Open letter of advice to Bitwig

[vastarray]

A DAW is a workbench. A workbench should be flat and sturdy. Bells and whistles are bad things on a workbench. There are many VST developers that provide any bell or whistle I might need. I just need a flat surface to work on. I'll bring my own tools to that work bench. If you try to appease everyones desire for every obscure function that two people might use once or twice, you'll end up with a bloated, over complicated and unstable DAW. There are already plenty of those. Bitwig... make me a table. That's it. Just a table.

If you must include loops and samples, do it as an add-on package. I don't want that trash filling my hard drive. I use quality instruments. Junk instruments that I have no use for don't justify a price increase. A large pile of stuff is not a better product. Include such things as optional add-ons for those interested. ...Just build the best workbench possible.

Price aggressively. $50 introductory price. Increase to $100 two months later. $100 to update to newest version, offered every 6 months. Offer peripheral products like iPhone app, and iPad app. You're going to want to be in that market as it develops, so get your boots on the ground now. Forget Linux, they don't even have interface drivers.

Workflow is all that matters for a DAW. That's what you can offer. Be fast, be easy, be clutter-free. Be compatible with VSTs and hardware controllers. Do not try to be "like the other DAWS but new and shiny", or you will fail to find a userbase sizable enough to be a sustainable player in this market. You need to appeal to garageband users with ease of use, to songwriters with speed of use, and to free DAW users with a low price. You will not compete with Cubase/Abelton/Logic/ProTools. That market is locked down. Go directly for the hobbyist & semi-pro users. Forget the pros, all they do is complain and they are already locked into their current DAW anyway. Just ignore them, they will only drag you down. Make a DAW for musicians, not engineers. That's what the world is missing.

"A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Bitwig, make me a table.

[luxgud]

Here's my considered response: unleash the cats !

[mellotronaut]

A DAW is a workbench. A workbench should be flat and sturdy. Bells and whistles are bad things on a workbench. There are many VST developers that provide any bell or whistle I might need. I just need a flat surface to work on. I'll bring my own tools to that work bench. If you try to appease everyones desire for every obscure function that two people might use once or twice, you'll end up with a bloated, over complicated and unstable DAW. There are already plenty of those. Bitwig... make me a table. That's it. Just a table.

If you must include loops and samples, do it as an add-on package. I don't want that trash filling my hard drive. I use quality instruments. Junk instruments that I have no use for don't justify a price increase. A large pile of stuff is not a better product. Include such things as optional add-ons for those interested. ...Just build the best workbench possible.

Price aggressively. $50 introductory price. Increase to $100 two months later. $100 to update to newest version, offered every 6 months. Offer peripheral products like iPhone app, and iPad app. You're going to want to be in that market as it develops, so get your boots on the ground now. Forget Linux, they don't even have interface drivers.

Workflow is all that matters for a DAW. That's what you can offer. Be fast, be easy, be clutter-free. Be compatible with VSTs and hardware controllers. Do not try to be "like the other DAWS but new and shiny", or you will fail to find a userbase sizable enough to be a sustainable player in this market. You need to appeal to garageband users with ease of use, to songwriters with speed of use, and to free DAW users with a low price. You will not compete with Cubase/Abelton/Logic/ProTools. That market is locked down. Go directly for the hobbyist & semi-pro users. Forget the pros, all they do is complain and they are already locked into their current DAW anyway. Just ignore them, they will only drag you down. Make a DAW for musicians, not engineers. That's what the world is missing.

"A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Bitwig, make me a table.

[VitaminD]

For this to have the effect you wanted.. it would have to had been expressed well over a year ago - They have working builds already.. including a Linux build.

Pricing to 50 USD is really incredibly too low. 100-150 I'd be happy. 200 I could understand. Anything over that is out of my price range though.

[kangul]

Forget Linux, they don't even have interface drivers.

Hehe, who exactly don't have interface drivers? Let's get it straight: most hardware manufacturers are too greedy to invest their money into software development for non-mainstream OS'. But that's the problem with their greed, not with Linux. And we really need more DAWs for Linux to force audio hardware manufacturers consider to start driver development for alternative operating systems. Just for one reason: current state of software market (one garbage OS, one pricey hardware-dependent OS) is simply wrong. We just need better mainstream OS (at least free from spyware and malware), and for me this argument is enough to support Bitwig.

