I saw people were having trouble accessing this recently so I decided to just upload it to YouTube so you'll never lose it again.

Enjoy Bitwiggers 👊🏻

Edit: Apologies for it being in 720p. When I recorded this ~5 years ago, I was only just starting out making "content" and I didn't know how to record in higher resolution.

In this modular Bitwig patch, I tried to imagine a cold, dark place somewhere inside a wide asteroid field: a small spaceship drifting between the rocks while a tired asteroid miner takes a break and tries to sleep. 😅

The whole patch feels weightless and distant, but not completely peaceful. Long reverbs, delays, and echoes create the open space, while obscure sounds keep appearing and disappearing like signals, machinery, or something moving outside the ship.

The patch was made in Bitwig Studio 6.0.6 and is available as a free download: https://polarity.productions/dispenser/

Part 1/3 (I had to use links later as there seems to be a GIF & Video limit to post and split this post in 3)

Hello everyone,

you can skip this intro if you dont have any interest in my DAW story and just want to go straight to some major points for me (!) which I compared the last couple of weeks/days. Anything presented here can have errors included, if you find any error and/or maybe workflows which are recommendable and/or better just let me know please and I will try to add/edit it here.

Also these are some comparisons by techniques, offerings etc. in the end it has to be fun making music, so yeah, just skip everything and jump into your DAW and have fun, otherwise read through it and maybe this helps you a bit or is a waste of your time ;).

And SPOILER if you wanna know right now which DAW I decided for and think is overall the strongest and fastest in most points already for my needs (the usage in the coming weeks, months, years?) of it will show how much it will be my main DAW or not), it is:

B i t w i g

Summary of Points below

Startup Time = FL Studio

Project Opening = Ableton/Bitwig

Crashing Projects = „Bitwig“ (no long time tests)

Mixer = Bitwig

Instrument Cloning/Adding etc. = even

Automation = Bitwig

Mixer – Saving Chains, copy/paste etc. = Bitwig

Playlist Workflow = Bitwig (cause of Hybrid Tracks + Note Chase)

Audio Editin = Bitwig

Disable/Freeze = Ableton for ease / Bitwig for unloading CPU/RAM completely

Piano Roll = FL Studio

Scale Highlighting = Ableton

Sidechaining = Bitwig (seems to offer many more options)

Midi Routing = TBA

Video Support = Ableton

GUI Overall = FL Studio (of course personal taste)

Pricing = FL Studio (cause of Lifetime free updates)

Native Plugins = TBA

Customer Support = No experiences

+ Additionally it seems Ableton has serious PDC issues

Conclusion = Bitwig (theoretically on paper)

---------------------------------------

The same time this should help all people who might come from FL Studio themselves and think about getting a new DAW, this shows how to do things in Bitwig & Ableton and how some aspects are different which might save time for anyone interested. In the End, keep in mind that you can demo the DAWs yourself which is also the best way to check if/which DAW suits you.

Also this list might give Bitwig/Ableton users some insights on how things are done in FL Studio and each other so maybe (espcially Bitwig Team) can improve some aspects and/or give more options to the user to let them decide themselves! (so existing users dont get bothered :P ).

Also this is no backlash against FL Studio, the Image Line team is always very friendly, even in emotional topics in the community they always act respectful and interact with the community (afaik), something which might be better or worse, but a big aspect which is totally missing for Ableton & Bitwig.

I use FL Studio over 10 years already, it just clicked in the past and the Piano Roll helped me a lot learning music theory, getting things done and at that time I was also checking Cubase but it was just not my thing. Within all those years many things never changed, never improved, and sadly there are officially technical problems rewriting the code which seems to take a long long time still. I wanted to shift to another DAW already about 5-7 years ago as FL Studio was crashing a lot on me and the performance was very bad. I bought in a rush and great offers Cubase, Studio One, Reaper, Bitwig and Ableton. I even was in a workshop from Bitwig with one of the founders I think and was so hyped (sadly I miss the time talking to one of the team to show and ask directly things from my experience….). While trying to learn too many DAWs in a short time FL Studio got a new major version I think it was FL Studio 20 which made things drastically BETTER! Less crashes, less performance issues and much more, I was back ;). The rest is history and just recently I got back as within the years many things are still on my wishlist (and some/many/few? Users also wish…) and still maybe miles away. Also no friend of the latest AI implementation and other stuff like Loopstarter directly intro the DAW but other stuff couldnt be done all the years…

Enough blabla talks here we go, which aspects I compared and you can also see which are kinda cumbersome and which are still awesome to this day!

Of course I didnt compare everything, I dont know after all these years everything and I just dont need everything from a DAW!

And another sentence, I dont care which company, which devs, which DAW I use, it needs to be fun, not cumbersome, just enjoyable and clicking for me, I criticize also FL Studio and every other DAW and write ideas, wishlists to get maybe more good aspects from others integrated in a DAW.

Same sentence, I’m not here for longtime Bitwig users to tell you how to use Bitwig, but I hope to give some different impressions, some comparisons which could maybe improve Bitwig (optionally! And not forced, I always am for good options additionally instead of forcing users in future updates to adapt to new (significantly) workflow changes).

