CAKEWALK BY BANDLAB - FREE TO EVERYONE

europa_man · 04-04-2018, 03:59 AM

SONAR relaunches as ‘Cakewalk by BandLab’:
Iconic DAW now free to download for everyone!

https://blog.bandlab.com/cakewalk-by...press-release/

Quite an announcement!

dug dog · 04-04-2018, 04:39 AM

Did NOT see this coming. I went so far as to check the date of the article- what with it being so close to April 1st.

ReaMike · 04-04-2018, 04:39 AM

Nice!

billybk1 · 04-04-2018, 04:50 AM

Wow, the former flagship version of Cakewalks SONAR Platinum is now free to all. This is going to put pressure on the other major DAW apps to compete in a free marketplace.
I think the days of paying hundreds of dollars to purchase and hundreds more when you consider 5-10 years of yearly upgrade fees of a DAW app are coming to an end. I started with SONAR 1.0 back in 2001 and did the yearly upgrades and finally did the "lifetime" deal at the end. Probably spent several thousand during the past 17 years on SONAR upgrades. I am downloading the new "Cakewalk by BandLab" version now to see what it offers in stability and new features. You can't beat free.......interesting times.

Saukkola1 · 04-04-2018, 04:53 AM

Has anyone tried this to see if this?

EvilDragon · 04-04-2018, 04:57 AM

Quite interesting development. Of course all the bundled products, you can't get for free, and that makes sense.

Pretty cool move.

ivansc · 04-04-2018, 05:15 AM

Odd. I had already joined and was expecting to get some sort of Cakewalk-alike but all I can access is an online Bandlab project window. What am I missing?

Saukkola1 · 04-04-2018, 05:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ivansc

Odd. I had already joined and was expecting to get some sort of Cakewalk-alike but all I can access is an online Bandlab project window. What am I missing?

that is also all I received, is this just someone's late April fools joke?

azslow3 · 04-04-2018, 05:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ivansc

Odd. I had already joined and was expecting to get some sort of Cakewalk-alike but all I can access is an online Bandlab project window. What am I missing?

They have not updated the main page yet.

https://cakewalk.bandlab.com/

or directly:
https://www.bandlab.com/download/assistant/windows

Softsynth · 04-04-2018, 06:13 AM

Bold move.
Hopefully there won't be any "in the cloud" crap. That type of business model is a very unwelcome, I hope the cloud plugin/DAW model fails as it would probably flourish at the expense of what we have now if it succeeds.

Diego · 04-04-2018, 06:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ivansc

Odd. I had already joined and was expecting to get some sort of Cakewalk-alike but all I can access is an online Bandlab project window. What am I missing?

From BandLab Assistant select APP and then download and install Cakewalk

azslow3 · 04-04-2018, 05:24 AM

Since it is free now, I recommend to try it and take a note about some features. May be these features, as FRs for Reaper, can get more support then:

* check how ARA is working (if you have Melodyne)
* check MIDI files import/export
* check functionality when working with loops (groove pitch following, loop constructor with a possibility to export acidized WAVs, the quality of automatic tempo conversion for percussive sounds)

For control surfaces other then Faderport and MCU, you will need AZController (will come into Reaper in its next incarnation)

And in case you have started some project in Cakewalk by BandLab, you can any time teleport it back into Reaper with ReaCWP

Greg Savage · 04-16-2018, 09:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by billybk1

Wow, the former flagship version of Cakewalks SONAR Platinum is now free to all. This is going to put pressure on the other major DAW apps to compete in a free marketplace.

I doubt it.

Before it was free it was hardly talked about. Now that's it free, it's still hardly talked about. Most schools teach and push logic and pt.

Most newbies entering, go off of what all the cool kids use and there are no videos of people making good music in Cakewalk so...

it's nice that's it free, but I don't see it raising a brow of any major daw out there.

Retro Audio Enthusiast · 04-05-2018, 03:43 AM

Kept getting nags to register though I was registered and it ran on demo mode. Not happy with BandLab Assistant loading at startup with no option to disable. Got the free VST plugs and uninstalled.
Sorry, nothing will top REAPER.

dug dog · 04-05-2018, 06:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Retro Audio Enthusiast

Got the free VST plugs and uninstalled.

I'm a bit confused. Do the plugs continue to work after the host is uninstalled?

Reno.thestraws · 04-05-2018, 06:45 AM

AFAIK, it will be free for 6 months (even for the installed version)

vitalker · 04-05-2018, 07:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reno.thestraws

AFAIK, it will be free for 6 months (even for the installed version)

Could you please share the link to confirm your words?

Reno.thestraws · 04-05-2018, 08:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vitalker

Could you please share the link to confirm your words?

install the products and then go in the "about cakewalk" menu

Retro Audio Enthusiast · 04-05-2018, 07:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dug dog

I'm a bit confused. Do the plugs continue to work after the host is uninstalled?

Yes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lachrimae

Install
Copy the following Cakewalk VST folders to your normal VST directory:
StBoost
StPX64
StTL64
StVX64

Enjoy your new Cakewalk VSTs in Reaper

https://i.imgur.com/jUXyqfP.png
https://i.imgur.com/j82A0av.png
https://i.imgur.com/n5QjEHc.png
https://i.imgur.com/1SHIEnU.png

C-H · 04-05-2018, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Retro Audio Enthusiast

Yes.

I did get the Drums, strings and Bass to work in Reaper but never saw these ones.

Edgemeal · 04-08-2018, 06:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by europa_man

SONAR relaunches as ‘Cakewalk by BandLab’:
Iconic DAW now free to download for everyone!

Thanks for the heads up, Installed on secondary Win10 PC to check it out, not sure I'll use it, can't see learning another DAW, and Reaper does all I could need, I think.

I kind of like the SonitusFXWahwah FX, so I copied its 3 files over to my main Win7 PC, registered the DLL, fired up Reaper and there it is, and it works! At least I got a plugin out of it!

ajawamnet · 04-08-2018, 05:40 PM

I was a Cakewalk user since the DOS days - at one point I had thirteen registrations on their website portal.

Not so sure about this...

From their page: https://help.cakewalk.com/hc/en-us/c...etting-Started

"Any retail purchases of Cakewalk products were delivered to stores prior to Cakewalk joining the BandLab family. While we cannot offer help with redeeming SONAR, we do encourage you to use Cakewalk by BandLab. Third party content included in your original bundle can be redeemed via the original manufacturer, and can be used in Cakewalk by BandLab."

This is interesting:
Will this free version of Cakewalk by BandLab eventually cost money?

With the Give What You Want system, you can decide what you think Cakewalk by BandLab is worth to you. In addition, we may include some fun gifts for those users who pay a certain amount.

And again:
"Can I download old versions of Cakewalk products?

No.

With Cakewalk by BandLab, you’ll have a brand new version that can open projects from all previous versions saved as bundle files (.bun) or Cakewalk Project files (.cwp)."

Hmmm... Dunno.

And the Assistant thing which seems to be running as a service.

My spidy senses are starting to tingle a bit...