Boutbeats Posted August 4, 2019 Share Posted August 4, 2019 Hey guys, I wanted to show my support for Cakewalk by Bandlab.. I was never a Cakewalk user, but now that its free i was tempted to download and try it out. The main DAW's i spend a lot of personal time with in the past are: Cubase, Studio one and Reason. I really feel now that Cakwalk is free, everybody should know about it, and that its a fully fledged 30 years in the making DAW! And anybody would be nuts spending a lot of money if they can all have it for free. (Exept if you are after a particular function in a DAW that Cakewalk does not have) But for general recording/producing/mixing... Cakewalk rocks just as hard as the payed one's and on some point even better. I know its free and i cant ask for anything because this is already so cool as it is... but i think some extra bling bling feature would persuade new user to go this route instead of the payed one's. If you guys could integrate something like Studio One has, with the circle of fifths and chord track.. i think something like that will make it stand out more.. I really hope Bandlab can attract a lot of users and keep this going i love it. Thanks!! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starship Krupa Posted August 5, 2019 Share Posted August 5, 2019 If you look at the change log and new features list for the current build, you'll see that a lot of heavy lifting is going into making what's already there work correctly and work better. There are some existing features that are ripe for the picking, like integrating the Matrix View into song composition, making Drum Maps more seamless, that would help make Cakewalk more attractive to people who want to use it for EDM and the like. I think if some attention were put to the Matrix, for instance, that might be the feature that you're talking about. It's already there, it's just kind of isolated. Cakewalk's an incredibly deep program, and its features were added in stages over decades, so some of them are integrated better than others. It seems like the developers have more breathing room to go back and do some touching up, and so far, the results are nothing short of excellent. Every new build is like Xmas morning! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boutbeats Posted August 5, 2019 Author Share Posted August 5, 2019 Thanks Starship Krupa, I took a look at the change log and wow that's so nice to see them working so hard at this! Yea the matrix view and Drum Maps look cool, ill have to do some experimenting with those thanks. The function i was talking about is for changing the scale of all the notes on the fly, but i discovered the midi option's with ''snap to scale'' that's already pretty cool... Yea totally agree this is a very mature DAW and the developers really rock! Such a cool thing thanks for your awesome reply, count me in as a new user! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Anderton Posted August 5, 2019 Share Posted August 5, 2019 The thing about Cakewalk being free is that no matter what DAW people like to use, it's almost certain CbB will have features their DAW doesn't have. So it's worth downloading and becoming familiar with it. For example, I don't know of any program that can do the "drag a piece of music to the tempo track to analyze the tempo changes" function, or does virtual instrument upsampling (or mix recall). The biggest issue with CbB has always been reliability. For example I needed to do something with Waves plug-ins last night, and simply could not get all of them to show up (and for the ones that did, CbB insisted on showing only the 32-bit version). I'll keep trying, but had to switch over to another DAW that handles them without difficulty to complete the task. So I think it's important the developers keep trying to nail down the loose ends, and make the most of what's already in there, before adding too much bling. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Walton Posted August 5, 2019 Share Posted August 5, 2019 10 hours ago, Boutbeats said: Thanks Starship Krupa, I took a look at the change log and wow that's so nice to see them working so hard at this! Yea the matrix view and Drum Maps look cool, ill have to do some experimenting with those thanks. The function i was talking about is for changing the scale of all the notes on the fly, but i discovered the midi option's with ''snap to scale'' that's already pretty cool... Yea totally agree this is a very mature DAW and the developers really rock! Such a cool thing thanks for your awesome reply, count me in as a new user! Welcome! I've paid hundreds for Sonar over the years with the standard package and upgrades. It is full featured and well thought out. It is amazing Bandlab bought the program and released it for free to the world. It was (and is) my DAW of choice even with money as no object. I personally think you are right on the money that the Chord Track concept is the primary feature that is lacking to draw in more users. However, I think the changing the key on the fly function is far less needed than the basic idea of having a compositional tool that doesn't rely on the user's ablity to play a midi-keyboard or analog instrument to get basic song ideas and structures down. That is what is needed (in my opinion) to bridge the gap for the entry level music creator and a fully professional DAW (which Cakewalk is). This tool would also be valuable to intermediate - and even advanced musicians. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noel Borthwick Posted August 5, 2019 Share Posted August 5, 2019 Welcome @Boutbeats we look forward to your contributions here. @Craig Anderton if your waves plugins are not showing up its most likely due to an incomplete scan. Waves has hundreds of plugins in the waves shell and sometimes one of them will prevent the others scanning properly. Its really not something within our control. Another You just have to keep running the scanner until all plugins scan properly when that happens. The other issue that occurs frequently when scanning waves plugins is that some plugins will pop up a dialog in the middle of the scan stalling the entire process. Its easy to miss that dialog and think the scan is done when its not. If you capture a scan log by turning it on in preferences, you can see if the plugins missing were actually detected by the scanner which is helpful for troubleshooting such issues. I have the full waves plugins set for testing and see this issue occasionally when I need to do a full scan. Otherwise if you see missing plugins it could be an auth issue with your waves install itself. As far as reliability goes we've made huge strides to solve many long standing issues that affected some users. We're soon going to hit a milestone of a 1000 fixes since Cbb started. 4 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bitman Posted August 6, 2019 Share Posted August 6, 2019 8 hours ago, Craig Anderton said: I don't know of any program that can do the "drag a piece of music to the tempo track to analyze the tempo changes" function. This feature changed my life. