Cakewalk by Bandlab is restructuring !

mark skinner

mark skinner

Active member
CbB will soon be "Cakewalk". The free CbB will continue to work , hopefully for a Long time. 2 New Daws are fixing to be rolled out. "Cakewalk Next" is fixing to be available for beta testers. "Cakewalk Sonar" will roll out later. The details are still in the works as far as pricing and new features. I've enjoyed 5 years of using a completely free and constantly updated DAW that once cost $500. It's going to be interesting to see what happens next .. mark
 
I ended up bailing (due to increasing glitches as Windows progressed onward with updates) on the last working retail version of Cakewalk for the free and it works very well. I'm disappointed but not surprised, I was one of the lone vocal members who resisted moving to the free version and peppered them with questions and hairy eyeballs, knowing this day was inevitable. Anyway, they were never obligated to offer the free version in the first place. I'm wrapping up my last song for a bit, this will likely just push me into another solution as there's a boatload of quality DAWs now and I'm no longer married to the idea of using something this critical to my music recording process that's been generally falling out of favor (and likely support) in the coming months/years.

It's been fun and Bandlab should at least be applauded for the work they've done since salvaging the Cakewalk platform from the dumpster.
 
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Yeah , I've heard plenty of stories about windows updates breaking things , or mainly changing settings. (especially early on in win 10.) As an "offline" user it's never been a problem for me.. I'm sure that when I "have" to buy another DAW , it will be a Cakewalk version. With the exception of a time with Reaper , I've been with them since music creator 3. Plenty of Fantastic daw's out there but I'm so used to the workflow and features of Cakewalk it would be a let down for me to lose them. And for sure Meng and the entire workforce he hired to maintain and update a free DAW (for the past 5 years) should be applauded. ms
 
mark skinner said:
Yeah , I've heard plenty of stories about windows updates breaking things , or mainly changing settings. (especially early on in win 10.) As an "offline" user it's never been a problem for me.. I'm sure that when I "have" to buy another DAW , it will be a Cakewalk version. With the exception of a time with Reaper , I've been with them since music creator 3. Plenty of Fantastic daw's out there but I'm so used to the workflow and features of Cakewalk it would be a let down for me to lose them. And for sure Meng and the entire workforce he hired to maintain and update a free DAW (for the past 5 years) should be applauded. ms
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Like you I've been primarily a Cakewalk user since Pro 9 (sometime early/mid 2000s) and eventually Sonar through its last iteration. The bit I've been able to gather from the other offerings is that most operate similarly, so the workflow and layouts are becoming somewhat standardized out of necessity so DAW makers can attract new users. If everyone did everything different at a truly proprietary level it would be madness. In other words, more similarities than differences. Will be a few months until I take any action, but will check back with how the search goes.
 
It seems to me that the majority of people who bailed out after the Gibson fiasco moved on to Studio One. Seems the workflow is pretty close and it has the ability to do something like the Pro Channel in Cakewalk. I've looked at it pretty hard myself ..
 
mark skinner said:
It seems to me that the majority of people who bailed out after the Gibson fiasco moved on to Studio One. Seems the workflow is pretty close and it has the ability to do something like the Pro Channel in Cakewalk. I've looked at it pretty hard myself ..
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Good to hear, Studio One was near top of my short list of alternative DAWs to check out.
 
Serendipity Records said:
Will we see Mac compatibility anytime soon?
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"Next" will be Mac compatible. "Sonar" will remain windows only. It's looking like "Next" will be closer to a browser type DAW . ?? Quick and easy workflow for creating a finished production without a lot of bells and whistle's. The "Cakewalk Discuss" forum is on fire right now with questions and concern's about the changes. (News and announcement section). I hope this goes well .. ms
 
I've moved over to Cubase using a crossover license for a bit less than full price. I could always come back to Cakewalk but with my latest album done it seemed like the right time to move to a new DAW.

Cakewalk's a good product but wasn't 100% glitch free. I'll have a better idea just how good/bad it was as I transition to Cubase and start building new projects. Of interest will be latency when juggling a lot of VSTs and VSTi's, but also in ease of doing detailed editing within Cakewalk which was fine but I always felt like I was fighting the software.
 
rob aylestone said:
I run loads of vsts on Cuba’s. Only issue is loading time, never had any timing problems so you should be fine.
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Cubase seems fine. I've not yet built a complicated project, still getting used to things and testing, but it seems to be handling anything I throw at it.
 
Haven’t visited this forum in awhile. Like many of you, I’m a longtime Cakewalk user (pro audio 9 iirc). Stayed with them through Sonar X3, which happens to be what I still use. It obviously hasn’t been updated in years, but it does everything I need it to do. Running it on Win 10.

Bandlab always seemed sketchy to me - but I guess it was just my inherent paranoia.

My DAW computer won’t update to Win 11, which is also fine. If/when the computer dies, I cross my fingers X3 will still work on Win 11 (or whatever version of Windows is out then).

But this action makes me wonder if I shouldn’t make the leap to Bandlab now while it’s still free. They apparently will stop supporting it once they release Sonar, but at least it’s way more current than what I’m currently using.
 
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