John Vere

During the CbB era the developers added a lot of new features. Workspaces was one. I personally think it’s a great system for customizing your views and a zillion other things you use. 

I don’t think many old time users even took the time to explore what you can do. So they just ignore it and set it to none. Many had figured out screen sets and still use them. But screen sets are very limited compared to Workspace. 
 

The biggest problem is that for some dumb reason the developers instead of setting the default Workspace to none , or advanced, set it to Basic. This has resulted in countless posts here on the forum where people can’t find stuff they know should be there. Basic removes a ton of features. When asked why they did this they responded with “ This is so new users will not be overwhelmed by all the features.”

The views menu default is missing items. Choose the Advanced workspace to see all features. The Basic workspace is bare bones. Stupid choice for a default. 

There’s a zillion different ways to make it work. 
Im thinking you could use velocity to make individual notes louder.?

2 hours ago, 57Gregy said:

When opening CbB I get a message about the special deal for Sonar. While it is a deal, I can't justify adding another monthly payment to my budget. Anyone who has ever heard my music knows I use almost none of the extras included in any Cakewalk program. I record, do a little mixing and that's it.
And SONAR Home Studio 6 is still working well.
But for those who go far beyond just recording, I say go for it. 

Hey there @57Gregy

The free  version is all you need. Trust me old friend. 

Why don’t you just go ahead and download it and try it for yourself?  

There’s also the option under the track view menu item Tracks to choose all inputs or outputs. 
 

It would be better if you started a new thread. 
 

Make sure in audio preference settings that it is set for ASIO. 
The presonus is the device listed in all the boxes especially the one in Sync and Caching 

Oh I broke the rules yesterday as I had it running on my laptop and my desktop. But nobody noticed. But yes that was the intention of the agreement. Always has been a honour system 

Don’t be afraid it’s only a free Daw it won’t bite you. The best way to find out is to just install it yourself and quit worrying about it. 

The “Free Sonar “ video now has over 600 views. 

@Wookiee I can’t remember if Splat phoned home? I think they charged us like $400 For a year of free updates and when the year was up you paid more. If you chose not to pay you simply got no more updates. S1 has that same option. Then they offered a “Lifetime free updates “ just before Gibson walked away from us. 
That lifetime update deal seems to still stuck in many users heads. They will be the same ones complaining about the end of  Cakewalk. 
 

With Splat I do remember you had to use CCC like I just did last month. For that you need the server and you password. At least the final version doesn’t ever need re activation as I have always had it installed on all my music computers since 2016. 

I appreciated that Bandlab has kept the legacy products available to us they really have no financial incentive to do that. 
 

If I was keeping score about the release of Free Sonar I’d say well over 1,000 very happy people are now using it and growing every day. 
 

This is exactly what this wonderful Daw needs. Growth! 
 

Please people don’t call it a lite version. It is the same full version as Premium. The features missing is a very small list.
It is common for Daw’s to offer 3 tiers that all functions are available but as you pay more you get mostly add ons. These are usually just more plug ins. 
 

Cubase Elements ( $149) as example can’t do tempo extraction, Audio to midi and a dozen other features Free Sonar has. 

Yes the graphics are now different but it looks like most of the other Daw’s! I honestly can’t tell the difference anymore. You can most certainly choose Mercury theme and it will be blindingly white. 
 

1 hour ago, Pathfinder said:

We all know the free Sonar will be going bye bye

We actually don’t know much at all. Not since 2017. Hi. We bought the Software from Gibson and it will be free.
2023 June Hi we have spruced up Cakewalk and we will re name it Sonar just to cause mass confusion on the internet. We can’t tell you how much it costs but we’ll let you know when we know. 
Oh. And Cakewalk will be discontinued once you get the hang of Sonar. 

2024 - January we have great news Sonar is now available for only $149 per year. 
2024-July  Looks like no one took the bait so let’s make it $99. Or was that $49?

2025 - Gee you people still aren’t taking the bait let’s just give it to you free. 

At least it’s provided some great entertainment here n the forum . but be careful what you say. Locked threads are trending. 

Generally midi data can be dragged into an empty space on the track view and it will create a new track. 
You can also drag midi clips to an instrument or midi track. 
Are you sure the clips are midi? 
They might be in a format that Sonar doesn’t support. 

There’s actually no limit using the system they use. But Noel did say that they can track this and would possibly put the brakes on if someone is say using more than 3. I have always had Cakewalk on about 4 computers. 
 

Take note. If you are already have( had?) a Bandlab Membership you cannot get the deal. This deal is obviously targeted directly at Cakewalk users. 
I can’t see any link to it on the Cakewalk Sonar website. 

 

9 hours ago, Terry Kelley said:

 

If people start dropping back from the subscription to free, that’s not good. There must be a plan.

Not necessarily. Example I had 100% switched to another Daw. I rebuilt my computer and only had installed Platinum as a “just in case “. 

Now I have Sonar again and without the membership. This keeps me as a Sonar user! Possibly I even switch back because I end up liking Sonar better than the other Daw. I don’t know that yet as Im rebuilding my studio and don’t have any time for recording right now. 
 