[ostfront]

A DAW is a workbench. A workbench should be flat and sturdy. Bells and whistles are bad things on a workbench. There are many VST developers that provide any bell or whistle I might need. I just need a flat surface to work on. I'll bring my own tools to that work bench. If you try to appease everyones desire for every obscure function that two people might use once or twice, you'll end up with a bloated, over complicated and unstable DAW. There are already plenty of those. Bitwig... make me a table. That's it. Just a table.

If you must include loops and samples, do it as an add-on package. I don't want that trash filling my hard drive. I use quality instruments. Junk instruments that I have no use for don't justify a price increase. A large pile of stuff is not a better product. Include such things as optional add-ons for those interested. ...Just build the best workbench possible.

Price aggressively. $50 introductory price. Increase to $100 two months later. $100 to update to newest version, offered every 6 months. Offer peripheral products like iPhone app, and iPad app. You're going to want to be in that market as it develops, so get your boots on the ground now. Forget Linux, they don't even have interface drivers.

Workflow is all that matters for a DAW. That's what you can offer. Be fast, be easy, be clutter-free. Be compatible with VSTs and hardware controllers. Do not try to be "like the other DAWS but new and shiny", or you will fail to find a userbase sizable enough to be a sustainable player in this market. You need to appeal to garageband users with ease of use, to songwriters with speed of use, and to free DAW users with a low price. You will not compete with Cubase/Abelton/Logic/ProTools. That market is locked down. Go directly for the hobbyist & semi-pro users. Forget the pros, all they do is complain and they are already locked into their current DAW anyway. Just ignore them, they will only drag you down. Make a DAW for musicians, not engineers. That's what the world is missing.

"A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Bitwig, make me a table.

A table or a bench?

Why 100 bucks, I'd like to have it for free!

... and maybe, just MAYBE, you're a little late with this initiative, as the Bitwigs are close to release.

Anyway, I'd like to have some of what you've been smoking!

[Eauson]

Forget Linux, they don't even have interface drivers.

Hehe, who exactly don't have interface drivers? Let's get it straight: most hardware manufacturers are too greedy to invest their money into software development for non-mainstream OS'. But that's the problem with their greed, not with Linux. And we really need more DAWs for Linux to force audio hardware manufacturers consider to start driver development for alternative operating systems. Just for one reason: current state of software market (one garbage OS, one pricey hardware-dependent OS) is simply wrong. We just need better mainstream OS (at least free from spyware and malware), and for me this argument is enough to support Bitwig.

+1

[robogone]

For this to have the effect you wanted.. it would have to had been expressed well over a year ago - They have working builds already.. including a Linux build.

Pricing to 50 USD is really incredibly too low. 100-150 I'd be happy. 200 I could understand. Anything over that is out of my price range though.

Yep. Although with the amount of time it's taken so far and the little information given out you have to wonder exactly how far along the road development is.

As for price, yes that's ridiculous - no one could sustain that sort of business model with the market size and comparable products' pricing.

[fedexnman]

Forget Linux

My #1 reason is a Linux version that is why im interested . If its simular to Live with its sampler, drum racks , and clip view , but with a better linear view i.e. Cubase , Reaper , to work with . You could even compose in Bitwig , render stems and use Harrison mixbuss to final mix it . Linux is way better than OSX and Windows8 . I only use Windows for DAW and VST Hosting and thats it . Im sure Ill get flamed for that comment. Gaming is widened its market to Linux too, Steam is now available for Ubuntu . Also Bitwig is using Jack instead of Rewire , so it seems they are pro a Linux company .

[rod_zero]

LOL at 50. They should have a 90 days demo in any case, I doubt they should price behind FL Studio. 299 for the full version should be sweet.

[debra1rlo]

@ thread

[robogone]

@ thread

"Dear mirkin..."

[debra1rlo]

@ thread

"Dear mirkin..."

for some strange reason these bitwig threads are suddenly more amusing to me.
must be the mirkins and pussies

[Arglebargle]

I'm sure the developers of Bitwig are paying close attention to the demands in this thread.

[DHR53]

+ 100