The Bitwig Sale

Want to talk about music hardware or software that doesn't include Reason?
Post Reply
User avatar
dannyF
Posts: 359
Joined: 14 Jun 2019
Location: Uranus

19 Jul 2021

Wow.

Just tried out Bitwig 4 and I must say it puts Reason to shame.

Loaded a demo project, loads of tracks with modulators and effects.... CPU usage : 7%

the interface is sharp, snappy.

by comparison.... I can have only 1-2 tracks in reason with hardly anything going on .... Hitting 13-14%

Not only that, but I can turn off my bluetooth keyboard and Bitwig notices. Reason requires restart to enable bluetooth keyboard.

Also. I can leave a fully open track in Bitwig sitting in the background not playing. CPU is 1-2% while I play a game. MWO.
Reason steals the audio, so I have to shut Reason down in order to play my game while keeping the DAW open.

Seems Reason studios is "kiddy time" in the DAW world. These Bitwig guys seem to be the new Propellerhead ( The first decade of its existence ). Bitwig seems hungry, agile and on the ball.

Going to be putting my order in since the full version is $100 off atm.

Screenshot_2.png
Screenshot_2.png (335.57 KiB) Viewed 1637 times

User avatar
DaveyG
Posts: 2499
Joined: 03 May 2020

19 Jul 2021

dannyF wrote:
19 Jul 2021
Bitwig seems hungry, agile and on the ball.
Actually, with Version 4 they seem to have lost their Mojo a little. It's the first major update without a genuine buzz about it. They were never going to repeat the excitement of introducing The Grid but the main bullet points on 4 seem to be Comping, Native Mac support and Operators. That's not going to set the world alight. But maybe they have other stuff planned that was not quite ready so it will appear in point revisions.

I also have to comment on your weird workflow, Danny. There can't be many people who just park a DAW in the background whilst they play a game! Good effort! :clap: :clap: :clap:

User avatar
StephenHutchinson
Posts: 458
Joined: 27 Sep 2019
Contact:

19 Jul 2021

Here's the complete skinny on Bitwig 4:

https://www.bitwig.com/whats-new/

Comparison Chart:

https://www.bitwig.com/feature-list/
:reason: Reason User Since Version 1.0
:refill: Reason Sound Design & Content Creation
Sound Dimension https://www.sounddimension.io

ReFiils: Ambientia Cinematic Soundscapes | String Theory (Friktion) | Algoritmo (Algoritm)

slic
Posts: 130
Joined: 01 Jun 2021

19 Jul 2021

I have been with Bigwig since it launched some 7 years ago. Its a great DAW with a lot of unique features, as is Live (especially with PUSH) so you have to really decide what it is you want a DAW for- Personally I am a fan of modular and programming- I have MAX 8, use the Grid and Reaktor and a lot of Eurorack etc- but Nothing is as fast or as 'musical' as the CV Rack in Reason. Also Bitwig currently has no native pitch correction of any sort (it only got comping a few weeks ago) which is annoying if your a guitarist as I am. Reason's DAW has everything I need from a tuner on the input to really easy to use pitch correction, so horses for courses depending what I want to do.

At some point you have to decide if you want to approach you DAW/Music a programmer, a producer or a musician (I do all 3 depending on my mood and what type of music I feel like making!)

Bitwig fx and instruments are very basic, Reason is is obviously much stronger stand alone music making environment, many exception and in some cases unique fx and instruments, you can use the Reason Rack in Bitwig and have the best of both worlds, but I have still found myself just using Reason as its so simple and fast to get a song recorded. Using Bitwig I can loose a (fun) week with the modulation matrix an the grid!

Anyway, as a long time user with 1000's of hours on Bitwig, it doesn't put Reason to shame in my opinion, its just different...better is some areas, worse in others.

User avatar
dannyF
Posts: 359
Joined: 14 Jun 2019
Location: Uranus

19 Jul 2021

In a few important areas. Workflow ( personal preference ) and especially Performance ( which is more a comparable objective thing )...... Bitwig crushes Reason.

Sure there are things about Reason I love, and of course things Reason will be better at.... but those things aren't as important for me atm.

ATM I want a sharp, clear, efficient program that also happens to look great and modern. That doesn't need restarts for basic things. That supports all modern musical standards and devices...... Bitwig seems to deliver all that in spades. The program oozes confidence. Also it happens to be the best looking DAW out there right now imo.

User avatar
joeyluck
Moderator
Posts: 11029
Joined: 15 Jan 2015

19 Jul 2021

Bitwig 3 flickers like crazy any time I resize the app window. It drives me nuts. Have they fixed that?

User avatar
dannyF
Posts: 359
Joined: 14 Jun 2019
Location: Uranus

19 Jul 2021

I don't know anything about the older versions.

