Sonar now has a free tier again....

[havran]

I ended up getting a one-year subscription for $79 during their July 4th sale (which is ending in a few hours).

Sonar is one of the DAWs I get along with and whose interface I like; I like having access to a large loop and one-shot library with no monthly token-limit involved; and I felt like giving them some support after Meng @ BandLab rescued Sonar from the Gibson fiasco and allowed Sonar to be free for several years with regular updates along the way.

[telecharge]

I ended up getting a one-year subscription for $79 during their July 4th sale (which is ending in a few hours).

Sonar is one of the DAWs I get along with and whose interface I like; I like having access to a large loop and one-shot library with no monthly token-limit involved; and I felt like giving them some support after Meng @ BandLab rescued Sonar from the Gibson fiasco and allowed Sonar to be free for several years with regular updates along the way.

I like the spirit of your post, but I feel that BandLab has squandered much of the good will that the Cakewalk and Sonar brands had accumulated over decades.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the software and get good use from it.

[telecharge]

Another maintenance update. Run Sonar to get it - https://cakewalk-web-assets-for-desktop ... gelog.html

I like the looks of this one. They got rid of the countdown timer and the Quick Start Screen sizes properly.

[BrunoDSL]

AUTO-ADMIN: Non-MP3, WAV, OGG, SoundCloud, YouTube, Vimeo, Twitter and Facebook links in this post have been protected automatically. Once the member reaches 5 posts the links will function as normal.

Another maintenance update. Run Sonar to get it - https://cakewalk-web-assets-for-desktop ... gelog.html (https://cakewalk-web-assets-for-desktop-clients.s3.amazonaws.com/contentful/changelog.html)

I like the looks of this one. They got rid of the countdown timer and the Quick Start Screen sizes properly.

They didn't get rid of the countdown timer. They just took 5 seconds off because of people complaining about it and mentioning how REAPER's nag screen is only 5s long. So they interpreted that as "taking a REAPER's worth of time off the nag screen."

There's also one aspect that wasn't mentioned. You are forced to always run the latest version of this free tier. How you are forced? Bandlab will not only disable saving in Sonar but also log you off your account until you update. There have been complaints of people who lost work because of that as updates were pushed with Sonar open. You can't save because saving is disabled and the only way to update the software is closing it.

[gullfo]

dunno, Sonar seems to be running just fine. updates are easy, fast, and have had no issues since installing it in March.
@brunoDSL
not sure if you verified with the supprot team the assertion that the free version "breaks" your ability to save open projects, but would be best to reach out and find out... maybe it is a bug they introduced? maybe it's not...

[telecharge]

There's also one aspect that wasn't mentioned. You are forced to always run the latest version of this free tier. How you are forced? Bandlab will not only disable saving in Sonar but also log you off your account until you update. There have been complaints of people who lost work because of that as updates were pushed with Sonar open. You can't save because saving is disabled and the only way to update the software is closing it.

Is this what you're talking about?
If so, it appears to be user error/complacency.

[BrunoDSL]

AUTO-ADMIN: Non-MP3, WAV, OGG, SoundCloud, YouTube, Vimeo, Twitter and Facebook links in this post have been protected automatically. Once the member reaches 5 posts the links will function as normal.

not sure if you verified with the supprot team the assertion that the free version "breaks" your ability to save open projects, but would be best to reach out and find out... maybe it is a bug they introduced? maybe it's not...

I didnt because that's not what I said.

There's also one aspect that wasn't mentioned. You are forced to always run the latest version of this free tier. How you are forced? Bandlab will not only disable saving in Sonar but also log you off your account until you update. There have been complaints of people who lost work because of that as updates were pushed with Sonar open. You can't save because saving is disabled and the only way to update the software is closing it.

Is this what you're talking about? (https://discuss.cakewalk.com/topic/85347-new-free-versiontier-of-the-venerable%C2%A0cakewalk-sonar/?do=findComment&comment=606202)
If so, it appears to be user error/complacency.

Disabling saving and logging you off your account because you're not running the latest version of the software is user error? Forcing the latest version of software on your users by having a mechanism which "expires" your license and logs you off your account is anti-consumer. There's no two ways about it. And it can open gates to scenarios like a specific update potentially breaking your installation and leaving you with no DAW because you can't install an earlier version of it. This was brought to support and said support "promises" to work closely with users affected by such practice but...

These are the same people that assured people who weren't interested in subscription that there would be a perpetual license...Even mentioning that in the forums nowadays gets your thread locked. The same people that claim they don't force their forced updates on the user and those are simply bugfixes and "security features." This new version has the same bugs the old Sonar Platinum and CbB had and they're pushing to be over 20 years old at this point.

[gullfo]

i mention it because the last 3 updates i did with Next having an open project at the time i got the toaster popup did not prevent me from saving my project, and then updating. which is why i asked if you reached out to support. as far as the battle for perpetual vs subscription, it's not important here. but if you are finding the DAW unusable, maybe try a different one? honestly, it sounds like you're just repeating other people's complaints vs actually having a problem...

