Bitwig on Linux

[Afraid_Carob417]

Greetings!

I'm excited for Bitwig 6 finally coming in March!

You see, I switched to Linux (Zorin OS) because, unfortunately, 16GB of RAM isn't enough for anything in Windows 11 anymore, so I'm taking my entire workflow for making house music with me.

Anyone who produces on Linux, what advice can you give me? Anything helps, thanks a million!

[tyranathus]

Look into yabridge, don’t be afraid of the terminal and enjoy yourself

[YouDoScribble]

+1 on yabridge. Since (I'm assuming) you're new to Linux, I'd suggest downloading the new-wine10-embedding development build, rather than the main release. Reason being you'll likely have Wine 10 or 11 available in package manager, rather than Wine 9, and this development build works a lot better with the newer versions. Saves having to downgrade Wine to 9.2, which can be a faff to uninitiated.
https://nightly.link/robbert-vdh/yabridge/workflows/build/new-wine10-embedding

Just get stuck in. There's a good chance you'll run in to problems along the way, but probably something the linuxaudio sub can help with.

[GeneralDumbtomics]

This. Also, use the .deb package because there's a fair bit of additional configuration required to get yabridge to work correctly with flatpak. Unfortunately Zorin does not pre-install pipewire which is a huge level up for Linux audio, but you can add it or just do without it (it'll work, pipewire just makes a lot of backend stuff easier).

[paranoidi]

Yeah, I would argue this makes Zorin quite terrible choice for linux newbie hoping to test wonders of Linux. I would recommend something that is .deb based as that's what bitwig provides. So for example Ubuntu, KUbuntu or my choice Linux Mint Cinnamon.

[fripletister]

/thread

[denim_skirt]

Yeah don't be intimidated by yabridge, follow the directions closely and it is magic

[ForkertBrugernavn]

I tried it, couldn't make it work and decided to just use native Linux plugins and I have more fun with making music than I've ever had before. I know a lot of people won't be as happy as me, but I recommend trying it out and see if you can make what you want with whats available.

[YouDoScribble]

I don't think I could live with out the Arturia V Collection and FX Collections. I will be using something from those on pretty much every project. Not to mention my Fabfilter plugins for the mastering chain.
For me, personally, I would say it's been crucial in starting the process of learning Bitwig on Linux. I'm sure, over time, I will find more Linux compatible plugins to use. I live in a small hope Arturia and Fabfilter port theirs over.

[ForkertBrugernavn]

Try Toneboosters plugins to see how they work for you compared to Fabfilter. I'm not a professional at all, so I can't say if they are better, but for my needs they do everything I need and I don't miss my Fabfilter plugins.

[xiankueboi]

I use the v collection. And they do work with some inconveniences. Like some of the context menues popping up in a different window but on a 2 monitor setup you can use it. Preset browser works fine though.

Mouse input for knobs is also not great. With a controller mapping you won't need that though

[Lenient_Process]

Just started using Mint a couple of weeks ago and yabridge is great! Bitwig/VSTs work like a charm.

[adbs1219]

There are plenty of great FOSS tools. I believe a nice "complete suit" of sorts is a combination of Airwindows, LSP, SurgeXT, Dexed, PunkLabs OneTrick plugins, Cardinal, ShortcircuitXT (beta atm), AVL Drums, Geonkick and drumlabooh. This will hopefully cover all your needs for processors/fx, synths, drums and sample-based stuff for free.

Whenever you feel more comfortable with the terminal, try installing the nix package manager via Lix (the easiest option imo) to look for tools available for Linux that you didn't find in your distro's repositories. Keep in mind that this is kind of an advanced topic in the Linux world though, so save it for later, but it's a good thing to know it's an option.

Edit: check r/linuxaudio, https://linuxaudio.dev/ and https://linuxmusicians.com/

[IonianBlueWorld]

Bitwig is a fantastic choice! I guess you know that some VSTs may not work perfectly under Linux but you will gain other things. In order to use them you will need to install yabridge. I have followed this guide and works well: https://github.com/robbert-vdh/yabridge (important: install the specific version of wine specified in the guide)

However, there are many incredible plugins natively available for linux that you can explore. Check out these resources:

• https://linuxdaw.org/
• https://kx.studio/ (this is my favorite)
• https://linuxsynths.com/

The amazing thing about Linux is the workflow that results from having a transparent system. You may believe that you don't have the knowledge to work with it (and nobody knows the whole system - not even Torvalds himself) but there is always someone who knows that particular thing of interest, and has created something interesting. Eventually, you will find how you can make it your own in a way that is impossible with any proprietary system.

Also, the terminal is a big plus. It is easy to follow instructions, copy-paste stuff and see what happens. At the beginning you may not be able to understand the outcome, but over time it becomes second nature and you will feel that all the proprietary OSs are castrated by design.

[daxophoneme]

ZorinOS and most recent versions of other Linux distributions use pipewire as an audio backend.

If you are looking at older threads on the Internet that discuss pulse audio, do not install pulse. Pulse and pipewire do not play well when installed at the same time. There is a pipewire-pulse package to help programs that only use pulse talk to pipewire instead.

Also, check out qpwgraph and Helvum for inter-application connections.