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gswitz Posted August 6, 2019 Share Posted August 6, 2019 oke, i like it 2. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boutbeats Posted August 6, 2019 Author Share Posted August 6, 2019 17 hours ago, Craig Anderton said: The thing about Cakewalk being free is that no matter what DAW people like to use, it's almost certain CbB will have features their DAW doesn't have. So it's worth downloading and becoming familiar with it. For example, I don't know of any program that can do the "drag a piece of music to the tempo track to analyze the tempo changes" function, or does virtual instrument upsampling (or mix recall). The biggest issue with CbB has always been reliability. For example I needed to do something with Waves plug-ins last night, and simply could not get all of them to show up (and for the ones that did, CbB insisted on showing only the 32-bit version). I'll keep trying, but had to switch over to another DAW that handles them without difficulty to complete the task. So I think it's important the developers keep trying to nail down the loose ends, and make the most of what's already in there, before adding too much bling. Features, yea exactly that's a good point, and i am going to chek out the tempo track and v.i up sampling!! Awesome stuff thanks. I tried my Soundtoys 5, IK Studio Max 2 and some McDSP, Plugin Alliance and Cableguys stuff no problems for me so far luckily 😀 😎 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boutbeats Posted August 6, 2019 Author Share Posted August 6, 2019 14 hours ago, Brian Walton said: Welcome! I've paid hundreds for Sonar over the years with the standard package and upgrades. It is full featured and well thought out. It is amazing Bandlab bought the program and released it for free to the world. It was (and is) my DAW of choice even with money as no object. I personally think you are right on the money that the Chord Track concept is the primary feature that is lacking to draw in more users. However, I think the changing the key on the fly function is far less needed than the basic idea of having a compositional tool that doesn't rely on the user's ablity to play a midi-keyboard or analog instrument to get basic song ideas and structures down. That is what is needed (in my opinion) to bridge the gap for the entry level music creator and a fully professional DAW (which Cakewalk is). This tool would also be valuable to intermediate - and even advanced musicians. Hey Brain, thanks! Yea i can imagine when your a die hard Sonar user this was a very strange but beautiful move from Cakewalk and Bandlab. And i can totally see why this is your DAW of choice. I am also glad to pay money for my tools, but that this is free is nuts and so cool, also became the best to recommend for people who are getting started and also for collaborating with people. Your thoughts on Chord Track and bridging the gap... that exactly 😁- 100% agree!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feral State Sound Posted August 6, 2019 Share Posted August 6, 2019 (edited) 17 hours ago, Craig Anderton said: The thing about Cakewalk being free is that no matter what DAW people like to use, it's almost certain CbB will have features their DAW doesn't have. So it's worth downloading and becoming familiar with it. For example, I don't know of any program that can do the "drag a piece of music to the tempo track to analyze the tempo changes" function, or does virtual instrument upsampling (or mix recall). The biggest issue with CbB has always been reliability. For example I needed to do something with Waves plug-ins last night, and simply could not get all of them to show up (and for the ones that did, CbB insisted on showing only the 32-bit version). I'll keep trying, but had to switch over to another DAW that handles them without difficulty to complete the task. So I think it's important the developers keep trying to nail down the loose ends, and make the most of what's already in there, before adding too much bling. I am also having issues with Waves plugins, specially with their virtual instruments (Grand Rhapsody and Basses). I love CbB but this is surely a drawback. Edit: @Noel Borthwick I am sure that you are doing the best as you can and I am grateful with all The Bakers but maybe this should be revised again. No problems on scanning those plugins in REAPER and Studio One. Edited August 6, 2019 by Feral State Sound Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boutbeats Posted August 6, 2019 Author Share Posted August 6, 2019 14 hours ago, Noel Borthwick said: Welcome @Boutbeats we look forward to your contributions here. @Craig Anderton if your waves plugins are not showing up its most likely due to an incomplete scan. Waves has hundreds of plugins in the waves shell and sometimes one of them will prevent the others scanning properly. Its really not something within our control. Another You just have to keep running the scanner until all plugins scan properly when that happens. The other issue that occurs frequently when scanning waves plugins is that some plugins will pop up a dialog in the middle of the scan stalling the entire process. Its easy to miss that dialog and think the scan is done when its not. If you capture a scan log by turning it on in preferences, you can see if the plugins missing were actually detected by the scanner which is helpful for troubleshooting such issues. I have the full waves plugins set for testing and see this issue occasionally when I need to do a full scan. Otherwise if you see missing plugins it could be an auth issue with your waves install itself. As far as reliability goes we've made huge strides to solve many long standing issues that affected some users. We're soon going to hit a milestone of a 1000 fixes since Cbb started. Thank you Noel! I am exited to be a new member 💚 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feral State Sound Posted August 7, 2019 Share Posted August 7, 2019 On 8/6/2019 at 12:52 PM, Feral State Sound said: I am also having issues with Waves plugins, specially with their virtual instruments (Grand Rhapsody and Basses). I love CbB but this is surely a drawback. Edit: @Noel Borthwick I am sure that you are doing the best as you can and I am grateful with all The Bakers but maybe this should be revised again. No problems on scanning those plugins in REAPER and Studio One. I have to update this post. I have cleaned my VST folder of old and unused VST plugins, installed CbB 2019.07 and then the program detected all my Waves plugins. Thank you Bakers! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MusoCity Posted August 31, 2019 Share Posted August 31, 2019 +1 BandLab chord track !! I'm using ReaTrak at the moment https://forums.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=212645 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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