Bitwig Studio 6, as reviewed by a Logic Pro user: “Heaven for sound design”Studio Essentials £79 / €99 / $99
Studio Producer £169 / €199 / $199
Studio £339 / €399 / $399
bitwig.com
Bit-what? Bit-who? As a long-time Logic Pro user, I’m ashamed to say that Bitwig has generally flown under my radar. However, with the announcement of Bitwig 6, word of mouth surrounding this idiosyncratic DAW has turned to shouts about streamlined workflows, innovative automation paradigms and a modulation-heavy approach to production.
My interest has been piqued – but can this Berlin-based upstart tempt me away from my dependable mainstay?

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Having occasionally dabbled with Ableton Live, Bitwig’s dual workspaces of the Clip Launcher and the Arrangement timeline don’t come as a complete surprise, but what is different here is the speed at which I actually find a use for Bitwig’s Clip Launcher.
Somehow, the synergy between the two sides of Bitwig feels much more relevant for songwriting and production. Sketching out a structure in the Clip Launcher, dragging multiple clips onto the Arrangement timeline for further development, taking larger musical sections back over to the Clip Launcher to consolidate them as a Scene – all of this clicks in a way that Ableton Live never quite does for me. And while I really don’t perform live with a DAW, Bitwig actually makes me want to.
Bitwig Studio 6 Audio Editor. Image: Press
Bitwig 6 has all the essentials
As you might expect, Bitwig handles MIDI extremely well. In fact, it offers a few quality of life features that I wish Logic Pro had – such as probabilistic randomisation, logical operators for generative music, and super-easy access to MIDI transformation functions like legato, transposition, or pattern reversal. By comparison, Logic buries much of this in submenus.
I often make tunes on the go, using just a laptop and no external devices, and for this style of production, Bitwig truly excels. For example, Step Recording, new in Bitwig Studio 6, lets you step through a melody as you might on a hardware sequencer, using your arrow keys to input rests. Inputting notes using the QWERTY keyboard is usually a necessary evil, but Bitwig’s global scale quantise, coupled with the capacity to automate or even modulate which key you’re quantising to, turns this into a genuinely fun way to jam out a melody.
Given Bitwig’s unabashed emphasis on electronic music, I was worried it might skimp on the recording and editing side. However, version 6 has everything you need to manage an audio-driven project – including solid options for both manual and automated editing, overdub recording for comping takes, and audio stretching functions both for timing correction and creative sound design.
So far, so strong. My first real surprise comes with Bitwig’s modulators.
Bitwig Studio 6 Preset Modulation Curves. Image: Press
Centre-stage sound design with Bitwig 6
If you’re not familiar, Bitwig takes the basic concept of modulation that you might find on a synthesizer — say, an LFO modulating pitch — and expands it out to the entire DAW.
There are dozens of modulators to choose from, including envelope followers, MIDI key tracking, and sample and hold, plus countless possible destinations these can be routed to across the entire DAW. Swiftly, a project starts to feel like one giant meta-synthesizer, and while there are plenty of high-level options for modulation, you can also get right down to the granular level with per-voice MIDI modulation for hyper-specific sound design.
The Modulators are muy bueno, but it’s actually Bitwig 6’s refreshed approach to automation that makes me blow air out of my nostrils (the closest I come to joy). The new system of ‘clip-based’ automation effectively turns your automation curves into presets that can be shuttled from track to track, parameter to parameter, or even project to project. In Logic Pro, copying one lane of automation to another is unwieldy at best, meanwhile, Bitwig 6 turns it into a playground.
The features go on and on. You can now define a random ‘spread’ for individual break-points to vary parameter values on each play through, quickly scale the minimum and maximum values for a section of automation, and even add logarithmic scaling to the start or the end of the clip – effectively fading out your automation curve. It’s an inspired approach that elevates automation from something functional to something deeply creative.
Last but not least, The Grid. Available in the full version of Bitwig Studio, this serves as a blank canvas upon which you can build your own custom effects. Anyone familiar with graphic audio programming environments like Max/MSP will feel right at home here, and each module comes with a well organised help section. For me, this really is the cherry on top, solidifying Bitwig as a heaven for sound design enthusiasts.
All of this is tied together by an incredibly fluid workflow. Notwithstanding the need to learn a few different keyboard shortcuts, I quickly find myself switching between the Arrange and Edit views, editing intuitively, and chaining together effects modules. A particularly nice surprise is Bitwig’s ability to open multiple sessions simultaneously, to swap between them in an instant, and to easily copy and paste between projects. You can’t do any of that when using Logic Pro’s ‘Project Alternatives’ function. Sure, it’s not a headline feature, but as someone who ends up frequently branching projects to try out different ideas, this is a godsend.
Bitwig Studio 6 Automation Spread. Image: Press
So what does Logic still have over Bitwig?
Bitwig’s key shortcoming will be felt by media composers — it does not natively support video files. You can get around this by using a third-party VST plugin to synchronise AV, but that’s hardly ideal. Bitwig’s stock instruments are another weak spot – the sample instruments sound more ‘introductory-level’ than pro, and while the Polysynth and FM-4 are solid, Logic Pro easily takes the lead with powerhouses like Sculpture and Alchemy.
Price is arguably another area where Logic Pro holds its own, charging an £199 entry fee with ongoing free updates. By comparison, the full version of Bitwig 6 Studio (the closest comparison, in terms of stock instruments, sounds, and effects), will cost you £339 and only offers free upgrades for 12 months. Of course, this price difference is less clear once you consider the need for Apple hardware to access Logic Pro.
However, considering its long-time dominance, and that it was recently voted as the best DAW in the world, you’d think I would be able to easily conjure up a few more ‘pros’ for Logic Pro – but actually Bitwig compares very, very well.
Logic is still the consummate all-rounder, and I can’t see myself ditching it entirely. At the same time, Bitwig feels like a much-needed breath of fresh air.
At every turn, Bitwig surfaces the kind of creative controls that Logic either buries in submenus or doesn’t bother to include. Its approach to automation is genuinely innovative, and the overall architecture is primed for experimentation and generative randomness – making it damn near effortless to set up musical systems that surprise and inspire.
Putting them side by side, Logic feels like a workhorse and Bitwig feels like a muse. Both have their place, but I know which one I’d rather have by my side when battling writer’s block.

Key features

DAW for for macOS, Windows, and Linux
Up to 154 stock instruments included
Extensive modulation system with up to 42 modulators
Supports multiple projects simultaneously and the ability to drag-and-drop between them
Native hardware integration with MIDI/CV compatibility
Unlimited track count
Full version features a sound-design environment for building
instruments, audio effects, and note effects

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