Bandlab Cakewak vs Cubase

[digitalboytn]

I am a long time Cakewalk user with Reaper as my main DAW now...

I think that the Bandlab resurrection has been good for the DAW as they have stripped out a lot of the bloat and got it running more efficiently now...

It is very stable and well integrated with the Windows OS...

I find some tasks a little cumbersome compared to Reaper,but it does the job done just fine,so I would go back to using it as my main DAW and the world would keep spinning around...

Gadget Fiend is a little ignorant to suggest that the people working at Steinberg have better coding skills than the team at Cakewalk...

Noel knows his stuff and I appreciate his work on the Cakewalk DAW

[JoseC.]

OMG, Cakewalk was and always will be a UI nightmare (and a mishmash of legacy upon legacy code). While Cubase 11 certainly has its UI Frankenstein moments (and legacy bloat,) it's nowhere near as bad as Cakewalk. Plus, Cubase is maintained by a top notch team. Who only knows what's driving Cakewalk these days.

What an inane comment.

[JoseC.]

I don´t really think that there is anything wrong with this UI, I have four major DAWs installed and each one has its strengths and weaknesses, it is all a matter of personal preferences.

[Danilo Villanova]

I really like the UI, I just wish I could zoom in and out of the project using the mousewheel like in every other DAW, that's the only thing that's keeping me from using it along with the finicky automation

[kperry]

I really like the UI, I just wish I could zoom in and out of the project using the mousewheel like in every other DAW, that's the only thing that's keeping me from using it along with the finicky automation

Alt-mousewheel with suitable Mouse Wheel Zoom Options doesn't work for you (or alt and ctrl-alt depending on options set)?

[Danilo Villanova]

I really like the UI, I just wish I could zoom in and out of the project using the mousewheel like in every other DAW, that's the only thing that's keeping me from using it along with the finicky automation

Alt-mousewheel with suitable Mouse Wheel Zoom Options doesn't work for you (or alt and ctrl-alt depending on options set)?

Yes, I should have specified that I meant vertical zoom (as in track height, not waveform zoom levels). AFAIK there isn’t a way to do it, and the alternatives feel weird to me. Navigation in general is akward. I’ve submitted a feature request but nobody seems to care.

[kperry]

I've just tried using alt-mousewheel and the track height increases, not just the waveform zoom. To be fair, there is a weird jump when you downscale after hitting the bottom of the track pane, but that might be something I've done or a genuine bug I've found

I've got all zoom in/out settings as "At Cursor" and unticked "Simultaneous horizontal and vertical zoom"; zoom factor is 1.5 in both directions.

[Danilo Villanova]

I've just tried using alt-mousewheel and the track height increases, not just the waveform zoom. To be fair, there is a weird jump when you downscale after hitting the bottom of the track pane, but that might be something I've done or a genuine bug I've found

I've got all zoom in/out settings as "At Cursor" and unticked "Simultaneous horizontal and vertical zoom"; zoom factor is 1.5 in both directions.

Yes I see what you mean, but it's not what I meant though. I mean adjusting the height of all tracks simultaneously using Ctrl + Scrollwheel like you can in Reaper, S1, Reason, etc. You can do it with Ctrl + up or down arrows in CbB but not with the scrollwheel.

[Saffran]

I've just tried using alt-mousewheel and the track height increases, not just the waveform zoom. To be fair, there is a weird jump when you downscale after hitting the bottom of the track pane, but that might be something I've done or a genuine bug I've found :-)I've got all zoom in/out settings as "At Cursor" and unticked "Simultaneous horizontal and vertical zoom"; zoom factor is 1.5 in both directions.

Yes I see what you mean, but it's not what I meant though. I mean adjusting the height of all tracks simultaneously using Ctrl + Scrollwheel like you can in Reaper, S1, Reason, etc. You can do it with Ctrl + up or down arrows in CbB but not with the scrollwheel.

I like to select the track number by dragging (leftclick mouse) over them and then holding ctrl while leftclick and drag one of the hight cursor that is between the tracks.
That way you can decide if you want to change all of the tracks or just a group you selected.

[chk071]

OMG, Cakewalk was and always will be a UI nightmare (and a mishmash of legacy upon legacy code). While Cubase 11 certainly has its UI Frankenstein moments (and legacy bloat,) it's nowhere near as bad as Cakewalk. Plus, Cubase is maintained by a top notch team. Who only knows what's driving Cakewalk these days.

What an inane comment.

I wouldn't call it a "nightmare", but, the GUI is very busy, and, Cakewalk also has loads of legacy stuff, which would make sense to scratch, and thin out the DAW.

[VELLTONE MUSIC]

Using cakewalk since this topic was started and can't say Cakewalk is better than Cubase,just free
Found a lot of serious bugs,some of which appears with new upgrades(freezing after scanning,messing with vst synths functionality,digital distortion,so on)...but it's free
Some stuff are more comfy than in Cubase for sure, like adding midi to single track or exporting different formats.
Best thing to me is pro channel and all routing options(bus sends so on)not sure is it better or worst than cubase options,just for free DAW it's super nice tools available.
Anyway it's free,you can complain or be euphoric forever
Cheers

[Saffran]

Found a lot of serious bugs,some of which appears with new upgrades(freezing after scanning,messing with vst synths functionality,digital distortion,so on)

I'm gonna sound like a fanboy now but...
I do not recognize that description.
Scanning can once in a blue moon give an error when the plugin behave bad but almost never freeze.
The other two have never happened to me during the 2.5 year using it, as i can remember.
I do read up on preferences settings and set it to work the best with my hardware and my choice of workflow. And i always look for info from the plugins system requirements and online reviews, even when it's a free plugin.
That works for me.

(And i use win8.1 so win10 function updates never messes up my software.)

[MurzimStem]

Same here— Cakewalk has been stable for me.

[DeBro]

I really don't see what people are referring to as clutter. The image below shows a basic mixing setup for one of my projects. Everything there is logically laid out. I can hide certain controls if not needed. I can use the mouse wheel to scroll through additional control modules on the control bar at the top that are not visible in the image. Cakewalk by BandLab has been very stable for me after each update, allowing me to create good music without a hassle. There is certainly no need for me to go exploring any other DAW. This is a topnotch DAW for free

[kperry]

I've just tried using alt-mousewheel and the track height increases, not just the waveform zoom. To be fair, there is a weird jump when you downscale after hitting the bottom of the track pane, but that might be something I've done or a genuine bug I've found

I've got all zoom in/out settings as "At Cursor" and unticked "Simultaneous horizontal and vertical zoom"; zoom factor is 1.5 in both directions.

Yes I see what you mean, but it's not what I meant though. I mean adjusting the height of all tracks simultaneously using Ctrl + Scrollwheel like you can in Reaper, S1, Reason, etc. You can do it with Ctrl + up or down arrows in CbB but not with the scrollwheel.

Ah - I see. Never even thought of doing that (given I'll run out of vertical screen space soon enough).