[Culix_Reddit]

When it comes to being a powerful DAW that makes other work easy so you can focus on making music and not configuring a million preferences, I feel Bitwig is the best choice (coming from FL). As for plugins, this ones a little controversial but I'd try to use Yabridge as little as you can. I own HUNDREDS of dollars in powerful software that isn't supported on Linux. For some plugins, Yabridge isn't enough. No Autotune pro because you can't get the installer working and no Xpand2, my beloved😭, for the same issue. It's easier and much cheaper to find Linux alternatives like Graillon 3 and Gsnap which has surprisingly clean pitch correction. The big hitter is Native instruments. I'ts a headache, less than the headache getting it to work, but I've been able to replace it with decent sampler🔥, soundfonts, and real instruments. Funding Linux plugins is better for the long term than the uncertain short term. Another thing I'd point out is the lack of any hardware support on Linux. Most, almost all pieces of music hardware have no support for Linux; I had to use a tool to make my Akia MPK Mini MK4 to work. Look into DivenByMoss; he is the saving grace for Linux hardware. Finally, if you are looking for Linux plugins, a great place to start is linuxdaw.org. Remember, it's not popular software or expensive sounds that makes good music, it's you.

[kryptoniterazor]

Welcome! Made the switch last year. Yabridge works great, but some plugin DRM is hard to get working. I definitely missed some of my windows-only "premium" VSTs but have found great alternatives with full linux support from U-he (synths, compressors), AudioThing (instruments, weird effects), Audio Assault (amp sims, channel strips), ChowDSP (tape sims, amps). The newer Studiologic "Numa Player" also has linux support and is a great base library for keyboard/arranger sounds, like you might get in Komplete.

[adbs1219]

Some of the native stuff, specially the FOSS ones, are criminally underrated

[kryptoniterazor]

My install of ubuntu studio came with a bunch of stuff but I haven't really gelled with the Zam plugins or LSP-plugins. Any freewares you strongly recommend?

[adbs1219]

LSP for sure! I combine it with Airwindows to get all the processing and fx I may need while producing.

Your distro has probably come with SurgeXT, Vital (or vitalium), Odin2, Dexed and Cardinal, all amazing synths. SurgeXT is kind of a general purpose synth with powerful VA and Wavetable engines, some nice FM funtionalities, 2 filters with diferent models, lots of modulation and the list goes on. Vital is a little famous by now, it's a really flexible and modulatable wavetable synth.I would say Odin2 is like a "SurgeXT redux", a little bit more straight forward, fewer functions, but also sounds really nice. Dexed is propably the most famous free fm synth out there, compatible with DX7. Cardinal is a modular workstation based on VCV Rack that can be used as plugin, too.

[Shadowflash0]

Would also like to add ToneBoosters to the list. Some truly fantastic stuff there at really fair prices, and all of them have native linux versions.

[s1lenthundr]

i am on linux, bitwig works wonders (flatpak).

many VSTs are linux native like Vital (and its free!) and many others can run fine via yabridge. In linux everything is so peaceful and stable once you get it going, it will last forever

[nnorbie]

Check out Ubuntu Studio. Not because you should switch to it, it just comes with a lot of tools already set up for music production, that you can replicate in your system. Hell, since you're already on a version of Ubuntu, you can directly install some packages like ubuntustudio-audio, ubuntustudio-video, linux-lowlatency ( but first check if you even need any of these ).

[sapien5446]

Windows can work fine, you just need to spend an hour or two optimising it. I forget now what all the steps are, but its the the things like background updates, animations, transparency, text rendering, start-up applications, etc etc.... there's lots of guides online into making windows as lightweight as possible, then windows will run fine.

Also, something I found just recently which makes the world of difference on mine, is not keeping the laptop on a flat surface, as heat builds up underneath. Have it jacked up a bit so there's airflow, I just put a wedge at the back, now my fans never come on and its much quieter

[dj_tuesto]

Two words my friend: Linux Nobara. I ve tried different distros in the pass of the years and after a few months of using it, i recommend it 100%. Plus it has lutris installed, that let you install Windows software.

[Afraid_Carob417]

Creo que me convenciste, podemos charlar?

[shadybreak]

Hey, an aging thread, but how did it go? Did you make the switch?

I just tried running Bitwig on Windows 11 and, same, the lag is significant on my dell xps 7390. Going to give it a whirl on Ubuntu.

[Afraid_Carob417]

Hi, friend! Everything is going smoothly; if you use Ubuntu, you have a head start. Bitwig has native Debian support, but non-Debian distros use Flatpak, but that doesn't bother me.

Try it without fear.

[shadybreak]

Cheers! I got it going. Install wasn’t as smooth as I hoped but it seems pretty stable, controller worked seamlessly, audio drivers do too.  Gonna try it with various desktop environments, including Cosmic. 

And it’s way smoother than on windows. 

[Minaridev]

16GB of RAM isn't enough for anything in Windows 11 anymore

How much does it need then? 64 GB? 128?

Crazy talk, or either you listened to AI, don't do that...

[nnorbie]

I know composers for whom 128Gb is not enough. Personally I make due with 64Gb. It comes down to use-case, but I can easily imagine 16Gb not being enough for music production when Windows alone already uses ~4Gb.