What base functionality still is missing in Bitwig 5

[Hanz Meyzer]

To be fair, I only find the additions of v5 not so useful for me personally at this point, maybe later.

I really like that Bitwig team this time actually broke up the core structure and added MSEG in a very flexible way, same with meta parameters. I wish they would continue with this new behaviour, instead just adding new layers onto the old and rusty layer, cementing the not-so-good design decisions.

But surely this takes a lot more effort and energy, if you touch the core structure. Yet it is required, to really improve this software, stepping forward, IMO.

Here is a list of missing or improvable base functionality:

- Better GUI performance for 5k screens, dual screens
- Integrate VSTs into undo
- Actually print the undo-ed parameter in the status bar, no blind flight
- Remember scroll position in each track dsp lane
- More detailed note view in arranger, transparent clips / grid-lines visible inside, actually being able to read the note data in the arranger, or at least getting a clue about length, rhythm and pitch
- Step recording in pianoroll
- Shortcut for playing the notes under current playhead position without playing
- Shortcuts for scrolling the playhead while playback is stopped (also with quantization)
- Do not reload the whole project, if you only change the sample rate or audio device
. Remember disconnected audio device, and auto-enable it
- VST/audio buffer reset, and no need to reload the project
- Much more shortcuts for arranger and piano-roll actions

Maybe good additional base-like features (in comparison to other major daws):

- MIDI comping in arranger
- MIDI always recording
- shuffle setting per clip
- Audio quantization with stretching
- pianoroll scale visualization support, based on scale device setting or so
- full .dawproject support (to benefit from third party coders)
- Do not cut notes, only clips, while cutting/dragging clips / overlapping notes in a clip (musically it makes no sense to cut the notes at clip boundary)
- Inplace pianorolls based on track zoom level or multiple pianorolls vertically (not overlapping)

[JerGoertz]

Retrospective Record

[JHernandez]

My take on your list

- Better GUI performance for 5k screens, dual screens - Do not need
- Integrate VSTs into undo - useful
- Actually print the undo-ed parameter in the status bar, no blind flight - U WAT M8?
- Remember scroll position in each track dsp lane - useful
- More detailed note view in arranger, transparent clips / grid-lines visible inside, actually being able to read the note data in the arranger, or at least getting a clue about length, rhythm and pitch - Do not need
- Step recording in pianoroll - Do not need
- Shortcut for playing the notes under current playhead position without playing - useful
- Shortcuts for scrolling the playhead while playback is stopped (also with quantization) - meh
- Do not reload the whole project, if you only change the sample rate or audio device - meh
. Remember disconnected audio device, and auto-enable it - U WAT M8?
- VST/audio buffer reset, and no need to reload the project -meh
- Much more shortcuts for arranger and piano-roll actions -meh

Good additional base-like features (in comparison to other major daws):

- MIDI comping in arranger -lol
- MIDI always recording -lol
- shuffle setting per clip - U WAT M8?
- Audio quantization with stretching -useful
- pianoroll scale visualization support, based on scale device setting or so -lol
- full .dawproject support - meh
- Do not cut notes, only clips, while cutting/dragging clips / overlapping notes in a clip (musically it makes no sense to cut the notes at clip boundary) - right on
- Inplace pianorolls based on track zoom level or multiple pianorolls vertically (not overlapping) - U WAT M8?

Also send it directly to Bitwig support, you may want them to hear about it. Or not, whatever.

[tactile_coast]

Retrospective Record

Retrospective MIDI record is more a crutch for DAWS with an old codebase like Ableton that limit you to a single device per track. With Bitwig you can just put something like Birds MIDI Cap onto a track and have a much more elegant solution selecting and dragging retrospective MIDI snippets onto the clip launcher as required.

[nowiamone]

Here is a list of missing base functionality:

I think the best/most useful thing is sending that list to Bitwigs Support Email, because that's their one and only tool of communication.

