How does CbB stack up against other "Pay to Play" DAWS?

[Craig Anderton]

1 hour ago, jackson white said:

pretty limited scope...

"🎵 GENRES 🎵 • Electronic Music • EDM • Electro House • Big Room • Dance Music • Techno • Tech House • Beats"

but hey, it's YT, where click bait titles are typically the sum total of their creativity. didn't bother to do any fact checking on who the "pros" were... 

I believe Cakewalk has always been seriously underrated in terms of being suitable for dance music.  I've used it to make a lot of EDM-oriented soundtracks, because its ability to blend traditional-style recording with features like the Matrix view and the ability to create stretchable files. The MIDI implementation is also excellent. Granted, it doesn't bundle a lot of EDM-oriented plug-ins, but you can always buy those (and even get many of them for free).

[InstrEd]

For the price of CbB it really should be in your DAW arsenal for the MIDI implementation is top-notch IMHO!

 

[Will.]

Here's the issue I always have with these question and the " is it good for [specific] genre." 

Every DAW out there literally is just the workstation. You can create all types of music in them. Yes, some comes with more effects than others, others have more features and brings better workflows -- thats it.

That being said: Each have one thing in common - to make music. It is not the DAW that creates the genre - it is the person using it the DAW.

Its like asking: 😐 is the value of a $100 Note, better than two $50 Notes. 😐

The only thing that will bring a "limit" to any DAW -- is the users ability and knowledge in creativity with sound design. Thats the only thing that separates the DAW from the Genre. 

Edited October 6, 2022 by Will.

[chris.r]

3 hours ago, Craig Anderton said:

I believe Cakewalk has always been seriously underrated in terms of being suitable for dance music.  I've used it to make a lot of EDM-oriented soundtracks, because its ability to blend traditional-style recording with features like the Matrix view and the ability to create stretchable files. The MIDI implementation is also excellent. Granted, it doesn't bundle a lot of EDM-oriented plug-ins, but you can always buy those (and even get many of them for free).

To sum it up nice and short: Cakewalk is too sophisticated for EDM  

One can always turn it into: Cakewalk lacks in the simplicity that suits EDM  (simplicity in workflow as opposite to simplicity in GUI).

Choose one.

[Jeremy Oakes]

24 minutes ago, chris.r said:

To sum it up nice and short: Cakewalk is too sophisticated for EDM  

One can always turn it into: Cakewalk lacks in the simplicity that suits EDM  (simplicity in workflow as opposite to simplicity in GUI).

Choose one.

Its really great for rock .YMMV but mine, never.

J

[Will.]

On 10/4/2022 at 9:46 PM, Noel Borthwick said:

We're also working on something exciting that will be announced relatively soon  😛

This is so not right. Dont tease us . . .  😭 We want to know.

[Soliloquy] where did I put this remote to fast forward time? 

[chris.r]

1 hour ago, chris.r said:

To sum it up nice and short: Cakewalk is too sophisticated for EDM  

One can always turn it into: Cakewalk lacks in the simplicity that suits EDM  (simplicity in workflow as opposite to simplicity in GUI).

Choose one.

Forgot to add a disclaimer: I've used it also for EDM and it did great! Granted I'm using it for MIDI since '90ties and for audio for years now too so I've learnt my ways around.

Edited October 5, 2022 by chris.r

[Starship Krupa]

Remember, several months back, Cakewalk was named best free DAW for electronica by Computer Music  magazine. That surely led to some uptake among EDM producers. 

That's great, given the popularity of those genres among younger music creators.

Here's a thing: no matter what genre(s) you start out doing, if you branch out at some point (as I did from mostly straight-up rock type music into purely ITB electronic music), you'll likely keep using the same DAW. If someone starts using Cakewalk today for electronic music, then pivots to singer-songwriter guitar music in 5 years (and/or starts recording other people doing that), they'll find that it works really well.

[jackson white]

On 10/5/2022 at 12:10 PM, Craig Anderton said:

Cakewalk has always been seriously underrated

agreed. tbh, had it for much longer than actually using it but thanks to the pandemic started exploring it in detail as an option to existing platforms.

my initial post was a comment on click bait YT titles not worth the pixels they're printed on, let alone being relevant. think it's worth noting Cakewalk even -got- a mention, which might be the result of Meng's decision to offer it for free. however. ime there's some reflection of reality in the rankings,

so -why- is Cakewalk  'underrated'?

imho, ecosystem dynamics are bigger factors than inherent capabilities, ala the VHS/Beta or DOS/Mac wars where incumbency, pricing and marketing were key.

~70-80% of my network is 100% Mac based with maybe another 10-15% dual platform = a limited pool for active elements of the musical community. That includes 100% of the commercial facilities which are another channel of influencers. ymmv.

so platform compatibility is a factor. yes, you can export/import, but that's overhead with "interoperability" issues on the finer points of collaboration. Couldn't get rid of PT fast enough but most of my Mac peeps are pretty productive with Logic, along with the likes of Live, Cubase, maybe Reaper or DP, etc

explored a couple of cross platform candidates as an option (S1 and Reaper). Reaper is highly capable and just as highly obtuse for peeps who could care less about tweaking tools when they could be making music. I get that and quickly learned -not- to recommend it given the support load required to become productive. S1 shares many of the main conventions as other major DAWs with some nice project mastering capability but that's becoming less significant as artists evolve to releasing content on a schedule as a tactic to maintain a social media profile vs releasing an "album". Some current projects are on S1 but still preferring workflow and features in Cakewalk. Live has a different (but interesting) approach. Cubase is just too cluttered for me.

it's also a "horses for courses" thing where goal, access and genre are factors. if ur just banging out some loops 'cos ur bored, u really don't need or want to fire up a rocket ship or science project. and ya, sure you can play guitar parts on a keyboard after loading a klunky ui, reading a manual and programming a bunch of articulations, but it's easier to just plug into an AI and roll.

then there's the perception of "reliability". in both my experience and observation, this is the challenge of being on a PC platform with an infinite number of system configurations hobbled by a decidedly finite level of technical capability. a quick survey of the forums should confirm that. Macs have their own issues, but for must musicians, it's much less to deal with.

and ya, marketing.

but you know this, and expect the same as most on this forum would agree that Cakewalk not only is, but -has- been a mature, full featured DAW with leading edge capability that other "market leaders" are still struggling to catch up with.

On 10/5/2022 at 1:18 PM, Will. said:

Every DAW out there literally is just the workstation.

agreed. it's music first, then tools. my preference is Cakewalk. I recommend it for anybody considering a PC platform, advocate for it (to the extent of helping peeps get started with it) and appreciate the ongoing development and support.

it's also worth mentioning just how useful and valuable this forum has been for becoming productive with it. not just Cakewalk itself, but wrt to a wide range of related topics.

[Bruno de Souza Lino]

On 10/5/2022 at 1:58 PM, jackson white said:

pretty limited scope...

"🎵 GENRES 🎵 • Electronic Music • EDM • Electro House • Big Room • Dance Music • Techno • Tech House • Beats"

but hey, it's YT, where click bait titles are typically the sum total of their creativity. didn't bother to do any fact checking on who the "pros" were... 

There's probably more "beats and electronic music" people than atoms in the universe, so that number figure is not that significant.