Bitwig - Pain Points

Official support for: bitwig.com
Post Reply New Topic
RELATED
PRODUCTS

Post

Every time you switch track the device lane jumps back to the beginning of the device chain. Really annoying. It should stay where you left it.

Scrollwheel scrolling in Grid's module selector but not in device lane. Why?

Duobling content of playing clip in clip launcher stops the clip and (arrrgh!) turns of looping in inspector.

Create 1 bar in arrange cointaining automation. If you drag the border to loop clip the automation is not extented even if "automation follow clip" is on. You have to turn on looping in inspector first to make it work. :roll:

I miss an option to switch note preview in pianoroll globally off.

I also agree on the audio editing antic and jon mentioned.

Post

Trying to scroll along the timeline with the mouse. I’m always inadvertently zooming while scrolling or vice versa. And unlike most programs both the ruler and the scroll bar act the same way. The algorithms are way too sensitive. No one moves perfectly horizontal or vertically.

Post

It would behoove them to get some users and just watch them work with Bitwig, and see them get frustrated. Many of these oversights and bugs smack of tunnel vision. I’m still trying to reconcile giant menus with tiny icons.

Post

stamp wrote: Tue Jun 11, 2019 11:29 pmScrollwheel scrolling in Grid's module selector but not in device lane. Why?
Have you tried with modifier keys? I think scroll wheel for device panel works exactly like it does for arranger (I think you have to hold Ctrl to scroll to the sides?).
Music tech enthusiast
DAW, VST & hardware hoarder
My "music": https://soundcloud.com/antic604

Post

jonljacobi wrote: Wed Jun 12, 2019 6:46 amTrying to scroll along the timeline with the mouse. I’m always inadvertently zooming while scrolling or vice versa. And unlike most programs both the ruler and the scroll bar act the same way. The algorithms are way too sensitive. No one moves perfectly horizontal or vertically.
Are you an ex-Live user? Using the ruler there to move around and zoom in/out was a nightmare for me! The biggest deal with release of v10 was they finally adopted track pad two-finger gestures like all the other DAWs, browsers, MS Office software - swipes up/down and to the side move you around, while with Ctrl you zoom in/out (also pinching works).

Sorry to be blunt, but every time I see someone grabbing the ruler/scroll bar to do those things I'm like - WTF?! :)
Music tech enthusiast
DAW, VST & hardware hoarder
My "music": https://soundcloud.com/antic604

Post

jonljacobi wrote: Wed Jun 12, 2019 6:56 amt would behoove them to get some users and just watch them work with Bitwig, and see them get frustrated.
According to interview with Ableton before 10 was released this is exactly what they did, but - unfortunately! - they were watching some stupid, clueless people who constantly were getting confused clicking automation when they wanted to select midi/audio and as a result they've moved automation to separate "view", so now you can't just have automation lanes shown for single track, but it's either all of them or none... That was the beginning of me saying goodbye to Live.

So what I'm trying to say is - choose the focus group very carefully :D
Music tech enthusiast
DAW, VST & hardware hoarder
My "music": https://soundcloud.com/antic604

Post

antic604 wrote: Wed Jun 12, 2019 8:34 am
According to interview with Ableton before 10 was released this is exactly what they did, but - unfortunately! - they were watching some stupid, clueless people who constantly were getting confused clicking automation when they wanted to select midi/audio and as a result they've moved automation to separate "view", so now you can't just have automation lanes shown for single track, but it's either all of them or none... That was the beginning of me saying goodbye to Live.

So what I'm trying to say is - choose the focus group very carefully :D
I'm not a huge fan of this change to automation view. I think Live is a solid piece of software and it feels like the mature, long-lived project that it is, but this change is baffling. It seems crazy to not even have the choice to have the old behaviour, unless I'm missing something.

Regarding the focus group - it's always interesting to see the difference between the professionals and the hobbyists. It is very often the case, in my experience, that if you watch the tutorial videos from the professional working producers (I'm talking mainly single-person electronic producers with small home studios making DnB, Dubstep, Trance, Techno, Ambient etc) then they have a huge number of tracks and a ridiculous amount of automation which is often all on display at the same time as they micro-edit notes, audio, edit and nudge automation etc. This might be why Ableton went down this route - they are trying to make sure that the real working producers have a workflow that works. The hobbyists are a legitimate market as well, but every company has a choice about where they focus their efforts and what features to prioritise etc.

Still, I repeat - why not have the option?! I can't believe it would be so difficult to implement the choice!

Post

quincy wrote: Wed Jun 12, 2019 9:13 amI'm not a huge fan of this change to automation view. I think Live is a solid piece of software and it feels like the mature, long-lived project that it is, but this change is baffling. It seems crazy to not even have the choice to have the old behaviour, unless I'm missing something.

Regarding the focus group - it's always interesting to see the difference between the professionals and the hobbyists. It is very often the case, in my experience, that if you watch the tutorial videos from the professional working producers (I'm talking mainly single-person electronic producers with small home studios making DnB, Dubstep, Trance, Techno, Ambient etc) then they have a huge number of tracks and a ridiculous amount of automation which is often all on display at the same time as they micro-edit notes, audio, edit and nudge automation etc. This might be why Ableton went down this route - they are trying to make sure that the real working producers have a workflow that works. The hobbyists are a legitimate market as well, but every company has a choice about where they focus their efforts and what features to prioritise etc.