And i guess, everyone has his/her own list. And the contents of the list reach from 'basic DAW function' to 'advanced DAW function'

Here's mine:
1. Fix the broken Touchcontrol (10:37 to 14.45 https://youtu.be/oLDshsHmLYo?t=637)
2. Option to show Gridlines behind (within) Clips in the Arranger.
3. Playhead should stay visible, when Space, or Shift+Space is used.
4. Play from Cursor in the Editor! Clicking in the Editor should switch playhead position to that spot.
5. Scrubbing the Playhead should be possible. Ideally with a visual synchronization of Arrangement-Timeline and Detail-panel.
6. Further improve transient/onset detection!
7. Add a “one button” Audio Quantization based on slicing on onsets.
8. Add a secondary “one button” Audio Quantization based on warp-stretching.
9. Option to have a default tool! When switching from the Arranger to the Detailview while editing, and then coming back to the arranger, many people coming from other DAWs assume that instead of the last used tool, Bitwig switched back to the default (pointer) tool. This behavior should exist as option!
10. Seeing parameter values in automation lanes instead of percentage, as an option. A must for precise and informed automation.
11. Adding additional Post Recording Settings for a true Live-Looping Experience like Audio-Overdub and Midi-Track-Overdub. Explanation here: https://bitwish.top/t/looper-live-loopi ... tions/4610
12. Solve piano roll issues: - no more showing the wrong note-region (C7/8), - automatic zoom to fit for midi and audioclips, - see midi cc lanes in the normal detail view, - add custom preferences for detail view like note audition turned off/on or showing velocity and sustain pedal., - option to make doubleclick create notes based on grid-size (instead of Alt+doubleclick)
13. Option to adjust Loop length with a shortcut! +/- 1 bar.
14. Option to make Copy&paste and duplicate non-destructive. Right now, audio/midi clips which are in the way of pasted or duplicated Clips get destroyed/deleted forever. There should be the option to instead of destroying clips, they just get overlapped, while staying intact!
15. There should be a forth option in Bitwigs settings for "Default stretch mode", called "On using the stretch tool". Otherwise, a essential function of Bitwig (Alt+Drag) is rendered completely useless for Short samples, which for 99% of all producers have Strechmode=RAW turned on.
16. 15+ Years of Muscle Memory from Adobe Premiere, Audacity, Melodyne, Cubase, Ableton, Izotope RX, and many more Programs call for an option to make Shift+Mousewheel move the Arranger from left/right instead of up/down. On Windows.
17. When Loopsize is narrowed/lengthened again in the Clip-view, the moved cue marker stays there and doesn’t follow -> There should be an option to deactivate that behavior.
18. “Activate/Deactivate” Plugin should be Midi-Assignable! The general shortcut for “activate/deactivate selected item/track” is not enough, as it is useless for quickly managing Latency and RAM usage of specific Plugins in a huge Liveset.
19. Show Peak levels in decibel in the normal mixer panel, not just in the Big Meters of the MIX View! The arranger needs to show peak levels in its mixer.
20. Let users decide to show Arranger, Mixer Panel AND Device Panel at the same time. 4k Monitors could show everything with ease, and the constant panel-switching would stop forever. [No, a second screen doesn’t do the job. This is a feature request for one big monitor.]
21. Display/Interface-Scaling below 100% should be possible.
22. “Select Device” should be Midi-Assignable. Bitwigs viewfocus should follow the selection.
23. Vertical zoom of Tracks needs a shortcut+mousewheel action.
24. Mappings Panel needs a SCROLL BAR!
25. “Plugins crashed” and “Plugins Missing” must show WHICH ones!
26. Add a glue tool
27. Option for changing grid-strength and playhead-strength visually.
28. Drastically improve automation-editing, adding envelope shapes, removing the pudding-like-mouse-deceleration/acceleration of vertical movement, adding quick-editing tools like in Ableton and Cubase.
29. Add Audio-to-Midi, equally good or even better than in Ableton. Integrated in Bitwig, not as a grid-addon which works less precisely and/or without easy and fast drag&drop action.
30. Add CPU Meters in Tracks
31. Add Clip-Playback-Progress showing in the Track in addition to within the Clip! incredibly important for big Livesets!
32. Improve the Midi Scripts. It’s just incredibly sad that there’s no natively working bi-directional midi-script. (Minute 29:42 of my vid]
33. ARA integration
34. Retrospective Audio Recording, together with optional intelligent quantization: Pulling the first recorded transient to fit perfectly on the “1”, for example.
35. Proper Timestretching and Slicing capabilities for the Sampler. Increase Live-Usability of Slicing to Multisample (like in Loopy pro)

General note: Bitwigs standard answer is "We've added your feature request to our internal wishlist." since several years. And you never know if it actually meant "we've added your request to our trashbin" or if they really are thinking about implementing it.