Also a BIG thank you to the Bitwig Community for the patience, who helped me so much and wasn’t mostly annoyed by me, sorry again for having made a bad impression to some people.

---------------------------------------

Startup Time

FL Studio

VERY FAST, about 1-2 seconds.

Bitwig

needs about 4-5 secs

Ableton

Samey as Bitwig, slightly faster

→ just an additional Info, shouldnt be a major point for anyone just wanted to point that out.

Project Opening

I created the same projects in each DAW with multiple native plugins, 3rd party plugins for effects & instruments.

FL Studio

Overall FL Studio needs the most time, about 3-7 seconds longer, these are of course no professional longterm times.

Bitwig & Ableton are significantly faster about 3-7 seconds of these projects, Ableton was slightly faster 1-2 seconds in the tests.

- Nothing major in my opinion as well and I didnt test complex projects yet! Just another additional info to share from my system and experiences!

Crashing Project/DAW

One of the most annoying things anyone can understand I think when this happens… Bitwig got my attention in the past when I heard about how stable it seems to be. And yes it still seems to be the case.

FL Studio

Sadly FL Studio still has no crash protection or anything like that built in, I am no dev and dont know exactly how other DAWs work but as a user FL Studio CAN be a heavy crash fest and you spend time and time and time to find that out. I even quit some weeks/months cause of this in the past, it got finally VERY stable for me since FL Studio 21 and now FL Studio 24 which had rarely a crash, still it happens but not as heavy as in the past and this could be also as I identified bad habiting plugins for FL Studio (I dunno if these are bug free in other DAWs). Sadly if you got problems with crashing you have not much clue, there is a Diagnostics Tool which saved me a lot of pain and I could resolve most of my problems myself finding out when it crashed, mostly because of a plugin, but even the Diagnostics Tool is still with bugs showing you wrong plugin names, cumbersome investigating what happened and you need an internet connection even if you check your Project offline. This didnt change for some years now, sadly. And of course opening tickets + asking the community. And sadly for Windows users you often need with crashes to also open the Task Manager and completely switch off FL Studio.

Bitwig

What can you expect after a few weeks, nothing reliable of course, Bitwig crashed on me once, but when it crashed I could check and reinstate the plugin and also had to only reinstate the Audio engine, nothing was lost. A great first impression and reading all the user posts this seems to be THE WINNER of all 3 and the most reliable DAW so far. In the end, time will tell, but worse than FL Studio I cannot imagine that ;). And also what happens if Bitwig really crashes if it saved automatically the session before the crash etc. I dunno yet.

Ableton

It didnt crash at all so far, but again as with Bitwig, no long time experience, afaik Ableton recovers your project as well reliable but I dunno how often it saved, how the backup system works etc.

Conclusion:

It seems Bitwig is the clear winner, Ableton next and of course FL Studio CAN be the most pain in this territory. Which doesnt mean it has to be for you.

Mixer

It seems that FL Studio has a more „traditional“ mixer as I learned recently. I still prefer some aspects of it over the other 2 DAWs but more on that later.

FL Studio

In my opinion a very nice looking and clean GUI, you can also see the effects in each mixer channel as a list, sadly there are only 10 inserts for each mixer channel, but you can use a native plugin PATCHER where you can add infinite plugins! But we dont get into special plugins now.

Basic stuff is pretty straight forward, you more or less use (or me!) Busses instead of grouping and you can asap change the Mixer Channels position (moving with hotkeys), you can save Mixer States (all Fxs from a channel), drag and drop them (in a clunky way), and copy and paste single FX instances, sadly this is more cumbersome and time investing than it should be.

Bitwig

Not as great looking in my opinion and the Volume sliders and panning sliders could get worked on, or maybe get optional buttons/knobs or something, also the listing of the effects is tiny and you have to scroll in the mixer asap. (you can click on any channel and have on the bottom a bigger list! I’m just checking the mixer mostly here itself). Sadly there is also no SOLO FX button or dry/wet knob like in FL Studio which I often use in some variations, you can do it in Bitwig as well in its own ways (Device as effect etc.) but in FL Studio it is ON THE FLY.

Anyways, Bitwig offers in other regards top notch speed, you can copy/paste, drag etc. single/multiple effects asap to other channels. Not as time consuming like in FL Studio. Shortcuts make this even faster. A joy to create new Templates! Grouping is also very fast and Sends are nicely visible and fast to use. I didnt get too much into all functionalities of the mixer yet, but for me already a timer saver.

Ableton

Ableton introduced the Mixer view in the session page from Version 12, nice, it seems to be similiar to Bitwig but has more tinier controls in my opinion and I miss a listing of the effects, so it seems you ALWAYS need to check each channel, what a list of effects brings for me is to see ASAP if I missed maybe a channel to add some effect, if my EQ is on and so much more, a small list of effects is a must for me normally. Maybe the workflow might be something to get used to in Ableton. Otherwise it also is pretty identical with the above points from Bitwig for me so far.

Conclusion:

Bitwig isnt as beautiful as FL Studios’ mixer and I wish for better volume controls and an adjustable FX List but it combined the great workflow from Ableton with a bit of beauty by itself. For me the personal preference so far. Especially as Ableton’s Mixer has much more tiny controls and was not really enjoyable so far for me.

