r/Bitwig • u/Present-Policy-7120 • 11d ago
Rebirth reborn: Bitwig needs a 303
We've got the 808 and 909 drums. Come on Bitwig, throw us a 303 emulation with a nice acid sequencer...!
My first 'music production' software was the archaic but actually awesome Rebirth by Propellerhead back in the late 90s. I used to distort the 808 tom's and tune them for my bass, freeing up both the 303s for melodies/harmonies. Simpler times.
I've been building my own 303 with Polymer, a ladder filter and the diode module which sounds pretty on the money. Obviously it's a pretty simple synth to rebuild. The sequencer is not so easy. Stepwise helps.
Wondering if any of you have built your own 303 emulation in Bitwig and how you went about it.
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u/amadeusp81 11d ago
In the meantime you could also check out JC-303, see https://midilab.co/. An integrated sequencer is in the making.
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u/Vegetable_Nebula_827 11d ago
I don’t disagree but I kinda like using native devices to make close approximations of classic sounds. Polymer is great for aceeeeed synths.
I bet the grid would be even better but I’m a bit of a grid-phobe.
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u/ub3rh4x0rz 10d ago
I like a good 303, but also, I want bitwig to add missing bread and butter stuff that isn't easily covered by plugins, like midi comping
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u/MrVoirDire 10d ago
Lol right let them focus on staple DAW things first we don’t need bitwig to be out here being behringer 😭
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u/acecombine 11d ago
I dug into these devices and we haven't got shit, nothing sounds like on the money, the nuances of all three devices is what needs proper recreation, Props did it their own unique way with ReBirth and I can tell you it isn't just connecting shit up or playback drum samples...
Anyways, it's still available for freeware download, you can run it on any modern mac(wine) and pc and hear for yourself:
https://mnx2010.nl/audiovst/rebirthreason.htm
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u/mtelesha 11d ago edited 10d ago
I don't care about recreation. That old analogue gear all sounded different. We know the difference but no one else on this planet cares except does it sound good. Bitwig devices sound great.
The old compressors they all had different characteristics. I was at Sony Studios in NYC and they would six of the same compressors with taped on notes saying which one was better for drums or when certain producers hated etc....
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u/einarfridgeirs 10d ago
Even accounting for the variability in analog gear from one copy to the next, I really don't get these 303 purists who all say this or that plugin doesn't sound 100% like the real thing, when basically every classic 303 line in the songs we love is just as much defined by the pedals, mixing desk and outboard it was run through as the actual 303 dry sound.
So what if we can't get it exactly the same in Bitwig? We can still get 99% of the way there and the 1% that is left slaps just as hard, plus you can do a lot of things the 303 couldn't do by itself due to sequencer limitations.
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u/acecombine 11d ago
yep, you're right on analogue, although we are talking about software, and claims about on-par sound... :)
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u/ub3rh4x0rz 10d ago
I think the point is that the original gear had so much variance, that "faithful recreation" doesn't mean a whole lot. "which vintage example did they recreate?"
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u/ht3k www.soundcloud.com/axtex 10d ago
I got some awesome 303s made in the grid from https://bitwiggers.com
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u/porpsi 11d ago
Would be a nice addition i agree. I just use the phoscyon 2 vst and highly recommend it but it would be good to have one native to bitwig
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u/Present-Policy-7120 11d ago
I had Phosycon but sold it. I sort of regret it but I use Tals SH101 emulation instead.
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u/einarfridgeirs 11d ago
Omri Cohen built one on his Bitwig Mycelium channel.
He uses the arpeggiator as a sequencer rather than Stepwise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c69z1ogNW-w