Bitwig studio 2 review1/28/2024 One area where The Grid does shine is in its range of I/O, sequencing and control options. Importantly though, these are all wish list items rather than omissions if anything, it’s testament to the creative potential of The Grid that we’re already imagining ways it could be developed. Dedicated percussion generators would be nice too - while it’s easy to create synth drums by patching up pitch envelopes and layering noise, it would still be cool to have Bitwig’s stock percussion instruments available as Grid oscillators. A convolution effect would be a great addition, as would some kind of resonator tool. To be honest, there’s a long list of tools we’d like to see added to The Grid. It means that, at launch, The Grid feels more fully fleshed-out on the synthesis/sound creation front than it does as an effect processor. Admittedly, many of these functions can be achieved by creatively patching existing elements, but a few ‘off-the-shelf’ processors would go a long way to speeding things up. For instance, there are several types of delay but no reverb processors, and multiple excellent distortion/shaper types but no EQ, compression or limiter. The selection of effects, on the other hand, is a little hit-and-miss right now. It’s not as extensive as, say, the line-up of characterful filters included in NI’s Massive X or Arturia Pigments, but still provides plenty of inspiration when it comes to both analogue-style and digital creations. There are several varieties of filter included too, providing Ladder and Sallen-Key style LPFs, a more generic state variable filter, an all-pass filter and simple vanilla low- and high-pass devices. What sets Bitwig’s Grid apart is its approachable, user-friendly design All of which makes it very easy to set up Buchla-inspired complex oscillators and other interesting custom sound generators. Even the simple oscillators feature extensive modulation options along with a multitude of creative tools to adjust parameters such as wave slope and wavefolding. The range of oscillators is particularly strong, with analogue-style sine, square, saw and triangle oscillators joined by a specialist phase modulation oscillator, the unison-focussed Swarm device and a sampler module. In all, there’s an absolute wealth of tools to experiment with, and a ton of potential available, although - understandably at this stage - some types of module are better represented than others. The available modules themselves are broken up into 16 categories, ranging from simple virtual synth elements through to an extensive assortment of modulators, as well as logic and maths-based signal processors that take their inspiration from the hardware modular realm. Bearing in mind that all of the features mentioned above were additions during the life-cycle of Bitwig Studio 2, you’d be hard pressed to argue that Bitwig isn’t giving users money’s worth with those plans. Bitwig users buy into 12-month update plans, rather than simply purchase each update individually (when a subscription ends, users can no longer access updates, but get to keep all their software). Moreover, the pace of these updates has been pretty consistent and impressive. Other new features have helped to flesh out Bitwig’s toolkit over the last few years too, such as a beefed-up sampler and an excellent phase distortion synth. It really is a great system it impressed us immensely at the time it was unveiled and Bitwig remains head and shoulders above the rest of the market on that front. It’s a simple system to use but can be incredibly powerful, particularly since it also works with Bitwig’s MIDI and CV I/O devices, effectively allowing you to add an expansive array of additional modulation tools to your studio hardware. This allows any device, be it native or third party, to have an unlimited number of additional modulators attached, selected from an impressively diverse line-up of LFOs, envelope generators, randomisers, performance tools and more. The most significant of those additions has been the flexible modulation system introduced for Bitwig 2. The application has come a long way in that time though, throwing off the shackles of its inevitable Ableton Live comparisons - the two share a number of original developers and some significant workflow similarities - by adding multiple features that have bolstered Bitwig’s reputation as possibly the most creative DAW on the market.
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