As soon as the second Digital Audio Workstation was introduced, users began asking for a way to transfer sessions between them. As you would expect, the demand has cascaded along with the number of DAWs that we have available, but we’re almost 30 years down the road still without a cross-platform format. Yes, formats like OMF and AAF tried to address the issue, but they would never contain the data essential to every session. That could all change with the introduction to a new exchange format called DAWproject.
A major failing of previous attempts at a DAW interchangeable format was the fact that plugin information didn’t travel with the session. The intention of the DAWproject format is to create a cross-platform file that “includes all information related to time, tracks, and channels, plus all audio, note and automation data and the states of the plug-ins used in a file.”
The Format
So what exactly is a DAWproject file? According to Bitwig customer support:
“The DAWproject format is a container that includes audio, notes and plug-in data along with the project and metadata structure represented as XML data. In other words, it includes all information related to time, tracks, and channels, plus all audio, note and automation data and the states of the plug-ins used in a file. It is designed to be adaptive to future needs and to remain compatible regardless of differences in feature-sets between various programs.”
Of course that’s the dream of anyone (especially mixers) who struggles with getting projects to work on that were started on another DAW. And the format would certainly find a place in post production for editors flipping between a DAW and video editor.
While DAWproject sounds great in theory, so far only Bitwig, Studio One, Cubase, Nuendo, and Reaper (via a third-party tool) are supporting the format.
Not only that, according to the many online forums, the exchange process is still not as seamless as it needs to be in order for it to become a useful tool.
That said, it’s still the early days for the format, and all it takes is for one of the major DAW developers to sign on for it to take hold.
If you want to read more about DAWproject, go here and here, or watch the video below.