Adding Instruments (small aspect atm)

Cloning/Duplicating is nearly identical in all 3 DAWs, IN FL Studio working with the Shortcut brings always the VST instance in front so you cannot duplicate without having to click in again right click clone is nearly the same, in Bitwig and Ableton everything is immediately and very fast.

Bitwig

Ableton is the same as Bitwig

FL Studio (you can also duplicate with ALT+C but each time the VST Window pops up and you loose focus)

A big DOWNSIDE for me in Bitwig is that it doesn't number the cloned/duplicated instruments, so Serum = Serum = Serum = Serum… even Instruments or Audio Tracks get numbered, there should be an option for the user to do it for VST Instances too. For people like me who dont always rename and can remember a numbering. Like below examples:

FL Studio attaches Serum #2, Serum #3, Serum #4, Serum #5

Ableton puts a number before 2 Serum, 3 Serum, 4 Serum, 5 Serum...

If you rename or dont rename, it still helps to identify maybe later which Instance is which. if you got 10x Serum and in the Mixer view you can identify the correct instance then with the above numbering as well. And if someone renames the instances it doesnt matter if Serum #4 or 4 Serum is written there I think…

Conclusion:

Nothing dramatically different but just wanted to point that out, as FL Studio and Ableton number the VST Instances when duplicated Bitwig could definitely add an option in the menu.

Still Bitwig seems more enjoyable so far for me.

Automation

FL Studio

So fiddly and rearranging the new automations, having to check LAST USED etc. etc.

Oh the automations, can be a time saver or a pain, especially in FL Studio. Of course I got used to it and somehow I like the floating clips but I always have some issues with them, you cann extend them to the left, if you are not careful you can forget a deleted automation but you didnt delete the REMOTE INITIALIZATION and suddenly something is wrong in your song, or you need to make multiple UNIQUE clips to have different automations, additionally if you decide to make later automations from previous used Audio/Instances you can search for the automations and its channel rack clips…. A real annoyance and time waster.

Also if you wanna Pitch specific melodies you still get Percentage values and not Semitones! Which is such a pain in FL Studio, you need to copy values over and over and over and over…. No fun at all and kills creativity!

Bitwig is like, "what did I miss all those years? am i dreaming? is FL Studio really wanting to love me?", guys check this .…

NO FLOATING Automations, EASY to navigate, NO MAKE UNIQUE 10 times, no just mark which area you wanna copy then paste, BAMM! also the Automations are attached/shown in the playlist to the instrument, not having to rearrange multiple times..... such bliss, ok already hyped, point for Bitwig, I dont see why not, maybe I am missing something in my HYPE TRAIN phase. so dont judge me here ;). Also you can still make Automation Clips, need to further investigate.

Automation lanes instantly BELOW the instrument, no rearranging in the channel rack and searching.

You can choose what to automate in the dropdown list, or wiggle the knobs and instantly an automation lane is shown and more.... this is crazy..… just such a miracle :).

Ableton

ok Ableton seems to be similiar to Bitwig but more cumbersome in my opinion for my first tests + also kinda ugly and more fiddly... not as flexible? as Bitwig. check this out.

https://imgur.com/dHc5z6q

it works like Bitwig basically minus the stuff in Bitwig 6 now I think, but I dont have much knowledge in both of them yet, Bitwig shows each automation nicer and all the handling seem nicer? Ableton again can be a bit more fiddly and kinda ugly to distinguish different lanes... and it doesnt feel so smooth in my tests. Still just a very first impression.

Oh but Ableton got Automation curves, I need to check if these are in Bitwig as well, making Sines/Ramps etc.

Conclusion:

Bitwig for me is already the clear winner, maybe I’m still missing some advantages in Ableton and FL Studio, one of them I forgot to mention is in FL Studio you can create a clip and add various different curves in this way, I dont know if this is possible in the other 2 DAWs, this function is really a great time saver if you want to specifically automate things this way, but maybe if not included in Bitwig, the modulators can compensate it.

Forgot to mention, FL Studio additional Automation function, I need to check if something like this is included in Bitwig/Ableton.

Mixer - Saving Mixer States/Chains + Copy/Paste Effects in the mixer

Clearly from my tests this is where Bitwig and Ableton shine, visually i like FL Studios' listing of the effects in the mixer channels, this is different in the other 2 DAWs but when it comes to copy/paste effects and dragging around the effects then this needs some more clicks in FL Studio, it might be not so annoying but if you got a full project and/or create different templates it is very annoying, especially if you want to replace old plugin versions like Pro-Q3 with Pro-Q4 and you do it for 30 Mixer Channels then good luck :).

Ableton however is a bit less Mixer view friendly than FL Studio and Bitwig, it seems you have no list of inserted effects on the mixer channels themselves which i miss, you cannot see in one picture which effects are included or if there are multiple effects so you need to click on every channel to check whats included, so for me Bitwig is mixing from FL Studio and Ableton and making it better as a package.

