Backstage Pass and Activation

[John Vere]

Seems a lot of people who are still using Cakewalk are being bombarded with re activation notices. I haven't seen one for CbB  for a couple of months since the last update. I have it still installed on 3 different computers. All also have Sonar and therefore have been activated via Backstage Pass, 

I was wondering, is it only people who don't have the Backstage Pass that are experiencing this? 

Sonar has tossed a few activations at me after updates and it's a simple one click deal. So wondering if that also has activated CbB as well? 

[Pathfinder]

Hey John

I use\open CWBL everyday. I do NOT have the backstage pass and since an activation issue many weeks ago I never get asked again. Although every now and then when I open it dialog box above vst info says It is activated.

[Jesse Screed]

I purchased the backstage pass Sonar yearly "lease"  when it was 30% off.  

I also have CwB on my machine.

Was tracking in Sonar and saved the project.  As usual Chromaphone crashed Sonar (always did the same thing in CwB.

Sonar would not restart, CwB generally doesn't start in the instance either.  I had to do the shutdown computer /restart.

Opened Sonar project and it was deactivated, couldn't save projects until I logged into my bandlab account and reactivated.  I must mention that there was also a Sonar update to be downloaded. 

It was kind of a pain in the keister because I have the 1 year lease paid in full.  Sure, it was a simple click, click, click, click, click, but it was annoying.

as an aside Melodyne wanted to update, but I ignored that.

[John Vere]

1 hour ago, Jesse Screed said:

and reactivated.  I must mention that there was also a Sonar update to be

This is what I’ve noticed. You update and then it needs re activation. 
 I’ve just seen a lot of posts from people complaining about CbB needing activation every few weeks. I think they are also offline. 
Oh well such is the life of using free stuff. 
Im pretty confident that once Sonar is purchased we will see the end of the activation process.  

[CSistine]

13 hours ago, John Vere said:

Im pretty confident that once Sonar is purchased we will see the end of the activation process.

Hopefully you are not too optimistic! 😆

[ptheisen]

13 hours ago, John Vere said:

 I’ve just seen a lot of posts from people complaining about CbB needing activation every few weeks. I think they are also offline.

This may be one of the factors. My DAW PC is offline unless I'm intentionally updating something, and I have gotten a number of the superfluous activation requests for CbB when offline,

[John Vere]

58 minutes ago, CSistine said:

Hopefully you are not too optimistic! 😆

Actually I’m very optimistic 

 

[msmcleod]

2 hours ago, ptheisen said:

This may be one of the factors. My DAW PC is offline unless I'm intentionally updating something, and I have gotten a number of the superfluous activation requests for CbB when offline,

I can almost guarantee this is the cause.

Cakewalk will automatically refresh activation if it's logged in and it detects you're close to needing an activation refresh.

[gustabo]

6 hours ago, ptheisen said:

This may be one of the factors. My DAW PC is offline unless I'm intentionally updating something, and I have gotten a number of the superfluous activation requests for CbB when offline,

I haven't gotten an activation request in quite some time and my daw machine is offline

[John Vere]

 

3 hours ago, gustabo said:

I haven't gotten an activation request in quite some time and my daw machine is offline

Well that blows that theory all to — oh oh I can’t mention that word here even though it’s in the Bible.  

[Promidi]

On 5/3/2024 at 2:34 AM, John Vere said:

I was wondering, is it only people who don't have the Backstage Pass that are experiencing this?

My default browser is Firefox BETA (currently 126 Beta 8 - Soon to be 9).

My PC is online 24/7.  I do not run any browser cookie clearing utilities. My browser disk cache is disabled.

I do not have the Backstage Pass. I have only experienced an out of band activation from CbB request only once, ever.

[Bristol_Jonesey]

8 hours ago, Promidi said:

My default browser is Firefox BETA (currently 126 Beta 8 - Soon to be 9).

My PC is online 24/7.  I do not run any browser cookie clearing utilities. My browser disk cache is disabled.

I do not have the Backstage Pass. I have only experienced an out of band activation from CbB request only once, ever.