[Hanz Meyzer]

Here is my take on your post:

- Better GUI performance for 5k screens, dual screens - Do not need

You will need it, if you go 5k. Bitwigs GUI will be quit slow then, esp. when displaying a lot of tracks and some automation. It is not good to work with it, then. It's not well optimized. Fine, stay with VGA.

- Actually print the undo-ed parameter in the status bar, no blind flight - U WAT M8?

Imagine you edited multiple parameters of two devices of two different tracks, now you only want to undo the parameters of the last device. It gets difficult to know when you undo the prior device, without a display of what is undoed. I think you know Renoise, there it is done right. Simply print in the status bar something like "undoing 'cutoff' of device 'filter 2' on track 'pads' to value 0.5..."

- Step recording in pianoroll - Do not need

I need it. Makes it easy to enter common repetitive patterns into the pianoroll, without using the *** mouse.

- Do not reload the whole project, if you only change the sample rate or audio device - meh

So you like that Bitwig is reloading the whole project if you change some settings of your audio device? It makes technically no sense at all. This is just caused by lazyness of the Bitwig devs, since they do not want to implement a proper initialization method of the audio process.

. Remember disconnected audio device, and auto-enable it - U WAT M8?

Imagine you have a macos notebook. And a hub with a pro usb audio device connected to the hub. Sometimes you disconnect from the hub (and the audio device), since this is a notebook. macos would re-select the disconnected device, as soon as you connect to the hub again. The same logic should be used in Bitwig, maybe simply by using the "system default" device, provided by Core Audio. Currently you have to re-select the audio interface in Bitwig all the time you disconnected from the hub.

- VST/audio buffer reset, and no need to reload the project -meh

This has nothing to do with a sheep, there is no need to reload the whole project, if you want to reset audio. Bitwig simply needs to fill the audio buffers with zeros and send initialize to all plugins.

- Much more shortcuts for arranger and piano-roll actions -meh

Lots of useful stuff is missing here, have a look onto Renoise. Manual sequencing, position jumping, looping in Renoise is faaast, and sloow in Bitwig.

Also send it directly to Bitwig support, you may want them to hear about it. Or not, whatever.

They never listen, so I won't send anything. I just posted this to annoy all the fan boys.

[nowiamone]

They never listen, so I won't send anything. I just posted this to annoy all the fan boys.

I don't understand that sentence. If your experience of "they never listen" is your own, you must have already sent feature requests in the past to them, correct? Then it should say "... i won't send anything any more". Would be interesting to know if you sent them your whole list - and how long ago, and what their response was.
Besides, i don't think, or at least - hope - that you didn't just post this to annoy all fans. Because it seems as if you genuinely care about your feature requests and are saying this out of frustration.

[JerGoertz]

Retrospective MIDI record is more a crutch for DAWS with an old codebase like Ableton that limit you to a single device per track. With Bitwig you can just put something like Birds MIDI Cap onto a track and have a much more elegant solution selecting and dragging retrospective MIDI snippets onto the clip launcher as required.

Hmmm, maybe this would work. I've not heard of Birds MIDI Cap before. However, would it have the convenience of the way MIDI retrospective record is implemented in Cubase or Ableton? The convenience factor is one of the big reasons for a feature like this.

[pdxindy]

Hmmm, maybe this would work. I've not heard of Birds MIDI Cap before. However, would it have the convenience of the way MIDI retrospective record is implemented in Cubase or Ableton? The convenience factor is one of the big reasons for a feature like this.

I was doubtful, but Birds Midi Cap works pretty well. Just swipe the section of midi you want and drag into Arrange or Clip Launcher.

[JerGoertz]

Hmmm, maybe this would work. I've not heard of Birds MIDI Cap before. However, would it have the convenience of the way MIDI retrospective record is implemented in Cubase or Ableton? The convenience factor is one of the big reasons for a feature like this.

