Ability to freeze, i.e. bounce and unload, tracks with a single click.
What problem(s) would this feature resolve?
It can be necessary to bounce and unload tracks to reduce CPU load. Other DAWs offer a one click solution for it while Bitwigs workflow is more clumsy.
How does this feature fit in Bitwig as a product?
It fits in the streamlined workflow of Bitwig.
Is there already an alternative way to achieve this on Bitwig?
Yes.
One can right click on a clip and select bounce. This then creates a new Clip that gets placed on a new track as default. One can then deactivate the old track.
Functionality wise this is similar to a freeze function but has disadvantages workflow wise.
If placed on a new track one has an additional track, decoupled from the original track.
If placed in the clip launcher one has an additional clip.
In both cases this can get messy easily when freezing and unfreezing multiple tracks multiple times.
Could it be implemented using Bitwig components or APIs, without Bitwig team’s support?
In theory an API script should be capable to do a clumsy workaround. Saving the original midi clips somewhere far out of sight on the timeline or in the clip launcher and deactivating the track.
Could it be provided by a VST or something else reasonably integrated with Bitwig?
Since this requires the permission to change clips on Bitwigs timeline, no.
Are there other products that offer this feature?
Most DAWs do. For example Cubase, Ableton or Logic.
If the problem is CPU, does deactivating the track (in the inspector channel) help you? This way you free CPU immediately and then you can always go back to the track and keep working on it.
Basically, people should bounce clips and tracks whenever they feel they are done with then, not under pressure and in a rush.
Yes as described in the workaround this works.
Yeah in an ideal world, one would only bounce once ready to commit, but in reality CPU can be a problem. Forcing one to have a high Buffer Size and Latency. This is ok for most synth parts and sounddesign but not when recording and monitoring, where one would like to quickly freeze the track.
Isn’t it more steps to bounce and deactivate a clip right now than doing the right click freeze like in Ableton? I think freeze would be cleaner (less tracks) and maybe be less clicks. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
I’m not saying bounce should be elimnated but that freeze would also be a nice feature, and faster / cleaner for people that are doing it for CPU purposes.
Here’s a strong example. What if you do a multitrack selection say 10 tracks. In ableton you could simple select them and click freeze tracks. In bitwig what would you even do? Would it bounce and create 10 new tracks, and then you would have to deactivate those previous tracks. Idk maybe you could deactivate with the multiselect? But still you have a lot of new tracks. This seems like a pretty cluttered workflow.