is cakewalk a good daw?

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does it have all the features of other daws im thinking to try it

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Yes, it's excellent DAW and have enough features to cater to all your needs, being that strictly recording, mixing, composing, beat making and everything in between.

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Give it a try - you have nothing to lose. I use it myself but that's partly because I am poor. :cry: Make sure you download the optional instruments; they are really good. You can work with piano roll, step sequencer or score. Is there anything in particular you are looking for in a DAW?

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Well it has had some of the features for which many want to deflect to Logic for ages.
Namely: a step sequencer (no individual lengths per lane, no ping pong, etc. and also no transposable via MIDI) and the clip launcher, which it of course borrowed from Live (after they first implemented this into their long defunct Project 5 DAW)
I only have an ancient version from 2008, so can't say if they improved on it, but at least back then the automation process wasn't as nicely and smooth as it is now in Reaper for instance (sorry, don't know any more modern DAWs first hand) and Reaper is much more stable.
For free, it's awesome.
Oh and it's controls are fully customizable, from mouse behaviour to keyboard shortcuts.
The GAS is always greener on the other side!

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Cakewalk is one of the big guys in the DAW market. Actually is one of the oldest as well. Nowadays it is free.

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When I last used it, it was kludgy, klunky, and crashy. I left it a while back, when it was called Sonar 7 PE. In the interim others reported that many of the issues weren't really resolved, but I haven't used the latest version so it's possible things got better.

Since it's free, you really have nothing to lose by trying it. Just bear in mind that if you experience stability, etc. issues, you might be better served with something else.
A well-behaved signature.

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It is a very good and professional daw and keeps getting updated with bugfixes and new functions.
Regarding "stable" that keeps popping up when people comment on daws it usually have to do with that delicate balance of the daw and the os and hardware it runs on. It goes for all software, sometimes it seems to be allergic to just your devices.
For me it's the third party plugins that have caused problems sometimes.
For example of stability i used the new softsynth plugin Odin 2, which is beta, the other night. I tweaked tons of settings to find nice presets and did so for approx 8 hours without so much as a twitch from Cakewalk. The plugin itself had a little bug but nothing major and could be solved by open and close the plugin gui.
Facts to know: It's windows 10 only but seems to run ok on win7 and 8.1 for now.
It's a bit clunky to install online thru the Bandlab assistant.
It needs to be authorized online once every six month.
Good support and the forum is here: https://discuss.cakewalk.com/

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Cakewalk is a top notch DAW. Especially for being free. It was the most popular DAW on Windows for a time, and that was when people were paying money for it. With Cakewalk bring free now, I don't see any point to REAPER still existing. And Cakewalk looks great, too.

The big drawback to Cakewalk is it is Windows only.
If you don't ever use a Mac or need cross-platform compatibility for collaborations, then Cakewalk is definitely worth a serious look.
THIS MUSIC HAS BEEN MIXED TO BE PLAYED LOUD SO TURN IT UP

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I see a point in Reaper existing, as i'm happily using it now, but Sonar/Cakewalk is still a very capable and fully featured DAW that does everything (and more) one needs to make awesome music.
The GAS is always greener on the other side!

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I guess you can't complain about it since it's free now, but I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole. I don't appreciate what happened with Gibson. I had just paid to renew my yearly subscription when it was cancelled. I still have the older Cakewalk version on my computer, but I never use it or any of the other synths/plugins from Cakewalk anymore. They're dead to me. I didn't come back for the Bandlab resurrection.

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i use it everyday
my newest sounds:
https://soundcloud.com/the-das-kaput

Cakewalk by BandLab, Komplete 13, Maschine 2 (MKI & Jam), Fathom Synth, Guitars, Jam Origin MIDI Guitar, EXH Superego+ etc

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JerGoertz wrote: Sun May 17, 2020 10:11 pm When I last used it, it was kludgy, klunky, and crashy. I left it a while back, when it was called Sonar 7 PE. In the interim others reported that many of the issues weren't really resolved, but I haven't used the latest version so it's possible things got better.

Since it's free, you really have nothing to lose by trying it. Just bear in mind that if you experience stability, etc. issues, you might be better served with something else.
Sonar 7 PE was launched 14 years ago. Your opinions seem to be a little beyond their shelf date. :roll:

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FapFilter wrote: Sun May 17, 2020 8:43 pm
I only have an ancient version from 2008, so can't say if they improved on it, but at least back then the automation process wasn't as nicely and smooth as it is now in Reaper for instance (sorry, don't know any more modern DAWs first hand) and Reaper is much more stable.
For free, it's awesome.
Oh and it's controls are fully customizable, from mouse behaviour to keyboard shortcuts.
2008, man, really? Imagine someone comparing a modern DAW with Reaper 2. :roll:

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JoseC. wrote: Mon May 18, 2020 3:01 pm 2008, man, really? Imagine someone comparing a modern DAW with Reaper 2. :roll:

Image


Just for reference. :hihi:
When people move the goal posts to make a point, there is no longer an original point to be made.

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I wonder how stable and usable it really is these days. I mean... disregarding the gift horse thing.

IMO, what has a big influence on stability as well is the amount of users. More users discover more bugs, and bugs need to be reported to be fixed. Sonar used to be pretty buggy in former versions, so, Cakewalk has a lot to make up.

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