Re: [LAD] Bitwig beta for Linux reviewed

On Wed, 2013-03-06 at 07:05 -0500, Dave Phillips wrote:
> Greetings,
>
> By Hartmut Noack:
>
> http://www.linux-community.de/Internal/Artikel/Print-Artikel/LinuxUser/2013/01/Bitwig-Professionelle-Musik-Workstation-fuer-Linux
>
> Excellent review, in German only, with some enticing screenshots.

Hi :)

I'm still missing specific information about Bigwig, for me there's
still to much hype. It's not released, just a few people can test it,
but the rumors already make it to one of the best apps for audio
production, seemingly ignoring issues, that are still present.

There are issues, but the issues aren't reported [1] or they are
trivialised [2]. I wonder if a bought Bitwig can be used on or at least
be tested on different Linux installs or if it's only allowed to install
it to one Linux and once the distro version is outdated, resp. not
supported anymore, the user needs top pay for a new Bitwig, resp. use
the bought version with this outdated Linux. Installation via alien? How
to install it e.g. to an Arch Linux? making Ubuntu the first choice for
audio is reckless. I'm a Ubuntu (and Arch) user myself.
I know that loop-play doesn't work good on Linux and that muting
individual clips isn't supported by most (perhaps all) Linux apps, but
on other OS those features and others are available, IOW there are
already proved, better ways to handle the workflow than Bitwig's scene
method.[3]
Are most LADSPA and DSSI plugins available as VST or AU? [4] Resp. are
_all_ Linux plugin formats supported by bitwig? If not, I wonder why
there are that many claims, that bitwig is a native Linux pro-audio app.
And why does it use something that makes audio binding less good than
it's done by the FLOSS Linux apps [2]?

This IMO is another report that hypes this app, while it ignores bugs.
IIUC the audio binding of Ardour and Qtractor are better than Bitwigs
one. The reason for this is unclear for me, since it does use Jack.

"qtractor-0.5.7" -
http://qtractor.sourceforge.net/qtractor-index.html#Downloads

AFAIK it's planned that Qtractor version 1 has more features and less
bugs too. However Qtractor is one of the FLOSS Linux apps that are
already available and that support all native Linux plugin formats.

I wonder how this test version of Bitwig, including current bugs, does
compare to Qtractor, Ardour 3, Rosegaden, _energyXT_ etc..

Regards,
Ralf

[1]
"Auf im Test aufgetauchte technische Probleme gehen wir im Folgenden
nicht näher ein: So gut wie alle diese Fehler beruhen auf dem immer noch
frühen Entwicklungsstadium und werden in der veröffentlichten Version
von Bitwig Studio beseitigt."

[2]
"Ähnlich wie PulseAudio setzt es ganz auf Kompatibilität mit allem und
jedem, weniger auf kompromisslose Leistung.

Dennoch funktioniert im Test auch die Audio-Anbindung von Bitwig nicht
spürbar schlechter als die nativer Jack-Anwendungen wie etwa Ardour3 [3]
auf dem gleichen System."

[3]
"Die Software lenkt fast gar nicht von der Konzentration auf die Musik
ab. Das ist bei traditionellen Multi-Track-Editoren spürbar anders:
Besonders wenn man viele verschiedene Takes einspielen und gleichzeitig
mit anderen neu kombinieren möchte, kann dort das Verhältnis von Musik
und Programmbedienung schnell die 50:50-Marke unterschreiten."

[4]
"Jede zeitgemäße DAW unterstützt Plugins, fast alle davon gibt es in den
Formaten VST und AU"

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Received on Fri Mar 8 12:15:01 2013