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Musikmesse 2014: Bitwig Studio

Next-generation Digital Audio Workstation

Bitwig Studio is the long‑awaited first release from Berlin‑based Bitwig, a company formed in 2009 by four former Ableton employees. The software combines traditional arrangement sequencing with clip‑launching, and although Mac, Windows and Linux versions were announced early in 2012, a release date of March 26th has now been confirmed.

There have been comparisons drawn between Bitwig Studio and Ableton Live because its use of non‑linear clip launching, and interface with non‑overlapping windows, but Bitwig’s Technical Support Manager Dominik Wilkes describes it as “a different animal to Live”. Some of the key features that set it apart are tabbed documents that allow you to drag and drop parts between projects, the ability to view clips alongside the arranger view, a unified modulation system throughout the software, and Container devices which have the potential to be particularly useful for building parallel instrument or effect chains. One example is an X/Y grid where a different instrument or effect can be loaded into each corner, for easy sound morphing.

Software instrument tracks can also contain note information and audio at the same time, meaning you don’t have to create a new track when you bounce a section in place for subsequent manipulation. Also, when using clips, it’s possible to have a clip composed of multiple audio events. And, on the subject of audio, Bitwig have implemented their own proprietary time‑stretch algorithm, rather than licensing widely used algorithms from Zplane and iZotope as many other DAW manufacturers have done.

For note data, there’s a dynamic object inspector that permits the user to select multiple objects and create natural‑sounding variations within sequences. And, in the piano-roll editor, a Photoshop‑style layering system is employed for viewing the content of different tracks, which sounds very useful.

Unusually, Bitwig have also announced two key version 2.0 features. These are the ability to go under the hood and access the modular back‑end of Bitwig Studio — a bit like Max/MSP or Reaktor — and also to collaborate over a network. The entire system has been designed with these features in mind, so Bitwig have built them into the core, rather than opting for a more basic system and bolting on the functionality later. Bitwig have been working closely with hardware manufacturers Novation, Livid Instruments and Nektar to create tight integration with their hardware, and Nektar are even distributing Bitwig Studio in the USA and the UK.

If you’re interested in trying something a bit different, and need to take your productions to the stage, Bitwig Studio is definitely worth a look. Version 1.0 will cost £250$399.

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