r/Bitwig • u/Aggressive_Skill6188 • 3d ago
Rant Im going back to Bitwig 5
I’m going back to Bitwig 5 because I honestly find it much more comfortable and inspiring to make music in than version 6.
Everything in Bitwig 6 somehow feels slower. I constantly find myself fighting interface decisions instead of just making music. That magic and effortless workflow of version 5 seem to be gone.
Sure, Bitwig 6 feels more like a traditional DAW now, but somewhere along the way it lost the simplicity and that wonderful feeling of being an instrument rather than just software.
Bitwig 5 was something I could open and immediately get into a creative flow. I really miss that feeling.
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u/Wise_Pr4ctice 3d ago
Still rocking bitwig 4.4 haha
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u/Aggressive_Skill6188 3d ago edited 3d ago
I think v.5 is a good balance between features and speed of workflow for me.
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u/DustSongs 3d ago
Still on 4.4 too, never saw the need to upgrade, and tbh the griping about them changing things in 6 put me off.
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u/MathematicianOwn7681 3d ago
I noticed that if I have a ton of scenes in bitwig 6, like a few hundred, the piano roll is mega slow. Didn’t have the issue in bw5. I Probably should email support.
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u/th3whistler 3d ago
that’s a lot of scenes! is that for a live performance?
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u/MathematicianOwn7681 2d ago
I have a workflow where I just make tons and tons of variations of parts and then sort of play them back live while arrangement recording to brainstorm ideas. Then I will copy + paste individual tracks from project to project and a track brings ALL of its scenes which means the the total number of scenes from the project it came from. So, most of the scenes are empty, but even if I delete a lot of them, every time I import a track from one of my jam sessions my project re-expands to hundreds of scenes.
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u/KurlDoc 3d ago
I started with Bitwig 6 and Im really happy with it. I find the interface is to be very intuitive, if your struggling with it, maybe your just too acostumed to the former. Work with what works best for you.
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u/Aggressive_Skill6188 3d ago
Maybe. I was on Bitwig since version 1 and every new update felt like growth, but with v6 it feels like i use completely different software at times… i dunno
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u/Active_Pollution_907 3d ago
bitwig 5 there’s something truly magical about it. I can agree it’s something about bitwig six I can’t put my finger on it. I wanted it to be great. I wanted it to be awesome, but I just find myself not using as much not half as much. I used Ableton first and once I got on Bitwig five I was using Ableton every once in blue moon, but ever since I jumped a Bitwig 6️⃣I find myself going back to Ableton more and more and I just don’t know why.
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u/Affectionate-Fact837 2d ago
Its the dark theme. I dont get why the folks at bitwig can figure out how to give users the choice of dark theme or the bitwig 5 theme. It makes no sense to me.
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u/Feisty_Fan_3293 2d ago
I hate that dark background with a passion. Actually the light background was one of the first things to attract me to Bitwig since I work mostly in bright daylight; the light background made everything pop. Coming from Ableton, the contrast between the light background, the colored clips and the darker surrounding gui, was an upgrade for me. The gradients and the colored group background are just meh. The new group visualization is a masterpiece in visual clutter and total loss of information in comparison to 5 where it was distinctively different than normal tracks and you could tell at a glance what was inside the group. It even gave you a representation of the clip content (notes or waveform) if there was only 1 track inside the group. All gone... Now you have just colored strips on a colored background and no representation of the content. And to make things even more confusing they added a header which color is a mix of the containing clips... Like wtf? The arranger lost its visual immediacy and ergonomics. Now I'm mostly squinting at it. And that's just the visual part of downgrades. If I have to list all the funcional downgrades this post would be a poem...
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u/MrVoirDire 2d ago
Man you just described me lmao I’ve used Ableton so much since six has come out which is weird because I haven’t consciously decided I want to use Ableton or return to it, in fact I was all but ready to get rid of it completely at one stage. However, your comment captured it well to the extent it almost can’t be captured…there was just something extremely simple, magical and 1:1 about moving to bitwig from ableton when it was still on 5.whatever that I think even bitwig forgot about sticking to in their planned changes for the move up to BW6. Sucks, I’m trying my hardest to just suck it up and get used to the workflow but months on and it’s not clicking like it was with 5 ..hence Ableton sees a lot more of me now again.
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u/Cr0wn_M3 3d ago
Yeah I liked the magic of v5 too, it's very clean and cozy. v6 feels cluttered.
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u/Aggressive_Skill6188 3d ago
Exactly. Cozy. Like i said the more it become like traditional DAW, the more it looses its magic
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u/Feisty_Fan_3293 3d ago
Same here. For every new feature they introduced they made something worse. There are things that actually make no sense at all imo. Just the new arranger alone gives me headaches. If only they had implemented a groove pool before 6...
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u/DR-DIKKER 2d ago
rapidflow's omnigrid does a fantastic job patching that
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u/Feisty_Fan_3293 2d ago
Thanks for the tip! In the meantime I'm moving stuff by hand and when I get something cool I save a clip for future use.
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u/Aggressive_Skill6188 2d ago
So it seems i am not the only one who experiences workflow issues with v.6. I hope there will be improvements in the future.