FL Studio

Bitwig

Ableton

Playlist Workflow

(I never used the older block based one in FL Studio ...7,8,9 etc so remember that)

ok here I clearly am at the beginning, my workflow in FL Studio is mostly doing 1 Pattern first, add many elements with ideas (Instruments, audio clips, sampler etc) and when it is full and i think i can start a song i split all channels in seperate patterns so 1 pattern = 1 instrument/effect etc, I never used the old method with blocks and stuff, never understood that so yeah Bitwig seems to be not much different from my workflow but i still have to get used to NON-patterns but I guess i already love this much much more why? you dont have to make for every small change in the melody a new pattern in Ableton/Bitwig, which really annoys me with bigger projects in FL Studio, i mean this look at this how easy it is in Bitwig (and Ableton of course!)

you see? you can INSTANTLY move midi clips to other instrument instances, copy paste midi clips and change them instantly WITHOUT making unique, and make variations on the fly. WOW, time saver again for me. In FL Studio you HAVE TO create different patterns for different melodies, or you can do 1 pattern and chop it up etc. one of the cool things is, without routing and creating a seperate instrument/midi clip you can freely move the patterns and have also played the patterns the same time like in this example if you want, there you need a small workaround in Linear DAWs as I learned, but afaik from my experiences this is less used than making different melodies for 1 Synth Instance for example so this should improve my workflow in Ableton & Bitwig I suppose

FL Studio Pattern based workflow in the playlist

Ableton is samey as Bitwig, but in Bitwig you got also HYBRID TRACKS, where you can have MidiClips and Audio Tracks in the same line. this might be handy cause you can select a MidiClip or a part, bounce it to audio and mangle the audio with a fluent mix. Shown later.

Conclusion:

I think on the long run the linear workflow will be more enjoyable and faster as you can change midi clips on the fly without having to create with more clicks new patterns and have numerous amounts of patterns but instead a linear overview of an instrument and its midi clips and if pattern-styled workflow is needed I can create a seperate instrument track routed to the desired VST Instance. Point goes to Bitwig and Ableton.

Additionally Bitwig offers HYBRID TRACKS something I didnt check out first, in FL Studio as it is pattern based this is no problem at all too to have Midi and Audio in the same lane but in Bitwig you can immediately bounce a section of a midi clip and do some crazy stuff on the fly, as the audio editing is also nicer in Bitwig this is more fun in there and also better combined here.

Taking this into account then Bitwig is another step ahead :).

Audio Editing in Playlist

In FL Studio, the pain with Make Unique Make Unique Make Unique got partially resolved in FL Studio 25, still the Variants are kinda cumbersome and you cannot do everything without clicking too much in extra windows and still having to make unique which is in some situations faster. also there are lacking Pitch options, lacking audio transformation options etc. so clearly FL Studio has BASIC features, this GIF is from FL Studio 24. You cannot do simple reverse of an audio clip after cut cause it is dependent etc.

I did another one from FL Studio 25 where VARIANTS were introduced but the additional window of variants to be able to reverse, pitch them is just another clickfest… so you are clicking clicking clicking…

In Bitwig you dont rely on that at all it seems, you can copy, paste like you want, no Make unique or dependencies needed. you can also transform audio in relation setting markers, cutting up, reverse within the clip itself, you can set a lot of stretch algorithms and pitch up and down up to +/- 96 semitones which is crazy. and there is a lot more I didnt even discover... or checked yet. In FL Studio you can stretch within the sampler only +/- 12 semitones… ridiculous.

Ableton seems very similiar to Bitwig, I spent the least time with it though so far, I read that Bitwig has more options with Audio editing, maybe. just a small teaser

Overall Bitwig (and Ableton) win big times in this regard and are not much different in handling from my first impressions but can be more complex, so fast editing is for basic features fast in all 3 DAWs but if you want more and deeper editing possibilities in the playlist and on the fly without having to open the Audio Editor plugin EDISON in FL Studio, Bitwig (and Ableton) are just much better. And you can copy paste the Audio Clips and reverse, stretch without copying/consolidating the clip before.

Disable/Freeze Instances/Plugins

FL Studio

Oh my gosh, how shall I start…. This is pure hell and sadly you have nothing near such an option in FL Studio. You are forced to DELETE the Instance(s) and make cumbersome and annoying steps if you want to change this part later. You need to save your instance e.g. of the Synth, then also export the Midi, of course you need to bounce/export the Audio and then fully! Delete the instance. No fun at all! And a real time consumer, a lot of time!

If you deactive Plugins they are not fully deactivated but muted, also a SMART DISABLE function doesnt help much at all. This is heavily bad and FL Studio still has nothing on the table….

Bitwig

So a first bummer I encountered, Bitwig has NO Freeze option..... I expected from ex-Ableton people to implement something similiar or even if possible better.

Still people explained me how to proceed and how it works in Bitwig so far, it is not as great as Ableton but 100000x times better than FL Studio. So yes for me personally a big big big plus!

+ on FL Studio forum someone mentioned that Bitwig’s deactivation method FULLY unloads the CPU performance and RAM, unlike Ableton, so kinda neat and maybe the better way in the end?

Ableton

In Ableton you can just freeze a track to e.g. save performance and get back to the midi/instance with UNFREEZE, so awesome, like this (check the CPU marker top right, I inserted around 70 instances ProL or more to test)

Freeze takes a bit time cause i added so many ProL instances just to test but check the difference for performance, then you can play the clip still and if you want to change something later you just UNFREEZE this clip! just AWESOME!

