Incredible

Three years ago, Bitwig [1] was a startup that promised to create a digital audio workstation (DAW) for Linux in the same ballpark as proprietary incumbents like Ableton Live or Steinberg Cubase. The Berlin-based company delivered on its promise with version 1.3 of the Bitwig Studio music production suite. I tested version 1.3.4, which has been available since November 2015 and found an application that has come of age with remarkably smooth Linux integration.

Version 1.3 of Bitwig Studio appeals even more resolutely to composers and producers of loop-oriented electronic music. Even the demo songs now include different styles in this range, from techno to more sophisticated pop music.

Installing Bitwig Studio requires you to register on the manufacturer's website [2], and you also need to do this to confirm the license. The Debian package is officially suitable for 64-bit Ubuntu, but you can also set it up on the parent distribution and its other derivatives. Using a tool like Alien, you can prepare the file for RPM distributions like openSUSE or Fedora. Updates within one program generation also work smoothly with the DEB; however, you won't find a 32-bit version.

Bitwig spares its clientele from USB dongles. The license check via online login can also be switched off in the customer profile on the Bitwig website using an offline registration for up to three computers. When started for the first time after installation, or after an upgrade, the manufacturer requires you to accept the license agreement again. A wizard then appears in which you can automatically download and install various additional packages (including gigabytes of samples).

The audio/MIDI configuration also appears at this point, during which you can create virtual ports (as required), which Bitwig displays as audio connectors in JACK. Studio automatically detects an active JACK server and also integrates active software ports as inputs/outputs. However, in testing, it turned out that JACK MIDI still doesn't work, although if you start JACK without the MIDI function, Bitwig will cooperate with the ALSA MIDI system (see the "MIDI" box).

$ /usr/bin/jackd  -t1000 -dalsa -dhw:M2496 -r48000 -p128 -n2

Multitouch

The most important functions for controlling, mixing, and composing can be operated in Bitwig Studio 1.3 directly on a tablet's capacitive touch screen. The touch interface (Figure 1) works well in Linux and Windows, whereas only the basic functions are available in Mac OS X. Bitwig uses a Microsoft Surface Pro as a reference device, which also works very well in Linux. There aren't any Bitwig variants for Android or Apple's iOS, which answers the question about using the touch interface on such devices.

Figure 1: The tablet view shows large, complex Studio projects on the small touch screen for when you're out and about.

You can activate the special interface from the menu under Preferences | Displays | Display Profile: Tablet. All elements of the interface can also be operated by tapping the touch screens; however, Studio also accepts simultaneous input from multiple fingers. The program provides an additional overlay in this profile which, above all, places functions nice and large in the middle of the screen that would otherwise be too small to use with your finger.

Arranged

The main tool in Studio is the Arranger; it's a classic track editor that you can use to arrange any number of audio and MIDI tracks. You can even mix track types, such as creating MIDI regions on audio tracks. Signals from audio regions let MIDI instruments inserted in such a track pass unmodified, but you can control effects from both source types together or separately via the device FXs interfaces (Figure 2).

Figure 2: A MIDI region plays a drum kit in the sampler, then a few manual drum beats – both peacefully united in the same track.

The Studio Mix view proves to be very clear. An activated channel in the panel on the left shows various additional controls that you could miss when taking an initial look at the individual channel strips. You'll be able to manage the regulator more easily using suitable MIDI controllers than with the mouse (see the "Bitwig and Controller" box). You need to create corresponding tracks for group channels and sends, and their inputs should appear automatically in the Mix overview.

Figure 3: The LXVST VEX plugin provides three synthesizers in one. The search bar in its generic interface helps find all cutoff controllers from the three filters. You can assign several controllers to the same parameter, and vice versa.

The Clip Launcher matrix concept, which is unique in Linux, is located between the Mix and the Arranger views. This means you can play clips in loops on each track, which you can then organize in columns called scenes. The Clip Launcher can be integrated both in the Mix window via the channel strips or in the Arranger to the left of the tracks.

Clip Launcher Matrix

Because the Clip Launcher and Arranger implement two different concepts for the timing of a musical piece, only one of them can send and receive signals for each track. If you activate the Launcher by simply placing and starting a clip in one of the scenes, the entire playback automatically switches to the Launcher, and the Arranger switches to mute. Bitwig's logical – although not necessarily intuitive – solution for this is small buttons located directly above the controller in the Mix view and at the top right in the main window of the Launcher section (i.e., exactly between the Arrange view on the right and the last scene on the left).

The Clip Launcher's special feature is that each clip works as a loop of any length. This allows you to combine short rhythmic phrases intuitively with long instrumental solos or vocal lines and quickly and conveniently swap the components to try out different combinations. This is only possible with conventional linear tracks by investing in more preparation and having less flexibility. However, the Launcher lets you get closer to spontaneous music making.

In this complex context, you can add effects and plugins to recordings (see the "Bitwig Plugins" box) for instruments and effects. Bitwig Studio already contains a few hundred of the latter works; however, most of them are equivalent to presets for a basic set of about 20 instruments and effects. You can combine everything with everything: Effects and instruments have a plus symbol on their right edge that can be used to connect other modules directly. Bitwig lets you store such combinations together with presets as a new "device."

Figure 4: All samples and virtual devices can be dragged from the browser on the right by holding the mouse button. They can also be dragged onto the FXLayer effect container window, in which you can build your own modular effects and instruments.

The samples supplied take up most of the Bitwig installation, which is several gigabytes. If you don't need them, simply uninstall them when you first start Bitwig. You can also install additional sample collections during the initial configuration. Bitwig provides some variants from its own laboratory and various packages from popular commercial providers. It's possible to set the latter up for free – but only in a slimmed-down form (Figure 5).

Figure 5: The sample collections declared as "teasers" can be used in the same way as the full version despite the smaller size.