Cakewalk Sonar Platinum is now free!

[Zombie Queen]

I'm not sure what to think about this... Is free, good. On the other hand, you need online activation and there is no offline option, so if you build up a project stack, they own you. They kind of confirmed that old activation servers will not be maintained, so update to free is only option. So, generally it's great for newbies, sucks for old Sonar owners. For me, rather the final abandon ship call...

[THE INTRANCER]

Anyone else having 'issues' with Bandlab Assistant? Since installing, every time I start up my computer it opens up BA and tries to go online, even tho my computer is disconnected from the internet. The program then gets locked in a loop and wont shut down. I couldnt find any way to change this behaviour, so I've ended up uninstalling it. Haven't tried running Cakewalk without it yet ...

You need it, to be able to update Cakewalk in the future. Uninstalling it wasn't really necessary, as it can be prevented from starting by running msconfig from the start bar and unticking github from the Startup Programs. The assistant app is being updated and due to be released soon so that it provides options to prevent it from starting up.

[robbie111]

Anyone else having 'issues' with Bandlab Assistant? Since installing, every time I start up my computer it opens up BA and tries to go online, even tho my computer is disconnected from the internet. The program then gets locked in a loop and wont shut down. I couldnt find any way to change this behaviour, so I've ended up uninstalling it. Haven't tried running Cakewalk without it yet ...

You need it, to be able to update Cakewalk in the future. Uninstalling it wasn't really necessary, as it can be prevented from starting by running msconfig from the start bar and unticking github. The assistant app is being updated and due to be released soon so that it provides options to prevent it from starting up.

Already updated. http://forum.cakewalk.com/FIXED-Disable ... 44350.aspx

[Jace-BeOS]

So how far did they get with the Mac version and if they did I wonder if that would be free.

Cakewalk got nowhere with a Mac version. They were trying to wrap the Windows version in a WINE-Skin/Bottler thingy. It was a bad idea from moment one.

Eventually, someone with some authority at Cakewalk called it what it was: a bad idea, a waste of time, and had it stopped. They even admitted to the community that it was a bad idea. They released, for free, the "version" they'd gotten to run, and it was described by the few people who ran it as "useless" (if I recall correctly; I didn't even bother downloading it).

[LawrenceF]

Bandlab Assistant installed to run at startup here so I removed it from there, disabled it from doing that, so it doesn't always run when Windows launches, the service. I've also been poking around in services in general to try to identify any other services it may have installed that may automatically run, if it did, and if so, I'll disable those also.

Of course, if anyone is concerned about outgoing traffic I suppose you could just block it in Windows firewall from accessing the net.

I have no particular interest in Sonar but I am playing around with the plugins it installed that work in other hosts. I may try to figure out how to uninstall it but keep those plugins... if possible.

[thecontrolcentre]

Anyone else having 'issues' with Bandlab Assistant? Since installing, every time I start up my computer it opens up BA and tries to go online, even tho my computer is disconnected from the internet. The program then gets locked in a loop and wont shut down. I couldnt find any way to change this behaviour, so I've ended up uninstalling it. Haven't tried running Cakewalk without it yet ...

You need it, to be able to update Cakewalk in the future. Uninstalling it wasn't really necessary, as it can be prevented from starting by running msconfig from the start bar and unticking github. The assistant app is being updated and due to be released soon so that it provides options to prevent it from starting up.

Already updated. http://forum.cakewalk.com/FIXED-Disable ... 44350.aspx

Thanks guys ... I may re-install if I decide to keep Cakewalk.

[trtzbass]

I just sold the Mac I bought when Cakewalk went bust so I could run Logic.
I'm going straight back to using the good stuff. Sonar (or Cakewalk how it's called now) is not perfect but some of its unique features have been sorely missed.
I'll see how Bandlab treats it and then I might be selling my Cubase 9.5 too.

[THE INTRANCER]

I just booted into my Linux Mint 18.3 distro, to see if it would at least say hello vie Wine, but nothing, nada, nil points...in any response or activity other than a short glimmer of my hard drive light. It would have been nice to have had something fresh on the other side of the pond other than what there is at present to consider...if not now..but in the future, to compete with other less desirable or paid offerings in the tiny pond of daws.

[lanfear]

Hey guys!

I'm a long time Sonar user, and I thought I might tell you my thoughts about the DAW, hoping it might help someone determine if they should give Cakewalk by BandLab a try. I mainly produce electronic dance music, but I've been doing other genres as well.