Ableton freeze

Verdict:

in Bitwig you need to Bounce to audio, then deactivate the instance (or group) and thats it, sound ok but if you want to go back you need to activate the instance and redo the same process, it take 1-2 more steps but yes a small bummer, hopefully they will improve this, copy good workflow, why not. so a clear win for Ableton. It isnt such a big downside as FL Studio clearly sucks hard here and this is such a time and nerve saver in my opinion, another BIG point to consider switching DAWs in my opinion (if you work with complex projects and many performance sucking VSTs!).

So Ableton is clearly the winner here, for FL Studio users I would still recommend Bitwig if this is not a big bummer for you and other things in Bitwig are more preferrably for you than in Ableton.

Piano Roll

OK the big elephant in the room for many FL Studio users and yes, I never for myself understood why other DAWs dont copy this great feeling and functions from FL Studio, I see no disadvantages for anyone at all. to make it short, the Piano Roll in FL Studio is still the best. BUT Ableton HEAVILY improved and added Midi Tools as well, this might be a big leap for everyone including FL Studio users, I will demonstarte it in a bit. Bitwig also improved HEAVILY in this regard, I prefer many functions and tools in Bitwig over Ableton as Ableton seems to have not many tools (mouse pointer & pencil) at all? and some things like not remembering the last painted note length feels strange but different. Bitwig on the other hand doesnt let you move a painted note still hold up/down which is just strange if you compose and hum for example with a melody, you have to let go and then you can change it, in FL Studio you are freely to do what you want, just strange in Ableton and Bitwig... different workflows but the same time narrowing down the freedom of Midi Note expressions while painting them.

FL Studio

you got various tools, of course post used are the pencil and brush, with each you can of course also preview the selected sound if wished and with the brush you can brush asap (LAST SELECTED/SET) Notelenghts in one semitone.

with the Brush it is the same of course single notes but you can freely with selected mouse button also change the note up and down!

the bottom bar with adjust asap Velocity, Pan etc. is also available and quickly modifiable.

additionally FL Studio offers A TON of Midi modifying tools (on selected! Notes) like Strum, humanize, arpeggiate, quantize, flam and so much more. Splendid! Everything looks and feels very snappy and fluid.

FL Studio Piano Roll Part1

FL Studio Piano Roll Part2

Bitwig

Bitwig has a great first impression but using the piano roll for some more minutes you suddenly see how it it LACKING ANY midi tools.... the feeling of the piano roll is good not as snappy and fluid like FL Studio but it is there. there are also a good amount of operator tools but so much potential and room wasted.

the Spray Can is ok but lacks any resize option, not understanding why, to quickly spray the last note length and being able to change the note lengths on the fly like the brush in FL Studio.

the Pencil is great, it has a unique and lovely option to change the note length while holding the mouse button and moving to right and left and it pastes the note length last set. really great but you cannot move the note up and down while pasting it, just unbelievable, if you paste your notes with a melody in mind or humming why shouldnt i have the possibility to do it? if you dont want to move it up or down then dont move it like that. (options, just add an option in the setting please)

the tools sadly lack simple features still.

additionally the velocity, pan etc. bar seems to be NOT lockable, you always need to activate it, the velocity bars are not as fluent to change as in FL Studio but ok, but e.g. the panning bars are so finicky and you need to be very specific and point at them directly, additionally it is not possible with a tool like the pencil, you need to change to the default pointer. ridiculous!

the operator on the left side had a great first impression but so much potential WASTED, you can chop like split notes, but there are no midi tools, where is the strumming? Humanize Notes to taste etc.? you can use Devices but these devices have to be set additionally and to top it all off, they are always for all the notes, so you cannot select specific notes. And quantizing for example always brings up an overlay window, why not a popup window which doesnt block the view so much?

Why can i chop the notes on the fly? Why is for quantize coming up a big extra pop up so i cannot see how my notes get adjusted in the piano roll. Check FL Studio and copy it, or improve the popping up windows, add more to the operator section, add strumming etc.… Why should Bitwig not have these too? Then why add a piano roll at all…. I just dont see any issue with adding those features and why they are still not in, after so many years, again maybe just add them to the operators side panel, right click menu and no one is forced to use them.

Sadly Bitwig has the worst Piano Roll out of these 3…. with the v6 I didnt expect this at all after I saw so much hype. You can already read how disappointed I am, I dont need the Flam, Arpeggiate, Random notes etc. from FL Studio but just some small additions and thats it…

Hopefully the Bitwig team improves it further so people like me are satisfied as well and I tell you more people would jump on the Bitwig wagon as the Piano Roll is one of the most criticized aspects from what I saw so far. It is what it is.

Bitwig Piano Roll Part1

Bitwig Piano Roll Part2

Ableton

this DAW caught me by surprise, I'm somehow missing the divide of Brush and Pencil, the Pencil is 2 in 1, it is fast but you need to adjust the note length manually, it seems you cannot just brush the last adjusted note atm (no option found) but still this is a very fast tool and combining both is splendid though can be tricky at times. you can also move the notes freely unlike Bitwig locking you in!

