The short answer to why it is free is that all core platform software from BandLab is free - thanks to Meng's vision to make a powerful platform available to everyone with no boundaries.  As he indicated earlier, add on's to the platform such as plugins may not be free and of course BandLab also makes more traditional hardware and physical products . As far as Cakewalk goes our focus over the last year has been stability and workflow. We've made enormous strides in improving the software, o