Brian Walton

I'm paid the make video productions and have never used it. All audio is always handled in cakewalk and then put in various NLEs. (Premiere Pro, Vegas, Davinci Resolve, Camtasia). But we all have different needs and workflows. Also AAF doesn't work "well" in all the DAWs listed, and was my point. As for the other post about VSTis. It is much about ones skill to manipulate audio. I have GPO and find it adequate at best. And in case you are unaware Sonar was packaged with some stuff from GPO within the Dimension pro program. I don't think any DAW comes with market leading sampled instruments if that is what you need.

You are doing it wrong if Cakewalk + $500 doesn't get you everything you need to produce good music. $500 is the tier these other "comperable" products are at that include real content. All of this is better than what comes with any DAW under $300. https://vis.versilstudios.com/vsco-community.html http://www.philharmonia.co.uk/explore/sound_samples https://samplesfrommars.com/products/all-products-from-mars https://stevenslatedrums.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360011778653-SSD5-Free-Win-Installation This was $40 https://samplesfrommars.com/products/all-products-from-mars Cinematic Loops/OneHits/Etc that you get with Platinum. Well if you don't produce EDM/Trance/Hip hop, not sure how much real value they have then. When I went through the SPLT content, that is what I kept thinking this stuff is primarily usable for that type of music produciton. You can get that kind of content for $5 by buying a Computer Music Magazine digitally and then downloading the content. Do that with the right purchases and for about $30 you could have a collection of content that is far larger than what comes included. LOTs of Free/Cheap loop/sample content out there. that $5 purchase will also get you a bunch of Pro Quality Effects and Instruments. While there is a lot of Free Junk out there, plenty of stuff that is just as good as the paid products. The AAS stuff I mentioned is top tier and was available for a period of time for literally $1. If you get such a package with a DAW it will be tied to that DAW or it will require another authorization method. Lack of AAF support (or good support) is common with a number of DAWs, it isn't just a Cakewalk limitaiton. I work with video a lot and frankly never need it for the work I do. As for transfering projects to other DAWs, the pros I work with don't care about it and just want unprocessed tracks for mixing/mastering if I'm sending it out for that purpose. All depends on the content you are looking for. If you are not willing to do any real research on the market, then yes, paying money for a package might be a good option (and Sonar was one of the BEST paid options for the content it came with). Just like people buy the giant Waves bundles only to find out they really only use 3-4 plug ins in the package that they could have bought for $25 a piece.

Yes, I understand that. I'm a "lifer" so I had all those "port over" if you will. However, with a bit of research one can get a lot of Free or very cheap VST and VSTis these days, including some that came with Sonar. Ex. The AAS pugins were basically $1 at plugin boutique. You can get a free drummer in SSD5 (among others). The only effects I think I use that were SPLT supplied and not in Bandlab are MB Comp, LP EQ, Adaptive Limiter and CA-2A. CA-2A was free for anyone for a period of time. Each of these has a nearly free alternative in the market. Though I like Sonar offering better. The other piece here is the fact people are still paying for DAWs...when Cakewalk is free. That same money could be invested in Plugs and Instruments that are frankly of better quality than comes in the box (we had to pay ~$500 to get AD and Melodye...we were not talking about a 100 package to get those real features). I do have Melodyne Studio 4 (something I never would have bought without the Sonar package and upgrades AND Cakewalk rolling out the integration with the Timeline) that is based on ARA. I'm a big supporter of Davinci Resolve - however it doesnt' have anywhere close to the system compatibility as other NLE. It is FAR more picky about the computer you put it on if it will actually work and perform properly. Davinci Resolve won't even open on a computer that I've done Multi-Cam HD productions on with an Old version of PP for many years. I can run it on a new laptop but it doesnt' even have great playback with a single cam. Don't get me wrong, if the computer will run it, it is beyond fantastic. However it has a limited scope of computers the thing will actually work on.

Stems can refer to individual tracks (with or without effects applied) or Sub mixes of tracks. People started using the term and there was no standarization. The only thing that is really agreed upon is the idea that someone is giving you more than one track to put in another DAW. With each track being the lengh of the entire song (or at least all starting at the start time), so that it can be put in any DAW without the need for offsets in start times between tracks. Always confirm what someone wants when dealing with this stuff.

I don't see a bunch of companies looking to buy Gibson either, and they are a household name even non-musicians know. While I do think both markets (DAW and Guitars) are generally over saturated, there is a decent sized market and people did buy products in these catergories, the question is who they bought from. Everyone in the market had a choice to buy under the Gibson umbrella or from another company. I bought a Heritage Guitar (before Bandland bought them) because they ere better than Gibson is today (I also own vintage Gibsons). I bought my DAW from Gibson, since Sonar was better than other DAWs. However, both of those choices came from someone that is far more educated in these areas than your average consumer. Each of these companies had a very difficult time reaching the average person. If they had, the story would be different. While Cakewalk adoption has been strong/exceeded expectations of Bandlab....the crazy thing is people are still out there using (and buying) other DAWs when Cakewalk is offered for free. I understand this from Mac users (who are only a fraction of the personal computer market), but the rest of Windows owners. They are still paying hundreds for a "similar" product, that doesn't even look as nice? I think the points to a larger problem that being the best isn't always enough to stay afloat.

