Why You Should Use Cakewalk by Bandlab in 2022

[Paul Young 1,946]

 

[PavlovsCat 1,559]

I wonder if we did a poll, how many users of the deal forum are still using Cakewalk. I, like a lot of long time Cakewalk users, bought Studio One before Bandlab bought Cakewalk. But I never used it and today I find myself fairly satisfied with Cakewalk and the price is ideal.  

[Bapu 4,876]

There's nothing 'wrong' with CbB. I too jumped on Studio One Pro before Bandlab and found Version 5 to my liking (keyword: workflow).

Before CbB, Studio One had arranger track and so that is my workflow now. I tried CbB Arranger it's not my cuppa since it goes about it from a different angle (to me).

Studio One has a decent chord track and chord detection system going for it.

Studio One allows free form placement of Busses in the mixer (i.e. not a fixed place for busses only). A bus can hide/show its feeder tracks. I find that nifty.

Studio One does not have as powerful MIDI editing paradigm IMO but I do so little with MIDI these days it's not a burden to me.

 

[abacab 5,483]

1 hour ago, PavlovsCat said:

I wonder if we did a poll, how many users of the deal forum are still using Cakewalk.

Not that it really matters. Many deal forum users have moved on. Regardless, Cakewalk by Bandlab is still the best free DAW, and probably still holds up well to the paid DAWs, and used to sell for hundreds of dollars.

[kennywtelejazz 1,905]

After dropping the coin on 14 of the 20 most popular DAW's I realized there is not enough time in the world for me to crest the learning curve on some of them .

I still use Cakewalk as my primary DAW .

 

Kenny

 

[Magic Russ 676]

During the Dark Times, I looked at a lot of other DAWs.  There were a lot of things I liked about Studio One, but it didn't click.  I also picked up Bitwig as a replacement for P5 and I use that from time to time.  However, CWBL has stayed my primary.

[Amicus717 389]

I do my midi in Cubase, which I picked up when Gibson shut the doors, but I always do my final mixes and mastering in Cakewalk. And when I help my partner record her V/O work, we use Cakewalk also. 

Cubase's midi tools are pretty much state-of-the-art, but I've never come across a DAW that I find as intuitive or fun to use as Cakewalk when it comes to audio editing and mixing, and I really like ProChannel. So, Cakewalk has remained a key part of my workflow and I fire it up routinely.  

 

[Promidi 782]

All my MIDI only projects are CbB. The CAL scripts and Studioware panels I have written makes Cakewalk the only choice.  I would be lost if Cakewalk ever dropped CAL scripts and Studioware.  They speed up my workflow immensely.

[Tim Smith 479]

I never bought another DAW to replace Cakewalk, I have only bought other DAWS to compliment it.

For me Studio One is a mixed bag. I liked that they incorporated pretty good notation features right into the program. Efx are good. Can't beat it for mixing and mastering an album. The included synths are meh. Even though when the whole Gibson selloff thing went down many compared SO to CbB as similar in many respects. I would disagree that the workflow in SO is anywhere near as nice as CbB unless maybe you bought and use it in conjunction with a Presonus hardware controller. I would probably rather get something like a Mackie and use it with all my DAWS. As stand alone I find midi editing in SO to be less powerful or intuitive than the PR roll in Cakewalk. Even though SO has wonderful mastering features I prefer to master in CbB with my own plugins. On a scale of 1-10 SO to me is a 6, maybe a 7.

If I have an instrument out ready to play it with an idea, I don't see ever using anything else and I have several other DAWS I paid for. Best overall workflow to draft and mix ideas without getting hug over how something works in the DAW.

 

[artturner 157]

I'm not sure I've committed to any DAW since Cakewalk. I almost never use Cakewalk any more, probably use Cubase the most. Ableton is quickest from idea to something recorded. I like the look of Studio One, but meh on the rest of it. 

[Magick 25]

There need midi retrospective record in CbB like  Cubase, S1, Ableton Live have.

Edited December 22, 2021 by Magick

[Vernon Barnes 620]

I am mostly using Studio One 5 now. I use the Sphere subscription so I have Notion as well and like the integration. I do miss the pro channel though.

I think Cakewalk is a lot better for MIDI though. If it had a chord track I would use it a lot more.

[Craig N 381]

I used Cakewalk in the 90's when I had a Sound Blaster AWE32 enormous ISA general midi card.  I still have a sentimental place in my heart for Cakewalk as a result. But currently I use Ableton Live. My brothers stayed with Sonar through the years and one of them sings the praises of CbB to me from time to time. I didn't gel with it when I first opened it so I never really gave it a chance. Also I worry that being free it might disappear one day and take my music with it. I'd rather pay for a DAW and have more certainty it will continue to be supported. 

[balinas 350]

If Cakewalk had a chord track, I would be full time back as well.  What can I say? I like watching the chords go by. It’s how I work!

[bdickens 1,236]

7 minutes ago, Craig N said:

I'd rather pay for a DAW and have more certainty it will continue to be supported. 

Like SONAR Platinum?

[Craig N 381]

1 minute ago, bdickens said:

Like SONAR Platinum?

I could tell something was off once it started being sold on Steam. 

[JoeGBradford 797]

25 minutes ago, bdickens said:

Like SONAR Platinum?

Beat me to it! Paying for something doesn't guarantee it will be around forever! Or work with future versions of Windows etc

[abacab 5,483]

17 hours ago, Promidi said:

The CAL scripts and Studioware panels I have written makes Cakewalk the only choice.  I would be lost if Cakewalk ever dropped CAL scripts and Studioware.  They speed up my workflow immensely.

CAL scripts and Studioware are features that Cakewalk stopped development support for long before BandLab entered the picture. I understand that they are kept around for backwards compatibility, but likely never again to be updated. Personally, I would be afraid that they might eventually stop working...

[Promidi 782]

3 hours ago, abacab said:

CAL scripts and Studioware are features that Cakewalk stopped development support for long before BandLab entered the picture. I understand that they are kept around for backwards compatibility, but likely never again to be updated. Personally, I would be afraid that they might eventually stop working...

I a willing to take that risk.   I know the workaround so far.

I have asked Cakewalk support if the subject of dropping support for CAL scripts has ever been discussed in their development meetings so far.  It hasn't. 

[abacab 5,483]

10 hours ago, Promidi said:

I a willing to take that risk.   I know the workaround so far.

I have asked Cakewalk support if the subject of dropping support for CAL scripts has ever been discussed in their development meetings so far.  It hasn't. 

Correct. I doubt they would ever intentionally drop it. But they showed little interest in updating it, or replacing it with a modern scripting language.