Cakewalk Sonar Platinum is now free!

[dellboy]

Cool. I installed it and it's license says it's valid for 6 months, through 10/3/18. Wonder what happens then?

Meng of Bandlab posted this on cakewalk forum........

Quick update - will sticky this at my first post too - the 04-10-2018 is just an arbitrary 6 month date set for authorization checks - it's confusing and will be removed! It's NOT an expiry date

[VariKusBrainZ]

Annoying that is installs automatically after downloading.

What if we want to change the install location?

[beely]

Does this version have Melodyne ARA integration retained?

Yes, but you'll need to supply your own Melodyne.

[VitaminD]

Does this version have Melodyne ARA integration retained?

Yes, but you'll need to supply your own Melodyne.

Excellent, thanks! That I can do!

[Jace-BeOS]

Finally Sonar is being sold for what it's actually worth.

It was never so bad that it was worth nothing. I'm one of Cakewalk's harsher critics and I still think your comment was uncalled for.

[Zexila]

Well, there's huge possibility I will start using this full time if I like it enough, awesome, downloading right now.

[No_Use]

Annoying that is installs automatically after downloading.

What if we want to change the install location?

Slightly unrelated, but seems to me like more and more programs doing this nowadays, not bothering in the installer asking the user if he wishes to change default install location. I find it annoying too.
E.g. I installed Atom recently, same thing, no chance to change install location...

[Jace-BeOS]

Quite an interesting move! What's their business model?

Altruism or desperation. Wonder which...

Altruism?

[whyterabbyt]

Annoying that is installs automatically after downloading.

What if we want to change the install location?

Command Centre originally did this as well. There eventually was a way to change the location, AFAIR.

[Jace-BeOS]

Cool. I installed it and it's license says it's valid for 6 months, through 10/3/18. Wonder what happens then?

Meng of Bandlab posted this on cakewalk forum........

Quick update - will sticky this at my first post too - the 04-10-2018 is just an arbitrary 6 month date set for authorization checks - it's confusing and will be removed! It's NOT an expiry date

Thanks for this info.

Thanks also (to SampleScience) for the notice about this "free" release. I might as well get it onto my retro DAW (my PC). Next time I need to get something from my old Sonar projects (hopefully not soon, but that's what I keep it for), it might be worth the effort of trying the last version of Sonar that Cakewalk made, for curiosity's sake. Maybe the new GUI is less agitating than 8.5.3 (where I stopped being willing to give them any more of my money).

[ZargonTheMagnificent]

Annoying that is installs automatically after downloading.

What if we want to change the install location?

When it tries to install, just close the installation pop-up/dialog.

Then find the regular installer that will be in your download folder and run it as normal. That's what I did anyway. Seems simple enough.

[VariKusBrainZ]

Annoying that is installs automatically after downloading.

What if we want to change the install location?

Command Centre originally did this as well. There eventually was a way to change the location, AFAIR.

I had a lifetime licence so know how it was

[Steve Bolivar]

Quite an interesting move! What's their business model?

https://musicindustryblog.wordpress.com ... ing-stone/
More than just buying an interest in RS.
"Kuok Meng Ru has a bold vision and ambition for Bandlab, he sees this as an opportunity to create a full stack music company from the ground up, built around the next generation of creators rather than trying to carve a slice out of the incumbent industry. "
His main backer is his father. Net worth: 2.3 billion USD (2018) Forbes.

https://www.soundonsound.com/news/bandl ... rfaces?amp
11/7/17 "Just two years old, the platform already has 1.5 million registered users, with six songs apparently being created every minute."
Sounds like a decent base to market a DAW and it's associated add-ons to.

[THE INTRANCER]

Last time I tried Sonar was from a Computer Music Magazine coverdisk in 2006 and it crashed as soon as it was launched. With a different PC and different version....I just wonder if I'm going to be lucky or if lightning is going to strike twice again ...

Releasing this fully fledged daw for free though, is going to put the cat among the pigeons in the daw market... what compelling 'reason', would anyone be enticed to use or buy more 'studios' than one, when this is out there now...? If you catch my drift...

[LawrenceF]

It will certainly help the financially challenged and get a lot more people trying it, that's for sure.

Having said that, we all surely know the psychology of daw users, which in some cases kinda leans towards addiction. If price was the only factor, everyone would be using FLStudio and Reaper and never buy more expensive products. I mean, seriously, $60 every 3-4 years for Reaper or the FL lifetime license is very close to being free, but people still buy $500 Cubase and other things.

It will have some impact for certain, but maybe not as much as some imply.