Lost with Cakewalk products, updates...

[Ben1980]

Hi all,

 

I came here because honestly, I am completely lost with what Cakewalk has become since I stopped playing music in 2017.

Yesterday I decided to reinstall my DAW Cakewalk producer platinum and noticed that my updates stopped at version 2017.03

I wanted to see if I could get the newest updates and realized 3 things....first, no more support (all the support forms are on maintenance), second, I could not find an update button in the cloud update software they now ask you to download, I only found a purchase button or pay 50 USD per month for 12 months(which would make no sense as I only need small updates from 2017.03 to 2017.10), and finally.....the ultimate shock, with all the money I have put in the software, I just found out they stopped updating it!!!!(crying....)

 

So I kept scrolling through the Cakewalk website and noticed something called Bandlab......what is going on? Are all the previous DAW finished and now the newest DAW is free? I am sorry but I am not understanding at all what is happening with the brand I used for over a decade. I have been retired from the music world for some time, therefore have been totally cut off from updates, news.

 

Thanks all

[msmcleod]

Time to check out this thread:   

SONAR has been replaced with Cakewalk by BandLab (not to be confused with the BandLab web-based DAW).   It's totally free, and is basically SONAR Platinum + around 2000 bug fixes / enhancements, and minus the 3rd party content.

 

[Byron Dickens]

Wow, are you late to the party!

[Will.]

4 hours ago, Ben1980 said:

Hi all,

 

I came here because honestly, I am completely lost with what Cakewalk has become since I stopped playing music in 2017.

Yesterday I decided to reinstall my DAW Cakewalk producer platinum and noticed that my updates stopped at version 2017.03

I wanted to see if I could get the newest updates and realized 3 things....first, no more support (all the support forms are on maintenance), second, I could not find an update button in the cloud update software they now ask you to download, I only found a purchase button or pay 50 USD per month for 12 months(which would make no sense as I only need small updates from 2017.03 to 2017.10), and finally.....the ultimate shock, with all the money I have put in the software, I just found out they stopped updating it!!!!(crying....)

 

So I kept scrolling through the Cakewalk website and noticed something called Bandlab......what is going on? Are all the previous DAW finished and now the newest DAW is free? I am sorry but I am not understanding at all what is happening with the brand I used for over a decade. I have been retired from the music world for some time, therefore have been totally cut off from updates, news.

 

Thanks all

Yes, Sonar Platinum Producer is now free. All those years paying for all that gadgets down the drain. During that time magical things happened in Sonar - Now called "Cakewalk by Bandlab" CbB for short. 

We have been fighting and eating ice cream through a lot of emotional long hours arguing with the new team and been sleeping on the couch as a community, giving feedbacks and ideas on and for this new product. 

We now have great new features, such as:

• Articulations

• Arranger

• New tempo

• New transients improvement

• Better stability

• New folders

• New Export Windows

Improved side chain abilities, and many other great improved features. And guess what? You can still use your old products with the new daw. Just install the version you have now available as Sonar and install Cakewalk by Bandlab on top of Sonar. Both are allowed to be on one system. How cool is that? 

By the way . . . welcome back to making music again. 

[John Vere]

Hopefully you still have your log on email and password to open your Cakewalk  my products page. 
This is needed to install and run the old Cakewalk Command Center or CCC. 
Run that first and bring everything up to date including your copy of Sonar. It is best to do that before you install the latest version of Cakewalk or what we call CbB. 
That will install all the extra stuff that came with Sonar. So you get your paid for stuff back and can continue to use it. 
I highly recommend you visit the tutorial sub forum and watch some of the up to date videos so you can learn more about what has changed since 2017. 

Edited February 2, 2022 by John Vere

[Mark Morgon-Shaw]

5 hours ago, Ben1980 said:

Are all the previous DAW finished and now the newest DAW is free?

Yeah it's your lucky day.  You can have the latest greatest version of what was Sonar , now called Cakewalk by Bandlab completely free with no strings attached.