Bitwig ARM Version if Apple leaves Intel?

[smoothny]

Apple seems to announce the switch from Intel x86 to ARM CPUs at WWDC 2020. What does that mean for professional software like Bitwig?

Bitwig and other Audio programs/vsts heavily depend on x86 instruction sets like SSE, so they can't be easily ported to other CPU types like ARM.

Will every software developer invest in rewriting parts of their software to keep compatible with MacOS? What are your thoughts about it?

Greetings,
smoothny

[gesslr]

Apple has managed to pull off two of these types of transitions successfully within the last 20 years, so fingers crossed. If I remember correctly, in both cases they had something that allowed a lot of the older software to run in the new environment under a sort of emulation. It worked better for more “mainstream” applications than music and video stuff I think, but it made it possible to continue working.

For something like BWS that tries to maintain feature parity across three platforms with just 4 or 5 people, I imagine it would be a tough hill to climb unless one of the developers was just really excited about the idea and had the chops.

I also remember a time when BWS on the Windows Surface tablet was a thing. I don’t think that was running on the ARM version of Windows though, but maybe they looked at the possibility back then and just decided the market wasn’t big enough to commit? Maybe this would change that decision?

A lot of maybes...we just don’t know what folks will do. I’m worried about the small developers of plugins. I have some fantastic plugins from small companies that I just don’t see making the leap unless Apple’s development guidelines of the last few years (assuming they’ve been followed) make compiling new code “easy.”

[smoothny]

Yeah, but the last transition was from ppc to intel, that was the perfect move for all developers, because no need for ppc/x86 branches.

The surface thing started at a time where surface devices had no ARM option. An ARM powered Surface just arrived with the new Surface line some month ago, so I don't think the Bitwig people had ARM in mind back in the days.

We'll see what comes from Apple at WWDC.

[antic604]

I also remember a time when BWS on the Windows Surface tablet was a thing.

No, all the Surface devices - except the ironically called Surface Pro from last year, that's a piece of sh*t - run on mobile Intel iCore processors. But thanks to that (short-lived, sadly) co-op with Microsoft we have unparalelled, albeit still imperfect, touch screen profile

On the topic itself, I heard that ARM will be 1st introduced in Macbook Air, whereas the Pro lineup - and desktops, I imagine? - would be 1-2 years later. I hope that's the case and the process can be spread over time, because I'd hate to not get any updates to Bitwig itself while devs are fighting with Intel -> ARM migration. If that happens, they should price OSX license (and upgrade plans) separately, to afford hiring new dev(s) dedicated to that. After all Apple users are used to pay more

[gesslr]

Yeh. I think it will be quite a while before more pro-level ARM machines are around. In the meantime, I'm going to try to save my pennies for a shiny 7,1 and ride that puppy for as long as I can.

[Tj Shredder]

I will move to a Ryzen equipped Linux machine and sell all plugs which don’t run there... I still hope Cycling74/Ableton will release Linux versions then, or I have to switch from Max to Pd as well...
(This all sounds like a nightmare...)

[smoothny]

Ableton will most likely never release a Linux version, but that's another topic

[ejgallego]

Ableton will most likely never release a Linux version, but that's another topic

What makes you think that?

[machinesworking]

I really do not see the transition as being anywhere near the last two in impact. iOS is essentially OS X, and that's a huge part of Catalina that all the complaints about Catalina have been missing. In typical fashion just like PPC to Intel developers that followed their guidelines for Calalina and didn't do little "tricks" to get compatibility etc. will be just fine.

Just a guess but I bet I'm right-
At first this translates (in our case) to AU working on both iOS and OS X, then eventually there's one OS, the mobile version and the desktop version, near seamless integration between the two, with certain apps being specifically designed for one or the other.

Again, developers who take the time to follow the rules for Catalina will likely have a easy time to the ARM version. This is exactly how PPC to Intel played out. So NI will screw it all up, again!

[FlareStar]

Im pretty much sure we're covered.
https://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java ... 87472.html

[smoothny]

Ableton will most likely never release a Linux version, but that's another topic

What makes you think that?

'cause neither Max4Live exists for Linux nor Ableton uses any cross platform basics like Bitwig does. Bitwig had Linux in mind from the beginning, that made things easy.

I think the effort they need to put into Ableton being Linux compatible, isn't worth it for the few people using Linux.

[smoothny]

Im pretty much sure we're covered.
https://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java ... 87472.html

Java is only used for the a few parts of Bitwig. I'm pretty sure none of the audio dsp code is done in Java at all.

[antic604]

Im pretty much sure we're covered.
https://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java ... 87472.html

Bitwig isn't written in Java. Please stop spreading this nonsense.

[don_looney]

Most of bitwig‘s code is written in c++. Only the gui or some parts of it are java.
I think they spoke about that in a podcast years ago.

[lunardigs]

I will move to a Ryzen equipped Linux machine and sell all plugs which don’t run there... I still hope Cycling74/Ableton will release Linux versions then, or I have to switch from Max to Pd as well...
(This all sounds like a nightmare...)

I did this whole thing in 2015 ... I made a good chunk of money too from selling all my plugins. I also realized pretty quickly that most of my plugs weren't all that important.
It was a good exercise and it weeded out a lot of clutter. It also made me learn my essential tools better.