The Grid replaced Digitone for him, so that gives me hope. I hate using M4L devices for modulating Operator, so Bitwig’s approach is a lot more appealing.

Anyway, not much point to this post I guess, except that I really enjoy those Taches Teaches videos.

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I love that guy. Even topics I think I have no interest in have been enlightening. I think I’ve watched all of his Bitwig vids now. Recommended!

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Yes! I open youtube with the intention of checking out a specific module demo, then see one of his videos and end up spending hours checking them out instead. I enjoy learning more about modular from the videos but it’s hard to not want Bitwig too.

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i just moved to bitwig due to it’s existence on linux. despite it introducing one of the most fucked up computer situations i have ever been in (deleting other applications repeatedly) i got it working now and it seems good. i’d used ableton since version 4, and always thought there was something i didn’t quite understand that made the workflow so clunky. nope. ableton is clunky.

i don’t really have an immediate need for a daw, but sometimes i do feel a bit limited on elektrons when it comes to arranging. i don’t conceptualize music in rigid patterns. i just set bitwig up to work with my DN then decided nope it decreases the magic and fun of it. plocks are fundamental to my sound exporation and it’s not the same at sending cc’s from a daw. maybe i am missing something here too.

i am wondering how you use bitwig with your elektrons.

do you use plocks or record cc’s or program cc’s in bitwig? or trigless trigs with notes sequenced from bitwig? do you use bitwig as a glorified song-mode to send program changes? or just for mixing? or do you get all your ideas jamming then expand them into full tracks on bitwig afterwards? or do you sample your hardware?

i’m trying to relegate bitwig to auxilliary device status. have DT/MNM be master clock and transport. that’s quite nice. i’d like to use bitwig to capture and expand upon ideas generated elsewhere without getting in the way too much. any tips appreciated.

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The only thing bitwig specific I can say is that maybe it has a bit less audiodropouts in overbridge than ableton. Its a issue here in forum i didnt see often in a4 mk1 and dn but i absoutely don‘t spend enough time and have enough complex stuff probably.
I would say use the strenght of both ( modulation and plocks) on seperate tracks.
Sequencig and recording one interesting hw synth to the audio in and the rest a mix of elektron and bitwig grid on seperate tracks sure is a nice possibility.
My workflow ( if not recording usb from allen heath to audacity, doesn’t work in bitwig(?)) is i record everything on one track and then regret i didn‘t use 4 ob tracks at least because of lazyness.

But its also still a bit overwhelming the complexity of ob.
I watched the ableton ob videos from ask and a lot other stuff several times, but am still not sure whats best to do with the send effects. I know disable from master maybe, but not sure, also total recall means i have to be on a dedicated dn project i think.

Maybe i shouldn’t use any elektron effects and use software effects when in overbridge( ?)
I‘m also curious, but thats not bitwig specific.

Reverb in bitwig and other effects sure are not the best, but there are videos from pros like polarity that say they are nice when modulated heavily. That topic reminds me a bit of octa…
Saturator can bring you to west coast territory, just saw a video, didn‘t try yet ( have enough with instruo on vcv and O coast already to try…)
In general people say its more stable to use start stop from daw, but if it works from dt for you even better

If youre into modular, i saw for example a video from blush response here talkig to noise engineering that mentions some cv stuff that has advantages in bitwig compared to ableton

Have a nice day.

Hi Bitwig Nauts.

Yesterday i was on something… But yesterday when i were on it in my mind it was just messing around, loosing my free time… So i put few VST, sounddesign a bit… Bouncing audio and continu with XLN XO, building a groove from a blank state (damn i love that XO thing)

Later in the night i was shit i love this beginning of something why the hell i bounce the first two tracks if i want to modulate i’m probably screw i didn’t save those two synth sounds :stuck_out_tongue:

I usually say to the others (Save your iterations - and now i didn’t applied my rules)

But i realized something.
If i were on Ableton Live (and that’s probably why i react like this) i would have lost the two VST by bouncing in place (freeze - consolidate)

Bitwig is so clever when you bounce it’s create an hybrid track with a mixed icon of an instrument and an audio track. Your bounce as audio is there but it still kept the VST instrument with all the settings on the channel.