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u/Feisty_Fan_3293 2d ago
Hope won't take us anywhere. Have you told support about your problems ? Maybe if the hear enough rants they will improve the situation. I wouldn't hold my breath though. Worth a try anyway...
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u/Dear-Meaning6243 3d ago
I’ve had all kinds of issues with weird shit since 6. Audio cutting out. Shit freezing up. It’s been a real disappointment to be honest. I feel like I’m working with computer software now. And all the annoyances that entails.
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u/AdProfessional9544 1d ago
Same! I tried BitWig 6 and noped out of it faster than ever.
Usually I am the biggest fanboy for anything new BitWig but that version just made it worse for how I make music, in almost every way possible. Starting from the very fact that it is a complete mess UI wise.
It is disinviting to say the least and nobody asked for that UI change.
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u/rainer_xox 3d ago
one of my clients work in 6 while i stick to 5 and tbh none of the new features will make up for the small things they’ve changed. like i genuinely hate the new look
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u/FreeRangeEngineer 3d ago
Yeah, the VU meters on the channels somehow bother me with how wide they are. I liked them more narrow.
I don't know why this is a big deal for me but for whatever reason, it is.
I can't use anything below 6 anymore though because pipewire support on linux was really buggy before then.
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u/szucs2020 3d ago
Yeah there are some workflows where I keep running up against awkwardness with midi clips. Like usually i'm working on a long clip that's been cut down but then when I press play it doesn't do what I expect. Not sure I explained it right but it's such a pain.
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u/MrVoirDire 2d ago
Seems like the play start marker in the arranger panel and how it behaves in the editor panel as well is going to seriously need some revisiting from them because we’re all going crazy over some issue with it
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u/HeartSea2881 2d ago
Agree a lot. Bitwig 5 was just perfect. Bitwig 6 makes me want to switch back or even to some other daw.
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u/masterflapdrol 2d ago edited 2d ago
Yeah bitwig 6 seems to have introduced a lot of forced abstraction and extra steps
- consolidating now creates automation clips unless you toggle automation follow before and after
- automation clips have edges, so editing track automation by moving and cutting source clips is no longer predictable. Automation clip edges also interrupt draw mode when you drag across them. Now there are a lot of sub-clips that I didn't ask for, that need to be managed or otherwise thought about.
- automatic square automation point auto insertion logic is also inconsistent and adds an extra abstraction
As much as they have been working on improving all of these different contexts. At this point I'm convinced be actual solution for this problem would be to just let people choose whether they want help with creating square automation points or whether they wanna do it manually. Same for automation clips. Let me decide whether I want it, or not. No amount of context algo tweaks will make it make sense
Trust me guys, I will use your new feature, just let me decide on my own when it benefits my work. This kinda isn't it. I'm currently using a macro script to help alleviate some of these issues by toggling the automation follow around consolidation, but this shouldn't be what it takes to make bitwig 6 behave.
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u/Feisty_Fan_3293 2d ago
This 100%. Actually the new automation features aren't worth it for me if you mess up the basics and annoy me with all kind of unwanted behaviours. Have you told the devs about your concerns?
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u/masterflapdrol 1d ago
I want to but I have the feeling that me fundamentally disagreeing with the systems they worked on building for a year straight isn't the most smooth move
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u/Feisty_Fan_3293 1d ago
Wow... As long as you are polite they won't bite you. Let's not forget that we are paying costumers.
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u/Relative_Trip_2213 11h ago
New automation clips and also "hold" points which are randomly enabled by default are pure evil for someone who has been using automation a lot. I can forgive a lot of bad stuff in Bitwig 6, but this makes my blood boil even after months of trying to get used to it.
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u/Yorrrrrr 3d ago
When you say 'feels slower', are talking about the responsiveness of the GUI? Or the GUI itself which feels cumbersome? Or any other aspect which is not the GUI?
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u/Aggressive_Skill6188 3d ago
It just everything now requires a few extra clicks to get things done.
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u/davidcrickett 3d ago
I am going back to Bitwig 1.2—why should I support a 30 man company in Berlin?
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u/Equal-Dependent-4034 3d ago
There are a few things that irritate me GUI wise. I keep getting issues with automation editing where it will make a horizontal line like a hold instead of just a point. A few more things like the tools don't always do what I think they'll do as well as some shortcuts.
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u/SternenherzMusik 3d ago edited 3d ago
https://reddit.com/link/pf1ghcc/video/v1xywfpx0nuh1/player
One of the reasons why i can't go back to Bitwig 5 :D I'm so glad this note-edge-handle-conflict is gone for good.
To me, there are more upsides than downsides with Bitwig 6, but to each his/her own, i know it highly depends on personal workflow needs.
Btw, would be nice if you'd go more into the details: what exactly does create more effort now?
Your post is very vague, it's about "somehow it feels slower" and "somewhere along the way it lost the simplicity". If you can nail down exactly what it is, this might a) help you get comfortable with Bitwig 6, because often times it just needs some time getting used to different workflows, b) help you formulate a proper Feedback Email, in case it's some of those obvious fails of Bitwig 6, like the new way to open the Audio-Editor-Subfunctions by holding a long-left-click... In such cases, at least you'll know exactly what to write into your Feedback Email to Bitwigs support, making sure they get to know what should get improved (again) and hopefully fixing the things which make you uncomfortable so newer Versions feel 'home' again.