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Sonar Platinum vs Cakewalk By BL


Kevin Keough

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I'm still using Sonar Platinum. How about you. Should I switch to the latest updates from BL? What do I gain , What do I lose?  I hear some plugins go away. Is the new CW stable? Should I be looking at other DAWS?

Thanks for all your input and feedback.

Kevin

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3 hours ago, Kevin Keough said:

What do I gain , What do I lose?  I hear some plugins go away. Is the new CW stable? Should I be looking at other DAWS?

You gain an up to date and supported version of Sonar.

You lose the state of being stuck with a potentially  outdated  DAW, with no hope of ever getting any more bug fixes.

As far as looking at other DAWs, what @synkrotronsays... ^^^ :D

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The best way to see if CW is for you is to download it, install it and try it. As long as you don't uninstall your existing Sonar set up, you will retain all your previous plug-ins in CW and can always go back to using Platinum (but I don't know why anyone would want to go back to Platinum). Best of all, it's not just a free trial, the full installation of CW is COMPLETELY FREE.

It's a no brainer. I still have every version from Sonar 8 on up installed, but use only CW now, even when modifying sessions recorded in past versions.

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Quite the opposite features-wise - a lot of people who never had Pro Channel stuff before now have it for free. 

Cakewalk by Bandlab (CbB) - the app - is entirely different to Bandlab - the social platform - (although it does have import/export to Bandlab baked in now too). It's, for all intents and purposes, SONAR with more than a year of updates and enhancements, and a lot of bug fixes. So long as you don't uninstall SONAR and you make your VST search paths match SONAR's, it's the app you're familiar with, but better and you get to keep all of the stuff you paid for when you bought SONAR to use in CbB.  If you weigh up the time it takes to put CbB in and try it out vs. the time it takes to get up to speed with an entirely different app, and losing all of the bundled stuff that was locked to SONAR that's available in CbB, it's kind of a no-brainer.

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I had read somewhere that some features were lost, perhaps something to do with pro channel.

I realize having a supported version like CbB is preferred over a non supported version.

Trying to decide if CbB is going to live up to Sonar Platinum and eventually surpass it, or if it's time to go with another daw. 

I know CbB is free dollar wise, but not time and effort wise. I see bandlab as a song sharing platform, not a software development platform. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Thanks for the input.

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On 4/4/2019 at 7:54 PM, Kevin Keough said:

I had read somewhere that some features were lost, perhaps something to do with pro channel.

I realize having a supported version like CbB is preferred over a non supported version.

Trying to decide if CbB is going to live up to Sonar Platinum and eventually surpass it, or if it's time to go with another daw. 

I know CbB is free dollar wise, but not time and effort wise. I see bandlab as a song sharing platform, not a software development platform. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Thanks for the input.

All the features you currently own will be accessible in CbB. None are lost, including Pro Channel stuff.

In my opinion, CbB has already surpassed SONAR Platinum, due to a year of bug fixes and refinements done mostly by the same guys who were developing SONAR. If you're familiar with SONAR Platinum there will be no learning curve for CbB. The only time you will lose is an hour downloading the program and installing it. It will read your existing preferences, so the transition should be easy, although you might have to tell the new program where all your plugins are located.

You're right Bandlab and Cakewalk are two completely different things. You can use them both, or you can just continue using Cakewalk by Bandlab as you've been using SONAR: As a full-featured DAW, easily competitive with anything else currently on the market. If you're interested in other DAWs, by all means check 'em out. But as of now I see no urgent reason to switch.

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On ‎4‎/‎4‎/‎2019 at 7:54 PM, Kevin Keough said:

1) I had read somewhere that some features were lost, perhaps something to do with pro channel.

2) Trying to decide if CbB is going to live up to Sonar Platinum and eventually surpass it, or if it's time to go with another daw. 

3) I know CbB is free dollar wise, but not time and effort wise. I see bandlab as a song sharing platform, not a software development platform. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Thanks for the input.

1) Wrong. btw, if you keep SONAR Platinum installed the extras and adds-ons are accessible in CbB  
2) It surpasses SONAR Platinum

3) CbB is the evolution of SONAR Platinum, BandLab's web app is for music sharing/collaborating. They are independent of each other but can be used in conjunction is you want.

 

 

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Having been abandoned by Gibson Cakewalk after purchasing Platinum, I have been trying Reaper.  But still considering my options, and  I like SPlat.   So, I thought, go back and study the issue again.   And after reading some of the shills here,  decided to at least checkout the latest from Bandlab, having downloaded THEIR Cakewalk some time back.  

So, Bandlab Assistant update install warns me that the latest update doesnt support Win 7.    

Do I want to continue, it asks? 

No.  I trust Bandlab or any other DAW maker/plugin publisher about as much as I trust Microsoft to get it right and not screw up their user's setup and waste hours and hours while incessantly promising to solve all the worlds problems with better, faster, and quicker loading software. 

MS Window's Nine Biggest Lies:  This new version will load faster.

Which is Not.At.All.

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4 hours ago, twanger said:

,  decided to at least checkout the latest from Bandlab, having downloaded THEIR Cakewalk some time back.  

So, Bandlab Assistant update install warns me that the latest update doesnt support Win 7.    

 

It does not mean it will not run on Windows 7 (which it does, and does well).   It just means that if you do run into issue and you're still running Windows 7, then you will not get much support.  They will probably just tell you to upgrade to a currently supported  operating system.

I suspect you won't like that, but consider this.  What do you think Microsoft is going tell the Cakewalk developers if they themselves need assistance from Microsoft and they tell Microsoft that the issue only affects Windows 7.  Microsoft will tell the Cakewalk developers that Windows 7 is no longer supported and to focus their development on applications for supported operating systems.

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18 hours ago, twanger said:

Having been abandoned by Gibson Cakewalk after purchasing Platinum, I have been trying Reaper.  But still considering my options, and  I like SPlat.   So, I thought, go back and study the issue again.   And after reading some of the shills here,  decided to at least checkout the latest from Bandlab, having downloaded THEIR Cakewalk some time back.  

So, Bandlab Assistant update install warns me that the latest update doesnt support Win 7.    

Do I want to continue, it asks? 

No.  I trust Bandlab or any other DAW maker/plugin publisher about as much as I trust Microsoft to get it right and not screw up their user's setup and waste hours and hours while incessantly promising to solve all the worlds problems with better, faster, and quicker loading software. 

MS Window's Nine Biggest Lies:  This new version will load faster.

Which is Not.At.All.

Well I am running an audio interface in Win 10 with manufacturer drivers that were last updated for Win 7. It works. The device is end of  life and no longer supported, but I can live with that until it stops working. My choice.

But I can understand why  application developers only support the currently supported Windows  operating systems, because in this case their tools are totally dependent on Microsoft. It's fine if you wish  to run end of life operating systems, but you should focus on DAWs that were were developed and tested on them.

If you wish to run the latest DAW, you should keep up with the latest OS for best results. That's where it was tested.

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