I saw another old time Sonar user who had switched to the same Daw Im using asking about the new Free Sonar. 

My video has had over 300 views in only one day and that’s very high for my channel. A lot of my subscribers switched over to other Daw’s. 
A free version is available and only a fool would not grab it. Especially long time users who went elsewhere because now they can open old projects without having to install Splat. 

I have a feeling that they looked at the numbers they gathered from their “Login “ system and Cakewalk probability still has way more users that Sonar. 
Nobody on the music internet has said anything about Sonar. Nobody has even made any You Tubes. It was shrinking fast while the Daw I bought has been growing. 

This move will work the way the free Cakewalk move worked. It is still a mystery why they bumbled along like they did for the last 2 years. 
 

On 6/22/2025 at 12:08 AM, Waldemar Pawlik said:

I would still prefer a single key stroke that allows toggling back and forth between screens.

I'm not sure I understand , Once I set up a one monitor layout all I do is press "D" and the multi dock opens full screen because that's the way I saved the Workspace  . Press D again I'm back to track view. 

You set up your track view the way you want it. Now open the multi dock and set it up they way you want it. Now either keep the multi doc open with the view you most use, like console or return to the track view and now save this as a new workspace. Every project will open in the state that you saved the workspace in. 

I normally save it with the track view with no Browser,  Inspector, Tempo track or arranger open. It was saved with the Console view full screen. So I just press D and I get the console. The PVR will be there if I double click a midi track. Melodyne opens as well. Super fast, one key. 

In the add track box there is a toggle for this. Check that. 

That reminds me. I wonder what happens to Sock Monkey’s membership when it expires in July? Do they charge my credit card $149?? 
I guess I better log in and remove my card. 

I poked around all last night and my conclusion is if you transition from Cakewalk there will be nothing missing as far as I can tell. Only Drum replacer for some odd reason. 
I’m not sure what would be missing if you were a first time user and didn’t have prior versions installed. For sure TTS-1 would be missing. 
 

But Boost 11, Sonitus and the stock pro channel are all there. 
Anyway people should check it out for themselves. Nothing to lose lots to gain. My prediction is that very soon you will have to anyway. 

49 minutes ago, Bapu said:

The free version?

Yep, I’ve run it through my normal workflow and I don’t see anything that I have always used is missing.

It really is just missing some easily replaced plug ins and the few items @sjoens listed. 

A wonderful second Daw. 

 

After using around 8 different Daw’s over the last year I will say that yes, Sonar is possibly the only one that has a problem like this.
 

have 3 interfaces that I use depending on what Im doing that day. 

Most Daw’s seem to automatically switch to the connected interface. Some ask you to check and choose on the start screen. 
S1 is by far the most advanced where it allows you to totally customize inputs and outputs , rename them and save this for recalling. It seems designed to be used with complex systems. 
 

Most times as long as the interface is connected and used by Windows, Sonar will automatically use it. But I’ve had times when I get the no audio device warning as well. And it also will sometimes default to the Master output being set to None. Then with my Motu M4 it requires I totally re boot the computer. 

If this is a USB Mike they are known to not work well. Some do have an ASIO driver which is the only driver that won’t have latency. Next best choice is WASAPI exclusive mode. 
For proper recording with any Daw an audio interface is required. One that comes with ASIO drivers. 
 

No. 
There’s basically two things. vst effect and vst instruments. 
You can add a vst effect to the effects bin but not another instrument. 
Samplers generally use samples to generate sound. 
Read the manual for the sampler to learn how it works. 

Ah get out the turd polish! But it’s hard to make a turd into something else other than a turd. 
 

The bottom line is we can easily fix minor flaws in audio recordings but only a miracle by someone who is very knowledgeable and skilled can save audio recordings that are very flawed. It’s wishful thinking that AI can replace a human that has that ability. For now anyway. 
 

Most manipulative audio software does result in various degrees of artifacts. Even Melodyne requires a very light touch. And I doubt it would be ideal for you as its whole design is based on visual editing of audio. 
It works like a midi piano roll but the blobs are tiny pieces of audio. You have to have the Studio version to get the level of editing you would need for noise removal. I think it’s like $700. 
 

I would definitely take up the offers for free help with this. 

But the only real solution is to re record audio recordings that had issues. 

The interesting thing about midi is we have been using the midi 1.0 spec. Since the early 80’s. Midi 1.0 is sequential serial as in each event has to wait it’s turn to be transmitted. It’s like a cat door. Only one cat at a time. 

So we always had to be mindful of sending data over a midi network. Daw’s seem to be more immune to experiencing midi log jams that resulted in stuck notes as in two cats trying to get through the door. 

Your issue sort of reminded me of this. 
 

We now have midi spec 2.0 which as I understand is not serial, it’s multiplex, the cats have a barn door now. 
 

But it seems slow I coming and we don’t hear anything about it yet. 
 

I was wondering if that would solve the problem?