Cakewalk by Bandlab installation disc

[dachay2tnr]

Ok, I took the plunge and downloaded/installed CbB. Everything went well, and it’s so close to Sonar there’s essentially no learning curve.

But I have one question. The installation process has you download a small install file. Then it grabs additional files from the web as needed during the actual install. When CbB is discontinued, I imagine those additional files will no longer be available. So if you ever need to reinstall you’re SOoL.

Is there any way to create a self-contained installation CD or DVD? TIA.

 

[Pinky]

Ok, I took the plunge and downloaded/installed CbB. Everything went well, and it’s so close to Sonar there’s essentially no learning curve.

But I have one question. The installation process has you download a small install file. Then it grabs additional files from the web as needed during the actual install. When CbB is discontinued, I imagine those additional files will no longer be available. So if you ever need to reinstall you’re SOoL.

Is there any way to create a self-contained installation CD or DVD? TIA.

This was one of the reasons I was weary of Bandlab long term, and ended up eventually bailing altogether and started using Cubase Pro instead. If you have Sonar X2 or X3 you can get a crossgrade discount from Steinberg on a Cubase purchase. It was like $200 off when I did this a few months ago.

As far as I know, even if you get an offline installer the program itself checks in periodically to verify your account, so if Bandlab did ever disappear they would also need to send out some type of permanent patch that allowed people using Cakewalk to open the product without any activation requirements/logins.

All software makers have moved to requiring online activation. Long gone are the days of punching in your license and using it offline indefinitely. I liked Cubase because it was a one time license purchase (not a monthly fee they can adjust upwards at will) and the install files were cached locally in plain sight, once downloaded.

 

[dachay2tnr]

All software makers have moved to requiring online activation. Long gone are the days of punching in your license and using it offline indefinitely. I liked Cubase because it was a one time license purchase (not a monthly fee they can adjust upwards at will) and the install files were cached locally in plain sight, once downloaded.

I got burned by this already. Bought a fairly expensive orchestral instrumentation package from Native Instruments. Loaded it on my computer, and used it for a couple of projects. A couple of years later, I installed a new hard drive, and went to reload it on the new drive. I had 4 DVDs, serial numbers, the whole shebang. But after installing it, it wanted to phone home. No problem, it’s a legit copy. Except it hit a 404 error. WTF? Contacted NI and was told the product had been discontinued and was no longer supported. Ok, but I’m not looking for support, I’m looking to use it - but you have it locked. Yeah, sorry, we no longer support it.

If these companies are going to discontinue products, they should have the decency to at least unlock existing copies. In the case of CbB, I’ll give them a pass, since it was free. But when I pay good money for something, I fully expect to be able to use it.

 

[jamesperrett]

All software makers have moved to requiring online activation. Long gone are the days of punching in your license and using it offline indefinitely.

With the obvious exception of Reaper which just requires a serial number. If you don't have a serial number you can still use it after waiting for a delay when starting and you can even still download the first ever test version if you have an ancient computer running Windows 98.

 

[rob aylestone]

I got burned when I moved to mac and lost things like Sound forge, plus the Roland synths I'd had for years paid for and no good on the mac. Even worse a VERY expensive package I had from a US company became useless when Adobe bought them. The activation was permanent, but then the computer died and the activation server was gone!

 

[dachay2tnr]

With the obvious exception of Reaper which just requires a serial number. If you don't have a serial number you can still use it after waiting for a delay when starting and you can even still download the first ever test version if you have an ancient computer running Windows 98.

Just checked Reaper. $60. Not bad at all. I think I paid around $500 for Pro Audio 9, and then a few more shekels over the years for upgrades. But I don’t deal well with new learning curves at my age.

If CbB puts the new Sonar out at a similar price, I might go for that. In the meantime though, my Sonar X3 still runs fine and actually does everything I need it to. And that’s without being supported for who knows how long.

Merry Christmas all!

 

[Pinky]

Just checked Reaper. $60. Not bad at all. I think I paid around $500 for Pro Audio 9, and then a few more shekels over the years for upgrades. But I don’t deal well with new learning curves at my age.

If CbB puts the new Sonar out at a similar price, I might go for that. In the meantime though, my Sonar X3 still runs fine and actually does everything I need it to. And that’s without being supported for who knows how long.

Merry Christmas all!

I held out for a long time before going from X3 to the Bandlab Cakewalk. I was starting to have various glitches and slowdowns with Windows 10 and my hardware/plugins/VSTi. The Bandlab Cakewalk worked very well, and for the most part was a seamless transition and nearly zero learning curve from X3. Cubase - not so much, definitely required a bit of recalibrating the brain. But Cubase also had a lot of slick stuff I only started to brush up against before bailing on homerecording entirely. The newer DAWs have a lot of features unimagined when X3 was originally released, and the new Cakewalk for the most part has stayed true to those older software bones. That IMO isn't a bad thing, if it works it aint broken.