With 10.1 is Ableton's MIDI capabilities better than Bitwig?

[Vehrka]

Hi everybody, so I'm in the market for a new DAW and I've been strongly considering Ableton and Bitwig. I've downloaded both demos and I'm currently trying them out. Now for me, the piano roll, automation, and other MIDI capabilities are very important as I don't have a MIDI controller or something like the Push so I'll be drawing pretty much everything in manually. I've heard a lot of people say that Bitwig is the better software for this but now, with 10.1, Ableton sounds like its really trying to bridge the gap (if there ever was one, idk). Unfortunately, I cannot try 10.1 right now as I still have my demo license and I'm not ready to choose between either DAW right now. So, for those have you that have been using Ableton and have tried the new beta, what do you think about Ableton's piano roll & MIDI editing features compared to Bitwig and do you think I'd be justified in purchasing Ableton over Bitwig?

PS: I make mostly electronic underscore or ambient music (think Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross or Solar Fields) if that matters

Thanks for your help!

[jlgrimes]

Hi everybody, so I'm in the market for a new DAW and I've been strongly considering Ableton and Bitwig. I've downloaded both demos and I'm currently trying them out. Now for me, the piano roll, automation, and other MIDI capabilities are very important as I don't have a MIDI controller or something like the Push so I'll be drawing pretty much everything in manually. I've heard a lot of people say that Bitwig is the better software for this but now, with 10.1, Ableton sounds like its really trying to bridge the gap (if there ever was one, idk). Unfortunately, I cannot try 10.1 right now as I still have my demo license and I'm not ready to choose between either DAW right now. So, for those have you that have been using Ableton and have tried the new beta, what do you think about Ableton's piano roll & MIDI editing features compared to Bitwig and do you think I'd be justified in purchasing Ableton over Bitwig?

PS: I make mostly electronic underscore or ambient music (think Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross or Solar Fields) if that matters

Thanks for your help!

Hi everybody, so I'm in the market for a new DAW and I've been strongly considering Ableton and Bitwig. I've downloaded both demos and I'm currently trying them out. Now for me, the piano roll, automation, and other MIDI capabilities are very important as I don't have a MIDI controller or something like the Push so I'll be drawing pretty much everything in manually. I've heard a lot of people say that Bitwig is the better software for this but now, with 10.1, Ableton sounds like its really trying to bridge the gap (if there ever was one, idk). Unfortunately, I cannot try 10.1 right now as I still have my demo license and I'm not ready to choose between either DAW right now. So, for those have you that have been using Ableton and have tried the new beta, what do you think about Ableton's piano roll & MIDI editing features compared to Bitwig and do you think I'd be justified in purchasing Ableton over Bitwig?

PS: I make mostly electronic underscore or ambient music (think Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross or Solar Fields) if that matters

Thanks for your help!

The main midi related improvement is the curves for envelopes and typing in values. That said I dont know if this is available for velocity.

Also zooming functionality also helps with midi as well.


Ableton is getting to the point though where it has less and less glaring weaknesses.

So for version 11, midi and comping are the two biggest things that could be improved.

[ozinga]

If piano roll is important you are looking at the weakest two.
Check FL Studio, Studio One or Cubase for the most detailed Piano roll editors

[Martin Gifford]

A million improvements could be made to the midi editor, but Ableton is obsessed with having a minimalistic GUI, so don't expect much to be added. However, the midi editor has many capabilities and shortcuts that people are often unaware off. Check out some youtube videos to discover those things. Then practice them for a few hours until they become second nature.

[jlgrimes]

A million improvements could be made to the midi editor, but Ableton is obsessed with having a minimalistic GUI, so don't expect much to be added. However, the midi editor has many capabilities and shortcuts that people are often unaware off. Check out some youtube videos to discover those things. Then practice them for a few hours until they become second nature.

I'll admit that Ableton has the most simplest piano roll but in a good way.

It is very easy to use. And it always had many great features like fold, note muting, a very easy to use grid system, stretch tools that can get you into unique note divisions.

Its strong points is EDM drum programming.

Its biggest weakness is lack of scales and chords.

Also with M4L you can get better step sequencing and deeper functionality in some cases.

[ze2be]

A million improvements could be made to the midi editor, but Ableton is obsessed with having a minimalistic GUI, so don't expect much to be added. However, the midi editor has many capabilities and shortcuts that people are often unaware off. Check out some youtube videos to discover those things. Then practice them for a few hours until they become second nature.

I'll admit that Ableton has the most simplest piano roll but in a good way.

It is very easy to use. And it always had many great features like fold, note muting, a very easy to use grid system, stretch tools that can get you into unique note divisions.

Its strong points is EDM drum programming.

Its biggest weakness is lack of scales and chords.

Also with M4L you can get better step sequencing and deeper functionality in some cases.

It sucks for microtuning though. Close to impossible to work with say 13 note scale systems and so on. To fix it it would help if we could set our own note scale grid. 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 or whatever. Not just and only 12.