Friday, 03 August 2012 13:57

Is Bitwig Studio just Ableton 9 in disguise?

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So, we thought we had it all and then along comes Bitwig studio!

I asked them to let me in on the beta list, so let's see if they do. It looks cool, but I must admit I'm not too sure about learning another DAW. I have to say that this looks like the Serato / Traktor argument to me which
Traktor seems to have undeniably won.

Personally, I'm just not sure there is room for another Ableton. Maybe I'm right and there is - I really don't mind being proved wrong. Some people are saying Bitwig is actually Ableton 9 under another guise. Others say that the creators used to work for Ableton years ago. Legal issues have been raised, although I can't see a marketing battle working out after Cubase and Logic went head to head years ago about OS platforms and nothing positive ever came of that.

Bitwig looks cool and there are a few different functions, like having session style clips in the arrangement, bouncing in place (a feature I've waited for for a while now) and other variations on many Ableton familar ideas. Tell you what, if they manage to eliminate the Ableton audio/midi latency, I'll be very interested.

This could go either way, Ableton could come down in price and we could have some healthy competition, or one DAW just gets stomped out by the other, leaving anyone who bought it a few years down the line with a hole in their pocket and out-of-date unsupported software gathering dust on their hard drives...

Features:

• 64-bit compatible
• Native Linux support
• Dual monitor support
• Split view between Arrangement and Session views
• A resizable clip matrix
• Overlaid automation on clips
• Automation on a per-note basis in the piano roll

Check out the site for more info: Bitwig Studio Website

What do you guys think?

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henry cullen

Production Editor

A long standing member of the UK techno scene, Henry has released hundreds of records under the guise of Dave the Drummer on many of the worlds techno record labels and has hosted hundreds of sessions with DJ's and producers in his home studio.