Which months is your upgrade plan running out?

[pdxindy]

Kind of interesting that there's actually a spike in June ... i.e. june 2019 was the last major release. Interesting because some guys claimed that my assumption that major releases trigger upgrade plan sales is wrong.
So I bet that july 2021 is when 4.0 hits the shelves - I still belive this is true.

By major release, I am assuming that you mean 2.0 and 3.0. 3.0 was July 10th 2019.

The thing is, those releases are not much different than the ones in between. Listed below are the last 10 paid releases. They happened in 9 different months with only March have 2 of them.

3.3 - November 26th 2020
3.2 - June 3rd 2020
3.1 - December 18th 2019
3.0 - July 10th 2019
2.5 - March 7th 2019
2.4 - September 12 2018
2.3 - February 28th 2018
2.2 - October 11th 2017
2.1 - May 12th 2017
2.0 - March 2017

I don't believe the way you are thinking about it makes sense for the developer. You are saying that the developers will delay releasing until after the June bunching (assuming there actually is one as this is too small a sampling to be sure) so that they can get more money from them.

The thing is, if they release it a month sooner, they get immediate sales from the people whose plan expired in March, April and May. They also will get some sales from all the people whose plan is already expired which according to the poll, outnumber the June bunching almost 4-1.

I would say it is in the best interests of the developers (financially speaking), to release updates as quickly as they can and that will generate more overall sales and customer enthusiasm.

In this case, I think you are right about the timeframe, but not for the reason you are stating.

[Greenstorm33]

Yikes, this does not make me confident in Bitwig's future. They haven't been releasing much recently and clearly a lot of people aren't interested in what they have been releasing.

They've released a lot in the last year. You're reading too much into online chatter. New devices Polymer, EQ +, Saturator, plug multiple updated devices and new modulation and filter modules.
It's all right here:
https://www.bitwig.com/previous_releases/

EQ+ and saturator were nearly a year ago (3.2, 03 June 2020). Polymer is a grid synth with a different wrapper although the wavetable module was new that release. Lots of people here at least appear to have let their subscriptions lapse and some have not updated in a pretty long time, implying that the recent features are not very interesting to many.

You didn't even mention the most interesting stuff in 3.3 and 3.2 updates

In 3.3 -

• The ability to scale audio, midi clips and note selections is a huge benefit for me.
• The fades were also much improved.
• And individual modulation targets have curves options and the ability to scale via another modulator.
• You can also disable individual targets or all targets on a modulator. All regularly useful.
• And more small stuff

in 3.2 -

• The Arpeggiator became much more capable. It is my main arp now.
• The Selector devices also became much more useful with a bunch of new modes. Truly powerful and effective in a variety of uses.
• The note delay options on envelopes was added. Makes it easy to do strum type effects.
• The Drum Machine added local audio returns. A useful addition for many I am sure.
• Tool device can go down to silence now!

I got 3.2 and 3.3 with my last upgrade plan and I thought they were absolutely worthwhile. I'd be happy if that's all I got. Bitwig is a bit on the expensive side to keep up to date but I think it's great software and don't mind spending extra to support a small team of devs like this. I'm just looking at the poll and that plus the usual radio silence on future updates makes me a bit nervous Like you all said I'm sure everyone will update if the next major update is a good one, and considering the time they're spending on it I have high hopes that it will be.

[ozinga]

Looking at the dates above the releases are lately around 5-6 months so they are not too behind. Maybe 3.5 or 4 in July with a beta towards the end of May or early June.

[antic604]

Kind of interesting that there's actually a spike in June ... i.e. june 2019 was the last major release. Interesting because some guys claimed that my assumption that major releases trigger upgrade plan sales is wrong.
So I bet that july 2021 is when 4.0 hits the shelves - I still belive this is true.

For a small dev like Bitwig it'd make most sense to spread the cashflow as much as possible throughout the year, so that they don't depend on success of singular release.

I'm sure the current "delay" has more to do with some technical issues they've encountered, or them planning to take advantage of their user base.

Even if beta was announced next Monday, the release would be in July, so you might be right about that at least

[] Peter:H []

Kind of interesting that there's actually a spike in June ... i.e. june 2019 was the last major release. Interesting because some guys claimed that my assumption that major releases trigger upgrade plan sales is wrong.
So I bet that july 2021 is when 4.0 hits the shelves - I still belive this is true.

By major release, I am assuming that you mean 2.0 and 3.0. 3.0 was July 10th 2019.

The thing is, those releases are not much different than the ones in between. Listed below are the last 10 paid releases. They happened in 9 different months with only March have 2 of them.

3.3 - November 26th 2020
3.2 - June 3rd 2020
3.1 - December 18th 2019
3.0 - July 10th 2019
2.5 - March 7th 2019
2.4 - September 12 2018
2.3 - February 28th 2018
2.2 - October 11th 2017
2.1 - May 12th 2017
2.0 - March 2017

I don't believe the way you are thinking about it makes sense for the developer.

