Polyend instruments and Bitwig share a passion for modulation, polyrhythms, randomness, micropitch, multi-device connections, multilinear stuff, modular stuff… They also share this… underdog attitude, don’t you think? I have seen Bitwig mentioned in some Tracker and Play videos out there, so I know I’m not the only one trying to combine them together.
And yet, I’ll confess… I get a bit overwhelmed when I think about the possibilities of combination with the myriad of integration and modulation options that both “sides” offer. This topic is an invitation to share thoughts, questions and experiences using Bitwig, preferably (but not only) in combination with Polyend instruments.
While i agree with the underdog statement for Polyend (emotionally speaking of course, have no factual data to back that up )… i’m not so sure about the underdog attitude, when it comes to Bitwig… especially after their recent controversy, when they released the spectral suite
Regardless… everthing that i do, runs through Bitwig and has atleast one Polyend device included.
The Modulators in Bitwig are a ton of fun, and using the Poly 2 to send those to the rack is just fantastic!
I’m fascinated by this DAW but honestly I’m much more a Dawless bum. However I’ll try it and update if I discover something interesting.
Mostly I’ve done experiments with the Tracker and Ipad apps…
I’ve been slowly making the switch from Ableton to Bitwig, the grid is amazing but I mostly use a DAW for mixing and mastering.
It is a shame about the controversy with Bitwig, but I also feel like they are a bit of an underdog in that other companies making DAWs have massive pools of resources and Bitwig is innovating and competing despite being much, much smaller. Ableton and FL studio are huge, I think Ableton has at least 150 employees, where Bitwig I believe has under 30. So I give them a pass on trying to make a little extra money on the Spectral Suite.
I just have to recreate my mastering chains in Bitwig. I use this EQ + Fletcher Munson curve to smooth things out on every track. Anyone done anything like this on Bitwig?
You can install the Bitwig demo for free which comes… fully featured? (if not, almost) with the only caveat that you can’t save projects. But if you are into Dawless anyway, you can just treat it as an experimental effects unit and a source of instruments to trigger via MIDI. I’m biased, but it’s lots of fun. And it supports Linux, which for me is key and, looking at the state of the music production industry, it is pretty amazing.
I’m definitely not a person to give any advice myself, but… in case it helps…
Have you checked this short recent video about equal loudness using the new Loud Split device (part of the controversial Spectral Suite that you mention)?
No idea how relevant this is to you, but Baphometrix is a reference for mixing & mastering with Bitwig.
Bitwig 5.0 is out! I was looking at this demo of new live performance features and I was wondering… What is missing on the Play to be able to behave like the Novation Launchpad on the video.
Hardware-wise the Play has everything featured there: pads that can be activated with different colors and a shift button. Imagine you could use the Play’s audio sequencer combined with Bitwig’s (or whatever DAW) clip launcher using the MIDI mode (i.e. having all the long melodic samples and sequenced soft synths over there).
A Bitwig controller script would still be needed but that part should be doable if the right MIDI data can be sent by the Play, given the amount of controllers Bitwig and the community (well, mostly Moss) has developed.
Moss is a legend for all the controllers he has written for Bitwig! Definitely a couple nice new features to look forward to. I’m surprised MIDI comping is still a no-show.
First of all is good to change view about the Play. Yes of course the pads may direct you to the way of lets use Play as Bitwig controller. But that is not what Play is. It is groovebox, sequencer, it is a (kind of) “Bitwig” in a box not a controller.
I am using Play with Bitwig. But the tracks in bitwig, which are controlled by Play have no clips because the clips are in Play, and Play is set up as MIDI keyboard, and then separate Play midi channels set as input for those tracks.
And then for controlling the tracks with clips i am using akai apc mini, which is pretty cheap and designed to do the job
First let me say that it’s so nice to see many Bitwig users among Polyend users.
Sure, but music is where it is nowadays because many people took an instrument or effects device and started to use them in ways that weren’t intended by their creators. A lot of pointless stuff was created because of this, but sometimes… something unexpected catches on. Who knows?
I’m not saying I need this. I’m just curious. What if you could launch a clip in your DAW from a pad in MIDI mode, either pressing the pad or sequencing it, while still having all the other Play features available?
I believe that for the Play the only problem to solve would be to send a MIDI message when pads are activated and deactivated, the rest of the complexity is on the DAW’s side (a Bitwig script would be needed in this case). OK, having the pads with the same colors as the clip launcher would require more, but that is a next level of luxury.
You can already launch clip in bitwig from Play (without visual feedback) as in bitwig you can always do MIDI learn on most of the things. so, its up to you to organize midi tracks part on Play in a matter that switching the variation on midi track on play will launch some slot in bitwig…
Do you know how? I’m already modulating Bitwig with the Play as in i.e. modulating the reverb mix on a Track with the Reverb Send knob on the Play, but… how exactly can someone launch clips on Bitwig via MIDI?
Today the YouTube algorithm brought this short history of Bitwig. I found it interesting, and if you are reading this without having used Bitwig, I recommend it to you as well.
It’s nice to hear about a product from someone who is not a fan or insider but has spent more than a day using the product reviewed. With so many people reviewing things you would think this would happen often, but in the world of DAWs and certainly in the context of Bitwig it is very hard to find.
Play 1.4 and Bitwig 5.0 released almost simultaneously. The Play’s new piano roll in the audio sequencer and Bitwig’s new modulators triggered by the MIDI sequencer… Mmmmm…
Play’s firmware has its pros and cons, but this feature would add a lot of value to it, turning the sequencer into a multipurpose device. I’d love to try it with both Bitwig and Norns, for starters.
but it’s lots of fun. And it supports Linux, which for me is key and, looking at the state of the music production industry, it is pretty amazing.
