Here’s something we weren’t expecting – developers at Bitwig, a Berlin music startup, have introduced a new music performance and production system, Bitwig Studio.

Bitwig Studio is in development and officially ‘coming soon’ – but it already looks familiar. Sort of what you’d expect Ableton Live 9 to look like……

Which isn’t too far-fetched, since Bitwig was actually founded by some former Ableton employees.

Here are the features for this new live performance and production DAW:

• Multitrack recording – Record and produce your music in an intuitive workflow. Bitwig Studio’s arranger is a mix of editing power, ease of use and flexibility.
• Arranger clip launcher – A non-linear environment that lets you trigger clips in real-time.
• Mixer clip launcher – An alternative view of the clip launcher aligned with the mixer, optimized for live performance and DJing
• Generic tracks – Tracks accept any kind of material. Audio and notes can live on the same track. You can bounce note clips to audio in place.
• Clip automation – In addition to traditional track automation, automation can also be recorded and packaged inside clips, both on the clip launcher and the arranger.
• Per-note automation – Pitch variations can be applied to individual notes directly in the piano roll. You can also edit a note’s panning, timbre and volume curves.
• Simultaneous multitrack editing – Edit contents of multiple tracks together. You can see them all juxtaposed and isolate only the ones you want to edit
• Multiple audio events per clip – An audio clip can contain multiple audio events. You can chop and edit audio files inside a clip non-destructively and loop it all as a package.
• Real-time time stretching – Bitwig Studio’s proprietary technology lets you match any audio material to the document tempo and get everything in sync.
• ‘World-class’ sound devices
• Device nesting – Devices can contain other devices, and the whole package can be saved as a preset. Many of preset instruments and effects use nesting in new and powerful ways.
• 32/64 bit VST support – Use your VST plug-ins. In case of a plug-in crash, a protective mechanism prevents the application from crashing and you from losing your work.
• Metadata-based browser – Find your musical material quickly. Add tags and search by content type.
• Open multiple documents – Exchange musical material between documents. Drag and drop, copy and paste back and forth.
• Multi-monitor support – Bitwig Studio offers flexible screensets to take full advantage of your monitor configuration
• ‘Slick’ user interface – Bitwig Studio’s user interface has been designed with the goal of making your music creation experience ‘fun and intuitive’.

These are the key features for Bitwig 1.0. Can you find the things that you can’t currently do in Ableton Live?

Bitwig has several more interesting features under development. These are planned for a later release:

• LAN multi-user jamming – Multiple users can jam on the same document, and everything can be captured in the document’s arrangement
• Multi-user music production over the internet – Multiple users can compose music on the same document from different locations. Bitwig Studio keeps everything in sync.
• Native modular system – Create your own instruments and effects or modify existing ones. Design their appearance and share them with the world.

Check out the demo and features for Bitwig Studio and let us know what you think of it. Could it give Ableton Live some competition?