Bitwig 4 on windows seems very nice indeed.

User avatar
dannyF
Posts: 359
Joined: 14 Jun 2019
Location: Uranus

19 Jul 2021

Did I mention how nice the browser was? ...... fast and groups everything logically.
Screenshot_3.png
Screenshot_3.png (136.46 KiB) Viewed 1511 times

User avatar
dannyF
Posts: 359
Joined: 14 Jun 2019
Location: Uranus

19 Jul 2021

Full support of VST 3. Even loads ancient VSTs like my Roland sh-201 Vst editor which Reason totally ignored.

slic
Posts: 130
Joined: 01 Jun 2021

20 Jul 2021

If you think Bitwig is the answer, what is the question?

If you are mainly working in midi/in the box and mainly make dance music, FL Studio is very hard to beat and you get free updates for life.
If you want the best (IMO) session/clip based experience then Live still has it in my opinion (especially with PUSH). MAX is also still the ultimate programming environment for a DAW, but not as accesable as the Grid (which is audio only)
If you want an all round workhouse DAW that can do all the bread and butter stuff really well then you canty beat Studio One/Cubase/Logic/DP11 and I dare say Reaper (I don't know much about the latter)- put the rack in one of those and you pretty much have everything. Have you seen what DP11 can do for example? https://motu.com/en-us/products/software/dp/ pretty much everything!

Studio One is still miles ahead of Bitwig in almost all standard DAW workflow aspects (audio and midi editing is very basic in Bitwig, as is markers, mixing is very basic, no audio pitch correction (massive omission for me) , groove extract/pool, video support etc). If I was on my own recording a track with guitar and vocals I would also pick Reason over Bitwig, it is just better suited to that type of session.

Don't get me wrong, I love Bitwig (even though it can be quite expensive to keep up to date with the annual plans) but most of the features I use it for are more 'left field' and other than the sampler, I don't use any of the built in FX or instruments (in Live and Reason I do). Bitwig is great for hardware control (I have it hooked up to my modular on laptop) and great for modulation and experimental stuff , its not so great for just recording and editing midi unfortunately...the users have being requesting 'piano roll' updates very vocally (see the 'why I left Bitwig thread on KVR!) for a long time!

So many choices (that why I own so many DAWS ;) ) but none of them have as good as fx, midi fx (players) and instruments as Reason and none of them have as good (and dare I say 'fun') a hardware/cv paradigm.

User avatar
MrFigg
Competition Winner
Posts: 9123
Joined: 20 Apr 2018

20 Jul 2021

Reason is best. In my eyes anyway. Better than a 4-track and a load of pedals in any case. Yep. Reason. Makes me happy.
🗲 2ॐ ᛉ

User avatar
dannyF
Posts: 359
Joined: 14 Jun 2019
Location: Uranus

20 Jul 2021

Reason is still cool you are right. I can't wait to use Reason in plug in mode. Still a lot of sound sources I could make use of in Bitwig. But as far as a DAW its got an uphill battle to fight. But whatever invokes inspiration where a person is at.

User avatar
joeyluck
Moderator
Posts: 11029
Joined: 15 Jan 2015

20 Jul 2021

I dabbled with Bitwig. I ended up concluding that the DAW I want to learn and use aside from Reason should be more of a studio/film staple such as Pro Tools, Logic, or more recently Studio One. Something that I can share projects with when working on films. I like Logic best out of those. Nobody is looking to get a Reason or Bitwig project from me for film, so in that sense they are in the same playing field. So that's where I ended up. What do I want to use for music—Reason. For film—Logic.

Although Reason lacking MPE support is a huge issue for software claiming to have a focus on music making. If it's not going to have native video support and be something that can be used for film, and its focus is on music, you can't lack MPE support. Even GarageBand has it. And Bitwig has MPE support and of course Logic has it too, so I could make music there... I guess it's just the familiar environment I am drawn to with Reason for music and sound design.

User avatar
dannyF
Posts: 359
Joined: 14 Jun 2019
Location: Uranus

20 Jul 2021

Yah I mean I also bought the Cubase upgrade just because it was getting to the point where my old, old version would likely at some point not entitle me to upgrade and I would have to buy the full license. No harm in learning/using multiple DAWS. Good point!

User avatar
SoundObjects
Posts: 119
Joined: 10 Dec 2018

31 Jul 2021

Tempted from many videos I bought Bigwig on sales last week.

First impression is wow - what a powertool for create anything in sounds.
It manages to combine the best from many DAWs and still have lot of new ideas.

I like the way to customize lot of settings in the workflow and can now again
use my old Ableton push and old 32bit VSTs.

Together with Reason Rack this will be my preferred DAW for the future :D
The Universe Is Vibrating

Post Reply
  • Information
  • Who is online

    Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 9 guests