I was doubtful, but Birds Midi Cap works pretty well. Just swipe the section of midi you want and drag into Arrange or Clip Launcher.

Okay, cool. Will check this out then

[pdxindy]

Hmmm, maybe this would work. I've not heard of Birds MIDI Cap before. However, would it have the convenience of the way MIDI retrospective record is implemented in Cubase or Ableton? The convenience factor is one of the big reasons for a feature like this.

I was doubtful, but Birds Midi Cap works pretty well. Just swipe the section of midi you want and drag into Arrange or Clip Launcher.

Okay, cool. Will check this out then

There's a free version and you can try that. It has a limit I think of 60 seconds before looping. The $14 version can be set for different and longer time amounts.

[SLiC]

Audio pitch correction is for me the only major/standard feature that is completely missing now…although lots of other stuff could be finished (midi comping etc) or improved…no DAW is ever finished!

[JHernandez]

Here is my take on your post:

- Better GUI performance for 5k screens, dual screens - Do not need

You will need it, if you go 5k. Bitwigs GUI will be quit slow then, esp. when displaying a lot of tracks and some automation. It is not good to work with it, then. It's not well optimized. Fine, stay with VGA.

It's unlikely I would use my 5k display (or any of my others ones) to use Bitwig. I purposely use two 60 fps 1080p monitors for this application. Simply put, it adds nothing to the music and obviously performs better. Probably a waste of resources to use anything higher as well.

- Actually print the undo-ed parameter in the status bar, no blind flight - U WAT M8?

Imagine you edited multiple parameters of two devices of two different tracks, now you only want to undo the parameters of the last device. It gets difficult to know when you undo the prior device, without a display of what is undoed. I think you know Renoise, there it is done right. Simply print in the status bar something like "undoing 'cutoff' of device 'filter 2' on track 'pads' to value 0.5..."

Ah OK, Izotope RX has a nifty history list, that would be cool in Bitwig.

- Step recording in pianoroll - Do not need

Well I assumed you did since you brought it up.

- Do not reload the whole project, if you only change the sample rate or audio device - meh

So you like that Bitwig is reloading the whole project if you change some settings of your audio device? It makes technically no sense at all. This is just caused by lazyness of the Bitwig devs, since they do not want to implement a proper initialization method of the audio process.

Honestly it's not something I do often, so it's no bother.

. Remember disconnected audio device, and auto-enable it - U WAT M8?

Imagine you have a macos notebook. And a hub with a pro usb audio device connected to the hub. Sometimes you disconnect from the hub (and the audio device), since this is a notebook. macos would re-select the disconnected device, as soon as you connect to the hub again. The same logic should be used in Bitwig, maybe simply by using the "system default" device, provided by Core Audio. Currently you have to re-select the audio interface in Bitwig all the time you disconnected from the hub.

Oh ok, not for me in particular but I can see the use.

- VST/audio buffer reset, and no need to reload the project -meh

This has nothing to do with a sheep, there is no need to reload the whole project, if you want to reset audio. Bitwig simply needs to fill the audio buffers with zeros and send initialize to all plugins.

Fisher Price made See 'N Say Farmer Says way back in 1965 so I know the sheep goes bah. Your gaslighting will not work with me young man.

- Much more shortcuts for arranger and piano-roll actions -meh

Lots of useful stuff is missing here, have a look onto Renoise. Manual sequencing, position jumping, looping in Renoise is faaast, and sloow in Bitwig.

I guess, I'm just sort of meh about it.

Also send it directly to Bitwig support, you may want them to hear about it. Or not, whatever.

They never listen, so I won't send anything. I just posted this to annoy all the fan boys.

I think there may only be a couple fan boys here but I guess 2/10 for the effort. Good talk dude.

Now where is my darn sequencer Bitwig? I'm still waiting.

[Dionysos]

no DAW is ever finished!

This. There's no such thing as an objective set of base functionality, so this thread is just another "my pet feature requests" thread.

[goudreinette]

I agree with these points @Hanz Meyzer! I've got many of the same feature requests