Why did you leave Studio One?

[vertibration]

The problem is version 6 came out two years ago. Two years from now, you will have paid them $300.

[Digivolt]

The problem is version 6 came out two years ago. Two years from now, you will have paid them $300.

So don't pay, wait 2 years then upgrade, it's not a difficult concept

[dellboy]

The problem is motivation. Its basic psychology. The old way was that a new version came out after a few years with a lot of new goodies. Everyone bought the new version. Money flooded in and filled the coffers. Work started on a new version to repeat the money harvest. Motivation was high. The hybrid subscription method of "frequent updates" soon becomes a dribble, because there is no longer the urgent need to get money in.

[apoclypse]

The problem is version 6 came out two years ago. Two years from now, you will have paid them $300.

So don't pay, wait 2 years then upgrade, it's not a difficult concept

It's not that simple. Let's say you do wait and pay. The next month after your upgrade license expires they release a major feature/bug fix that you really want now you are paying again just to get that update, where before Presonus would usually roll major feature changes into a .5 update. I didn't have to pay one extra cent to Presonus for Drop out protection it was released in a .5 update. If you look at Presonus' update history they've been doing that cadence since at least S1 1.5.

This is my major issue with Bitwig for me. I'm on Bitwig 5.0. 5.1 released with a major mixer overhaul which I had been asking for, for years. My upgrade license expired so a major feature I need I can't access and won't pay for on principal. Their claims about more updates per year for the yearly price has translated to 1 update per year for the most part. Oh and you get to privilege of paying Bitwig to be a beta tester for their software.

I've been a long time S1 user (since v2). I'm not following them on this journey. There are too many other DAWs in the market right now for them to be rocking the boat imo.

[muzicxs]

This is my major issue with Bitwig for me. I'm on Bitwig 5.0. 5.1 released with a major mixer overhaul which I had been asking for, for years. My upgrade license expired so a major feature I need I can't access and won't pay for on principal. Their claims about more updates per year for the yearly price has translated to 1 update per year for the most part. Oh and you get to privilege of paying Bitwig to be a beta tester for their software.

It's okay to be disappointed, but that claim is demonstrably false. I've taken their release dates from Wikipedia and plotted how many major version you would have gotten per year if you would never have stopped paying since their initial release on the 25th of March 2014. Only in two instances (2016, 2018) you would have received a single release for an upgrade plan. In the majority of cases you would have received either 2 or even 3 releases a year:

2024 5.2, (on going, it's not 2025 yet)
2023 5.0, 5.1
2022 4.3, 4.4
2021 4.0, 4.1, 4.2
2020 3.2, 3.3
2019 2.5, 3.0, 3.1
2018 2.4
2017 2.1, 2.2, 2.3
2016 2.0
2015 1.2, 1.3
2014 1.0.1, 1.1

The data does not support your claim at all

[apoclypse]

This is my major issue with Bitwig for me. I'm on Bitwig 5.0. 5.1 released with a major mixer overhaul which I had been asking for, for years. My upgrade license expired so a major feature I need I can't access and won't pay for on principal. Their claims about more updates per year for the yearly price has translated to 1 update per year for the most part. Oh and you get to privilege of paying Bitwig to be a beta tester for their software.

It's okay to be disappointed, but that claim is demonstrably false. I've taken their release dates from Wikipedia and plotted how many major version you would have gotten per year if you would never have stopped paying since their initial release on the 25th of March 2014. Only in two instances (2016, 2018) you would have received a single release for an upgrade plan. In the majority of cases you would have received either 2 or even 3 releases a year:

2024 5.2, (on going, it's not 2025 yet)
2023 5.0, 5.1
2022 4.3, 4.4
2021 4.0, 4.1, 4.2
2020 3.2, 3.3
2019 2.5, 3.0, 3.1
2018 2.4
2017 2.1, 2.2, 2.3
2016 2.0
2015 1.2, 1.3
2014 1.0.1, 1.1

The data does not support your claim at all

4.4 was 4.3 with the spectral stuff added after everyone got mad at them. They didn't add any major features for the software itself, just devices that they tried to charge people for. If you look at the release notes there weren't even any fixes for that release, just the spectral devices.

