Bandlab Cakewak vs Cubase

[starise]

Update-

So I ended up buying Cubase at version 10 which included a free update to version 11 pro which also happened to fall within the timeline for a free update to Version 12 pro. I made some pretty advantageous jumps there.

I will say I really like Cubase, especially with a decent control surface. Since I bought Cubase I've watched lots of videos on it although much or it wasn't difficult to pick up. Most recently I bought into Groove 3 training videos to get up to speed on even more detail. Ironically, the only training videos for Cakewalk by Bandlab are for older Sonar versions.

I am no stranger to DAWS with 5 of them under my belt including Cubase and CbB.

I suspect many who are so bent on preaching how terrible Cakewalk is either haven't taken the time to learn it or never used it in any real way.

I was surprised the PR in Cubase is NOT head and shoulders above the one in Cakewalk. I can get around either DAW fairly well at this point. Cubase is more developed in some of the finer nuances. Whether these developments affect you in any real way is up for grabs. In some cases a lot of it is overkill for the average user. I have to hand it to Cubase for adding features we THINK we might use.In the real world most won't. You never know when you might need a feature.
In real world use they are pretty much shoulder to shoulder. Having used both now for awhile I don't think there is much I couldn't do in either one. Some exceptions- Audio for movies. Cubase is a clear winner here. I would say overall it's probably slightly more refined.

If I wanted to make a composition fast that didn't involve video it would be Cakewalk pretty much every time, and to judge the audio portions of these DAWS using video as a marker isn't really a fair way to compare IMO because not many DAWS have the level of video integration Cubase has.
If you think the included stuff that comes with Cubase is valuable, this might tip the scale some. I thought I would be more impressed with Halion than I was. It's a great addition, however if you already have something like Kontakt libraries or IK Total Studio MAX it isn't a deal breaker. And don't forget Cakewalk is still free. You can buy a lot of instruments with the money you save.

This is probably some bias on my part since I began with Cakewalk and am slightly more familiar with it. If I'm going to try to throw an idea together I had before I forget it, if I just want a DAW that plays well with all of my synths and plugins...it's going to be Cakewalk every time.

[rlared]

Update-

So I ended up buying Cubase at version 10 which included a free update to version 11 pro which also happened to fall within the timeline for a free update to Version 12 pro. I made some pretty advantageous jumps there.

I will say I really like Cubase, especially with a decent control surface. Since I bought Cubase I've watched lots of videos on it although much or it wasn't difficult to pick up. Most recently I bought into Groove 3 training videos to get up to speed on even more detail. Ironically, the only training videos for Cakewalk by Bandlab are for older Sonar versions.

I am no stranger to DAWS with 5 of them under my belt including Cubase and CbB.

I suspect many who are so bent on preaching how terrible Cakewalk is either haven't taken the time to learn it or never used it in any real way.

I was surprised the PR in Cubase is NOT head and shoulders above the one in Cakewalk. I can get around either DAW fairly well at this point. Cubase is more developed in some of the finer nuances. Whether these developments affect you in any real way is up for grabs. In some cases a lot of it is overkill for the average user. I have to hand it to Cubase for adding features we THINK we might use.In the real world most won't. You never know when you might need a feature.
In real world use they are pretty much shoulder to shoulder. Having used both now for awhile I don't think there is much I couldn't do in either one. Some exceptions- Audio for movies. Cubase is a clear winner here. I would say overall it's probably slightly more refined.

If I wanted to make a composition fast that didn't involve video it would be Cakewalk pretty much every time, and to judge the audio portions of these DAWS using video as a marker isn't really a fair way to compare IMO because not many DAWS have the level of video integration Cubase has.
If you think the included stuff that comes with Cubase is valuable, this might tip the scale some. I thought I would be more impressed with Halion than I was. It's a great addition, however if you already have something like Kontakt libraries or IK Total Studio MAX it isn't a deal breaker. And don't forget Cakewalk is still free. You can buy a lot of instruments with the money you save.

This is probably some bias on my part since I began with Cakewalk and am slightly more familiar with it. If I'm going to try to throw an idea together I had before I forget it, if I just want a DAW that plays well with all of my synths and plugins...it's going to be Cakewalk every time.

I think the logical editor in Cubase is a huge advantage for MIDI. Cakewalk has CAL scripts which were abandoned. Also there are nifty tools like drawing in chords, chord inversions, etc. Also Cubase has a better drum grid. Cakewalk you can only use the drum grid if you have a drum map loaded, and that is a total train wreck.

[chk071]

Cakewalk is downloadable and installable without the Bandlab client now, as I recently found out. Just as an info.

[Trensharo]

The MIDI Editing in Cubase is far superior to Cakewalk. The Piano Roll itself functions similarly on the surface, but Cubase has far deeper functional capabilities under the surface.

You would have to be an absolute CAL Wizard in Cakewalk to even bolt on enough functionality to be comparable to Cubase. Cakewalk's MIDI Functionality is comparable to a ~15+ year old version of Cubase. It's actually weaker than even Samplitude Pro X (which is surprisingly underrated there... it even has stronger notation/scoring than CbB).

And for Audio, Cubase is ahead by a much larger margin.

The issue with Cakewalk isn't that one part of it is so much worse, but that you lose ground to multiple competing DAWs in various aspects of the application - to the point that it doesn't make sense to bother unless the price is the absolute primary factor in what you're going to choose.

