Cakewalk by Bandlab .......... It was good while it lasted!

dilbert · June 2023

Well, it appears just as I'm getting used to Cakewalk, it is being phased out by Bandlab and two new versions are being launched: the current Cakewalk will become, actually revert to being "Sonar" and the current Bandlab Lite DAW will become Bandlab "Next". Some details below but still a lot that is unknown at this point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouF-EvMhujo&ab_channel=AudioTechTV

Hey ho, it's just as well that my latest, (read "only") offering is in the can. It may be fortuitous as I was thinking about trying something else so any suggestions would be welcome.

Musicwolf · June 2023

Reaper is the usual answer. I have a copy on my laptop for 'field' recordings and it seems pretty straightforward and capable. I just use it to capture wavs which I then process back in my home studio using Cubase - but that's just because I've used Cubase for years and so I know my way around.

dilbert · June 2023

Musicwolf said:

Reaper is the usual answer. I have a copy on my laptop for 'field' recordings and it seems pretty straightforward and capable. I just use it to capture wavs which I then process back in my home studio using Cubase - but that's just because I've used Cubase for years and so I know my way around.

Good call, I had a quick trial with Reaper some years ago and I have to say I quite liked it but was persuaded by the colourful interface of Cakewalk, yep, I'm that shallow!. During the time I spent with Reaper however, I was impressed with it's 'right click' simplicity for a lot of the functionality and with the support from the Cockos forum, there were some really helpful guys there and some rather decent tutorials on YT, so Reaper is the current favourite as Cakewalk's replacement to receive my lamentable production offerings

bloodandtears · June 2023

yep.. bit gutted to read this today.. best get familiar Reaper now then...

Cirrus · June 2023

Honestly I'm shocked it lasted this long, it seemed inevitable back when bandlab got the IP. It's a shame, I have a soft spot for cakewalk/ sonar - had several versions over the years as they had good upgrade discount paths.

Stratavarious · June 2023

Reaper is very capable. You can get colourful schemes or customise it. I found Cakewalk buggy and cluttered. Bandlab online gets a lot of use.

monquixote · June 2023

I actually learned to produce on Sonar 2 back in the day. However I don't trust corporate owned free software having been burned too many times.

When I was looking for a DAW lots of people said to go for this but I just assumed something like this would happen sooner or later.

I'm currently using Bitwig which I recommend if you want to go towards electronic stuff, but otherwise I'd suggest Studio One especially if you are planning to buy an interface as they have very good deals there, or alternatively Reaper which is a solid and inexpensive choice.

andy_k · June 2023

Cant go wrong with Reaper, Bandlab had some serious problems when it became a 'free' DAW, how much is your time worth?
Reaper never ceases to amaze me really, best £60 I ever spent.

siremoon · June 2023

Reaper every time. Plenty of people turn their noses up at it because the developers prefer to put their finite time into functionality rather than fancy graphics. However if you can drag yourself past what it looks like and concentrate on what it can do then you'll find it's inexpensive, reliable, does pretty much everything you could ever need and has excellent community support.

IMC1980 · June 2023

I have been using the free version over the last few years as I bought the "updates for life" con that Gibson put out before selling off the IP a year or so later. I feel like I have had my money's worth. It has improved since BandLab have owned it, but there are still lots of janky things I hate about it - cutting tool not working on random tracks, automations sometimes deciding not to read, crackles on mixdown when there is no technical reason for it (PC is more than specced to handle what I throw at it) - but I have lived with it as it is a tool I understand. I won't be paying money for it though.

I am going to try out Studio One and Reaper, see which I like the feel of best and be ready to change DAWs later on in the year.

dilbert · June 2023

Cirrus said:

Honestly I'm shocked it lasted this long, it seemed inevitable back when bandlab got the IP. It's a shame, I have a soft spot for cakewalk/ sonar - had several versions over the years as they had good upgrade discount paths.

It appears that with the roll out of the new products, the current Cakewalk DAW will still be accessible but it will be unsupported. I suppose if you are an optimist and have loads of 'in progress' productions that will be helpful even if it just buys you time to cut over to a new product. I believe the roll out of Sonar is scheduled for the back end of the year and let's be realistic, when ever did a software product ever roll out on time so there should be no need to rush to cut across.

Stratavarious · June 2023

Get a Cakewalk Reaper theme and don’t look back

https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=255037

Snap · June 2023

IMC1980 said:

I have been using the free version over the last few years as I bought the "updates for life" con that Gibson put out before selling off the IP a year or so later. I feel like I have had my money's worth. It has improved since BandLab have owned it, but there are still lots of janky things I hate about it - cutting tool not working on random tracks, automations sometimes deciding not to read, crackles on mixdown when there is no technical reason for it (PC is more than specced to handle what I throw at it) - but I have lived with it as it is a tool I understand. I won't be paying money for it though.

I am going to try out Studio One and Reaper, see which I like the feel of best and be ready to change DAWs later on in the year.

Same.
For free it's great, but........it has it's glitches and it's not something I'd go back to paying for. Looks like, after about 25 years, more, I will have to learn a new DAW. It will be Reaper, pretty sure

dilbert · June 2023

Well, I downloaded Reaper and after one day and a couple of hours playtime it seems really good. Initially, I followed a YT vid making the config settings to get it all started but I got out of my depth and think I may, for my level of incompetence, overdone some things but it's all working rather smoothly. I'll experiment, (i.e. play) with it a bit more and will almost certainly keep it & stump up what seems like a very reasonable license fee.

@Stratavarious: wow! I don't ever see me getting to that level of competence, I wouldn't know where to start loading skins but hey ho, who knows? Thanks for posting anyway.

Cheers Chaps

Axe_meister · August 2023

I always seem to come back to Studio one.
I've spent a lot of time on Reaper, I'd say it's the Linux of the DAW world, but I found all the options just got in the way.
I've had Logic installed for quite a while, but the interface is showing it's age and relies far too much on short cuts, over drag and drop. No doubt very powerful bus as a casual user things are easily forgotten.

duotone · August 2023

@dilbert ;
This is the video that helped me, short & a step-by-step guide.

https://youtu.be/vYLxoVZhO5g?feature=shared

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Cakewalk by Bandlab .......... It was good while it lasted!

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