Bitwig Studio 16-Track - unlimited VST, 16 tracks. 99 USD or less...

[JHernandez]

We is coming to Bitwig... Beware!

..'we'...I thought of all ppl who want the grid included into the 8,16 v of bitwig..

Well I asked because you said it like there some obvious big demand for it and I just haven't seen it. I'm certainly not one of them and I'm just curious who this "we" is? That's all. In other words, if you would have said "we want piano roll features" or something like that I'd know where you're coming from because that's something that comes up very often so I get who the "we " is.

[Taika-Kim]

I think this is a great product, but two times too expensive. At around 49€ it would be a nice intro price for somebody who just wants to start recording music. I don't think it matters at all that the Grid is missing, I see this directed more at people recording instruments. There's a more people recording their own songs that people doing modular thigns... Anyway you can demo the Grid freely with the demo version of full Bitwig. I think that the omission of Elastique is the most nasty decision, regarding people who would get this for recording audio. Luckily the Stretch HD does an OK job too often.

[krabbencutter]

Export limited to 16bit only, like wtf? Having full resolution audio exporting in 2020 should be a given, not a selling point. Especially for a paid product. 16bit is fine for bouncing your final track for the web. But in a day and age where people work together with other people and across multiple systems and DAWs, not being able to losslessly interchange files is a deal breaker imho. Even Ableton Live Lite supports exporting in 32bit float.

[glokraw]

Anybody producing at a level where 32 bit matters, will be using
full versions of the daws of their preference. This new lighter version will
be great for instrumentalists from other daws, for crafting dragNdrop
Bitwig effects chains, which often will have lost
the audible bit differentials between 16 and 32 bit, amidst their complexities.

The grid, whatever that is, is far less important than practice time
for someone bent on mastering and instrument or two.
So many different workflows, each happily to their own
Anyone can work extra hours or temp jobs, and earn the full versions
of xyz in very short order. A lot of people can downgrade their car,
and upgrade their studio, in only a week of serious shopping
Cheers

[Taika-Kim]

Yes. We should remember that the price is only a fraction of the full price, but it still has nearly the same functionality as the full version.
I really don't get peoples' complaints about the price of DAWs. It's the computer musicians main tool, and still almost any hobby will quickly cost more than any DAW...

[krabbencutter]

Anybody producing at a level where 32 bit matters, will be using
full versions of the daws of their preference. This new lighter version will
be great for instrumentalists from other daws, for crafting dragNdrop
Bitwig effects chains, which often will have lost
the audible bit differentials between 16 and 32 bit, amidst their complexities.

I strongly disagree with your 32bit argument. Using 24 or 32bit is not about a certain level of producing or about hearing differences. It's about flexibility and options.

In a day and age where even most entry level interfaces offer 24bit conversion, such a limit is completely artificial and archaic. I'm 99% sure Bitwig 16-Track is now the only paid DAW in the whole market that has such a limitation. And as I said before, even Ableton Live Lite (!) supports full resolution export.

[GaryG]

I really don't get peoples' complaints about the price of DAWs. It's the computer musicians main tool, and still almost any hobby will quickly cost more than any DAW...

Yep. Taking a step back is fun; if you want to play guitar in a rock band, where would $99 get you? Iffy starter instrument, maybe with a crap amp in one of those packages? If we assume that someone has access to a computer capable enough already (not that big an assumption nowadays) then $99 can get you started for sure. Interesting that if you look at any guitar sites 'best budget instrument' guides, they'll all be guitars around the same price as bitwig, ableton etc.

Though I do think the 16 bit export limit is pretty archaic, it's saying the output is never going to be 'pro', always in the hobby realm.

[Reefius]

Way too limited compared to other DAWs in this price range (Live Intro, Cubase Elements, ...)

[Taika-Kim]

Well guess why Behringer synths and many others are sub-500€? I think companies have made their market research...

I still don't think 16-bit export is a huge issue. I challenge anybody to hear a difference between a 16-bit and 24-bit version that has gone through mastering, assuming that it was exported at full volume. I claim that in a blind test nobody can tell out the difference

You can take that 16-bit file's volume down again in mastering to prevent clipping, since internally DAWs are either 32 or 64 bit.

With dithering a 16-bit file has close to 120db of dynamic range.

The only serious limitation is if you mean to heavily saturate silent passages of that 16-bit mix, or export sounds that will be further processed heavily.
They had to obviously cut some corners to place this somehow against the full version, I think export resolution for most people who want a 99€ DAW is not a big issue.

[Maykie]

- no grid
- 16 bit
- no essential stuff like bounce in place or layered painoroll
- 100 eur

Holy shit I would not even call this a bad joke. This is more like spitting on the face of community. I dont know how stupid you have to be to actually pay for that

[stamp]

Maybe they could have avoided the 16 bit limitation but otherwise it seems a pretty fair price to me.
I don't get people complainig about daw prices. You are getting years of fun out of it. Just don't go out on weekends for 1-2 months (depending on what you spend on average) and you can easily buy the full version.

[Tj Shredder]

Don’t forget there will be also sales. The 16-bit limitation is a typical non-problem in the real world. Professionals, those who could care, will always work with the full version. I don’t know any amateur who ever even considered to export other than CD format...
And on top of that, 96 dB dynamic range compared to the average of 96% of music produced (amateur and professional) doesn’t exceed 10 dB of dynamics...; - )

[glokraw]

Anybody producing at a level where 32 bit matters, will be using
full versions of the daws of their preference. This new lighter version will
be great for instrumentalists from other daws, for crafting dragNdrop
Bitwig effects chains, which often will have lost
the audible bit differentials between 16 and 32 bit, amidst their complexities.

I strongly disagree with your 32bit argument. Using 24 or 32bit is not about a certain level of producing or about hearing differences. It's about flexibility and options.

In a day and age where even most entry level interfaces offer 24bit conversion, such a limit is completely artificial and archaic. I'm 99% sure Bitwig 16-Track is now the only paid DAW in the whole market that has such a limitation. And as I said before, even Ableton Live Lite (!) supports full resolution export.

Flexibility and options are more limited at 32 bit. But if you're calling bats
to eat the night insects in your yard on a warm summer evening, might be worth
the disk space.

But I'm not young enough to hear differences between 320 mbit mp3,
and the wave file it came from. Too much Fender Twin Reverb, since 1969

[Tj Shredder]

Flexibility and options are more limited at 32 bit. But if you're calling bats
to eat the night insects in your yard on a warm summer evening, might be worth
the disk space.

32-bit in this case refers to the file format and is less limited...
It won't help with the bats, you need to up the sample rate for that instead...

[dellboy]

Can you record audio in 24 or 32 bit ?

Or is this saying that you can only record in 16 bit which would be an absolute showstopper ?

And the big question is, if its no big deal that you cannot export audio in 24 or 32 bit then why bother to restrict it ?

In this day and age do professional studios require at least 24 bit stems before they will consider mixing and mastering a clients work ?