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Help me understand CW by BL please


Gary Edelman

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I've been an off & on user of CW since the days it came on a 5 1/4  floppy disk. I've been through numerous upgrades & I think my last one was to CW producer before Bandlab took over. I did upgrade to CW by Bandlab a while back but am just now starting to get back into recording. It seems that Bandlab is more of a social media outlet than a stand alone software to record with. I don't want to start getting involved in studio projects just to find out that they are all going to be obsolete & useless. I like the idea of having access to social media & online recording but I mainly want to be able to record offline & feel secure with the program itself.  Also what happens if my computer crashes & I can't find my original program files to reinstall the CW software? Will I be able to download it somewhere off Bandlab's site?  I'm just a little confused right now.         

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What you are looking for is called Cakewalk by BandLab. This product resembles SONAR.

The web-based DAW and social media site are different parts of BandLab.

The installation instructions for Cakewalk by BandLab are here.

Follow the "If you are installing from BandLab Assistant" instructions.

BandLab Assistant is the tool supplied by BandLab to install/update and activate Cakewalk By BandLab on your PC.

Installation and activation does require the PC to be connected to the internet but once activated, the only time the PC will need to be connected to the internet is to update and/or re-activate. Updates happen on a regular basis. More frequently than the the 6 month activation period. The product is re-activated every update.

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56 minutes ago, Garyed said:

I don't want to start getting involved in studio projects just to find out that they are all going to be obsolete & useless.

I can open projects that I made in Sonar X1 Producer (2011) using the new Cakewalk by Bandlab. So (for me anyway) I've been pleasantly pleased.

Your taking a risk with anything you use. even some of my old Rackmount gear doesn't always work like it did 10 years ago. Software is very similar. we can only hope to open projects made 10 years ago. Luckily, im doing just that.

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7 hours ago, scook said:

the only time the PC will need to be connected to the internet is to update and/or re-activate. Updates happen on a regular basis. More frequently than the the 6 month activation period. The product is re-activated every update.

 Please confirm----Cakewalk by Bandlab  has to be re-activated every six months? Surprised I missed this.

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Yes, but if you keep up to date with various updates it wont bother you, if you don't update, and/or keep your DAW machine offline, your version will eventually, around the 6 month period drop into demo mode until you remedy the situation.

Edited by ZipCode
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13 minutes ago, TPayton said:

 Please confirm----Cakewalk by Bandlab  has to be re-activated every six months?

This is true, however; there are several updates every six month period. Updating renews the activation too. One can choose not to update but will still need to re-activate at least every 6 months.

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On 8/31/2019 at 12:50 PM, Garyed said:

I've been an off & on user of CW since the days it came on a 5 1/4  floppy disk.  [snip]  It seems that Bandlab is more of a social media outlet than a stand alone software to record with. I don't want to start getting involved in studio projects just to find out that they are all going to be obsolete & useless.  [snip]

This might or might not be useful info to you; just thought I'd mention it in light of your comments. If you still have "ancient" *.wrk files, they should open in the current Cakewalk by BandLab (mine do).  With SONAR a few years ago, I re-did some of my old midi -> hardware tunes. I tweaked them a little bit, including sending then to softsynths and re-orchestrating them. It should be the same with 2019's Cakewalk.

As scook noted, BandLab--the web-based software--and Cakewalk by BandLab are presently two very different things. I for one am very glad SONAR/Cakewalk has been rescued from becoming orphaned / legacy software.  I still have 8.5 and X3 on my current PC (Win 10), but have been enjoying updating my personal knowledge base along with reinventing old performance modalities and "ancient" tunes. 

Below: 1997 WRK File (MIDI) opened in 2019 Cakewalk

[image from 3 years ago deleted to reclaim space]

 

Edited by User 905133
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Backward compatibility has always been one of Cakewalk's great strengths. I have imported projects from as far back as Cakewalk 1.0  for DOS into SPlat with no problems. CbB would have no problem doing the same, I'm sure.

(I figured I'd best grab those c. 1986 files while I could still find a floppy drive to read them. Ironically, after securing them on my hard drives those files disappeared after just one year, when my computer was stolen. Still have the floppies and they are presumably still readable, but I now have no idea where that USB floppy drive has gone.)

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Thanks to all for helping me understand things a lot better. When I logged into bandlab.com the other day I thought that everything had changed & that there was no more stand alone CW by BL.  I got nervous because the emphasis seemed to be on social media rather than recording music.  Let's hope BL keeps things going because CW does all I need.   

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The web based DAW and social media site were part of BandLab before they acquired Cakewalk software. Since the purchase they have invested quite a bit of time and money developing Cakewalk by BandLab It appears that they intend on keeping it around for some time.

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The licensing model is a free subscription. The terms of the subscription are that you create a BandLab account, install the BandLab Assistant on your computer, then at least every 6 months, allow BandLab Assistant to contact the licensing server.

The best way I have of explaining it to people is that it's like Tape Op magazine and other trade publications. You register at their site with your email address, get it for free for a while, then you re-verify or you stop getting it. Like a library card.

The BandLab Assistant functions like the old Cakewalk Command Center, allowing you to download and install the main program and various add-ons, keep the program updated, as well as upload and download to and from your BandLab account if you wish.

Some people freak out wondering what would happen should BandLab go out of business and their licensing server no longer be around to keep Cakewalk running. First, unlikely. Cakewalk Inc. went casters-up almost 2 years ago and their zombie server is still up and running on life support, offering to sell you SONAR Artist. But if it were to happen, BandLab are good guys and would probably issue a final build that didn't require that it talk to the server every 6 months. If that didn't happen, someone would come up with a patch or you could just keep resetting the date on the real time clock in your computer.

The culture at BandLab the social media site is a little weird, but I see potential in using some of its features, like the collaboration. I move stems around using Google Drive and MEGA now, and if BandLab can make that process easier, I'm up for checking it out.

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13 hours ago, scook said:

The web based DAW and social media site were part of BandLab before they acquired Cakewalk software. Since the purchase they have invested quite a bit of time and money developing Cakewalk by BandLab It appears that they intend on keeping it around for some time.

This forum alone is a kind proof of their commitment to Cakewalk. Even if none of this were not true, there is no better deal anywhere. 

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