Bitwig Studio announce major version 4 update
The modular DAW continues to come of age
Bitwig has announced Bitwig Studio 4, the latest major update in their modular DAW. The main addition to Studio 4 is – much like their friends at Live – audio comping, which lets users record audio takes, which then create different lanes and then can be ‘comped’ together, to create a single take using the best versions of each recording. You can comp in both clip mode and arranger.
A new concept called Operators means you can create more randomness in your programming, an attempt to get away from repetitive looping rhythms and clips. Operators can increase or decrease the chance a note plays, have a note repeat at a certain rate. Occurrence sets conditions for each event like: Is this the first loop of the clip or not? Is the performance-control Fill button turned on? Or did the previous event play, or was it silent? Recurrence thinks of each event as its own looping timeline. So pick a cycle length and then check off whether the event plays on each of those four passes.
It’s almost like introducing concepts from a modular synth or more complex computer programming into your DAW, allowing for happy accidents and ever-evolving riffs. Expression can also be automated on a per-note basis.
Bitwig Studio 4 is also optimised for Apple’s new M1 chips and Big Sur macOS. Find out more about Bitwig Studio 4 here.