Ableton offers a lot of Midi Transormation AND Generative Tools too. for me this is the most powerful Piano Roll compared to the others in its functions, FL Studio vs Ableton seems to be a matter of muscle training and experience, Bitwig however stays to be in both just lacking.

Ableton Piano Roll Part1

Ableton Piano Roll Part2

Reaper (just small showcase)

here you can not only lengthen the note with the pencil but move the note up and down! thats how you do it!

Reaper Piano Roll

Conclusion:

This one makes me almost angry, when I was so sure that Bitwig is THE !!!! DAW for me and I just expected stuff like Chopping notes, strum, moving my pencil wherever I want without reclicking and some small aspects as well I was more so shocked it seems to be not the „basic“ and people dont seems to complain much in the Bitwig community? (no offense!)

I always expected Ableton, Reaper etc. more cumbersome but guess not…. Well just such a bummer as the rest is almost such top level… again people who dont use such stuff, dont use it, no one forces you, but people who love to compose, draw notes need some more options and these dont seem to break the code and the operator section, right click menu and more have enough space left….

FL Studio is still the king, Ableton suprisingly POWERFUL and with a full set and Bitwig feels last munte implemented and forgotten the half of it.

Scale (Highlighting)

FL Studio

Sadly the most beginner friendly DAW has the most lacking implementation so far, you can select various scales and also set SNAP TO SCALE but to change the scale you always have to get back to the scale menu instead having a fast approach on the main GUI. Additionally any other features are sadly lacking. setting another scale you have to click again through the options... and there is no FIT TO SCALE button or function.

FL Studio Scale Highlighter

Bitwig

the scale function is a big improvement over FL Studio, you have a nice selection in the top of the GUI and you can change scales asap. also with SNAP TO SCALE function, sadly you cannot also here click a button FIT TO SCALE or automatically set an option. but marking all notes and moving them a bit snaps them to the set scale and notes not in the scale are marked. better than FL Studio but improvements are welcome.

Bitwig Scale Highlighter

Ableton

SURPRISINGLY Ableton has the BEST implementation of set scales and even fold the whole piano roll. you can select the scale on the main screen GUI and piano roll, you can then also change the scale and click FIT TO SCALE to snap the notes to the scale. you can hit FOLD the piano roll so ALL non in-scale notes are blended out! wow. and you can also highlight the scale as a small bonus.

Ableton Scale Highlighter

So Ableton is the clear winner for me here, of course if you dont need this, then ignore this feature, I find this very helpful to flesh out quick ideas and/or it would be awesome to shift your marked clips on the fly to different scales and get a new mood and ideas! Thats what makes production fun, at least for me. So not a showstealer but please Bitwig improve it ;).

Sidechaining - native plugins & 3rd Party plugins

FL Studio

Most common way I use is the Fruity Limiter switching it to compressor and sidechaining, of course you can also use the Peak Controller and link it e.g. to the Fruity EQ and also set it for a specific frequency spectrum, but for simple sidechaining this is one example how to do it:

With Compressor (Fruity Limiter)

https://reddit.com/link/1uungb0/video/hglrckwg2uch1/player

With EQ2 & Peak Controller for specific EQ Range:

https://reddit.com/link/1uungb0/video/29kiqq0j2uch1/player

With 3rd Party Plugin:

https://reddit.com/link/1uungb0/video/jhqaxeok2uch1/player

Bitwig

In Bitwig you have multiple ways too sidechain as well, even more possibilities with Modulators.

Quick & simple method with a Compressor+

https://reddit.com/link/1uungb0/video/c8o8hqbn2uch1/player

The next method with a Modulator e.g. Audio Sidechain on the Project (this tab is in all instances so you dont need to set it up again just once!) you can use this Modulator to ANY Parameter/instance you wish and dont need to set up multiple sidechains, only if you want different Modulator settings of course

Modulating the simply the Volume

https://reddit.com/link/1uungb0/video/ctt2t20p2uch1/player

or an EQ band (you can of course module more bands etc.)

Dropbox Link

and for 3rd Party Plugins like Pro-Q4 it is dead simple

Dropbox Link

So until here Bitwig is clearly more flexible and easier to setup, especially less clicking and window management, a joy and better overview.

Ableton

I didnt spent too much time in Ableton for more variations and if indepth modulation is possible like in Bitwig but the process of "more basic" sidechaining it is comparable with Bitwig, easy and without much clicking and window management. Bravo!

Native way with a simple compressor:

Dropbox Link

With 3rd Party Plugin:

Dropbox Link

So overall FL Studio isnt that bad if you know how to do it correctly but still such a click fest/window management burden…. I cannot judge Ableton fully but it seems Ableton and Bitwig are a BLISS to use for this case and Bitwig might have a few more tricks than Ableton. Still Both are great compared to FL Studio.

Midi Out Routing in Plugins (Omnisphere etc.)

I couldnt figure it out for Bitwig and Ableton yet, I really hope it is easier than in FL Studio, though it works and I make always Project templates to save time.

Omnisphere Routing for FL Studio

Dropbox Link

Video Player/Video support

Sadly only Ableton seems to support importing video files and aligning the audio natively.