I with the developers would just choose a niche and focus development towards that niche, only branching out after they've filled the application out to be upper-tier in its primary target market segment. This is what (for example) Ableton Live and Studio One have done. Development seems a bit too scattershot, so the DAW feels like it is treading water.

I was surprised the PR in Cubase is NOT head and shoulders above the one in Cakewalk. I can get around either DAW fairly well at this point. Cubase is more developed in some of the finer nuances. Whether these developments affect you in any real way is up for grabs. In some cases a lot of it is overkill for the average user. I have to hand it to Cubase for adding features we THINK we might use.In the real world most won't. You never know when you might need a feature.

This entire section is so contradictory... It's actually a bit of a hilarious read.

The point of adding the features is not becasue most will need them, or all will need them. It's so that those that do need them have them.

It's better to have a feature available for the 5% of your users that need it, than to lose those users to Digital Performer, Logic, etc. because it doesn't exist.

Why is a broad feature set always looked upon as a downside when people are comparing to products that lack features, but they spoken of as if it's a virtue when defending the product they use?

[Trensharo]

Cakewalk is downloadable and installable without the Bandlab client now, as I recently found out. Just as an info.

You still need an account, which is basically like signing up for Social Media like SoundCloud. I think that has always been a bit of a friction for potential users.

I've always used a disposable email account when using it, because they spam you with a lot of emails and Unsubscribing seems to do nothing.

Plug-in Alliance did the same thing to me, and only removed me after I emailed them and told them they could either remove me from the email lists, or delete my account. Lol

[chk071]

Cakewalk is downloadable and installable without the Bandlab client now, as I recently found out. Just as an info.

You still need an account, which is basically like signing up for Social Media like SoundCloud.

Alright.

I already have an account with Bandlab, because I tried CbB when you still needed the Bandlab client to install and activate it, so, no problem here.

[Saffran]

You still need an account, which is basically like signing up for Social Media like SoundCloud. I think that has always been a bit of a friction for potential users.

I've always used a disposable email account when using it, because they spam you with a lot of emails and Unsubscribing seems to do nothing.

It's bad manner to write false things like that.
Check the settings you lazy ......

[Trensharo]

The first thing I do when I create any account is go through every single setting and tune it for maximum privacy and no spam.

I'm not new to the internet.

Like I said, I resorted to using disposable email addresses for BandLab cause they'd spam me with tips of the week and crop like that.

What do I gain by lying about that? iCred with other anonymous forumers?

I don't use any social media, so the requirement itself is a bit of a negative for me.

[starise]

Cakewalk's MIDI Functionality is comparable to a ~15+ year old version of Cubase.

This is the biggest load of rhino excrement I have ever heard.

Not enough time to comment further right now.

Can people be blocked here?

[hersoot]

More than 25 years ago I made a lot of MIDI sequences (.WRK) using Cakewalk Pro for Windows (3.1) and a hardware sound module. The MIDI functionality was excellent--interpolation and CAL scripts. Last year I remixed those sequences using Sonar X1 and a VSTi. The MIDI functionality was even better--.wrk -> .cwp was seamless, interpolation was still there and tempo scaling was much improved.

I haven't used Bandlab because Sonar still works for me. Bandlab vs Cubase? If you do a lot of MIDI sequencing then I'd say pick one and stick with it.

[Saffran]

...

I see you as a fake news spreader.

Bandlab do not send me any mail. That's 3 year of no mail.
I do see Bandlab articles in my suggestions on Facebook. Facebook has connected me to Bandlab interest because i joined a Bandlab group on FB for a short time. It was pretty useless and i follow on a forum instead.

[chk071]

Thinking about it, I never got any mails from them either.

[Giova942]

I've had an account at Bandlab since 2016 and they have never sent me any email.

[planetearth]

...

I see you as a fake news spreader.

Bandlab do not send me any mail. That's 3 year of no mail.
I do see Bandlab articles in my suggestions on Facebook. Facebook has connected me to Bandlab interest because i joined a Bandlab group on FB for a short time. It was pretty useless and i follow on a forum instead.

Thinking about it, I never got any mails from them either.

I've had an account at Bandlab since 2016 and they have never sent me any email.

Same here. At one point, I hadn't logged into my BandLab account in so long that I had to have them remind me which email address I used to sign up. That was the last email I received from them.

It's clear from his previous posts that @Trensharo doesn't like Cakewalk. That's fine. There are plenty of DAWs out there. No need to waste time on a forum spreading nonsense about the ones you don't like.

Steve

[Trensharo]

BandLab's website is not Cakewalk.

I circumvented the issue by simply using a disposable email address...

Also, I used Cakewalk by BandLab for about a year. Lack of Audio Editing functionality was a big factor in me dropping it. How the MIDI compared to Cubase, for example, was not the major factor. It is simply not a great platform for audio editing, and the workflow for working with external audio editors is tedious (having to bounce clips to avoid it sending the entire file to the external editor, etc. - other DAWs do this automatically).

Additionally, while it's cute to "lurk someone's profile," you should have noticed that I'm equally brutal with almost every other DAW that I've used... and I've used quite a few.

Lol @ Fake News. I didn't know I forum posters were the Mainstream Media.