[Fixed in 4.4] Weird bug: latest "Spectral Suite" update not included in upgrade plan

[GEARNEWS]

Please do not tell everybody that you are working for us, which isn't true!

[machinesworking]

I get it though, it kind of goes against their previous upgrade model, and makes people wonder just what they are paying for. Tough decisions the developers have to make. Maybe this one backfires. I personally like the options, and if they can deliver the goods in the "normal" upgrades, then I don't have a problem with it.

I second that. If the quality and speed of updates remains the same then I don’t mind the add-ons or even the introduction of a premium update plan that includes all add-ons. But if the update quality would degrade, I would feel cheated, too. Probably all would have been more clear if they would have published the spectral suite as VST/AU/CLAP plugins. If they need a new revenue stream then why not?

Simple, they are not a big company, there is no way that paid add ons don't take development time away from the main DAW. Developing plug ins that are paid upgrades, that can't be used in other DAWs, will take time away from and be more lucrative than improving existing features, adding in features to the DAW itself etc.

Maybe they think they can then hire more developers so no big deal. I think they're sinking their battle ship. I don't think I'm alone in jumping ship, and ticked off I ever bothered with them, the update plan was always an expensive thing if you wanted to be updated on day one of a new feature, much more than other DAWs upgrades, so I'm not sure why they're hemorrhaging for money? It costs $507 for three years worth of update plans to keep Bitwig always up to date if you want. It Cost $199 for three years in DP, what/ $250 or so for Live Suite every 3-5 years? Reaper and Logic are practically free.

Why are they hemorrhaging? They already had arguably the most expensive upgrade plan besides Pro Tools. They definitely do not have the staff of the Pro Tools team. So why?

[machinesworking]

Live released 11.2 when it was ready (after almost 8 months of testing on the beta forum codebase!) they may not seem to change as often, but they put stability first on a release.

Yeah, count me as someone who was "fed up" with them about this, but at this point I appreciate it. I like Bitwig's GUI, but it's pretty buggy, I don't get half the artifacts in any other DAW that I do in Bitwig.

In fact I have to say, the only thing good about this is I settled on Digital Performer for my main "'workhorse" DAW, and I had not completely settled on whether to use Bitwig or Live for the audio playground DAW, and I think this settles it. Plus I've wanted to mess around with Jitter and that's not happening at all in Bitwig.

[moscom_electronics]

In all honesty, these devices are highly specialized. On my side, I would have been disgruntled if the pack was about EQs for example. I just hope that the essential stuff will be cared about in the future as much as it used to in the recent past. If I take the opposite view, I would certainly not have upgraded if these devices had been branded as the new exciting features of 4.4....

[borez]

If they'd actually added these to the upgrade plan we already pay for we'd all feel great today. New plugins, best DAW, great company etc.etc. etc.

Instead I just feel like I want to dump this DAW and use Ableton ( I already use both ) exclusively instead. They've just become another Adobe overnight here, the US and THEM mentality i.e. they do something, we get pissed off, they don't ever listen. This will no doubt continue to get worse.

Maybe Bitwig could give us a upgrade plan roadmap here to see if it's worth continuing. Or, you know, maybe even listen to how we feel about this and reverse the decision here.

[Greybox Audio]

I just wrote an Email to Bitwig's support and told them about my displeasure and concerns about this decision. Really hope that their management takes the negative feedback from the community seriously and starts fixing this clusterf*ck asap.

[Firewyre]

In all honesty, these devices are highly specialized. ....

I feel like you say the same of a lot of the previously included devices though. One person's specialized can be another person's "must have on every track".

[musikarldererste]

Hi!

I am Marcus, chief of editor of GEARNEWS. First of all I want to say, that we do not know and never met kvr user "musikarldererste", who told all of you, that he is working for us - that is fake news!

Please do not answer to this member and do not spread his words.
Thanks.

i am happy now
but i cant told you why
maybe you will lucky too

If they are playing favorites, that would be unforgivable to me. Be careful what you post here and how it can be interpreted (unless you're trying to sabotage the company)

i told you nothing
i give you a good advice
i work for a news magazine as a trainee called gearnews
mabye therfore , they like me more

thats true sorry missunderstood here
i dont know there is a site called "grearnews"
also its not a "news magazine"

just to clarify this =
i make news based on gear for a smaller website
sorry english is not my mothertongue

so i repeat =
i make news based on gear for a smaller company who sells magazines
i worked not for gearnews

sorry for confusing you
and sorry marcus

[sbmongoose]

i told you nothing
i give you a good advice
i work for a news magazine as a trainee called gearnews
mabye therfore , they like me more

That's pretty clear cut what you claimed.

[ozonepaul]

The problem with Bitwig's new payed add-ons policy statement

1. Bitwig statement: "Why add-ons on top of the 12-month upgrade plan?
Core features of Bitwig Studio will continuously be developed as part of the 12-month upgrade plan."

Up until now, it was not only the core features but all features were included in a 12-month upgrade plan. A major change of "terms and conditions" like this should have been communicated in advance, prior to the "terms and conditions" change not just after this huge backlash.


2. Bitwig statement: Highly specialized features, like devices or additional content such as presets and sound libraries, will occasionally be developed as add-ons.