Still, I repeat - why not have the option?! I can't believe it would be so difficult to implement the choice!
Believe it or not, early v10 beta versions didn't even had the button to show/hide all automation per track, so if you wanted to focus you had to one-by-one hide them and then one-by-one bring them up back again! Actually my suggestion regarding that on the beta forum was 3rd most upvoted after VST3 integration and audio comping, spawned huge discussion between users and devs/mods but finally they've added it:

https://ableton.centercode.com/project/ ... 6b2514fcb1
Music tech enthusiast
DAW, VST & hardware hoarder
My "music": https://soundcloud.com/antic604

Post

Totally hearing you on this, I much prefer the automation and cursor editing workflow in Live 9 - you could fly around and arrange screen and automation was immediate. More steps killed the flow a bit. But I prefer Bitwig so much more, plug ins work so much better and all of the other features I could get into - Ableton feels almost archaic going back to it now. I can have absolutely huge sessions in Bitwig and not even worry about CPU, Ableton will get really sluggish once you get to a certain track count and plug in load.

Post

antic604 wrote: Wed Jun 12, 2019 8:34 am
jonljacobi wrote: Wed Jun 12, 2019 6:56 amt would behoove them to get some users and just watch them work with Bitwig, and see them get frustrated.
According to interview with Ableton before 10 was released this is exactly what they did, but - unfortunately! - they were watching some stupid, clueless people who constantly were getting confused clicking automation when they wanted to select midi/audio and as a result they've moved automation to separate "view", so now you can't just have automation lanes shown for single track, but it's either all of them or none... That was the beginning of me saying goodbye to Live.

So what I'm trying to say is - choose the focus group very carefully :D
LOL. True, true...

Post

Obviously, some of this stuff is subjective, but I kid you not, the number one reason I don't use Bitwig much is my difficulty navigating the timeline. The mouse/scroll bar algorithm is too touchy for me, you can't scroll using the position readout when music is playing, and the jump commands which I was so happy to finally see don't work in a sane fashion.

If you're playing a song, the jump to the previous marker command doesn't compensate for the playhead moving and continually jumps to the same marker. And none of them scroll the view when playback is stopped even when follow playhead is enabled. That last was a stunner for me. I think there's just no traditional DAW user among the devs. That's the only reason I can think of for stuff like this.

I love what the company is trying to accomplish, they're super nice, and I really want them to succeed, but oversights on basic stuff like this just leave me scratching my head.

Post

antic604 wrote: Wed Jun 12, 2019 8:30 am
jonljacobi wrote: Wed Jun 12, 2019 6:46 amTrying to scroll along the timeline with the mouse. I’m always inadvertently zooming while scrolling or vice versa. And unlike most programs both the ruler and the scroll bar act the same way. The algorithms are way too sensitive. No one moves perfectly horizontal or vertically.
Are you an ex-Live user? Using the ruler there to move around and zoom in/out was a nightmare for me! The biggest deal with release of v10 was they finally adopted track pad two-finger gestures like all the other DAWs, browsers, MS Office software - swipes up/down and to the side move you around, while with Ctrl you zoom in/out (also pinching works).

Sorry to be blunt, but every time I see someone grabbing the ruler/scroll bar to do those things I'm like - WTF?! :)
I’ve used it, and it’s not nearly as fussy to me. Studio One is just as bad as Bitwig.

I’ve seen this done two ways successfully. One, it locks scroll or zoom until the mouse stops moving or the button is released. Two, in a scroll bar you grab the end of the scroll handle to zoom and the center to scroll. Why everyone copied such a finicky dual-function approach, I don’t understand.

Post

jonljacobi wrote: Wed Jun 12, 2019 10:53 pm I’ve used it, and it’s not nearly as fussy to me. Studio One is just as bad as Bitwig.

I’ve seen this done two ways successfully. One, it locks scroll or zoom until the mouse stops moving or the button is released. Two, in a scroll bar you grab the end of the scroll handle to zoom and the center to scroll. Why everyone copied such a finicky dual-function approach, I don’t understand.
just hold Ctrl to scroll only when dragging scrollbar or simply use scrollwheel when hovering the scrollbar. But I have to agree that zooming is jittery when you try to use scrollbar. So you have to use Ctrl+scroll on arrangement view to zoom precisely. or use a touchscreen, because with touch it's working pretty good. I'm not used to use touch-screen in DAW as complete replacement, even though Bitwig tries to provide with that, but with this specific feature it works better than mouse. Last time I tried Reaper, it was the opposite experience.

Edit: just realised that Ctrl+scroll up/down on arrangement view actually zooms in/out, somehow missed it and bottom panel didn't hint on it either. so edited my statement

Post

I suppose I should mention that I quite often have a guitar or other instrument in hand and really just want to hit a single key or grab the mouse with my free hand. I'm betting no one at Bitwig works that way, but I'm surely not alone.

Of course there are ways, but this is basic stuff that's done by everyone all the time and it should be as simple, efficient, and bulletproof as possible. Otherwise you're simply wasting everyone's time. Those wasted seconds and milliseconds add up a lot quicker than many people suppose, and subconsciously at the very least, negatively affect satisfaction levels.

Post

jonljacobi wrote: Thu Jun 13, 2019 4:27 pm I suppose I should mention that I quite often have a guitar or other instrument in hand and really just want to hit a single key or grab the mouse with my free hand. I'm betting no one at Bitwig works that way, but I'm surely not alone.
Do you not just press and hold the mouse scroll wheel down and drag the arrange view?

Press down scroll wheel + mouse left / right to pan the arrange view
Press down scroll wheel + mouse up / down to zoom in and out.
Or both at the same time.

Perhaps I'm missing something. :?

Post Reply

Return to “Bitwig”