Michael Vogel

Let’s go back to 4 tracks of magnetic tape and splicing, bouncing down tracks to get another track for recording, reduced SNR, head realignment. Yeh it was exciting and what we had to do to get the best sound possible at that time. You had to re-record as there was no practical alternative. Digital technology has opened the door to creativity, making it available to more people who don’t have to be electronics technicians to operate the equipment. Access to technology doesn’t make them better musicians but owning a 4 track didn’t make you a star either. In the end, good music will find a way to be heard. There was always bad music too. Mozart was a genius in his time but I bet there were others we’ve never heard of simply because they didn’t get the opportunities or their music stank.

Cakewalk (under Gibson) were actually involved in developing the ARA protocol along with Celemony and Presonus. Lots of collaboration among developers where Cakewalk gets little recognition. Noel in particular has worked very closely with companies like Microsoft on audio aspects of the OS.

Scook has a number of utilities recently updated. Beat me to it. Use the link “here” in the referenced link.

I think I understand the enormity of the undertaking that Cakewalk is implementing with this change. So if I do understand it correctly, SONAR will look the same as CbB does now but the graphic elements will have greater flexibility in how they can be manipulated behind the scenes, opening up greater options in the future. Surely there will be new features to see and play with, otherwise there is no perceived upgrade. Or have I misunderstood completely?

I’d say from what I’ve read that CbB was frozen at the current release with all development since then to be released in Sonar, otherwise what would be the point in paying for the first version of Sonar if it’s exactly the same as CbB. I’d expect there to be a years worth of significant development difference between the current version of CbB (with some bug fixes yet to be released) and new Sonar. If it’s a reasonable difference, I’d pay for that. Maybe!

It’s the same old problem. Groups meet and after many years of meeting they develop a standard. In the meantime manufacturers looking for a marketing edge develop a protocol peculiar to their own hardware/software and so we end up with numerous different so called standards that don’t coexist particularly well together. Take VST, any version, where individual developers implement the spec in different ways. Again we end up with incompatibility between plugins and different plug-in developers. Very few plugins are developed with strict adherence to the particular protocol. They should all learn music and focus on harmony.

You and me both.

Possibly ASIO4ALL was installed at sometime and was copied into the Friendly Name Field inadvertently.

Like SONAR and Cakewalk by Bandlab, NEXT will not be available as an app on iPad and Android. Bandlab however is an IOS and Android app now. to repeat; SONAR and Cakewalk by Bandlab (the current free Windows only DAW) will be available as Windows applications. NEXT will be Windows and Mac compatible . There is no IOS or Android NEXT app but there is an IOS and Android app for Bandlab. Check it in your relevant app store - Google play or Apple app store.

Thanks Noel. That’s a nifty tidbit of info about NEXT.

We’ll have to wait and see.

There was a time we were limited by the length of tape available so judicious use of overdubs, mixing and remixing had to be applied. At some time before that a composer had to assemble an orchestra to realise their musical creation. Today we can keep it all, every single note played in a recording session and put off decisions about what to keep or delete or record again. Cakewalk is at its very core a non-destructive DAW and new users would be better served learning to use that feature to the full than turn on overwrite mode and not take advantage of these exceptional features. It took a lot of coding chops to create such a rich depth of features. People expect that sitting at the helm of a complex recording facility is child’s play where in fact it takes a lot of knowledge and skill to manipulate the knobs and buttons (virtual though they may be). It takes experience and application to learn not only the software but the art of the mix engineer, producer, composer, orchestrator, musician just to mention a few of the hats people wear and then expect it should all be intuitive and come naturally. As if.

Try using the app to access the Bandlab user forum. This is the Cakewalk forum which is specifically for the PC only DAW program Cakewalk by Bandlab.

If I could do it over - I would defy my father’s wishes and follow the path to music that had been laid out for me by some of my teachers. Sadly my dad didn’t see music as a valid career choice.

Mediocrity is a female dog, that I wear proudly. * not sure if the ‘b’ word is acceptable.