Bitwig Studio announced

[christianmusicmaker]

Cheers for that. I asked because I remembered it was a long time and that V.1 had a very positive reception re. stability.

Any bets on what hits the shelves first: Bitwig or Live 9?

I would say Bitwig. If they are already giving prices to retailers and even linking to a retailer from their (Bitwigs) own Twitter account that means..

a. The Pricing is 100% official

b. It is probably not more than 3 - 6 months away from release.


I know "a." is definitely correct but "b." is more of a mystery. To have the product listed by retailers and not be available for more than 6 months would be strange. I would think BWS could ship by April / May but then again if it is anything like Ohm Studio's beta then it could be 18 months+ from now before BWS is released.

Time will tell I guess. If BWS takes that long to come out of the door it would be a disaster for Bitwig. Live 9 would surely not take 4 - 5 years to show up and IMO will very likely be released within the next 12 months.

Live 9 just seems further away than BWS still IMO. Live 8 was announced in January 2009 IIRC (over 3 years ago incredibly) and was released in April 2009 2 -3 months later. So I would think any Live 9 release would be about 2- 3 months after a Live 9 announcement which has not happened yet.

So I think at least for now BWS appears to be a more likely product to be released first out of the two. Especially if Bitwig are following Abletons Live 8, 2 - 3 month announcement to product release time frame.

Bitwig I would think are definitely hoping to get out of the door first.

[jonnyG]

Cheers for that. I asked because I remembered it was a long time and that V.1 had a very positive reception re. stability.

Any bets on what hits the shelves first: Bitwig or Live 9?

I would say Bitwig. If they are already giving prices to retailers and even linking to a retailer from their (Bitwigs) own Twitter account that means..

a. The Pricing is 100% official

b. It is probably not more than 3 - 6 months away from release.


I know "a." is definitely correct but "b." is more of a mystery. To have the product listed by retailers and not be available for more than 6 months would be strange. I would think BWS could ship by April / May but then again if it is anything like Ohm Studio's beta then it could be 18 months+ from now before BWS is released.

Time will tell I guess. If BWS takes that long to come out of the door it would be a disaster for Bitwig. Live 9 would surely not take 4 - 5 years to show up and IMO will very likely be released within the next 12 months.

Live 9 just seems further away than BWS still IMO. Live 8 was announced in January 2009 IIRC (over 3 years ago incredibly) and was released in April 2009 2 -3 months later. So I would think any Live 9 release would be about 2- 3 months after a Live 9 announcement which has not happened yet.

So I think at least for now BWS appears to be a more likely product to be released first out of the two. Especially if Bitwig are following Abletons Live 8, 2 - 3 month announcement to product release time frame.

Bitwig I would think are definitely hoping to get out of the door first.

Agree 100% christianmusicmaker, all your numbers sound very reasonable to me.

I wonder how much rethinking the BWS news has caused at Ableton HQ? I'm sure they won't want to rush a release after the well-documented problems some users had with V.8. Neither would they want to concede any ground. New features vs. release time vs. stability vs. high customer expectation. Interesting situation, for sure.

Bitwig does have to beta-test on three platforms though, each with it's own unique challenges. I guess they must be pretty sure they're "in the zone" to announce a release and pricing - especially as they've been so tight-lipped up 'til now.

Fun times!

[headquest]

I'm sure that Ableton are savvy enough to ensure that - whatever their development status - Live 9 details will be available by the day Bitwig goes on sale. That way Live 8 users will be able to choose to wait for a forthcoming Live update they know all about, or they can pay more then three times the price to get v1.0 of unknown Bitwig.

For those who are newer to the scene - Live announcements typically generate quite a lot of hysteria across the internet, the music press, and the music world in general. My guess is that the Ableton top brass are sitting with their fingers on a big red button waiting to unleash their spin machine at the optimum moment.

[jonnyG]

I do feel though (as an Ableton user) that they'll have to come up with a bit more than third-party tie-ins (available at extra cost) this time. Racks were a great addition back in the day (although quick implementation is not aided by the single window). Maybe they're taking a grudging look thorugh all those feature requests at last!

I'm not an impulse buyer, nor do I tend to swap creative tools very often, but I will be watching how BWS pans out with a view to purchase.

[soehngenetic]

I would say Bitwig. If they are already giving prices to retailers and even linking to a retailer from their (Bitwigs) own Twitter account that means..

a. The Pricing is 100% official

b. It is probably not more than 3 - 6 months away from release.

I know "a." is definitely correct but "b." is more of a mystery.

So, a twitter-link to a magazine-page that links to a product page is what makes the price named on that product page "100% official"?

