CakeWalk users: are you staying with it or migrating?

[Alik]

If you're a Cakewalk by BandLab user you might know by now that they have officially announced that it will become a paid DAW again after several years of being a free download. It will be renamed back to SONAR, as it used to be 10+ years ago.
For now, you don't have to worry about your daw not functioning as it should, or being deactivated. CakeWalk will continue to work as usual, only thing is it will no longer be supported after the new two paid versions are released later this year. No more details are known about these, either being paid by monthly subscription or full price as other DAWs. Still have to wait for more information on that.
In my particular case, I've used cakewalk since the last versions of Sonar, which was bundled with other software in my very first audio interface. I have quite a few projects written/recorded with it, and now I have to choose between buying a new daw or pay for it.
Honestly, I'm not a fan of renting software, I prefer to pay full price, if possible (meaning being affordable). So the Subscription model is definitely not in my interest.
I've been looking for prices on other daws, and Studio One (Pro version) has caught my eye, has good reviews and I think a better work flow than CbB. So I'm here wondering what you guys out there are thinking.

 

[Passinwind]

I don't care about upgrades and will continue to use Cakewalk unless it becomes crippleware. If that happens I'll probably just go back to one of the DAWs for desktop PCs I already own: Cubase or N-Track. I slightly prefer CbB, but not enough to buy a fourth DAW (I have Cubasis on my iPad for mobile recording). Subccription mode will absolutely not be happening unless it's say $1-2 a month, tops, and has some really compelling new features.

 

[Aloe]

changing a DAW sucks. this said, I'm not anymore a Cakewalk user: ten years ago switched to Reaper (Cakewalk was too heavy back then for my computer), then to Studio One.

most critical S1 drawback for me yet is that I heavily rely on macros and my workflow involves multiple tracks (instead of lanes) and the 'duplicate track' is buggy when used from macros. however, since v3 it isn't changing.

on the good side, S1 has great support for multiple cue mixes (wish other DAWs would have the same) and has a very nice audio engine (since 3.5, I believe) which just works better for me on heavy projects than the competition.

this said, the S1 owner company (PreSonus) is a part of Fender musical instruments recently and there's some nervous feeling among some users, remembering the Gibson's purchase of Cakewalk. there was a post-acquisition interview with Fender CEO when his point was 'we need to simplify the DAW a lot', that surely upset the power users that expect bugfixes and new advanced functionality instead.

 

[seamonkey]

I used Sonar for years and bought into it. Until ...

That aside
Next looks good. I would try it.
Cakewalk Next
Sonar looks the same old, same old
Cakewalk Sonar

 

[WG Plum]

I bought Sonar before it was discontinued/before it became free. I'll continue to use my current version. I'm planning on upgrading my whole system and will look my options then, but I'll keep my old version of Sonar on my current laptop. I detest renting software, or anything beyond an apartment or a car or vacation spot, so that's a no-go for me.

 

[tothemax]

I'm just hoping that Cakewalk comes up with an affordable transition plan for current users. I can't complain as I've gotten almost 5 years for free and really learned quite a bit about production with the product. If it's priced reasonably and the product is decent I wouldn't have an issue buying a license. If they go with the SWAS subscription model probably not. I'd probably be looking hard at Reaper.

It hurts my feelings me to do the annual MS Office subscription.

 

[Patrice B]

If you're a Cakewalk by BandLab user you might know by now that they have officially announced that it will become a paid DAW again after several years of being a free download. It will be renamed back to SONAR, as it used to be 10+ years ago.
For now, you don't have to worry about your daw not functioning as it should, or being deactivated. CakeWalk will continue to work as usual, only thing is it will no longer be supported after the new two paid versions are released later this year. No more details are known about these, either being paid by monthly subscription or full price as other DAWs. Still have to wait for more information on that.
In my particular case, I've used cakewalk since the last versions of Sonar, which was bundled with other software in my very first audio interface. I have quite a few projects written/recorded with it, and now I have to choose between buying a new daw or pay for it.
Honestly, I'm not a fan of renting software, I prefer to pay full price, if possible (meaning being affordable). So the Subscription model is definitely not in my interest.
I've been looking for prices on other daws, and Studio One (Pro version) has caught my eye, has good reviews and I think a better work flow than CbB. So I'm here wondering what you guys out there are thinking.

I hope they won’t choose a subscription plan! Anyway, it was too good to be true (the best free DAW for Windows). I already own Reaper and Studio One but loved the fact that I could use BandLab freely for my students…

 

[Patrice B]

NEXT will run on Windows and MacOS but Sonar will be Windows only?