[Saffran]

It's impossible to go back in versions. They are forcing you to use the latest version.
If your pc don't like a version, you have no access to legacy versions.
Other daws like Reaper have legacy versions, even for 32-bit.
BandLab by Cakewalk is the only way to have a legacy version.
And now they are killing it.

[D-Fusion]

It's impossible to go back in versions. They are forcing you to use the latest version.
If your pc don't like a version, you have no access to legacy versions.
Other daws like Reaper have legacy versions, even for 32-bit.
BandLab by Cakewalk is the only way to have a legacy version.
And now they are killing it.

I tried it but i am not interested in using a daw that needs constant re authorization and works like a nagware version for their subscription model.

There are lots of great Daw's these days so they have to do better than this if they want people to jump over to Sonar.

[sonidomolino]

They are forcing you to use the latest version...

This has to be the worst change i have seen from any company so far.

InMusic might be up for consideration with the latest release of BFD3.

[D-Fusion]

They are forcing you to use the latest version...

This has to be the worst change i have seen from any company so far.

InMusic might be up for consideration with the latest release of BFD3.

I am a bit out of the loop on InMusic since i try to ignore that company as much as possible after they bought up the company that made OPZilla and abandoned it.
So what did they do with BFD3?

[jens]

I am a bit out of the loop on InMusic since i try to ignore that company as much as possible after they bought up the company that made OPZilla and abandoned it.
So what did they do with BFD3?

They released V3.5 which is so big on higher resolutions, that is is practically impossible to use the plugin. Also they're not offering downloads for the previous version (so unless you still have the previous version you can't go back). Also they don't fix this/ don't seem to care.

https://forum.bfddrums.com/t/gui-problems-in-3-5/8692

[sonidomolino]

... So what did they do with BFD3?

They released V3.5 which is so big on higher resolutions, that is is practically impossible to use the plugin. Also they're not offering downloads for the previous version (so unless you still have the previous version you can't go back). Also they don't fix this/ don't seem to care.

https://forum.bfddrums.com/t/gui-problems-in-3-5/8692

this ^, plus a number of additional issues ime.
- forced upgrade to BFD3.5. our production systems are typically offline and seem to have gotten out of sync with the previous drm. we were unable to "reauthorize" on any system after the 3.5 release. (the previous L/M would not run, at all.)
- required to re-download all content (FAQs). this literally took days, tying up production systems in the process.
- the content update wiped out previously valid content (literally missing samples). CX response has taken over a month and a half to confirm the issue and forward it to "the development team" without any indication of when we might expect any kind of solution. and then asked if we were "satisfied with the service"...
- the update trashed a number of user presets
- the latest version of drm will run every time a project is loaded in any DAW, taking anywhere from 1-3 mins (we have a large number of expansions). it can be mitigated by being offline, at least for now.
...
we had some sense of InMusic's rep but no actual experience and upgraded to the relaunch in good faith based on the well earned usefulness of BFD3 up to that point and the fact that key members of the original team were on board. i'm sorry to say that it's been a very disappointing experience and has continued to degrade with each release. we would be much more productive sticking with the pre InMusic version. ymmv.

[havran]

I ended up getting a one-year subscription for $79 during their July 4th sale (which is ending in a few hours).

Sonar is one of the DAWs I get along with and whose interface I like; I like having access to a large loop and one-shot library with no monthly token-limit involved; and I felt like giving them some support after Meng @ BandLab rescued Sonar from the Gibson fiasco and allowed Sonar to be free for several years with regular updates along the way.

I like the spirit of your post, but I feel that BandLab has squandered much of the good will that the Cakewalk and Sonar brands had accumulated over decades.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the software and get good use from it.

RE: the squandering of good will -- how so?

Meanwhile I have regretted the subscription, and although a refund seems unlikely, I have canceled it so that it will not auto-renew.

The reason: They have some anonymous troll of a moderator in the official Cakewalk forum, who gets to post in a way that would not be allowed from regular members -- and if anyone objects to that behavior, they get banned. Yes, I have mentioned this to Bandlab support, who say they have no direct control over that forum.

Hello, Meng @ Bandlab -- that anonymous jackass moderator is probably hurting your business.

Now, it seems there are also a few protective/dismissive/self-entitled bull-males among the regular members -- however, the difference is that even if the aforementioned mod is working for free, he (?) could be considered and is probably perceived to be an official rep for Cakewalk, as much as any of the staff members could be (who are not cowards and use their real names, btw).

At the moment, I would not be likely to recommend a Bandlab membership -- and not because of the products and services they offer, but only because of their lack of oversight of this important element of the subscription equation.

But if Meng and upper management at Bandlab and the Cakewalk staff are aware of and cool with that moderator's behavior, then all I can do is hang on to my money and look elsewhere.