Sorry, but things will get official, when they are announced by BW directly and not anytime before. In my opinion that applies to the price as well as to the beta start.

Regarding all the beta rumours: Why should BW officially announce that they will give beta slots to people outside their inner circle and then do a silent beta with those people? - How safe would that be and how should be assured that testers really keep silence? - Anyone could make a fake account at any board around and post news and BW never would find out which tester did it. And I think we can be quite sure, that BWs are aware of that. So to me that would make no sence at all and I expect that we all will get to know when beta starts.

Sorry, I don't want to offend anyone, but all that rumour is hard to handle. Seems definitely to be a sign for too little news at the DAW market.

[spaceman]

a. My psychic says that it will be released next week

b. The Bitwig website says that it will cost £800

I know "a" is definitely correct but "b" is still in doubt as the font used on their website is one pixel smaller than their usual price announcement font, so that is probably wrong.

[soehngenetic]

I know "a" is definitely correct but "b" is still in doubt as the font used on their website is one pixel smaller than their usual price announcement font, so that is probably wrong.

...people are bored and "generation blog" needs updates.

[LawrenceF]

I'm not a "tweeter" so I didn't see it, but what's the official pricing?

Thanks.

I guess I'd better start using this new technology like Twitter.

[christianmusicmaker]

So, a twitter-link to a magazine-page that links to a product page is what makes the price named on that product page "100% official"?

Yes. Bitwig's Twitter account is run by...Bitwig.

Why on earth would they endorse and further publicise that link if they are not officially supporting it? Retailers no doubt will set their own prices (so that there is a margin for profit) but linking to it is a clear indication that it is not a guess but the price for the finished product like thousands of other products across thousands of other websites on the Internet. Not sure what is so funny or amusing about that but hey ho.

Sorry, but things will get official, when they are announced by BW directly and not anytime before. In my opinion that applies to the price as well as to the beta start.

Their twitter account is one of the official direct outlets for Bitwig as well as their website and Facebook page. Their Twitter account is not a fan based Bitwig Twitter account. They own it they run it they post to it = it's officially theirs. Ableton, Cakewalk, Waves, Spectrasonics e.t.c also have and make official Announcements on their Twitter accounts as well as elsewhere. There is nothing new or unusual about this practice.

If you want to wait for a press release and website announcement that is up to you. But it does not make announcements from their Twitter page unofficial in anyway.

They posted a small image many months ago on their facebook page of BWS. There was no press release but...it was from Bitwig (officially) but on Facebook. Still officially from them but on Facebook. Hopefully that makes it clearer. Or we can just agree to disagree

[headquest]

Just to add to that excellent post, DV247 is also a very legitimate serious music chain here in the UK. They never announce prices until they have that info from the vendor.

[LawrenceF]

So what does that, £299.00, convert to in USD? Is that Euros? I'm a total idiot when it comes to foreign currency.

"Life is like a box of choco... erhmm DAWs." - F. Gump

[christianmusicmaker]

Well I have to reply to this surely...

a. My psychic says that it will be released next week

a. Your psychic sidekick is really bad at guessing you need an upgrade.

b. The Bitwig website says that it will cost £800

b. Bitwig will surely happily take your money if you want to pay that much. Cha - ching.

I know "a" is definitely correct but "b" is still in doubt as the font used on their website is one pixel smaller than their usual price announcement font, so that is probably wrong.

This one is easy. Too easy. Clean your monitor.

[christianmusicmaker]

Just to add to that excellent post, DV247 is also a very legitimate serious music chain here in the UK. They never announce prices until they have that info from the vendor.

Exactly. They cannot just cook up a number from nowhere which is then further publicised from an official product channel. Yes dv is a very reputable setup.

So what does that, £299.00, convert to in USD? Is that Euros? I'm a total idiot when it comes to foreign currency.

Definitely £299 not Euros AFAICT. About $473 using the dv websites currency converter. $472 on xe.com

[Goratrix]

Why on earth would they endorse and further publicise that link if they are not officially supporting it? Retailers no doubt will set their own prices (so that there is a margin for profit) but linking to it is a clear indication that it is not a guess but the price for the finished product like thousands of other products across thousands of other websites on the Internet. Not sure what is so funny or amusing about that but hey ho.

Agreed. It would be extremely unproffesional from them to link to a retailer page with placeholder price. They would either not link to it, or ask the retailer to either remove or correct the price. The fact that none of that happened indicates that the price is correct.

[LawrenceF]

Definitely £299 not Euros AFAICT. About $473 using the dv websites currency converter. $472 on xe.com

Thanks. That's a bit higher than I expected for a 1.0 of a brand new product. I figured it would be $399 max.

That's pretty much $500.