Bento Project Studio 2.0

Edit, play and sequence your Bento projects, as a standalone application or inside your DAW.

Buy - €25 Download demo

Free update for existing Bento Project Studio users. Local currency applied at checkout.

Overview

Bento Project Studio 2.0 is a standalone application for editing, playing and sequencing your Bento projects. It is also a VST3 and Audio Unit plugin that brings the Bento project editor into your DAW. Open a project from your SD card, edit its tracks, pads, zones and sequences, play your tracks from MIDI, and send each one to its own output in your DAW.

Bento Project Studio 2.0: track bar, pads, keyboard, waveform, browser and parameters

What's new in 2.0

  • Runs as a standalone application, or inside your DAW as a VST3 or Audio Unit plugin.
  • A new, faster audio engine.
  • A redesigned interface that scales to the size of the window, with dark and light themes.
  • Follows your DAW tempo, and plays from MIDI: each track listens to its own channel.
  • Sends the Main mix, every track and the FX returns to separate outputs of your DAW.
  • Drag sequences, scenes and chords into your DAW as MIDI, and recordings and generated sounds as audio.
  • New Compose tools: scales, chords and Euclidean rhythms.
  • New Modulation: an LFO and other sources routed to the parameters of each track, audible thanks to the new audio engine.
  • Complete support for Granular and Wavetable tracks.
  • Support for Bento features introduced in versions 1.5.30 and 1.6: 16 scenes, Loop Groups, sequence automation, DJ FX, Shimmer reverb and project Pack.
  • New Tuner.

Key features

Tracks, pads and samples

Work with Bento projects the way the hardware does: eight tracks, sixteen pads per track.

  • Open projects from your SD card or from any folder, with a file browser built into the plugin.
  • Track types: One-shot, Multisample, Slicer, Loop, Granular, Wavetable and Shredder.
  • Drag samples and folders onto pads and tracks, and set the start and end markers on the waveform.
  • Level, pan, pitch, velocity, filter, resonance, overdrive, delay and reverb sends, an envelope, and every playback mode: Trigger, Gate, Toggle, loops, poly modes and exclusive groups.
  • Play the pads from the on-screen keyboard or from MIDI.
  • Pack a project to copy every sample it uses into the project folder, so it can move to another card.
Bento Project Studio track bar, pads, keyboard and waveform

Multisample zones

Build playable instruments visually.

  • Drop a folder of WAV files onto a Multisample track to create the zones automatically.
  • Read root notes from WAV metadata when available.
  • Edit key ranges and velocity ranges by dragging the edges of a zone, or type Root, Key Low, Key High, Vel Low and Vel High.
Bento Project Studio zone map for a multisample track

Sequencer and scenes

Build sequences and scenes like on the hardware, with a piano roll.

  • Eight sequence slots per track and up to sixteen scenes, launched in time with the grid while your DAW plays.
  • A Song mode plays your scenes one after another, each with its own repeat count. Loop groups launch sets of loops together.
  • Piano roll with velocity, probability and automation lanes, zoom, copy and paste, and scale lock.
  • Import MIDI files into a sequence.
  • Drag a sequence or a whole scene into your DAW as a MIDI file.
Bento Project Studio sequencer with scenes and piano roll

Compose

Find chords and rhythms without leaving the plugin.

  • Pick a scale, then lock new notes to it in the piano roll, or force existing notes onto the scale.
  • The Chorder turns one note into a chord, with chord type, inversion, voicing (Close, Open, Drop 2) and octave.
  • Save chords into a progression, rearrange them, and drag the whole progression out as MIDI.
  • Euclidean rhythms: set the note, steps, pulses and rotation of each line, and fill a sequence.
Bento Project Studio Compose tab with a chord progression

Modulation

Move your sounds with an LFO and other sources.

  • An LFO with nine shapes, rate, depth, Beat Sync and Restart.
  • Route sources to targets such as Level, Pitch, Pan, Attack, Decay, Release and Filter Cutoff, with up to three sources per target.
  • Granular and Wavetable tracks have two LFOs.
  • Modulation is audible, thanks to the new audio engine.
Bento Project Studio Modulation tab with LFO and targets

Mixer, FX and outputs

A mixer inside the plugin, and separate outputs to your DAW.

  • Eight track strips, FX returns and Main, with fader, pan, mute, solo and meters.
  • Send the Main mix, each of the eight tracks and the FX returns to separate stereo outputs of your DAW.
  • Delay and reverb (Room and Shimmer) as send effects, each with its own settings.
  • DJ FX: two XY pads with Repeater, Gater, Filter, Bitcrusher, Echo, Flanger and more, with Hold.
  • The Main level, the mixer and the DJ FX can be automated by your DAW.
Bento Project Studio mixer with eight track strips, FX returns and Main
Bento Project Studio DJ FX with two XY pads

Recorder

Capture your performance as audio.

  • Record the Main mix with or without FX, or stems: one file per track, plus FX and Main.
  • Start recording with the sequencer, and stop manually or after a fixed number of bars.
  • Drag one stem, or all stems at once, straight into your DAW tracks.
Bento Project Studio Recorder with eight recorded stems

Tuner

Check the pitch of a sample or of your mix.

  • Live mode listens to Main or to the selected track. Sample mode reads the sample of the selected pad.
  • Shows the note, cents, frequency and clarity, with a spectrum by semitone.
  • Hold, A4 reference and a gate level.
Bento Project Studio Tuner showing a note and a spectrum

Audio Editor

Prepare samples without leaving the project.

  • Normalize, Silence, Fade In and Out, Gain, Compressor, Transient Shaper, Distortion, Bit Crush, Chorus, Flanger, Phaser, Pitch / Time and more.
  • Loop Finder to find smoother loop points.
  • Zoom, snap to markers and zero crossings, play or loop a selection, with Undo and Redo.
  • Save WAV, Export and Trim WAV.
Bento Project Studio Audio Editor with the list of processes

Sound Generator

Create new sounds and use them right away.

  • Seventeen generators: kick, snare, hat, clap, VA subtractive, physical, glitch, noise, super pad, wavetable, phase, organ, FX, FM, modal, vocal and bass.
  • Randomize to explore new results quickly.
  • Set the root note and a chord, then drag the sound onto a pad, a track, or into your DAW.
Bento Project Studio Sound Generator with its parameters

Built for your DAW

It behaves like a plugin, not like a window you have to leave.

  • Follows your DAW tempo, with Host Sync and Restart on Play.
  • Each track listens to its own MIDI channel, or the selected track plays everything. Your project is saved with your DAW session.
  • A scalable interface in four themes: Dark, Dark Soft, Light and Light Slate.

Try it first

The demo runs until you activate it with a license key.

  • The first two tracks play. Tracks 3 to 8 are disabled.
  • Saving a project with more than two tracks, and writing WAV files, are disabled.
  • Everything else works. Activating a license unlocks all eight tracks at once.
Formats and systems VST3 and a standalone application on Windows 10 and 11 (Intel) and on macOS 11 and later (Apple silicon and Intel), and an Audio Unit on macOS.
VST3Audio UnitStandaloneWindowsmacOS