Why you left... sorry, why do DAWs have the name that they have?

[Kypresso]

Cakewalk was the name of the company that released the DAW called Sonar. With Cakewalk gone, Bandlab decided to call the DAW Cakewalk. Probably because people were often referring to it by that name. Like people say Ableton when they mean Live.

The company was originally called Twelve Tone Systems and it sold a midi sequencer called Cakewalk.
They later added some audio handling and changed the name to Cakewalk Pro Audio (I still have my floppy disks from about 1991).
The company changed their name to Cakewalk about 20 years after they started.

[herodotus]

The habit of mocking the titles of threads that have become train wrecks is a time honored kvr tradition.

Generally, the threads in question are those that are doomed from the beginning, by their titles. A combination of provocative oversimplification and grammatical ineptitude is usually involved.

Anyway, I'm fairly sure that if and when the silly
but frequently hilarious multiple-mocking-thread-title habit finally disappears from the forum, kvr will already be dead.

[claudedefaren]

...

[dune_rave]

Reaper:

[machinesworking]

And who sat down and decided that “Bitwig”...

Just look at the logo - it's a wig made of little bits

And a wig is connected to a DAW how? The story of an old composers wig? Seems far fetched.

It comes from the idea that you're starring at a LED screen when you use a computer to make music. I don't know if it's a german slang term or inside joke, but it references the halo of light that you have when you do this, bits of data on a screen make a wig of light etc.

It's a silly name for sure, up there with Cubase, Traction, Fruity Loops, Reason, Logic etc.

Seems DAWs either go for whacky names or straightforward ones like Pro Tools, Digital Performer, Live, Sonar etc.

[Robert Randolph]

Regarding Pro Tools, it's not as self explanatory as most people think. Most folks think it means "Professional Tools", which is incorrect. It's "Production Tools".

[Forgotten]

Regarding Pro Tools, it's not as self explanatory as most people think. Most folks think it means "Professional Tools", which is incorrect. It's "Production Tools".

I thought it meant "Progressively more difficult to afford Tools"

[Jace-BeOS]

Cakewalk - isn't that a dance? It's also slang for something easy.

Yes, from the American South in the 1800s. A cake was a typical prize for the best performances. It let slaves make fun of the pretentiousness of their owners, who didn't realize they were being mocked.

Pretty sure the software's name was chosen to reflect the later "easy" connotation, not the dance.

See Wikipedia for more; I won't go into it further 'cos this isn't HPC.

Wow. I had no idea of the origin of that phrase/term.

[Jace-BeOS]

its short for bites widget.
which is a computer doohickey thingamajig.
used to whathermacallit the tiddlybob.

[tonedef71]

I actually preferred the name Tracktion (the k in the name gave it some legitimacy as a name for something related to music production) for the name of the DAW. The newer name of Waveform is ok (it also has some legitimacy as a name for something related to sound), but that name is an overloaded word that lacks any cleverness for a trademarkable name.

[Robert Randolph]

Regarding Pro Tools, it's not as self explanatory as most people think. Most folks think it means "Professional Tools", which is incorrect. It's "Production Tools".

I thought it meant "Progressively more difficult to afford Tools"

You have to adapt with the times, and for Avid that meant a rebranding

[Calenberger]

It's an anagram of "big wit", so maybe the joke's on us...?

It's actually an anagram of an Inuit language word: GWIIBT
It means: Seal with smelly breath
A suitable name IMO

[toonertik]

Cakewalk was the name of the company that released the DAW called Sonar. With Cakewalk gone, Bandlab decided to call the DAW Cakewalk. Probably because people were often referring to it by that name. Like people say Ableton when they mean Live.

The company was originally called Twelve Tone Systems and it sold a midi sequencer called Cakewalk.
They later added some audio handling and changed the name to Cakewalk Pro Audio (I still have my floppy disks from about 1991).
The company changed their name to Cakewalk about 20 years after they started.

Beaten to it...

Cake Pro Audio then got renamed Sonar