The Bitwig Studio 5.1 update expands its arsenal with new sound features, including a new synth oscillator, filters, waveshapers, etc…
Update: Bitwig Studio 5.1 is now available. It’s a free update for users with an active upgrade plan.
Bitwig Studio is now available in a holiday sale with an up to 100€ discount. The upgrade plan is also on sale; it’s now $40/40€ OFF.
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Article From October 19, 2023
Bitwig Studio had a rocky start and was more or less an Ableton Live-like DAW. However, this impression disappeared over the years, and the developers introduced what Bitwig initially advertised: modularity.
This is in the form of “The Grid,” which users have been able to use for several years. These and other elements have been massively expanded in the last major updates. This expansion now continues in Bitwig Studio 5.1.
Bitwig Studio 5.1
The focus of the new update 5.1 is sound design. There are some new features for the DAW and workflow, but they only play a minor role. This update is very exciting for musicians who like to spend a lot of time crafting sounds from scratch.
Bitwig Studio 5.1 introduces ten new modules – four filters and six waveshapers – with ten different sonic personalities. They are available in the new audio FX containers Filter+ and Sweep, as well as in The Grid as modules.
Filters & Waveshapers
With 5.1 comes a colorful bouquet of filters and waveshapers that spice up the mighty, modular engine. Let’s start with the filters. Four new models are available, each with a distinct personality. These don’t have traditional names (MS-20, JP6…) but describe what they do with the sound.
- Fizz: sparkle/shimmer/vocalize characteristics with two separate cutoffs and feedback
- Rasp: bright and resonant filter with the ability to go into extreme “screamy” fields
- Ripple: hyper resonant circuit made for playful feedback or elemental destruction with three “prominent” modes: earth, wind, and fire.
- Vowels: morphing formant filter
This is a solid set of new neat filters that will open the door for new sounds. They are joined by six new waveshapers providing different flavors:
- Push: soft clipper
- Heat: S-shaped clipper
- Soar: soft wavefolder
- Howl: double-S wavefolder
- Shred: non-linear wavefolder
- Diode: classic circuit with modern, zero-delay math
And the new Filter+ and Sweep audio FX lets you freely combine these elements and craft colorful, personalized sound shapers.
New Polymer Oscillator
Bitwig also continues its internal polymer synth in version 5.1 with a new oscillator module. Bite is a special dual oscillator available for both The Grid and Polymer.
It consists of two interconnected morphing, anti-aliasing oscillators with feedback, classic and advanced features. Including hard sync, audio-rate PWM, expo FM, ring mod, analog drift, custom shapes… Everything a modern oscillator needs to cover the traditional but also unknown sound corners.
Voice Stacking Tools
Bitwig Studio 5.1 also introduces new voice stacking tools, allowing you to create multiple layers of sound from any polyphonic device or compatible plugin.
Up to 16 voices can now be layered for each note played, and there are more ways to shape these stacks. Eight new modes can be found in the Stack Spread modulator, putting harmonic, rhythmic, and even randomized relationships onto any parameter. Plus, you get three new Grid modules for this functionality.
Further, there are new workflow improvements that focus on audio editing and mixing. First, the mixer is now draggable so you can see what you’re doing. Secondly, update 5.1 brings another big feature: quantize audio.
Bitwig Studio 5.0 saw improved onset detector analysis of audio, and this new update brings improved audio functions. This starts with audio playback, now offering a threshold setting to control which transients affect stretching. This fine control is also built into various Slice functions (Slice In Place, Slice to Drum Machine and Slice to Multisample), and each visualizes its operation in a dialog and on the timeline display.
A new Quantize Audio function is now available as well. From that dialog, you select the beat interval to match, which onsets to move, and the amount they should slide.
First Impression
From the perspective of a non-Bitwig Studio user: a very extensive new update. The new filters and waveshapers nicely expand the feature set of the audio engine and make it more sound design mature.
Bitwig Studio 5.1 is now in beta and can be tested by anyone with a Bitwig Studio license and an active Upgrade Plan. Check the comparison chart to see which features, instruments, and effects are available in the different Bitwig Studio editions.
More information here: Bitwig Studio
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Lol, devices again. This is getting absurd. As if lack of devices was the bottleneck.
What’s wrong with more devices? This a SemVer minor release. What more would you expect from a 0.1 release?
Because it diverts human power that’s already small from things that would have a much larger impact in the evolution and usability of this DAW. Nothing wrong with devices per se, but the balance of devices-usability features is biased towards devices too much, in my opinion. None of these devices are essential to anyone, while there are features that it lacks which are and require users to leave the music production mindset to search for workarounds. Some of its core features have barely improved since v1.0. To me, Bitwig’s model seems to be oriented at hitting users with new toys so the subscription seems to pay off. But it’s become just a factory of shiny, imho. ymmv.
I don’t know about other users, but as a Bitwig user the one thing I would like to see is some class leading pitch correction.
Ableton has good audio manipulation, possibly better than Bitwig, but lacks proper PC.
Logic used to be way behind the curve but these days has really come along.
PC in Logic Pro X is excellent.
So good in fact that for final edit and mix I’m exporting stems from Bitwig to finalise in Logic.
The devices are great but Bitwig are missing a trick here.
Bitwig seems to be positioning itself as a modular sound design toybox.
As for me I love new toys, especially in December.