I updated in July 2022 so the feature update for me would have been 5.0 and I was not eligible for 5.1 since it was outside of my upgrade period. So I essentially had 1 update for that year.

[bk]

You don't have to pay $149 every year, you can choose when it's worth updating, what's the problem ?

I agree. I recently got Studio One 5 Pro second hand, very cheaply, with the idea I might upgrade it to 6.6 or maybe wait until 7 comes out. Frankly 5.5 does pretty much everything I need it to do, and does it really well. Looking at the new features of 6.0, 6.2, 6.5, 6.6, doesn't really look all that appealing to me. I'll certainly check out the feature list when 7 hits, but I'm perfectly content with 5.5. I'll upgrade when there's something of interest to me, not just because there's a new version.

[Greenstorm33]

Bitwig is a DAW with a small, dedicated following who tolerate the upgrade policy because Bitwig is (or at least has been historically) doing cool stuff and that's presumably what it takes for them to keep the lights on. Presonus is a much larger company with a substantially more mainstream DAW making a blatant cash grab.

[Digivolt]

You don't have to pay $149 every year, you can choose when it's worth updating, what's the problem ?

I agree. I recently got Studio One 5 Pro second hand, very cheaply, with the idea I might upgrade it to 6.6 or maybe wait until 7 comes out. Frankly 5.5 does pretty much everything I need it to do, and does it really well. Looking at the new features of 6.0, 6.2, 6.5, 6.6, doesn't really look all that appealing to me. I'll certainly check out the feature list when 7 hits, but I'm perfectly content with 5.5. I'll upgrade when there's something of interest to me, not just because there's a new version.

I'm on 5 as well and it's great, the only issue I do have is a niche issue where importing midi files over a certain size will open an entirely new project, that's fixed in 6 but I don't import midi enough to justify an upgrade just yet as I was planning on getting the upgrade when 7 comes out to get more value

Another thing people seem to be missing, Presonus now need to make yearly upgrades offer good value, so they have incentive to provide great feature rich updates yearly instead of every 2 years if they want to sell yearly upgrades yearly and keep people on subscription

[LaserLobes]

Drencom

[Digivolt]

How many features do we need?
I feel like when companies try to introduce new features for the sake of introducing features they can make things worse. Like Apple.

Features can include improvements on current features, I guess tweaks would describe them better though but they are also welcome in updates if they improve or offer alternative workflow choices

I do understand your point though because too much can end up in bloat and that's never a good thing

[vertibration]

People sometimes sleep on FL Studio. Free upgrades for life aside, its insanely powerful.

[Fornicras]

People sometimes sleep on FL Studio. Free upgrades for life aside, its insanely powerful.

Was a long time FL user. Switched to Studio One about 4 years ago. The reason for the switch was the easiness of recording/comping audio and mixing, which was a hassle back then in FL.
I tried FL about 2 weeks ago with all the improvements and stuff, but it still can't even come close to Studio One in terms of recording and ease of mixing.

However, FL, IMO is the best if you only make beats using mostly MIDI. It has the best stock FX and Instruments which S1 lacks a lot.
On the other hand, nothing comes close to FL's channel rack, piano roll, and MIDI editing capabilities. (panning automation per note [for samples] is something that I miss a lot) It's very fast to create music in this thing but every other thing is lacking.

Oh also, when I use Studio One, I can load like 30 channels full of effects and don't even get a single click noise (dropout noise?) due to buffer size (256) while in the FL with the same buffer size, I can hear tons of dropout noise just using about 7-8 VSTs.

[Kalamata Kid]

Studio One
Cubase
Samplitude
the new major versions of the above DAW's will be released soon .

Now on Studio One will check out Cubase and Samplitude if they will work for me.
About 50% chance I will update to the new Cubase.

Are there any other DAW that will be releasing major version in 2024?

[jamcat]

All of the developments surrounding version 7 are disappointing, if not concerning.

But I'm perfectly happy with Studio One 6.6, so I will just stay on it. If PreSonus releases an update that revamps automation with part containers and reassignable destinations, then I'll upgrade.

But I can stay on 6.6 indefinitely, if necessary. I won't be switching to another DAW.