Bitwig Studio 2.2 Adds Ableton Link, New Devices & More

Bitwig has announced Bitwig Studio 2.2. The update adds Ableton Link, new devices and modulators, a new display profile, an on-screen keyboard panel and fixes and improvements.

Here’s what’s new in Bitwig Studio 2.2:

  • Ableton Link Support – Effortless sync across ecosystems
    Since its release, Ableton Link has changed how musicians sync workstations across
  • Time Shift – This device allows for fine-grained time adjustments anywhere in your device chain, useful for getting things in time or as a creative tool in the mixing process.
  • Audio Rate – Grab any audio signal in your project as a modulation source. The power of true audio rate frequency modulation at your fingertips.
  • Polynom – Feed your modulation signals into mathematical formulas to achieve sophisticated and flexible transformations.
  • Quantize – Reshape any modulation signal and give an edge to smooth curves with the Quantize modulator.
  • Sample & Hold – the Sample and Hold modulator lets you introduce chaos and breathe life into your modulation setup – as random or ordered as you like.
  • On-Screen Keyboard Panel – This input panel, now included in all display profiles, gives you a handy way to play notes directly on your screen, using touch or mouse. It allows for multidimensional polyphonic expression (or MPE) input and doubles as a visualization of note playback.
  • New Display Profile – touch input optimization on one screen, and full feature view on the other.
  • New Sound Content – 3+ GB of multi-sampled instruments and presets. Rare Organs and Keys and a Bösendorfer Grand Piano will make keyboardists and lovers of harmony and melody happy, plus legendary 606 drum machine. This sound content update is free for all Bitwig Studio license holders with an active upgrade plan.

Bitwig Studio 2.2 is now starting beta testing. The company plans to release the update in October, 2017.

21 thoughts on “Bitwig Studio 2.2 Adds Ableton Link, New Devices & More

  1. i am not following bigwig very closely but i remember them mentioning a modular synth that would “unite” the whole program, Has this happened yes? Because that would be quite impressive.

    1. No they never did. This was originally touted as being a large 2.0 release feature (you can find all the shots on the internet wayback) but when 2.0 was officially announced it got downgraded to ‘coming in the future’. So far still no sight of it other than the original screenshots.

      Just for the background on it, it was supposed to be the internal system that powers all of the built-in synths and effects in bitwig. They use the modular system to design and create all of them, so they would be opening it up to the end-user to be able to make any native device to bitwig they would have wanted.

    1. It’s been a while, but I got Bitwig around black friday in 2014 for $199. I’ve received a $30 discount coupon from KMI, so there might be other partnerships they have that provide similar discounts.

      I would imagine they’ll have similar promos in the future if people aren’t buying it, but it’s hard to tell whether that’s the case or not.

  2. I’m surprised Bitwig incorporated Ableton Link. Why didn’t they introduce their own Bitwig Link that did the same thing as Ableton Link in a nearly identical way?

    1. Ironically Bitwig has moved so far ahead of Live in so many ways it will probably be Live copying Bitwig in Live 10.

      Its grown up of Bitwig (and others) to adopt Link as a Standard and not try to compete, and kind of cool that BitWig is showing Live on there website/videos, they are 2 very different programs now.

    2. by getting ableton link in the program this may be there first step in creating there own.

      i am an ableton user and lover. bitwig is def looking and sounding nice tho.
      very excited for live 10

  3. Bitwig is looking cooler and cooler. I like where these devs’ heads are at; very forward thinking stuff here. I think this well could become the DAW to beat in the near future. The GUI is attractive and I like that they’re doing things their own way (these new modulation tools look right up my alley). I’ve only played around with it for a bit in my buddy’s studio and I didn’t have too much difficulty finding my way around the environment. I have gotten to know Live so well, that it’s kind of a bitch to switch over at this point. Maybe after I finish this album that I’m currently working on, I’ll pull the trigger and dive into it. I know Reason very well, I’m serviceable on Logic X and I definitely know my way around Live, it can’t be that difficult to learn one more.

  4. Bitwig: we’re here because we don’t like the direction abelton is going.

    Ableton: Here’s this link idea we come up with after you left.

    Bitwig: neat!

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