I really really love that.
Thanks Bitwig

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For those looking to a very cool text tool for bitwig this one linked here is very cool.

Polygrid sends noise and OSC into Moog Minitaur’s EXT in and a Piano “generated” melody that sends midi to the Polygrid and MT. I tried to stay focus :rofl:
Some moments with cool sounds, either than that, Bitwig is a time killer!

it’s the same in ableton until you consolidate. if you want to edit the waveform but keep plugins settings, cmd+drag (to duplicate) the clip from a frozen track, it’ll be a .wav

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Thanks for the tip - make sense as well

one of the things I love in the Roland Juno series is the UI and how it so important and simple, yet deep and full of sweet spots, easy patching.
one of the reasons I love my a4 is that you can control it deeply with midi CC ( I didn’t really look for an NRPN convertor)
so I started making a ploygrid UI just like the Juno and a steps module to pitch the 2nd OSC and splitting the lfo… you know, bitwig :slight_smile:
Yes, I know it, A4 will never sound like a Juno, but, this UI can deliver fresh sounds from the a4

a4 juno.bwpreset (40.5 KB)

I love to learn your take on this.

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Yeah I really love the way that Bitwig can really easily add to stuff you already have. I haven’t really tried using it like that with external hardware, but it’s opened up much of my existing softsynths and FX (adding extra LFO’s/envelopes/step sequencers, etc).

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I find compared to Ableton or Reason…

Bitwig take too much time to open. It’s like opening Reason for the first time and its first plugin scan. Then when Bitwig finally open, now it scan :slight_smile: it doesn’t go faster with time. usually this same long opening. :frowning:

(Re-installing my computer from scratch here)
Bitwig version 3.3.9 (same with precedent)

>>>>>

Not a big deal but still… :joy: slow like a turtle (it’s a ninja but after a breakfast at least…)

Bitwig actually compiles the binaries at launch for optimization of your specific system which is pretty cool. This process takes a bit of time but it’s worth it imo

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Yeah, but…
When it’s open, it’s peanuts, because you only wait once.
I love bitwig for the fact that it runs perfectly fine on linux mint. :smiley:

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Ha ha! I’m waiting 5 to 10 minutes for some of my synths to warm up and stay in tune, and a minute or two while my amp heats up, and you are complaining about 14 seconds? That 2nd scan happens in the background. I usually open my project and get myself set up while that’s happening. I guess it would depend on the project but I never really notice anything not working when I need it, Maybe it prioritizes things actually in the project… Always wondered about that…

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At this discussion of Ableton, someone recommnended I look into Bitwig, so I’m asking my question here.

Can Bitwig on a Mac receive MIDI on one of its tracks from an IAC bus that’s sending to it on constantly changing MIDI channels (but still the same IAC bus), then output that MIDI to a plugin on the same channel it was received? In other words, if I’m modulating the channel being sent to Bitwig, can Bitwig follow along with that change on a single track, or do I have to create one track for each channel (for each IAC bus)?

i was bitching a bit guys :sweat_smile: :joy:
i’m not usually dead serious :slight_smile:

but it’s still 10 seconds too long :smiling_imp:

So Reason 12 is coming, Ableton Live 11 is already there - What Bitwig 3.4 will gives us ??? :slight_smile:

NB: someone told Roli Blocks doesn’t work, Roli recommend to use the seabord rise script and it works perfectly for me with my block seabord :slight_smile: just to let people know, on Ableton 11 it’s now perfect with the MPE integration

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I’ve never specifically used the IAC bus with my mac but Bitwig does appear to have a bit more control than Ableton over where you route your midi messages.

A Bitwig Instrument Track lets you specify a source for note input, such as a keyboard or midi port. It also lets you route channels to different ones, including From “All” and To “Same”.

The nearest I can get to simulating a multi-timbral routing here is setting up a hardware instrument device to control my Nord A1, setting MIDI Channel to “Keep Ch.” and sending it notes on different channels via the single Instrument Track. Works fine.

I think you can download a Bitwig demo, so give it a try.

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