There’s VST3 support – a rarity outside Cubase. There’s an expanded Polysynth, with expanded timbral tools like oscillator mix and filter waveshaping modes – and it combines with those new modulators. So you get a spectrum analyzer, and spectral tools through the internal toolset. Like any maturing DAW, the rest of this is a sort of grab bag of lots of improvements to workflow – the various refinements that occur in parallel to multiple elements of the tool. The other reason I’m going to give this a second go is, frankly, fades/crossfades – which look elegant and nicely work not only in the arrangement view but in clips and audio editor, too. They also go well with the hardware integration features above. Whereas those are device-specific and require setting up a rack, Bitwig’s feature can be saved with presets, too, and are available everywhere. Remote Controls for any device take the best feature of Live’s Racks – macro mapping – and appear to make it more coherent.
#BITWIG STUDIO 2 REVIEW FULL#
You also get a bunch of MIDI/pattern devices – nothing so radical to users of other DAWs, like Cubase, but I think doubly welcome in the context of the other hardware features and rich modulation:Īdd those together with modulation, and many of you probably don’t need a full modular tool. Plus, there are Control Voltage devices, for gate, continuous control, and simple direct signals: Again, it’s nice to see Bitwig add these features natively.įor MIDI, you get devices for both hardware and plug-ins: Hardware integration is the other functionality I think is really important, and really in tune with how many people want to work now. I can’t wait to try it, and I’ll be writing once I get some time with the beta. Being able to modulate in devices while you arrange, inside a DAW, natively, is a whole other experience. On the other hand, if this works, it can and should increase appetite for more modular tools – if I could just change that step sequencer a little…īut I really think this illustrates the limitations of Max for Live, or running other environments as plug-ins. This semi-modular capability is much of the time probably more appealing for quickly coming up with ideas than a full-modular environment would be. I won’t mince words: you can stop reading here, because I think modulators are a reason to give Bitwig a go. That combined with the cool control provided by devices like ROLI’s I think could open up a new approach to sound design. There are envelopes and step sequencers and keytrackers and nifty X/Y controllers. Every internal device, and every plug-in, now has an unlimited number of modulator slots. But we had to wait for them to deliver a product that built from that competition past the competition.Īnd modulators really look like they could be it. And, apologies, Ableton, but I think in this case you deserve the comparison.īitwig’s first versions laid a foundation for something more consistent and integrated.
Adding Max for Live seems to have become an excuse for not fundamentally improving any of this – at least through what’s now several years of updates. There are different sets of tools for monitoring signal or looking at frequencies, and they aren’t available everywhere. Then there are features relegated to second-class citizens as Max for Live devices, which sometimes cause them to behave differently or load more slowly. There are truly native tools like Simpler – and those are great.
There are third-party tools that never get updated. I think Ableton has actually suffered as its included devices have fragmented. What’s cool about Bitwig is its consistency. In fact, it might be friendlier to everyday users than the grand-modular-everything scheme. The step that we get here looks really useful. And that’s be exciting indeed.īut forget about big ambitions for a moment. Bitwig’s developers have said eventually they’ll open that up to users, not just for their own development. Underneath all the goodies Bitwig offers is a set of modules that provide its functionality. So, first, what it isn’t: it isn’t a complete modular environment.
#BITWIG STUDIO 2 REVIEW SOFTWARE#
And the first look at this software suggests it’s continuing to deliver what an enthusiast audience wants – even if some of the revolutionary promise of the tool remains over the horizon.
#BITWIG STUDIO 2 REVIEW UPGRADE#
Bitwig gets its first blockbuster upgrade since launch, in beta now.
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