 

[Leigh Semmens]

I'm just hoping that Cakewalk comes up with an affordable transition plan for current users. I can't complain as I've gotten almost 5 years for free and really learned quite a bit about production with the product. If it's priced reasonably and the product is decent I wouldn't have an issue buying a license. If they go with the SWAS subscription model probably not. I'd probably be looking hard at Reaper.

It hurts my feelings me to do the annual MS Office subscription.

O/T : Bugga the M$ subscription, Libre Office does a better office than M$Office, at none of the price! Much of what required macros in MO, LO does out of the box. And it's free!

 

[Slough Feg Bass]

I'll keep using it until it dies. I really only use DAW for tape transfers and prepping files to send to mixing professionals. I guess I would just have to find something else once it dies. Since I don't need crazy functionality, I guess I could use just about anything to do the grunt work...alignment, edits, etc.

 

[Rabidhamster]

This might not be for me since I haven’t used cakewalk since before it was free anyway but I used to really like Cubase

 

[mikewalker]

I used the free Cake briefly a couple of years ago ( good for midi editing!) but it got crashy and fell out of favor. Many years using Sonar, and Cake before that (back in the 90s). But I've been enjoying MixBus the past couple of years and it mostly does the job very well. It is not the nicest for MIDI editing though, so I might have a look at the new SONAR ( and I applied for the NEXT beta, mainly to check out the lyric features). Calling it cross-platform is a stretch ( No Linux!! ) but sadly that's getting to be a major drawback with the new stuff these days.

 

[stringthrough]

As long as the price will be reasonable ($200 or less) I'll stay with Cakewalk/ Sonar. Learning curves have a price in terms of lost time and frustration, so yes, I'll pay a few bucks to avoid them.

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

If you're a Cakewalk by BandLab user you might know by now that they have officially announced that it will become a paid DAW again after several years of being a free download. It will be renamed back to SONAR, as it used to be 10+ years ago.
For now, you don't have to worry about your daw not functioning as it should, or being deactivated. CakeWalk will continue to work as usual, only thing is it will no longer be supported after the new two paid versions are released later this year. No more details are known about these, either being paid by monthly subscription or full price as other DAWs. Still have to wait for more information on that.
In my particular case, I've used cakewalk since the last versions of Sonar, which was bundled with other software in my very first audio interface. I have quite a few projects written/recorded with it, and now I have to choose between buying a new daw or pay for it.
Honestly, I'm not a fan of renting software, I prefer to pay full price, if possible (meaning being affordable). So the Subscription model is definitely not in my interest.
I've been looking for prices on other daws, and Studio One (Pro version) has caught my eye, has good reviews and I think a better work flow than CbB. So I'm here wondering what you guys out there are thinking.

From cakewalk to Reaper.

Never looked back

 

[Mannyinnewyork]

I've got cakewalk. Had sonar but now using cakewalk. I also have Studio One but I am so used to CW (been using it for 18 years) that I stick with it. In my case it doesn't really matter, it's just home recordings and pretty much no one hears them but my family. If was charging clients I would probably move on to Studio One.

 

[seamonkey]

"SONAR" is dead - long live "Cakewalk Sonar"!

 

[tothemax]

Great discussion, most of my real DAW experience has come from Cakewalk. Not sure if other products have a feature like the CbB Pro Channel... Once I started using it for final mixes and mastering it pretty much hooked me on the product. The developers were really thinking on that one.

 

[Aloe]

Not sure if other products have a feature like the CbB Pro Channel

it's basically a channel strip with FX, integrated to track view, right? cubase has something alike.

studio one takes a different approach, when there's no dedicated channel strip with FX, there're regular inserts that you can view and modify from the track view. the FX parameters can be expanded (and controlled within the track inspector pane) for most plugins.

 

[Aloe]

NEXT will run on Windows and MacOS but Sonar will be Windows only?

I believe, the Sonar is the legacy codebase. I recall at least two different attempts to make this code to run on Mac, one was a rewrite, second was bundling a Windows emulator. but both failed and were abandoned.

to be frank, the code in old legacy Sonar is really very old and outdated. moreover, Sonar projects typically heavily depend on Windows-only stuff like DirectX plugins. that's why it's reasonable to keep old Sonar compatible with old projects and Windows-only.

on the other hand, starting from scratch for the new cross-platform DAW also makes sense. as, again, adapting the old legacy codebase to the multiplatform compatibility is much more harder than writing it from scratch. of course, this will sacrifice the compatibility with old projects.

 

[tothemax]

The Pro Channel includes a very cool basic set of plugin's that you apply post track (or global track for a better term). Plus you have the Pro Channel on your Master and any insert channels as well. I find it really helpful to tweak a track after I have the basic track dialed in. This YouTube covers it pretty well. Basically a great tool for a final mix, and for mastering. Plus it has the capability to add plugins, a very nice feature out of the box.

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