BrainModular

Hi,
I'm planning a setup to play multitrack samples on a time line and record live instruments on the fly with live FX.
Ableton live is obviously a reference for that kind of performance, but considering I've never used ableton and I know Usine quite well, what would be the best choice for a quick result ?

Bitwig

Interesting. What are the pros and cons comparing bitwig, live and Usine ?

Hi. I don t known bitwig. I know live and usine very well. I think no one is better than over. If you want working quickly with loop synchronised on tempo you should have a look on live. If you want a very personnal workflow with real time ane interaction i think usine is more interesting

Pro live : very quick and easy workflow a lot of tools like looper simpler drum/instrument or effect rack very powerfull. Cons : no osc ,not only limited by your imagination, imposing a way of working.
Pro Usine : very very versatile. Permit bridges between video light audio osc arduino etc etc
Not so hard for a modular software.
Cons : sometimes bugged. Quiet cpu eater. Time loading a bit to longer

Well, for me Bitwig combines the two worlds to the extend I like them.
I never was a fan of M4L and the way it thinks, so soon after Bitwig came out, I sold my Live 8 Suite & M4L and never looked back.
Bitwig has modular thinking built right in (and at one point you'll be able to do you own patches similar to Reaktor/Usine) and version 2 - which will be out on the 28th - has modulation at audio rate for all factory devices built into a very usable and live-friendly GUI.
I never liked the arranger in Live but used Studio One for linear stuff, in Bitwig I usually work with both the Cliplauncher and Arranger visible at the same time, which is exactly how I like it.
Also, Bitwig allows you to put any device or plugin in any order you want into it's device chain. So you can mix audio, midi and instrument VSTs and factory devices inside one track however you like, without the annoying habit of Live, needing one track per midi plugin and having to route it's output to another track...
You can bounce in place and since BWS has hybrid tracks, nothing keeps you from having an audio clip in the same track as a midi clip.
Other than Live, you can edit audio inside of Clips (especially useful in the clip launcher) and even have audio chunks from different audio files in one clip...

I has an interesting approach to touch-screen-usage, crashing plugins don't crash the DAW, attaching a midi controller doesn't need you to restart the DAW on Windows...

I could go on, but IMO if you like Usine, BWS should be closer to your way of thinking than Live.
But if you happen to like and use Max/MSP, it may be different.

Cheers,

Tom

Thanks for your feedbacks. I've tried Ableton and it's very easy to create a groove from scratch. Audio editing is missing so samples need some cleaning with an external editor, I use a lot of personnal samples... and yes, hybrid tracks and window split seems good arguments.
I'll give a try to bitwig.

Also bitwig can work natively with 32 or 64 plugins and has flawless plugin delay compensation compared to live. im pers moving from live to bitwig for the classic stuff, keeping usine for modular stuff, hoping vst version for easir maintenance as usine is way head in modularity,customisation

I tend towards thinking that with the right understanding of the software, the time to invest (and a fast computer), Usine can be adapted to fit almost any live perfomance environment, but as this environment typically has to be custom designed from scratch and with Usine not being the strongest contender in linear timeline based audio/midi sequencing/editing so maybe not the best choice for a "quick result", but definately a good choice for a versatile and personalized result.

Ableton Live has never really done it for me. I have little use for the main selling features of Live, and the program is so crippled with what seem like should be basic functions to me that every time I try to delve in deeper I give up after a couple of days of trying to achieve what I want for some specific usages, and Max just does not bridge that gap for me.. But on that note, if easy access to launching clips and recording audio is the priority, Live does this stuff quite well and intuitively enough.. So well in face that it seems to almost suck the actual performance aspect out of playing live with Live. At least so it seems to me, a lot of so called "Ableton" live performance are people pushing a pre planned sequence of cues and having very little for other real time input.

Bitwig sounds promising. I did dabble with the demo and it didn't grab me as being especially applicable to my needs,, but maybe I'll give another go when v2 is released. From what others here are saying it makes me think Sensomusic and Bitwig should collaborate together and really give Ableton a run for their money!

Yeah, really depends on what one is doing.
Bitwig 2 now finally can send MTC and also SPP along with Midi Clock, so syncing became much easier.
What also could be interesting for those who use analogue gear is, that it has CV and CV Clock devices built in, so if you have a DC-coupled interface, you can use use Bitwig and analogue devices all synced up.
https://www.bitwig.com/en/bitwig-studio ... dio-2.html

I find myself well covered with what it offers, a lot of Reaktor and the occasional Bidule VST. Heck, I even do surround with it, which it doesn't even support officially

Cheers,

Tom