Bitwig Studio 4.1 Beta release is imminent

[coroknight]

If this is it then wtf Bitwig.

[ahmadfarihan]

It’s getting more and more like renoise… i hope not…

[vroteg]

If this is a full point update… I think I’ll pass this November sale and upgrade to crapelton 11. Even despite the fact I don’t really like crapelton. Well, you can tell I don’t like it (:

[Dostoyevsky]

Bitwig's overall concept or vision if you like is brilliant. However, I, too, regularly struggle to understand the reasoning behind how adding new functionality is prioritised. The neglect of simple piano roll features, basic MIDI functionality (not even talking about a MIDI grid) or the lack of a MSEG is puzzling. There's nothing niche about these. I'm all in for bouncing balls in every single track, but come on.

[auricle]

Thing is, all this speculation is on a pre-release web page that was quickly taken down. We have no idea if this is the full set of features for 4.1 or not. If we look at it logically and compare it to previous releases, it does seem very feature light so I'm pretty sure there will be more (although I could be wrong, of course).

For all we know, it could be a clever ploy by Bitwig to gauge the reaction

[antic604]

For all we know, it could be a clever ploy by Bitwig to gauge the reaction

If that's the case, then this one was much better:

viewtopic.php?p=7474372#p7474372

[auricle]

I think that was just a prank. I'm thinking that perhaps Bitwig wanted to see how customers would react to another update with only devices like note randomisation. From the reaction here and other places I can see it would annoy a lot of people.

[antic604]

I think that was just a prank. I'm thinking that perhaps Bitwig wanted to see how customers would react to another update with only devices like note randomisation. From the reaction here and other places I can see it would annoy a lot of people.

I'd rather they spend their limited resources and finite time on actual features, rather than pranks.

I don't think it was a prank.

[aMUSEd]

That is disappointing. Instead of note effects how about groove templates or swing or something, you know, actually useful for every day use. How is nobody talking about this? I would think that having a nice swing/shuffle etc that's actually useful would be priority number one, but what do I know.

I would never use those things - this just emphasises that Bitwig users are a diverse group and you can’t please everyone - 4.0 didn’t have enough to make me want to update, this might

[loungepanda]

If this is a full point update… I think I’ll pass this November sale and upgrade to crapelton 11. Even despite the fact I don’t really like crapelton. Well, you can tell I don’t like it (:

At least we're getting actual point updates. All Ableton did between 10 and 11 was fix bugs and withhold features for 11.
And with 11 they've yet to release a substantial point update even though it came out a year ago.

Anyway, this is worth it alone for the custom palettes, afaic.

[SLiC]

If this is a full point update… I think I’ll pass this November sale and upgrade to crapelton 11. Even despite the fact I don’t really like crapelton. Well, you can tell I don’t like it (:

At least we're getting actual point updates. All Ableton did between 10 and 11 was fix bugs and withhold features for 11.
And with 11 they've yet to release an actual point update even though it came out a year ago.

Yeh, but there 0.5 release was bigger than a lot of point release and the .1 release (which I am currently using) is also extensive...all free to everyone, beta open to everyone and openly tested on a beta platform with a beta forum.

Personally I really don't like the way you get constant small release from Bitwig often with bugs . The whole 'pre release beta bug fix for subscribers only' isn't for me and means less users are testing betas...I just find it a PITA and don't bother as you have top keep uninstalling the old version and the chances are there will be another along next week...-01, .02,03,....07!

[ericj23]

If this is a full point update… I think I’ll pass this November sale and upgrade to crapelton 11. Even despite the fact I don’t really like crapelton. Well, you can tell I don’t like it (:

At least we're getting actual point updates. All Ableton did between 10 and 11 was fix bugs and withhold features for 11.
And with 11 they've yet to release an actual point update even though it came out a year ago.

Yeh, but there 0.5 release was bigger than a lot of point release and the .1 release (which I am currently using) is also extensive...all free to everyone, beta open to everyone and openly tested on a beta platform with a beta forum.

Personally I really don't like the way you get constant small release from Bitwig often with bugs . The whole 'pre release beta bug fix for subscribers only' isn't for me and means less users are testing betas...I just find it a PITA and don't bother as you have top keep uninstalling the old version and the chances are there will be another along next week...-01, .02,03,....07!

I do hear this - but I like the constant betas - you get to see new stuff earlier and I have generally found that the betas work well. I have found a few bugs but nothing too showstopper.

I think the real problem is perception. If this update of new midi devices was called 4.08 - and it does fit with the blurb about notes in 4.0 - we would be talking about nice touch and new toys. The problem for Bitwig is that the Music Production Sites are not going to have a story about 4.08 - while talking about Bitwig 4.1 might generate interest and then ultimately sales.

I know I think they should cut the fanfare and keep us customers happy but I suspect that Bitwig is not as financially secure as Ableton and that they need to keep an eye on the bottom line. So here we are with a meh update for Xmas

[antic604]

I know I think they should cut the fanfare and keep us customers happy but I suspect that Bitwig is not as financially secure as Ableton and that they need to keep an eye on the bottom line. So here we are with a meh update for Xmas

If that's the case, then they're acting against their interest. Judging by the feedback so far - here and on Reddit, Discord - lots of people won't extend their plan or regret having extended it recently.

[SLiC]

Who doesn't love constant new stuff and improvements

My point really was that Live has had far more releases than Bitwig in the last year (no reason why they shouldn't, they are a much bigger dev team), you just don't see them publicised as they run as a separate updatable beta version with its won codecenter forum and bug tracking...a separate ecosystem to the 'official' version.

The free .1 releases has so far had seven separate releases, most adding new stuff and QOL improvements, the 0.5 realise before that also had half a dozen releases to try, each adding new stuff (or fixing stuff) before that...so that is (in BWS terms) over a dozen releases in a year available to everyone who bought Live 11

[ericj23]

I know I think they should cut the fanfare and keep us customers happy but I suspect that Bitwig is not as financially secure as Ableton and that they need to keep an eye on the bottom line. So here we are with a meh update for Xmas

If that's the case, then they're acting against their interest. Judging by the feedback so far - here and on Reddit, Discord - lots of people won't extend their plan or regret having extended it recently.

I haven't seen those, but I agree it is counter productive. But it is worth understanding why they thought this might be a good idea - it helps gain some confidence that they know what they are doing!

Also for the two groups mentioned - no-one was extending their plan if they offered nothing - you wait to extend when a new version is available. So offering a version where few people who's plan has run out is still better than offering no update as at least some people update.

For those who have an active plan this doesn't feel great (me!) but as long as something big is coming soon (hopefully) then when the plan runs out the person still feels it was worth it.

The problem is those whose plan ends soon and are left with a sour (midi) note at the end of it and there fore may not update again soon. I am pretty sure that Bitwig will be aware of the the pattern of when plans run out and think this is a risk worth taking as it pays bills now. I also suspect most of have plans from sales and things like the u-he promo or large updates (4.0 for me) mean that few people have a plan running out now