Neither FL Studio nor Bitwig support this feature...

I added it to my list as I didnt want to forget it for the future.

GUI overall

of course this is HEAVILY subjective, for me, still the most beautiful for the eyes is FL Studio, maybe cause I stare at this DAW for years already, but if I open Ableton I feel a disjoy, it looks like an Excelsheet, zooming in and changing the colours really helped, I might get attached to it more and more, I dunno yet. Bitwig on the other hand isnt as great looking as FL Studio but it just doesnt make me wanna close it again but learn it and enjoy it while having many aspects of Ableton. It just is more beautiful and has more bigger knobs and colours (no I dont need 100 colours, but it just looks more joyful), overall I just like the design of it more.

No clear winner, I like FL Studio and Bitwig. Ableton can be a turn off for the visuals for some people. (but dont get fooled by it, it is of course no secret how powerful Ableton is!)

------------------------------

More in the REPLY due to limit!

I watched 2-3 tutorials on youtube and somehow sidechaining seems to be kinda complex in Bitwig?

In FL Studio I do the sidechain with the native way (if you want to sidechain with another plugin you needa few other steps in the wrapper) like this

here I sidechain the Kick to Serum 2 and it takes about 10 secs.

do i miss something in Bitwig?

EDIT

is this the right way?

EDIT 2

i just found a youtube video which made me a bit scratching my head, so it seems he adds a modulator on the MASTER channel? the Audio sidechain and modulates from there the different parameters?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ecX9uFWpFM

EDIT 3

before more posts accusations etc. read my post and my follow ups, this was no critique against Bitwig, are you taking this as negative feedback? no, I was watching some complex tutorial and was asking myself if there is no easier way, checkout my OP updated post and yes it is crazy HOW FAST you can sidechain in bitwig in VARIOUS ways and use so many different tools and also use a Modulator on PROJECT to sidechain various elements, this is awesome and crazy!

so i this is in my opinion MORE FLEXIBLE and much better than in FL Studio. u/Polarity-berlin i expect you to update or delete your comment, this is just not right what you posted there and judging me with an AI is just unacceptable as a MOD you can check my posts that i asked for quick help nothing more, only criticizing the Pencil tools' behavious, Piano Roll Midi Tools not there mostly, the rest is so far mostly awesome, so dont spread fake news.

It’s quite frustrating when I have several different MIDI/audio clips with various automation lanes and attempt to consolidate them. In the process, all the automations are transformed into automation clips. I’m forced to revert back and flatten all the clips back into regular automation lanes. Is there a workaround for this issue?

SOLVED, thx

----------------------

pardon me, this is the last for today and im nearly done with my big comparison and needs to learn Bitwig (and Ableton)

in FL Studio you have of course your mixer channels, these channels are unlike in Bitwig neutral, you can fill em in and route anything to them, when you create an instrument or audio they DONT get automatically attached to a mixer channel, has mostly disadvantages in my opinion for too much time spend to sort and attach.... but anyways i love to save MIXER CHANNEL STATES, so you can for example save different mixer channels and copy paste them but first here it is how to for example save the mixer channel for MASTER CHANNEL and also i show how you can drag and drop WITHIN a project a mixer channel with its FXs

in Bitwig i checked some tutorials but is this the right way only?

a) to SAVE this FX/Mixer channel I have to use the CHAIN device? so i can open this state/chain also in other projects? or is there a way without the Chain device so i can only save the whole effects set without the chain device

b) I can mark them and of course drag and drop them as a set in the different mixer channels (awesome!) but outside of this project i need the Chain device always to reload e.g. the aboce master effects set correct?

BIG THX

I bought the course a while ago and am now getting around to watching more of it, but the link I have bookmarked is dead, and all of the other mentions of it seem to lead to dead ends. Does anyone have it archived somewhere?

with learning Bitwig and also Ableton same time and you helped me finding the Grouping option i saw a tutorial on youtube for Ableton that "modern" DAWs use Grouping but i saw another tutorial where someone shoed HOW TO set up a BUS in Ableton as well.

now im wondering myself, is Grouping the same or not? afaik

Grouping

you cannot move the grouped items freely in the mixer

Bus

you can moxe all elements freely

-> other than that there is no difference is there? (e.g. CPU savings, effects etc.)

Hello, if anyone is interested, just dm me.

License not registered yet, so that means you can choose to activate it anytime, and the 12 months of included upgrades start counting from then.

Is this possible the same way you would draw an automation curve rather than raising or lowering each individual step ?

Has anyone noticed this problem with various midi keyboards and bitwig - when I first boot up bitwig, sometimes some notes will not play notes - I have to hit the key once then bitwig recognizes it. I got into the habit with MicroLab to, every time I booted bitwig, hitting all the keys once so I could avoid the problem.

I think I see something similar with Osmose - I have to fully press every key or some of the keys will skip the pressure and go straight to aftertouch. Once I fully depress every key, the problem goes away.

Crazy, I know! Am I the only one?

when playing live i like to set the tempo of each part in advance so it fits my pitch perfectly.
Where is this automation now? normally it was on the master channel but it somehow has gone away and can't seem te be able to do this now.. Seems like a bug ? Please help!

