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What does the future hold?

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Making predictions about anything that might happen in 2012 is tricky, not least because - if we're to believe what we see and hear in the news - the global financial system could collapse under our feet at any moment.

But let's try and stay positive. Assuming we do still have a world economy to speak of, the next year could turn out to be rather interesting for computer musicians. New technologies and trends are still emerging at an incredible pace, so we thought we'd have a crack at anticipating how exactly 2012 is going to go down.

Let's start by considering that centrepiece of the modern studio, the DAW. 2011 brought some full version updates - new editions of Reason, Cubase, FL Studio, Pro Tools and Reaper are among those that spring immediately to mind - but if we're honest, these felt more like acts of consolidation than revolution.

Could we see a bigger market shake-up in 2012? FXpansion's Angus Hewlett thinks so. "Most of the big DAWs will see major updates (there are a couple long overdue, and another that's effectively already been announced), but it'll be a relatively quiet year for plug-in releases," he says.

"We may finally see a credible in-browser DAW if someone figures out a way of getting multiple channels of good quality audio in and out of the browser."

"We may finally see a credible in-browser DAW if someone figures out a way of getting multiple channels of good quality audio in and out of the browser." Angus Hewlett

The 'long overdue' pair that Hewlett refers to is surely Apple Logic and Ableton Live, and we'd be surprised if we don't see new versions of these before the year is out. The future of Logic in particular has been subject to wild speculation, with one ghastly rumour suggesting that it may lose its plug-in support.

Our hunch is that this simply won't happen - particularly as Pro Tools, Logic's great rival, is gradually becoming more 'open', and that Logic Pro 9 has now made it onto the Mac App Store with its AU compatibility intact.

If you're after something totally new, keep an eye on Bitwig Studio, while - despite the fact that it isn't available yet - is already generating plenty of excitement.

As for fully online DAWs, we're all for the concept, but we might have to wait a short while for their time to come. We'll be surprised if Ohm Force's collaborative DAW Ohm Studio doesn't make it to release this year, though.

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