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When a team that includes former Ableton developers announces that it's launching a new piece of music production software, you have to sit up and take a little bit of notice. This is precisely what's arrived in the shape of Bitwig Studio, a new application that's designed for composers, producers and DJs.
Click here for a gallery of Bitwig Studio images
Bitwig Studio bears some of the hallmarks of Ableton's Live, but it'll aim to plough its own furrow. Some of its feature highlights include:
- Multitrack recording
- Arranger- and Mixer-based clip launching
- Generic tracks - audio and MIDI notes can exist on the same track
- Clip automation
- Per-note automation - apply pitch variations to individual notes in the piano roll, and edit each note's panning, timbre and volume curves
- Simultaneous multitrack editing - edit the contents of multiple tracks together
- Multiple audio events per clip - chop and edit audio files inside a clip
- Real-time timestretching
- "World-class" instruments and effect devices
- Device nesting - devices can contain other devices and be saved as a preset
- 32/64-bit VST support
- Metadata-based browser - add tags and search content by type
- Open multiple documents - Drag/drop and copy/paste between projects
- Multi-monitor support
- Slick user interface - designed to be fun and intuitive
Features slated to arrive after the version 1.0 release are:
- LAN multi-user jamming - multiple users can jam on the same document and capture everything in its arrangement
- Multi-user production over the internet - work on the same document from different locations, with everything kept in sync
- Native modular system - create your own instruments and effects or modify existing ones
We'll have more details soon: check out the Bitwig website for the latest and to sign up to be a beta tester. As expected, the software is Mac and PC compatible, but the great news is that there's also a Linux version.
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