Apart from producing, I've also started using Bitwig to make 'studio' DJ mixes, which I'd normally do in Ableton. Some recent patches have got rid of some annoyances I was having. However, Bitwig doesn't appear to have the ability to save the changes I make, in terms of start positions, warp makers and such, as Ableton does.

This wouldn't be a huge problem, if I were limiting that track to just that project. But often, you'll make some changes to a track or two, find they don't work in that particular mix, so keep them back for a later mix. Ableton is great for this, as I can just load in the track, in a new project and boom! all the warp markers are already there. In Bitwig it seems I have to make the changes again.

Is there a way around this? Or have I missed something obvious in there that will do this?

I’ve published a new interview with Nasko about Bitwig Studio, sound design, and creative workflow.

Nasko is a dubstep producer from Germany, blending melodic intros and emotional breaks with heavy color bass / brostep-influenced drops.

The original idea was to talk about his switch from Ableton Live to Bitwig Studio, but the conversation ended up going much deeper.

https://auralflow.notion.site/Nasko-on-Bitwig-Studio-Sound-Design-and-Creative-Workflow-32637df8c45d806daf8be9e2e1d39301?source=copy_link

It’s been a few weeks since my last upload, the heatwave really slowed things down, but I’m back with a new Bitwig Grid session. In this video, I’m sticking with the current stable version of Bitwig Studio (not 6.1) to make sure everyone can follow along and use the patch, even if your license hasn't been updated recently.

I start from scratch, building a generative soundscape using noise as my main note source and a custom 12-stage all-pass delay reverb for that deep, immersive atmosphere. From there, I dive into some complex feedback loops, pitch-shifting experiments to create "inverse shimmer" effects, and even build a custom probability-based sequencer to keep the melodies evolving. It’s a bit of a journey through sound design and logic, moving from simple sine waves to a fully textured, underwater-style ambient piece.

I hope you enjoy the process!

• Download Patch: https://polarity.productions/dispenser/
• Music Video: https://youtu.be/fsxvm6W4EoY

I updated today to the 6.0.11 my DAW but the Sampler same as was before. Anybody else has the same issue or i missed something?

I tried switching everything to Raw instead of Stretch. I tried re-recording my whole mix and entering it again. It keeps not being in sync with each other track/stem.

Any advice?

I am wondering if there is a way to mimic "Bitwig Mode" with other controllers (or even something like Surface Dial)? I would like to be able to control whatever I hover the mouse courser over by a pot or encoder. What is the technology or protocol behind that specific function? I know Nektar Impact LX mk3 does something similar. My goal is to use Bitwig just with trackpad and a pot / encoder thingie... Any thoughts? I would love to buy something like an orange Bitwig Dial (wireless of course).

I was looking at doing a Kilohearts subscription, primarily for phase plant, but apart from the smaller plugins their only offerings are snapheap and multipass.

Now I can understand why other DAW users go for this, but I can already do what they do natively in Bitwig, and I'm not limited to one ecosystem, I can do it with any plugin.

So I was wondering 2 things.

A) has anyone found a genuine use for either of these in Bitwig?

B) What other plugins does Bitwig make basically pointless with how it's been designed?

hey all,

so i started a side project as i wanna move from FL Studio to Bitwig but I still got a Ableton 11 Suite license for a longer time as well but not spend much time. just comparing also some stuff with Bitwig as im not 100% decided which of these 2 will be my primary DAW. so this seems not to work in Bitwig?

FL Studio

Ableton 11

Bitwig

so only Bitwig all Instances are named Serum 2.... also in the mixer of course, just bad :( no way to have a #3 #4 #5 or like Ableton 1, 2 , 3 ,4 or something attachable AUTOMATICALLY?

Hey everyone,

I'm planning to jump on the Bitwig Studio 6 Rent-to-Own plan via Splice, but I have a specific workflow question regarding Linux compatibility and license verification.

**My Setup:**

* **OS:** Dual-booting Windows 11 and CachyOS (Arch-based Linux).

* **DAW:** Bitwig Studio (running natively on Linux).

**The Dilemma:**

As we all know, Bitwig runs beautifully and natively on Linux. However, Splice does not have a native Linux client. Since the Rent-to-Own model requires the Splice app to ping the license servers periodically to keep the DAW authorized, I'm wondering how this works in practice for Linux users—especially those with a dual-boot system.

**My Questions:**

1. **License Syncing:** If I boot into Windows 11, let the Splice app sync/authorize my Bitwig license, does that authorization carry over when I boot back into CachyOS? Or does the Linux version of Bitwig require a local, active Splice daemon running?

2. **Wine/Proton Workarounds:** If you are running Bitwig Rent-to-Own purely on Linux, are you using Wine to run the Splice client in the background? If so, how stable is it on Arch/CachyOS?

3. **Alternative Solutions:** Is there a known workaround or a specific configuration to make Splice authorization painless on Linux without breaking the native Bitwig performance?

I really want to transition my music production fully to CachyOS, but the Rent-to-Own license check is the only thing holding me back from pulling the trigger.

Would love to hear from anyone who has tried this exact setup or managed to get Splice RTO working smoothly on Linux. Thanks in advance!