Future additions and pricing

[governmentyard]

A DAW is a major outlay for an amateur producer and we've all got one already. I'm very keen on Bitwig but am slightly confused by some of the terminology used.

Let's say I buy it today. I'm most excited by the Integrated Modular System with which, I understand, I'll be able to create new instruments and generally use it as Ableton users use Max. I want to make my own drone machines and share them with other users, for example. Now, on the website it says this:

Code: Select all

In the next major release, anyone with Bitwig Studio will have access to the integrated Modular System, enabling the modification of existing devices, or the creation and design of entirely new ones.

So, does this mean I'll need to pay to upgrade to, say 2.0 in order to get the modular bits beyond the bundled instruments? If so, I might wait.

I'd also be keen to know what sort of price point they intend to put upgrades at, and whether the greatly expanded functionality of the next 'major release' will cause the basic price of the software to increase.

tl;dr - DAWs are a long-term investment, and I can't seem to find any long-term cost information.


Very much enjoying the demo, mind you - congratulations to Bitwig on a slick initial release.

[governmentyard]

Bad form, but *bump*

[trappar]

The lack of any information about their plans for updates is a bit concerning since as you said, they are touting future features which they may make people pay for. If someone buys Bitwig specifically because in the future they'll be able to do multi-user LAN jamming.. and then they have to pay in a year to get that feature.. that's really messed up.

[renderful]

Why would anyone buy software for future features???? Sounds ridiculous to me. Buy it for what it does now. If you don't think it's worth the cash for what it does now, then don't buy it. So simple.

[ZenPunkHippy]

No one here can answer this question. Only Bitwig can ... email support via the contact form on the site and ask them directly.

Peace,
Andy.

[governmentyard]

Hi Andy - I thought this was the official forum, and if they answer here everyone can know. Is this not a good place to get feedback from Bitwig themselves?

Renderful - So patronising. If it was clear what I got for my outlay I'd not need it ask the question. It isn't. I'm asking.

[ZenPunkHippy]

They haven't been around much today, probably flat out answering support emails from users and working on bug fixes.

I guess if you can wait a day or 2, there might be an answer here ...

[governmentyard]

I'm happy to wait, sure they've got plenty on.

It's common for people when considering what DAW to buy to look at upgrade paths and price structures. From dedicated forums to Reddit, it's a frequent query and I'm a little surprised this hasn't been anticipated and clarified. It might be that they are waiting to see what initial sales are like and why before committing themselves to any given course of action. I won't blame them for that for second, I've been involved in a few product launches myself and it's better not to give information that might change... but it's also better to say what's not decided yet.

In any case, happy to give it a few days and see what comes out. Failing that, I'll raise a support query and report back here. There's always the demo to tinker with in the meantime.

[LawrenceF]

You gotta think a whole version number update (2.0) likely won't be free, but it's so far away they maybe haven't even fleshed out any pricing for that yet.

What you probably really want to know is the general plan for the 1.x cycle, which might be 12-18 months or more, if major features that may appear in this cycle will be free or not in a .5 or something. I would personally think they'd have a hard time charging again before 2.0 but I obviously don't know that.

But i seriously doubt if 2.0 will he free.

If they follow the larger industry you can probably expect 2.0 to be anywhere from $129 to $199... depending on how big an update it is... but that bridge is a good bit in the distance.

Obviously, it would be a good thing for users if i was dead wrong about that... and major version updates were cheaper, like $99.

[UncleAge]

If they follow the larger industry you can probably expect 2.0 to be anywhere from $129 to $199... depending on how big an update it is... but that bridge is a good bit in the distance.

Obviously, it would be a good thing for users if i was dead wrong about that... and major version updates were cheaper, like $99.

And I really doubt any at Bitwig would know at this point. The data isn't there for any of them to make an informed decision right now.