I Think Bitwig Developers Are Fans Of Project5

[careyletendre]

Project5 v2.png

Bitwig.png

[ralfrobert]

Baffling. Do you think this is a coincidence or a correlation?

[careyletendre]

Well, considering that Project5 v2 was released over 15 yrs ago and is now pretty much abandonware, I think it was in some ways ahead of it's time. It still has a very small but dedicated group of fans. I was around during those days and I can say it was a pretty exciting time.

As featured on the cover of the short-lived Virtual Instruments magazine. RIP

VI_P5.jpg

As far as coincidence or not, Bitwig is obviously a fully featured modern DAW that may have drawn some inspiration from P5 but is clearly more than what these images portray.

Owning both DAWs today, I just realized the resemblance and found it interesting.

Carey

[SLiC]

I also owned Project5 (and now Bitwig) coincidence ?

[careyletendre]

I also owned Project5 (and now Bitwig) coincidence ?

Do you find Bitwig to be the logical choice for fans of P5?

[chk071]

They look very similar indeed.

Never quite got the hype about Project5 here, TBH. But, I wasn't really considering making computer music at the time the software was current, so.

[careyletendre]

I completely understand your perspective. We are really spoiled for choices now, not as much back then.

[jclosed]

Well - I used both Sonar as Project 5 V2 in those days. I really got "into" Project 5 the longer I used it. I still think abandoning Project 5 was one of the most stupid decisions Cakewalk made.

As I still wanted to use clip-based software along the more "traditional" DAW's I reluctantly bought Ableton Life. Point is - I never ever felt really comfortable with that DAW.

When Bitwig was released it sparked my interest right away, because of the similarity with Project 5. A few years later I got a free version of Bitwig with my new MIDI keyboard. After some days playing around and demoing the full version of Bitwig I noticed it completely clicked with me in a way Ableton Live never did. I felt straight "at home". So - I sold the license for Ableton Live and bought the full version of Bitwig from the money.

I am now completely satisfied with Bitwig and feel no regret at all for ditching Live. I simply don't mis it.

If the Bitwig developers are fans of Project 5 is something we probably will never know. Bit I for sure know that using Project 5 V2 in the past was certainly the spark that let me jump from Ableton Live to Bitwig.

[Trensharo]

They simply needed to bring over the features that mattered to SONAR. To a decent extent, a lot of the features from Project5 either came from or were ported to SONAR. Matrix View is in SONAR. The UI doesn't look the same, but it still exists there. So is Loop Construction View and other things.

The virtual instruments obviously aren't distributed with the DAW, anymore, so you won't get any of the Samplers and Synths (unless owned from previous SONAR license). I still don't think you can edit Arpeggiator Patterns, etc. in Cakewalk by BandLab.

Project5 was a more "targeted" product, though, and appealed more to the types of people who wanted a product with that kind of focus (the same people who were buying DAWs like Ableton Live, FL Studio and ACID Pro back then).

I think this "focus" is what doomed the product. It simply didn't have enough reach, and it competed against another Cakewalk product, so instead of bringing in new users the two would simply cannibalize each others core user bases. It made sense to get rid of it and focus on SONAR.

EDIT: For people who want to see more images of this product...

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail ... k-project5

[chk071]

I still think abandoning Project 5 was one of the most stupid decisions Cakewalk made.

What you have to understand though is that there is no reason to discontinue a financially and otherwise successful software. Knowing that, you can figure why it has been discontinued. There's nothing stupid about that, it's just the way things go, when you have to think economically. Actually, it would be stupid to pull through something which isn't worthwhile.

[aMUSEd]

I also owned Project5 (and now Bitwig) coincidence ?

Me too - loved Project 5 at the time

[careyletendre]

Project5 was a more "targeted" product, though, and appealed more to the types of people who wanted a product with that kind of focus (the same people who were buying DAWs like Ableton Live, FL Studio and ACID Pro back then).

I think this "focus" is what doomed the product. It simply didn't have enough reach, and it competed against another Cakewalk product, so instead of bringing in new users the two would simply cannibalize each others core user bases. It made sense to get rid of it and focus on SONAR.

Good analysis of the situation. I'm sure it wasn't an easy decision for them. It's obvious that a tremendous amount of thought and effort went into addressing concerns about P5 v1.

"Cakewalk have been busy since the first release, however, and have now released an update that's so radical it could almost be a different program. Project 5 version 2 could have just been a laundry list of improvements with a 2.0 slapped onto the end. Instead, Cakewalk have upped the ante on what a pattern-based recording environment should be." - Allan Tubbs, Sound on Sound Magazine

https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/ca ... oject-5-v2

Carey

[gentleclockdivider]

Project 5 was awesome , at least the v2.0-2.5 update (shown in first post )
The original gui was a mess

[Living Room Rocker]

Cakewalk didn't drop Project 5 for any other reason than the guy who developed it left Cakewalk.

Kind regards,

Living Room Rocker

[careyletendre]

Cakewalk didn't drop Project 5 for any other reason than the guy who developed it left Cakewalk.

Kind regards,

Living Room Rocker

I'm pretty sure that a software application as complex as a DAW is usually developed by more than one person.