We don't talk not about developers. We talk about making the most of the license scheme in terms of outcome - this is a marketing, sales question. And because I'm a developer and I have wasted some courses in data analysis, I would if I were bitwig look into my data assets and add this into the decision when to do a release.
But for your dates - would you expect that the clustering would happen more towards older releases or towards more recent releases? When you are a midi device - would you sync to sync frames 10 minutes ago or to the newer onse?
I think the last two years with Nov, Jun, Dez, July will skew stats towards these dates more heavily than the 2.0 March release 2017. I think two years is a good window for observation because new customers have a two years valid plan all others one year...
And I only add things together. We see the Harrison promo, we see "Circle", various new videos about synthesiz and new controller integration ... so the marketing pipe is filled with topics prior to next release. And I bet all this is not meant to be just a "week" before the next big release ... this would be wasted efforts that customers soon will ignore.

[hrotorvator]

Yikes, this does not make me confident in Bitwig's future. They haven't been releasing much recently and clearly a lot of people aren't interested in what they have been releasing.

They've released a lot in the last year. You're reading too much into online chatter. New devices Polymer, EQ +, Saturator, plug multiple updated devices and new modulation and filter modules.
It's all right here:
https://www.bitwig.com/previous_releases/

EQ+ and saturator were nearly a year ago (3.2, 03 June 2020). Polymer is a grid synth with a different wrapper although the wavetable module was new that release. Lots of people here at least appear to have let their subscriptions lapse and some have not updated in a pretty long time, implying that the recent features are not very interesting to many.

You didn't even mention the most interesting stuff in 3.3 and 3.2 updates

In 3.3 -

• The ability to scale audio, midi clips and note selections is a huge benefit for me.
• The fades were also much improved.
• And individual modulation targets have curves options and the ability to scale via another modulator.
• You can also disable individual targets or all targets on a modulator. All regularly useful.
• And more small stuff

in 3.2 -

• The Arpeggiator became much more capable. It is my main arp now.
• The Selector devices also became much more useful with a bunch of new modes. Truly powerful and effective in a variety of uses.
• The note delay options on envelopes was added. Makes it easy to do strum type effects.
• The Drum Machine added local audio returns. A useful addition for many I am sure.
• Tool device can go down to silence now!

I got 3.2 and 3.3 with my last upgrade plan and I thought they were absolutely worthwhile. I'd be happy if that's all I got. Bitwig is a bit on the expensive side to keep up to date but I think it's great software and don't mind spending extra to support a small team of devs like this. I'm just looking at the poll and that plus the usual radio silence on future updates makes me a bit nervous Like you all said I'm sure everyone will update if the next major update is a good one, and considering the time they're spending on it I have high hopes that it will be.

To be honest, my hopes are not that high. maybe they prove me wrong... and everyone has different hopes. i now look at bitwig as a environment to do some sound design every once in a while and it works as is. i'm pretty happy with my other daws. so, to make me upgrade again, they need to add a lot of stuff, to make me consider using it above any of my other daws. a really nice full package. thing is, right now, i can't live without my other tools, but i can live without bitwig. but that's just my case.

[Greenstorm33]

The only major things I miss are audio/midi groove requantization, comping, and ARA. If I want to record or do something off-grid I have to use a different DAW. I'm hoping they hit at least one or two of these in v4.

[pdxindy]

And I only add things together.

As do I... and we have different conclusions and are both speculating and have no actual knowledge about Bitwig or their thinking in the matter. The timing of the next update may or may not have anything to do with annual plan distribution and everything to do with other circumstances, whether Covid, the Apple Silicon change, a death in someones family, etc.

[_leras]

They have to up their DAW side. Grid and modulation is fun and interesting up to a certain point. Or find a way to integrate to other DAWs with propriety connection like Rewire or Link to reach more people. Or maybe they are happy with business as it is and it is none of my business

I also very much hope that they have taken a step back from modularity and focused a bit on giving some of the basic workflow a once over, with some more things to help with workflow, general music creation and mixing.

Fingers crossed they have made some strides in those areas.

[_leras]

I would say it is in the best interests of the developers (financially speaking), to release updates as quickly as they can and that will generate more overall sales and customer enthusiasm.

In this case, I think you are right about the timeframe, but not for the reason you are stating.

Totally agree with this. I think for sure with 50% replying here already being expired and 'ready to renew', there would not be all that much point holding for June/July and any beta now would reach then anyway...

So I think that there is likely a majorish release planned, hopefully, quite soon!

[stamp]

Or find a way to integrate to other DAWs with propriety connection like Rewire or Link to reach more people.

Bitwig has Link.

[andypryce]

Or find a way to integrate to other DAWs with propriety connection like Rewire or Link to reach more people.

Bitwig has Link.

Yes I know but none of the major DAWs support Link.
I was thinking more like their own thing and more useful than Link (More like Rewire). Maybe a bridge plugin.

[fairlyclose]

It will need to be something significant for me to go a plan ( before any sale anyway). I am very used to working across Studio One (eg for ARA), Bitwig and Reaper.

[machinesworking]

Or find a way to integrate to other DAWs with propriety connection like Rewire or Link to reach more people.

Bitwig has Link.

I'm hoping for a VST3 plug in version like FL Studio or Reason, that, would be the best!

[BobDog]

A plug in version of the device area and I would subscribe again in a flash.