Sonar X3 is 5 years old and I could easily continue making music with it and still consider it to be better than most DAWs on the market. Would I miss some of the tweaks and updates that have been made to the platform since then? Of course, but it also goes to show the program can and will stay relevant for a long time. Off-Line installs and the lack of need for authorization would be welcome additions to open the door to more users. Does my guitar cease to work after 5 years? Nope, I can still make music with it. The DAW is no different even if development stopped, the only question is compatibility and the fact that 10 year old versions of Sonar still work goes to show Windows and Sonar seem to work pretty well with each other.

While I have access to other DAWs, I never use them. Learning one single DAW well is far more valuable than trying to squeeze a couple features out of a different one. Outside of using a DAW as a live performance tool (ala Abelton Live) or needing composition tools based on workflow and skill level, I don't see why anyone would think they need anything beyond what Cakewalk offers (assuming you had Platinum with pluings and instruments included). I'm loyal, I had no intention of jumping off the Cakewalk ship until it basically broke, and historically you have people still running Cakewalk products that are 10 years old or more just fine...Windows isn't a Mac platform where stuff just breaks after every OS update. Even with the cross grade offers that were in place, no need to take them up on them as Cakewalk still worked fine.

I'm expecting the extimates to be close to the opening bids on the Black Strat. The Martin I would also think will do better than the estimate, but it isn't as immediatly identifable with him, and in and of itself isn't like it is a pre-war Martin, so the value derived from it is stricly tied to the man himself and the history there.

Estimate on THE Black Strat seems pretty low to me.

From what I heard it seemed better than SI Drummer. The key here in part being that these are "unprocessed" drums with built in effects and multi channel outs. With that functionality in skilled hands I'd expect to be able to come up with templates that transform them to a production. The SI Kit(s) are far from terrible, but they are a bit light in detail and range within each kit. Each drum model would be tied to the DAW (in most cases), and thus also requireing the purchase of a DAW. I'm still of the mindset that that is no reason to use any other DAW than Cakewalk outside of compositional tools (Chord generator, etc). I don't even consider loops in the same catergory as a MIDI drum kit. They are far more limited when it comes to composition and usability. I own Drum Core, and I'm unaware of anything that could possibly trump that in terms of real Drum Loops in a single package....however I virtually never use them unless it calls for something static. The MIDI version of the same kits and patterns however opens up a different world. SSD5 is indeed a good option though like this, one kit in the package.

Maybe a nice option for those that only have the SI one from Bandlab's Cakewalk. Yes, those of us long time users likely have AD, Session Drummer, EZ Drummer, "Superior", etc but those all cost us way more than $9.

I'm guessing it is because there have been 3-4 updates in the last week. Haven't had problems personally with any of them. But that can certainly create a red flag. However, never update in the middle of a project, it just isn't a good business practice.

Quad Curve with Flyout is one of the true Gems in the Cakewalk package. It was a premium feature when the software had $100, $200, $500 tiers. The fly out was only available in the $500 tier and was one of the primary reasons I went "all in." The fact it is free in the package should not muddy your eye sight into thinking it isn't one of the best on the market for non-liner phase needs.

It isn't about the ability to technically playback 24bit it is if someone has the equipment to render and reveal those differences. Your phones doesn't have a high resolution output. Stock car speakers are no where close. And the list goes on. You are correct that people could playback the files, but very few people have the playback system to reveal those differences. Plenty of studies show that most can't even tell a decent bit rate MP3 from a WAV file. Let alone the more subtle jump to high res audio.

Check out the Fishman Aura system, this is very similar to the concept of that product. Result quality is direclty tied to how well you match the source (do you have a pickup and guitar that matches a preset they used to caputre the "image"). If you do, the results are pretty good.

Most of the time 24 bit 44.1 or 16bit 44.1 Most people have a bottle neck on preamp quality, etc that high res above this is basically lost (even if the preamp, etc indicate they support high res). While I appreicate high res files and recording, the vast majority of the time clients can't hear the difference at all on their own playback systems, and by the time it is mixed down to a single stereo file (likley at 16 bit 44.1) it loses those things that made the high res sound different. I record high res also, but honestly is it usually just a waste of disc space. You will hear far more difference in the way audio is processed by various plugins and techniques than you will strictly based on the bit depth and sample frequency. Focus more on things that matter. How many people do you know that have a playback rig that even supports higher than 44.1 16bit? The only people I know that do are recording engineers also. Most musicians don't even have that. Unless they are a hyubrid musician and recording engineer, it seems pretty rare to see a rig that actually reveals the difference or limitations in the source.

You can give them funding via the tip jar https://www.bandlab.com/products/cakewalk/rewards I paid for Lifetime Updates for the Program when it was with Gibson, also very thankful they have invested in development and the fact they made it free is just amazing.

All Mixed and Mastered using Cakewalk by Bandlab (though these do not showcase the vast featureset of Cakewalk, much closer to old school tape recordings)

I purchased it in 2014, still no updates.

Pretty sure it has been at least 6 years since they released the Atlantis piano which was suposed to be the precursor for 2.0 releases. It is sad and frustrating they haven't done any development work in that amount of time. Especially with this language on the website: How frequently is TruePianos updated and improved ? On a regular basis. We constantly work to add more content and improve the engine. Nice small footprint and they run this kind of sale every year end it seems.

I'd like to know the same. Where are all the older Cakewalk install files going to be hosted? Many of the "standard" currently used products have not been ported to Bandlab (yet?) such as the Limiter, Multi-Band Compressor, LP EQ, etc. These are some of the most modern and relevant things they released so the question isn't just the "legacy" stuff. Will that be hosted here now, or still on the old Cakewalk interface and servers?