Bitwig 4.3 is out - Space & Tone (RELEASED)

[ThomasHelzle]

Sooner this is out the sooner we can start speculating about what will be in the next one

I'm sure 4.4 will be all about the new ICE oscillator, ICE instruments and ICE effects, to cool us down:


Cheers,

Tom

[Benutzername]

The final version of 4.3 is out and my plan ends next week. Perfect timing this time.

[billcarroll]

Consider CLAP has been added as well, this is a pretty massive update. Now do workflow, arrangement, piano roll please

[_leras]

Now do workflow, arrangement, piano roll please

Yes. Thanks Bitwig. Have some beers tonight and back to work tomorrow!!

General workflow tweaks would also be top of my list. Literally nothing massive, just bring it all together!

Groove, MSEG after that!

[neverbeeninariot]

4.3 is an excellent update. Lots of useful stuff in there!

Comments. Now I can store monologues of self-loathing, for recall at any time, right from within the DAW!

[machinesworking]

The final version of 4.3 is out and my plan ends next week. Perfect timing this time.

This is where I find out what kind of company Bitwig are. I have to say, the fact that the public beta is not considered a release and you can have your plan run out before it's released is a terrible decision on their part.

My plan ran out on the 27th, I literally went to sleep less than 8 hours and they announced 4.3 out of beta, and I do not qualify for 4.3. I've written them about it, we will see whether there is heart or not. Regular upgrade plans include grace periods, so if you buy Live 10 right before 11 comes out, you get the upgrade to 11, if Bitwig's Update plan doesn't include some leeway, then it's IMO definitely worse than the traditional model of upgrades every 1.5 - 4 years.

[jaaypeso24]

The final version of 4.3 is out and my plan ends next week. Perfect timing this time.

This is where I find out what kind of company Bitwig are. I have to say, the fact that the public beta is not considered a release and you can have your plan run out before it's released is a terrible decision on their part.

My plan ran out on the 27th, I literally went to sleep less than 8 hours and they announced 4.3 out of beta, and I do not qualify for 4.3. I've written them about it, we will see whether there is heart or not. Regular upgrade plans include grace periods, so if you buy Live 10 right before 11 comes out, you get the upgrade to 11, if Bitwig's Update plan doesn't include some leeway, then it's IMO definitely worse than the traditional model of upgrades every 1.5 - 4 years.

I've gotta say I agree with this logic. People who have supported Bitwig shouldn't be punished because the release was in beta longer than anticipated. I think you should at least be able to get access to any version that was in Beta when your plan ends. That's probably a little more useful of an approach than giving users an arbitrary grace period of say 1-2 weeks. That way, if its announced and in beta and you're within your plan you can rest assured that even if it takes 15 beta versions, you'll at least get those new features.

[machinesworking]

Yeah it doesn't seem complicated to me, the rest of the industry has grace periods on upgrade announcements, and putting out a public beta IMO should be the grace period. The supposed advantage of the update plan VS traditional upgrades is incremental new features VS a huge dump with an Upgrade, so that would increase likelihood that Bitwig will be relatively bug free, but what seems to have happened is Bitwig are now doing every 6 months a dump of new features. Not really that different than other DAWs I use like DP11, Live etc.

Last time I bought the update plan before my old one ran out, and it figures the first time I don't I get stuck in the worst possible scenario with their public beta.

[pdxindy]

but what seems to have happened is Bitwig are now doing every 6 months

It is 3 1/2 months since 4.2 was released.

IIRC it was about the same between 4.1 and 4.2

[ThomasHelzle]

In the past, they usually were rather friendly if a users plan ran out right before a release.
My GF had that happen with the last release and an email to support fixed it.
Even with an official grace period or some other scheme, some people will get hit - it always sucks if that happens.
At least there is a sale on right now...

BTW. Some good stuff in the new soundpack... I'm halfway through listening.

[SLiC]

but what seems to have happened is Bitwig are now doing every 6 months

It is 3 1/2 months since 4.2 was released.

IIRC it was about the same between 4.1 and 4.2

I'm not sure who else is adding significant new features/instruments/fx every six months but 2 full releases 'so far' this year and its not even July...there will be at least 1 more I suspect so you cant really complain at 3 software updates a year! It's never dull if you are a Bitwig user

[machinesworking]

but what seems to have happened is Bitwig are now doing every 6 months

It is 3 1/2 months since 4.2 was released.

IIRC it was about the same between 4.1 and 4.2

I'm not sure who else is adding significant new features/instruments/fx every six months but 2 full releases 'so far' this year and its not even July...there will be at least 1 more I suspect so you cant really complain at 3 software updates a year! It's never dull if you are a Bitwig user

Ableton Live, Digital Performer, Reaper and Logic. I guess I randomly chose four other DAWs with high rates of additional features in between major updates.

I don't know why it's important to qualify this, but I'm not saying Bitwig doesn't add exceptional features, it's just not as drastic of a change in the last two years as I would have expected. It's pretty much in line with what other DAWs offer with major upgrades, which are about every two years. I guess Ableton are a bit slower, but Logic and DP are easily keeping up in terms of new features in that same period of time.

I will say Bitwig is adopting Clap right away, that's a brave and valid reason to throw out some minor updates VS MIDI in the Grid etc. It's time investing the future of the industry, you cannot knock that.

[pdxindy]

I don't know why it's important to qualify this, but I'm not saying Bitwig doesn't add exceptional features, it's just not as drastic of a change in the last two years as I would have expected.

It's being discussed because you stated that Bitwig is updating every 6 months.

In the past 12 months these are the releases:
4.0, 4.1, 4.2 and now 4.3

There was a 6+ month gap between 3.3 and 4.0, likely due to adding Apple Silicon support in 4.0. Since then the pace has been fast.

[machinesworking]

I don't know why it's important to qualify this, but I'm not saying Bitwig doesn't add exceptional features, it's just not as drastic of a change in the last two years as I would have expected.

It's being discussed because you stated that Bitwig is updating every 6 months.

In the past 12 months these are the releases:
4.0, 4.1, 4.2 and now 4.3

There was a 6+ month gap between 3.3 and 4.0, likely due to adding Apple Silicon support in 4.0. Since then the pace has been fast.

Sure, but what are the improvements? How does it compare to other DAWs? We've seen two rounds of chance based additions, cool stuff, but in the same stretch other DAWs aren't doing bad either. My perception is probably colored a bit by the fact that I jumped on before Apple Silicon was finalized, but it wasn't a big surprise. Other DAWs here also updated to Apple Silicon in the same time frame, DP, Reaper, Logic, only Live lagged. In that time frame DP has added some major improvements and at roughly three years between upgrades for a fixed price of $199 it's cheaper.

Mostly I'm thinking it's just a weird method. You sign up for the update plan every year, and wait for surprises. In other DAWs 60% or more improvements are up front in the .0 release, then you get a few surprises. With the update plan it's this weird continuum, a drip, and I signed up when the drip was in bursts. We'll see, I can't make up my mind between Bitwig and Live for a true Clip based DAW, but for sure Bitwig offers some amazing features, sandboxing alone is amazing. Every time I experience a hard crash in another DAW I think about how dumb it is everyone didn't rush to copy that single feature.

[pdxindy]

Sure, but what are the improvements? How does it compare to other DAWs?

I have no interest in comparing DAW's. They are all good enough to suit my needs. I picked Bitwig and stopped comparing them and watching what the others do. At this point, when other DAW's have an update, I don't even read the feature list.

My suggestion, make a choice (it's really not an important life decision) and then get on with the tasks for which the tool was purchased.