It's pretty vague what is a "highly specialized feature". The Grid for example, with all it's devices is so highly specialized that non of the other DAWs have anything like that. But anything, from a "transport map device" or a "note FX selector device" to pretty much all the "logic" devices inside the PolyGrid can be labelled as "highly specialized features". So I do not have any clue where they are going to draw the line when deciding what is going to fall in the "highly specialized feature" category. In my book their new payed add-on "Spectral transient split" is much less highly specialized than let's say their Bitwig included "weighted random signal generator" the "chance" device. Basically me (their customer) when I pay for the upgrade plan, I don't have any idea what is and what is not covered by my "12 month upgrade plan".

(Me personally, I wouldn't have much problem if they sold some "presets and sound libraries" as payed add-ons as long as they properly communicated with their upgrade plan subscription users about it.)


3. Bitwig statement: This way, we can keep the upgrade plan affordable while giving you the choice to purchase specific add-on features that enhance your workflow.

Affordable compared to what?
Let's see the competition:

Reaper vs Bitwig
Reaper costs $60 for individuals or businesses. With this $60 license a user can use it commercially below a gross revenue USD $20,000. If the users revenue is above $20,000 than the license price is still only costs $225, which is still way cheaper than Bitwig.
+ Reaper upgrade/update way more frequently than Bitwig
+ Reaper licenses are always good for two major versions, so if you bought the license when let's say version 6 was released, it's good for all 6.x & 7.x versions all the way up to 7.99, as well.

Cakewalk by BandLab vs Bitwig
Cakewalk is free so...

Logic Pro vs Bitwig
It's free or $199.99 one time payment

FL Studio vs Bitwig
$199 for the Producer Edition- up to $499 for the All Plugins Edition. And these are single payment,
Lifetime FREE updates prices mezed

Studio One vs Bitwig
Even a fully featured DAW like Studio One Professional 6 (with all it's scoring/notation + video playback/essential video editing tools) costs the same ($399) as Bitwig without the add-ons. On top of that, their upgrade price is cheaper, eg. now the "previous Studio One Professional versions to Studio One 6 Professional" upgrade is only $149.95.

Ableton Live vs Bitwig
OK, so let's see Bitwig's closest rival: Ableton Live.
Live 11 Intro $99
Live 11 Standard $449
Live 11 Suite $749
Ableton's full Live updates are usually once every 3 years, so Live 11 Standard is definitively not more expensive than Bitwig Studio. But let's focus on Ableton's most expensive version, the Ableton Live Suite, which is a way more fully featured DAW than Bitwig. Yes, buying it first at it's full price is more expensive ($749) than Bitwig Studio, but with upgrades from Intro to Standard to Suit is not that bad. Eg. Ableton's last full upgrade (from live suit 9 or 10 to live suit 11) was around $180, pretty much the same price as a single 12 month upgrade plan with Bitwig. But you could go from Lite 10 to Suite 11 for $415. If you consider the 3 year expected lifespan for Suite 11 (3 years before a new major update comes out), it is in fact cheaper (or at least not more expensive) than what Bitwig offers.

So no, Bitwig's full price of $399 + a subscription price of $169 is already not cheap/affordable at all compared to the competition.

Bitwig's "unannounced" new price policy of
$399 for Bitwig Studio
+ a subscription price of $169
+ regular 79-99$ addon purchases make Bitwig one of the top 3 most expensive DAWs.

I know these are not exactly apples to apples DAW pricing comparisons, but looking at Bitwig's competition, it's pretty hard to argue that Bitwig and it's upgrade plan is "affordable".

https://www.bitwig.com/support/shop_lic ... e-plan-54/

[esq1]

Ohh. Ohh Bitwig Team. What for a shit storm.

I hope 4.4 open up a new door and all are happy.

If I have in the future integrated to the grid the option of building my own dives with a real frontend I don't care if you would sell add-ons.
A second DAW (after my long use of PH Reason rack extensions) with his own un sell able plugin format... Sorry that's nothing for me.

But I thing with version 4.4 you make us happy

[Nemirov]

I was thinking about what Polarity said in his yt. That it could be test of selling of 3rd Party addons not from Bitwig developers. This will make sense if it so, but Bitwig had to say about this before selling, and say that paid addons will be only from 3rd party developers, so we could be calm about what we pay for in upgrade plan. And now this is the only what can calm down all the customers, so they have to hurry up with this feedback.
And if this is so, then Bitwig must to open that tool to make addons for anybody. Otherwise it is clearly a fraud.

[musikarldererste]

i think this is the biggest shitstorm i ever see
for a music company this is heavy

look on the dislikes on Bitwig
all videos before have good ratings

[ozinga]

Hi!

I am Marcus, chief of editor of GEARNEWS. First of all I want to say, that we do not know and never met kvr user "musikarldererste", who told all of you, that he is working for us - that is fake news!

Please do not answer to this member and do not spread his words.
Thanks.

i am happy now
but i cant told you why
maybe you will lucky too

If they are playing favorites, that would be unforgivable to me. Be careful what you post here and how it can be interpreted (unless you're trying to sabotage the company)

i told you nothing
i give you a good advice
i work for a news magazine as a trainee called gearnews
mabye therfore , they like me more

It was obvious. He is a just a new registered troll.

First he said he got the devices for free now says he does not have them and bashes BItwig and says he moved to FL. So it was clear that he was not really working for gearnews. Nothing to worry about I think

[ericj23]

Lets see AVID (owners of Pro Tools) in 2020 had turnover of 360 million dollars. I am pretty sure Bitwig aren't selling enough $129 upgrades to touch the side of that.

This reads like Bitwig need money - that might be because they are greedy, but more worrying for me is the idea that they are going under. Best DAW going at the moment, for me, so it would be sad if it joined all the others (Kore, Project 5, etc)