Now this is a game changer - Bitwig, Presonus team up DAWProject

[jens]

And yet I - and lots of my colleagues - often interchange Excel-sheets between OO/LO, Google Docs and Excel and I never noticed much (if anything) in the way of problems - so it totally depends on what you're doing with it, which obviously is the perspective some here lack.

First and foremost, it depends on the formatting. If you use some functions which are not presented, or implemented in another way in the program you open the file with, it's obvious that the program can't display the file exactly like in the program the file was created in.

Exactly my point - just because it's useless to one person it doesn't mean it's useless to everybody else.

Bringing the argument back to DAWProjekt: an audio-only DAW might support it. Person A won't have any luck transferring their projects to it if they use a lot of soft-synths (unless they render them first, that is), but Person B who only records audio won't even notice the lack of MIDI and it might prove to be a godsend to person B.

[syntonica]

It does indeed depend on how complex your files are. M$ wants lock in and has always used the most convoluted formats I've ever had the displeasure of working with. Of course, Apple doesn't fare much better--try writing a ttf parser sometime.

If you just use 2d spreadsheets with basic formulae and formatting, you'll be fine. Add macros and pivot tables, you're headed for trouble. Same with Word, avoid fancy formatting.

When it comes to word processing, nothing will ever eclipse WordPerfect with it's Show Codes window that allows me too be very exacting in where the delimiters are. If you've ever tried editing across, say normal font to italics, it's quite maddening. Trying the same with page boundaries and you'll throw the computer out the window!

When it comes to DAW project files, I assume that the authors looked at what was absolutely essential to a project and started there. Then, looked at where paradigms may diverge, such as automation clips vs automation lane, and worked out how best to store that data. I doubt they've written a foolproof standard, but if they can translate a goodly 95+%, then they are well on the road to success.

[pdxindy]

Bringing the argument back to DAWProjekt: an audio-only DAW might support it. Person A won't have any luck transferring their projects to it if they use a lot of soft-synths (unless they render them first, that is), but Person B who only records audio won't even notice the lack of MIDI and it might prove to be a godsend to person B.

DAW Project handles the midi and soft synths as well... as long as they are plugins, and not DAW specific instruments.

[audiojunkie]

Bringing the argument back to DAWProjekt: an audio-only DAW might support it. Person A won't have any luck transferring their projects to it if they use a lot of soft-synths (unless they render them first, that is), but Person B who only records audio won't even notice the lack of MIDI and it might prove to be a godsend to person B.

DAW Project handles the midi and soft synths as well... as long as they are plugins, and not DAW specific instruments.

How would that work, exactly? Wouldn't both the original DAW and the DAW that you are wanting to transfer to need the same plugins installed?

What would be the result if one DAW had the plugins, and the DAW you are transferring the project to didn't have the same plugins?

[jens]

Bringing the argument back to DAWProjekt: an audio-only DAW might support it. Person A won't have any luck transferring their projects to it if they use a lot of soft-synths (unless they render them first, that is), but Person B who only records audio won't even notice the lack of MIDI and it might prove to be a godsend to person B.

DAW Project handles the midi and soft synths as well... as long as they are plugins, and not DAW specific instruments.

I know - but that's beside the point I made - I was using a hypothetical audio-only DAW which could support it as an example to explain how missing functions affect only those who use them.

[pdxindy]

Bringing the argument back to DAWProjekt: an audio-only DAW might support it. Person A won't have any luck transferring their projects to it if they use a lot of soft-synths (unless they render them first, that is), but Person B who only records audio won't even notice the lack of MIDI and it might prove to be a godsend to person B.

DAW Project handles the midi and soft synths as well... as long as they are plugins, and not DAW specific instruments.

How would that work, exactly? Wouldn't both the original DAW and the DAW that you are wanting to transfer to need the same plugins installed?

What would be the result if one DAW had the plugins, and the DAW you are transferring the project to didn't have the same plugins?

Yeah, of course you would need the same plugins.

[jens]

Here's the context:

A finance spreadsheet is not usable if half of the macros/functions are incompatible and all the cells have been turned into static values, etc.

Same thing happened with other software applications, like Word and WordPerfect. They all support ODF, but it doesn't matter what format you use if you use features in Word or WordPerfect that Apple Pages, LibreOffice Calc or Google Docs doesn't support.

And yet I - and lots of my colleagues - often interchange Excel-sheets between OO/LO, Google Docs and Excel and I never noticed much (if anything) in the way of problems - so it totally depends on what you're doing with it, which obviously is the perspective some here lack.

First and foremost, it depends on the formatting. If you use some functions which are not presented, or implemented in another way in the program you open the file with, it's obvious that the program can't display the file exactly like in the program the file was created in.

Exactly my point - just because it's useless to one person it doesn't mean it's useless to everybody else.

Bringing the argument back to DAWProjekt: an audio-only DAW might support it. Person A won't have any luck transferring their projects to it if they use a lot of soft-synths (unless they render them first, that is), but Person B who only records audio won't even notice the lack of MIDI and it might prove to be a godsend to person B.

So again: it was just a primitive example to illustrate that even with major unshared functionality between applications, a common project-standard can still be useful and is not at all an argument to disregard it and even declare it useless.



Gosh - I wanted to quote my post above and instead accidentally edited it...

[pdxindy]

Bringing the argument back to DAWProjekt: an audio-only DAW might support it. Person A won't have any luck transferring their projects to it if they use a lot of soft-synths (unless they render them first, that is), but Person B who only records audio won't even notice the lack of MIDI and it might prove to be a godsend to person B.

DAW Project handles the midi and soft synths as well... as long as they are plugins, and not DAW specific instruments.

I know - but that's beside the point I made - I was using a hypothetical audio-only DAW which could support it as an example to explain how missing functions affect only those who use them.

Sure... I didn't want readers to mistakenly think DAW Project only handles audio.

[jens]

Fair enough!

It certainly won't hurt pointing out that even with its first version it is already rather exhaustive.

[cptgone]

As game changing as CLAP has turned out to be, thus far.

Bitwig’s unique voice stacking feature allows any polyphonic device (and even compatible plug-ins) to create multiple layers of sound

The "compatible plugins" mentioned above are CLAP plugins.

[machinesworking]

Great idea. Sweepstake on when

Ableton Live
Logic Pro
Cubase
Pro Tools
Tracktion Waveform
FL Studio
Reaper

Cubase 14 supports it, Reaper supports it with a free converter from Moss, and FL Studio has shown interest.

[jonljacobi]

Gebus. Some people could discover a gold field and complain that the nuggets aren't big enough.