Bitwig 4 - what's gonna be in it?

[pdxindy]

Plus people get the upgrade plans when on sale, even though their current plans haven't elapsed yet; and then apply them not necessarily right after it does elapse eventually, because they'll wait for new beta, skip a version, etc.

All this 'distorts' the cycle quite significantly.

Yup... 3 times I have purchased an upgrade and not once has it coincided with a release.

[antic604]

Yup... 3 times I have purchased an upgrade and not once has it coincided with a release.

I actually wonder how much of this was by design, or it just came out like this?

It's a very smart model for small, niche software that reduces the risk of them running out of money for salaries & rent due to concentration. I think they're also actively trying to spread that further timing the partneting offers (u-he, harrison, waves, etc.) to "fill in the gaps" so to say. And it's still not a subscription, unless someone tries to be disingenuous about it...

I only wish we were getting updates more frequently, like it was with v2 - every 3-4 months basically.

[sbmongoose]

Plus Bitwig has not been doing 'big' releases in the classic way. 3.0 was about the same size as 2.3, 2.4, 3.1, etc.

It might have been the same size, but The Grid was certainly a fairly stand-out feature to justify a version number upgrade, to my mind at least. It was V3 and The Grid that made me interested/want to buy Bitwig in the first place. I'm totally guessing here, but when they add MIDI Grid, that may be V4 worthy, depending on what flexibility it offers. Also many people speculated that with Polymer being a "contained" Grid instrument, that might be a feature added to users in a later verson, and it would seem plausible to me. The network collaboration isn't something that I'm overly interested in myself, but I could see this last year with people in lockdown their focus could easily have turned to it, and I'm sure if this is a fature they've gone for it will do more than we all currently expect (I hope).
I'm looking forward to finding out anyway, even though my current plan expires in a week.

[docbot]

Plus Bitwig has not been doing 'big' releases in the classic way. 3.0 was about the same size as 2.3, 2.4, 3.1, etc.

It might have been the same size, but The Grid was certainly a fairly stand-out feature to justify a version number upgrade, to my mind at least. It was V3 and The Grid that made me interested/want to buy Bitwig in the first place. I'm totally guessing here, but when they add MIDI Grid, that may be V4 worthy, depending on what flexibility it offers. Also many people speculated that with Polymer being a "contained" Grid instrument, that might be a feature added to users in a later verson, and it would seem plausible to me. The network collaboration isn't something that I'm overly interested in myself, but I could see this last year with people in lockdown their focus could easily have turned to it, and I'm sure if this is a fature they've gone for it will do more than we all currently expect (I hope).
I'm looking forward to finding out anyway, even though my current plan expires in a week.

right on the money, I'm sure users will be able to build polymer like devices out of Grid patches themselves. Nice, but also not something I'm super interested in.

[SLiC]

....but when they add MIDI Grid, that may be V4 worthy, depending on what flexibility it offers.

I suspect the headline new feature will be 'networking' and collaboration as that has been promised since V1 along side the modular framework as a core feature.

Hopefully midi grid will also be there and may be a bigger deal for many people!

[PhilipVasta]

The idea of online collaboration is really cool, but I hope it's not completely limited to people who own Bitwig...because let's be honest, there aren't that many of us. I could envision a feature that allows for some level of functionality with other DAW users, and a much more comprehensive level with Bitwig users.

[machinesworking]

Plus people get the upgrade plans when on sale, even though their current plans haven't elapsed yet; and then apply them not necessarily right after it does elapse eventually, because they'll wait for new beta, skip a version, etc.

All this 'distorts' the cycle quite significantly.

Right, like I mentioned, you could make a reasonable guess that update plans have a spike in sales, during sales, and new purchases have a spike in sales when a major upgrade is announced, but these two would never be locked together, so Bitwig IMO did a pretty good job of gaming the consumer for a steady income stream VS feast and famine.

[lamouette/rck]

I only wish we were getting updates more frequently, like it was with v2 - every 3-4 months basically.

Yes, i remember when they said that with the new payment model, the update would be more frequent, but to be honest, it is pretty slow, i am still at 3.1, nothing really interrested me yet.

I really want to see a better piano roll functions like FL, and grid container that can be share with the community, i like the grid, but clearly, for me it is too much time consuming, and i would love to see others creativity shared ! also some audio to midi would be nice !

[SLiC]

Well, I guess whatever you think about this, one thing is true. There are unfortunately more posts about the update plan than any of the amazing creative features in Bitwig.

[coroknight]

Plus people get the upgrade plans when on sale, even though their current plans haven't elapsed yet; and then apply them not necessarily right after it does elapse eventually, because they'll wait for new beta, skip a version, etc.

All this 'distorts' the cycle quite significantly.

Yup... 3 times I have purchased an upgrade and not once has it coincided with a release.

You're both forgetting that most people are stupid. Your average user is probably not strategically planning their upgrades... They're waiting for something new and shiny to catch their attention. The shiny thing being major releases.

Yeah sure, bitwig does smaller releases but that's not going to trigger as many sales as a major release.

[stamp]

I've heard rumours that they will skip v4 and go straight to v5.
Soooo... no v4. Sorry guys...

[pdxindy]

Yeah sure, bitwig does smaller releases but that's not going to trigger as many sales as a major release.

Of course you can speculate in whatever way you wish... it is just speculation. None of us know actual sales patterns so we are all just guessing.

[coroknight]

Yeah sure, bitwig does smaller releases but that's not going to trigger as many sales as a major release.

Of course you can speculate in whatever way you wish... it is just speculation. None of us know actual sales patterns so we are all just guessing.

Well I work in software so I like to think it's more than a guess...

[machinesworking]

Plus people get the upgrade plans when on sale, even though their current plans haven't elapsed yet; and then apply them not necessarily right after it does elapse eventually, because they'll wait for new beta, skip a version, etc.

All this 'distorts' the cycle quite significantly.

Yup... 3 times I have purchased an upgrade and not once has it coincided with a release.

You're both forgetting that most people are stupid. Your average user is probably not strategically planning their upgrades... They're waiting for something new and shiny to catch their attention. The shiny thing being major releases.

Yeah sure, bitwig does smaller releases but that's not going to trigger as many sales as a major release.

If they do not buy when the upgrade plan is on sale and instead wait for a bright shiny new version to catch their attention, they're still doing this with some intent, since Bitwig sends you emails about upgrades. Plus of course sales in general cause some pavlov effect. So again, you're just pissing in the wind here. Everything points to Bitwig gaming the consumer to keep a more steady stream of income without forcing our hands like true subscription models do by not allowing the user to use the product without a subscription.

[carlca]

I've heard rumours that they will skip v4 and go straight to v5.
Soooo... no v4. Sorry guys...

Maybe they will do an Image-Line and jump straight to v20.0