Here's what I like about Sonar Platinum:

- The ripple edit feature makes moving large song sections around really fast, easy and reliable. (THIS feature was a game changer for me! But the wait for this feature was really too long...)
- Melodyne ARA integration is really convenient
- Well integrated step sequencer (any midi clip can be edited using the SS instead of the piano-roll view)
- Good piano roll with support for multiple tracks (and the awesome controller editor box, wisely stolen from Cubase )
- Efficient plugin load balancing on multi-core systems
- It's very easy and stable to use old 32 bit plugins
- Mature overall settings (adjustable keyboard shortcuts, color themes, etc)
- Good SysEx-handling, great for those of us with hardware synths
- Built-in plugin upsampling settings (separate settings for playback & rendering)
- GUI has good multi-monitor support with most panes/windows detachable and movable (good for me as I'm using old school low-res monitors, but I've heard the high DPI stuff is missing though)
- Extremely quick to support new Windows versions (old Cakewalk took a lot of pride in working closely with Microsoft)

For those of you dismissing Sonar as a professional tool or its features, I want to give you some historical perspective. AFAIK, Sonar was the first/extremely early 64 bit DAW on Windows, and has had some major features many, many years ahead of other big DAW:s, such as:

- a 64-bit mixing engine (Cubase last year)
- clip gain (Pro Tools five years ago: this really amazed me when it was announced for PT10... )
- clip effects (Pro Tools two years ago)
- customizable keyboard shortcuts (Live 10 STILL doesn't have it! )
- proper automation curves (Cubase last year)
- and... and...

But obviously nothing is perfect. Here's stuff I miss in Sonar:

- A chord track like in Cubase
- An arranger track like in Cubase
- A simple well integrated sampler like in Live & Cubase 9.5
- A built-in chord analyzer like in Logic (Sonar has one as a MIDI plugin, but it's not as convenient as in Logic)
- A slightly more robust audio engine
- The GUI has too much stuff hidden in menus (a lot of stuff was moved into menus a couple of years ago, in an attempt to make it look cleaner. I think it just made the workflow worse, requiring more clicks for most actions. I hate clicking.)

I am very curious and pretty hopeful about this new BandLab era, but time will tell how it plays out. I'm keeping my fingers crossed BandLab has their business model all figured out...

[thomekk]

Did not use it in the past.
But a great option for the starters.

Did not like:
The paternalism by the app. Lots of files were installed on several locations here. No option to take control over it.
The bandlab prog in the autostart. Annoying.
No chance to set an installation path.

[Woodgardens]

Somehow , this reminds me of the 'Bitwig Erlebnis.'

[stacev]

So: someone familiar with Reaper and Sonar here, who can say something about major drawbacks?

I use Reaper now, but used Cakewalk Pro Audio around 2000 and occasionally Sonar around 2005.
When trying this free version I got some impulse of nostalgia since current Sonar still partially looks like Pro Audio 20 years ago. It crashed few times at startup before started working. After some testing I felt how Cakewalk's workflow still remains too orthodox comparing to Reaper. Also remembered how small bugs and occasional crashes annoyed me. Reaper looks more transparent, logical and stable.

[satYatunes]

So: someone familiar with Reaper and Sonar here, who can say something about major drawbacks?

I have used both of them exclusively. These are just some of my observations.

- Pro-channel modules in Sonar. They are good and handy. You get Breverb and TH3 as PC module
- ARA (Melodyne) integration. However, the CbB version doesn't come with free Melodyne Essential license so if you don't have a license already then this difference doesn't matter. Cockos has plan to integrate ARA
- Plugin organization is much better in Sonar. You can create your own list of plugins which will show only those in the drop down
- Reaper tops the chart as most efficient DAW in terms of CPU/RAM usage. However, Sonar got the best implementation of freeze/unfreeze function IMO. There is a button on TCP that does it, can't get any easier than that. This helps when you have a track with a lot of VSTs.

Standard DAW features are available in both and both are very capable DAWs in their own right.

[wetdentist]

i ran Cakewalk by BandLab for the 1st time yesterday (for about 8 hours) and it ran very well. no crashes or weirdness. of course i keep my Sonar Platinum installed so i don't lose any of the plugins that came with SPLAT. i realize these forums are the #1 place for bashing Cakewalk, so i figured that i would briefly report on my experience with the brand new BandLab version. very glad the ARA technology is still there!

[billybk1]

i ran Cakewalk by BandLab for the 1st time yesterday (for about 8 hours) and it ran very well. no crashes or weirdness. of course i keep my Sonar Platinum installed so i don't lose any of the plugins that came with SPLAT. i realize these forums are the #1 place for bashing Cakewalk, so i figured that i would briefly report on my experience with the brand new BandLab version. very glad the ARA technology is still there!

+1 I successfully downloaded and installed the BandLab Assistant and then CbB several days ago. I was not expecting too much, being that it was touted as a free DAW app and only a few months after SONAR was discontinued. But I have been pleasantly surprised by the whole experience thus far. The entire download and install was fairly quick and painless (I do have a fast internet connection) and I was up and running within minutes after the install. I do have a licensed SONAR Platinum installed (last up to date version) and they both co-exist side by side. As an experiment, I created a quick project from scratch (some audio loops, softsynth and audio tracks) using CbB and did not have any issues. At this point, I am giving BandLab an A+ for providing such a full featured and capable DAW app to the masses and continuing the development of SONAR.