Using Bitwig with a touch monitor can be a lot of fun, until you realize that what you can control is so limited, that you have to switch to mouse and keyboard all the time.
What problem(s) would this feature resolve?
The necessity to change back to the mouse breaks the touch workflow. Bitwig’s current touch control is a workflow killer for anyone who’s trying to do live performance and editing without having to use the mouse.
At the current state of Bitwig, you’re unable to
a) make normal selections of many clips, notes, audio events etc. by drawing a diagonal line, like you’re used to since years of using a mouse or tablets
b) use the knife tool or any other tool which isn’t part of the radial menu.
c) use lots and lots of other functions which are part of the normal right-mouse-click menu.
d) select clips in the ClipView without Launching them,
e) grab automation points and pull them!
f) use any functions which are usually accessible via mouse-hover-over, like grabbing fades, clip-gain, loop selection size, cue markers, etc.
And many more. There are so many functions which are not available via touch, and which force us to go back to mouse+keyboard. The Bitwig way of touch control has its advantages in some specific areas, where the radial menu shines - but there must be a quickly accessible button to deactivate it whenever needed.
Users must be able to temporarily turn off the Bitwig way of touch control, ideally with a quickly accessible pinnable and assignable shortcut-toggle-button. Which then activates normal touch control, emulating mouse left and rightclick (press+hold) and maybe even middle button via double finger gesture. The toggle button would lead to the best touch experience in any DAW, because it would combine both every mouse function and the Bitwig radial menu.
How does this feature fit in Bitwig as a product?
It would finally render Bitwig’s assumption true, to being a good DAW for touch control. Perfect fit. Bitwig is incomplete without it.
Is there already an alternative way to achieve this on Bitwig?
No
Could it be implemented using Bitwig components or APIs, without Bitwig team’s support?
No.
Could it be provided by a VST or something else reasonably integrated with Bitwig?
No.
Are there other products that offer this feature?
At least bleton and Cubase. Although they don’t have anything like the radial menu, they have the ability to be controlled via touch in a more intuitive manner, including swipe in any direction to select, click to grab and move objects, moving automation points and touch+hold to open mouse rightclick menu.
Relevant links
Detailed description of the problems with Bitwigs TouchUI, and my suggested solution can now be seen in this video, starting at minute 10:40 5 Reasons why i would love to switch to Bitwig 5, but CAN’T - YouTube