# BitWig opinions?



## tmm (Mar 11, 2016)

I just picked up a Seaboard RISE (which is awesome, BTW, but a topic for another time), which came with a free copy of the 8-track version of BitWig. It got me thinking... I've been considering trying out a different DAW for a while. I've been using Reaper for ... ever, and I've very comfortable and familiar with it. That said, just because it's worked well for me for so long doesn't mean that it's either flawless or the best way to do things. I'm not a huge fan of the MIDI editor in Reaper; I can use it fine, but I wish it was easier to draw in CC lines, edit across tracks in one window, etc.

I've been seriously considering Cubase for a while, as I use Cubasis a lot for capturing high-quality mobile audio, and the integration would be seamless.

Is there much BitWig experience here? What's the general consensus?


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## wcreed51 (Mar 11, 2016)

There's a demo of the full version, why not try it out.


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## Bohrium (Mar 11, 2016)

tmm said:


> Is there much BitWig experience here? What's the general consensus?



Well, I've done a few pieces with it. It's good for loop based stuff if you use the scenes (I think that's how they call them). People who are familiar with Live, will feel at home very fast. I unfortunately haven't been a Live user so I had to learn and get used to that way of working. MIDI editing is pretty good in comparison with other DAWs. It's not so great if you want to route MIDI due to some internal limitations.

I wouldn't use it for big mixing sessions, though.

Actually, if I just want to fast sketch something more electronic I find myself preferring it to Studio One more and more and since it uses extra processes for every plugin it scales very good on a powerful computer.
I don't use it as my main DAW and I don't see me switch soon, but for a quick MIDI experiment where I don't need ProTools I use it pretty often.


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## Ethos (Mar 11, 2016)

I've been reading about BitWig a lot lately. Apparently it is well suited for the MS Surface and touchscreen computers? Sounds like I should check out that demo...


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## woodsdenis (Mar 11, 2016)

Its a very cool program but.... not really ready for prime time yet. The devs are astonishing at updating but still a fair few issues. It great fun and intuitive with a genuinely unique modular approach.


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## C-Wave (Mar 12, 2016)

Have been using it since day one (late March 2014). Can't find a better company in this industry when it comes to listenining to its user base. Responded "bravely" since last November to eradicate every bug in the software and introduce new features until all bugs are gone (all of them have bugs right?), and the software have been rid of most of them as of latest beta (1.3.8 RC3).
Having said that I am not an EDM composer and been looking forward for users who are willing to exchange the full listence with Cubase 8 who I think is more MIDI EDITING oriented.
Edit: responding to a comment above about midi support, support for multi-out VST instruments (i.e. Kontakt) is available and nicely implemented since 1.1. Check out videos on YouTube.


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## muziksculp (Mar 13, 2016)

Hi,

My primary DAW is Cubase Pro 8.5, but I use BWS on and off, it is a great DAW, but I feel that it will offer much more features once it is at version 2.0

I use BWS on a desktop PC, not on a laptop. So, I have no experience with BWS on a touch-screen Laptop. Version 1.3 and up are supposed to run very nicely on touch-screen systems, check their website, or youtube channel for more info. on this.

Another big plus, is the developers at Bitwig Studio do listen to feature requests, and try to add the ones they feel will benefit it the most, I recently requested they add something similar to Cubase's Expression Maps to BWS, to make it an attractive DAW to use with many of the Key-Switch rich Orchestral Sample Libraries, and they replied to my request with a Thank You for the suggestions, so I wouldn't be very surprised if a features similar to Cubase's Expression-Maps will be added to BWS in the future. One of the missing features I feel they should have ASAP is support for video track, for those who score to video, BWS is not really an option at this time.

The stability, great GUI, workflow, and flexibility (i.e. runs 32-bit and 64-bit VSTs at the same time), it is also an awesome DAW if you are into sound design, their flexible modulation system which is not fully implemented yet will be a game changer, and they keep adding more unique and fantastic features that make a lot of sense to have.

I would recommend BWS as a second DAW at this time, so if you have another DAW, like Cubase, or Studio One, Logic, ...etc. I would stick to that as a primary DAW, until BWS is at version 2.0

Hope this is helpful.

Cheers,
Muziksculp


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## C-Wave (Mar 13, 2016)

I do agree that video scoring is sorely missing from Bitwig, though you can use a free third party tool if you are on Windows. Bitwig also lacks Cubase Expression maps and the line tool.. Wouldn't look anywhere else if they had that by 2.0 given these guys attitude towards their community.


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## Øivind (Mar 29, 2016)

Just bought it during the ongoing 2year sale and got a free u-he plug-in aaand 50 bucks off any other u-he plug-in. 
I demoed it a lot during Easter and found it pretty compelling. Gonna make my next track in it and see how the workflow grows on me.


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## H.R. (Apr 3, 2016)

I use it for electronic sound designs. Great DAW to come up with unexpected sounds but not great for orchestral stuff.


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## juliansader (Apr 5, 2016)

Bitwig's MIDI editor is much less feature-rich than Reaper's. 

Could you perhaps elaborate on the two problems that you mentioned? Perhaps someone here or at the Reaper forums can help you solve them. (BTW, Reaper's soon-to-be-released version 5.20 will include a brand new notation editor.)


tmm said:


> I'm not a huge fan of the MIDI editor in Reaper; I can use it fine, but I wish it was easier to draw in CC lines, edit across tracks in one window, etc.


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