Hey fellow Bitwiggers, I'd love to sample from YouTube as easy as possible. I'm on Linux, what are my options?

Interesting points brought up my a prominent Bitwig user. What are your thoughts?

Relative newcomer to Bitwig, making music as a hobby. Mostly in-the-box synths & samples stuff, but sometimes I'll record instruments or vocals too.

The last DAW I was using was Cubase v5 (lol), so I've been checking out some tutorials on Bitwig's workflow and functionality. I really like the ease of adding subtle expression variations, and the modulation options are an absolute game-changer.

But I feel like I've only scratched the surface - what are some features that are not quite so obvious that you like to use?

[released 11 July 2024]

#Improvements

Now when importing audio, holding the [CTRL] key will Insert Audio as Raw

Various improvements to audio import behavior:

Better tempo estimation for audio loops based on loose numbers in filenames

Can now read tempo/beat-length information from ACID chunks of WAV files

Can now read tempo/beat-length information embedded by Logic Pro into WAV files

New combination Zoom In Vertically and Zoom Out Vertically functions are now available:

These work both in the Arranger Timeline Panel (for tracks/automation lanes) and the Detail Editor Panel (for notes in the piano-style view, or when using layered editing)

Default shortcuts are [SHIFT]+[CTRL]+[+] ([SHIFT]+[CMD]+[+] on Mac) to zoom in, and [SHIFT]+[CTRL]+[-] ([SHIFT]+[CMD]+[-] on Mac) to zoom out

Zoom In and Zoom Out functions have been renamed Zoom In Horizontally and Zoom Out Horizontally:

To cover all horizontal cases, these functions also work to change track widths in the Mixer Panel

From the creator the brilliant DrivenByMoss scripts for Bitwig and Reaper.

Changelog

New Features

• Bitwig Studio v5.1 User Guide is now available in ¡Spanish! PDF 
• Bitwig Studio v5.1 User Guide is now available in Korean PDF

Improvements

• Automatic handling of audio stem import: 
  • When multiple audio files are dragged into a project at once, files with identical lengths are grouped
  • Beat analysis will happen for those files together, giving all grouped files the identical Beat Markers (for stretching) and lengths
  • If non-matching files are dragging in as well, they will be analyzed individually
  • If analysis should be (re)done for any file individual, select those file(s) and use either Detect Event Tempo… (with parameter options) or Detect Event Tempo (which uses the default parameters)
• Improved default stretch mode preferences (**

I still think Rent-to-Own via Splice is a better deal for new users (two years upgrade with no additional cost/interest) but if you already have a copy this is a good way to renew your upgrade license.

For those who don't know, unlike Reason for example, which has a subscription model where access is lost upon cancelling, Bitwig offers one year of all upgrades after purchase but you never lose access to the software and upgrades licenses can be purchased whenever a new update tempts you. If you feel like the current version you have is enough there's no need for additional payment. People would even buy it on sale and wait to activate however I cannot confirm this is still possible.

In a world of ever numerous subscriptions I appreciate the more fair approach to long-term monetization.

Also, despite my bitwig love as far as I know FL Studio still offers updates indefinitely after a one time purchase, which I have to respect, but innovation is worth regularly investing in my eyes.

For all your preset and clip sharing needs the unofficial source is Bitwiggers (yes it's still called that).

I've found some neat things there and with Bitwig's approach to modulation the possibilities really are endless.

Have any of you browsing local or all tried Bitwig Studio? Or any good experiences with modular systems in general? I'd love to hear it.

I'm still on windows but Linux is looking better and better and I'm curious about people's experience with it.

I noticed that with the new 5 release, Bitwig made some big changes to the different versions:

In stead of the 8, 16 and Studio version there are now 3 editions that are differentiated by what devices and options are included but not by the amount of tracks you can use or the limits on external plugins like before.

Do you think this is an improvement?

I has been in beta for a while, now it's officially out: https://www.bitwig.com/whats-new/

Anyone tried it? How do you like it? What do you think about it being a full version update?

This is intended for a sticky thread to put Bitwig related banter in that does not need it's own thread.

So.. got anything related to Bitwig you want to talk about but you don't want to make a thread for it? Just put it down here.

TIL How to play notes on the computer keyboard

It's easy:

press [Capslock] on your computer keyboard

This is essential to me. Because if you don't have a midi keyboard connected you can still play notes to record or test a sound. And I do not have one connected most of the time.

In Ableton Live

In Live the standard configuration is that you can play notes using the keys on the computer keyboard. Starting with A they layout mimics a piano layout. You can change octaves with Z and X.

You can choose to disable that and use the keys for shortcuts. Do this by pressing the keyboard icon in the top bar. Or the shortcut M

I have thought about binding the action in Bitwig to M. Only that is the current shortcut for Mixer view. A very useful one.

So I think I will keep using the Capslock even though I find myself shouting in other applications on occasion.

Does anyone have a good suggestion for an alternative key to bind this to?