This suggests strongly that being online 24/7 negates the need to activate "manually"

[mark skinner]

I got my 13 days left activation prompt Again this morning on my offline pc. I'm bringing it in , putting it  online and downloading the new product center . Just downgraded from win7 to win 10 yesterday. I'll see if that slows down the notices. I distinctly remember the first 6 months this forum was started  - Statement -  the reactivation was just for a check in and would be removed later.    I think it's way past later ..  ms

Edited May 4 by mark skinner

[Heath Row]

9 hours ago, mark skinner said:

 I think it's way past later ..  ms

Nooo, now come on, if it's anything like 'coming soon' there's a long ways to go 😇

Edited May 4 by Heath Row
add 'coming', for clarity

[John Vere]

1 hour ago, mark skinner said:

  the reactivation was just for a check in and would be removed later. 

This statement would need confirmation that it was actually printed. I don't ever remember seeing it but of course we only see 1/10 of what is ever said here which is a the main issue with all the miss information that gets spread about.  So not saying this is misinformation, but I thinks it's best to back up statements like this with proof. 

To me it seems this was all planned from the get go, and the reason the activation exists is otherwise there would be free versions of their software out there that they lost control of. That would not be very smart considering they totally planned to release Sonar when the day came. 

1 hour ago, mark skinner said:

I got my 13 days left activation prompt

This is for Sonar and your membership, right? not Cakewalk which is the topic here. I get a countdown every time I open Sonar in the morning, it goes away after that until you shut down computer. Cakewalk never has toast of any kind for me right now. Cakewalk Next will also have toast for breakfast. 

[mark skinner]

This is for CbB. I have not pulled the trigger on Sonar yet. I just went from Win 7 to 10 yesterday. Couldn't even download the new product center on win7. I've been doing a combination of offline activation and moving my gear around to get online every 3 weeks. 

I should have bookmarked the page about the reactivation being removed but didn't. I've looked around a little and have'nt located the remark.     mark

[mark skinner]

On 5/3/2024 at 11:21 AM, msmcleod said:

On 5/3/2024 at 9:05 AM, ptheisen said:

This may be one of the factors. My DAW PC is offline unless I'm intentionally updating something, and I have gotten a number of the superfluous activation requests for CbB when offline,

I can almost guarantee this is the cause.

My PC has been offline since Cakewalk by Bandlab first got released.  6 month reactivation has now changed to roughly 3.5 weeks. With the exception of an OS upgrade 2 days ago , nothing on my end has changed.  This is "almost" as aggrevating as the countdown window that was removed earlier. I'm going to assume that if this doesn't get resolved soon that it's just not worth the effort to pin this down for the ones of us who work offline.  Especially this late in the life of CbB.

So ..  is the new Sonar needing a handshake going to also be a problem ?        ms

[John Vere]

13 minutes ago, mark skinner said:

So ..  is the new Sonar needing a handshake going to also be a problem ?     

We will assume ( big emphasis on assume) that if and when we purchase the new Sonar that it will follow in the  manner of most good software of only requiring activation during installation.
 

Then we will have a check box to “Check for Updates” in the help menu we can leave unchecked. 

The activation process will not be required for people who purchase it will only be required if they continue to offer a rental or subscription option. 

A few people are now suffering the inconvenience of using free software. It was most certainly an all time great deal for a long time but I’m afraid that smooth ride ended last fall. 
The ride is still smooth if you get on board and switch to Sonar. 
 

My advice is like in my video. Stop complaining and either switch to Sonar or switch DAWs There’s a few real good and even free choices.  Cakewalk is a waste of your time now. Move on.

It doesn’t have to be inconvenient and complaining  about won’t change the situation as the company has moved on too.  

[mark skinner]

2 hours ago, John Vere said:

Stop complaining and either switch to Sonar or switch DAWs

The question to Mark Mcleod was whether I could switch to Sonar and run it being offline. This is since it seems to need a handshake with Bandlab when you open it. I guess I should have started my own thread instead of responding on yours.  I might have avoided a lecture and your condescending feedback . 

 

2 hours ago, John Vere said:

The ride is still smooth if you get on board and switch to Sonar. 

Unplug your internet and let me know how smooth it is.   That's all I wanted to know.     ms

[John Vere]

Sorry Mark comments were not pointed at you. It is all the noise that is still going on and on and all we need to do is "Wait and see!"  This is a painfully slow transition to a new situation for the DAW we've become overly attached to.  I'm optimistic everyone will end up getting what they want unless what people want is to keep using CbB.