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Doomsday Cakewalk scenario


Misha

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Hi Folks, Bakers.

It had been over a year now since Bandlab took over Cakewalk. I am glad that I stayed and (very!) impressed with the pace of development and fixes.  Cakewalk does 99% of what I need...

I am sure it was discussed, but just to be certain... In case something unpredictable happens, what to expect? I have over 150 projects at various states of completion in Cakewalk format.  If "What If" happens,  will the final version be distributed as installation download package, or what is contingency plan?

 I do have a physical (box) of old Sonar (X1 I believe)  and Home edition from Gibson days.  I assume these would still work regardless of situation, at least for the projects done up to date.

P.S. I do hope Cakewalk stays around for MANY long years, but just want to have an idea of a backup plan.

Thank you.

 

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36 minutes ago, Misha said:

Hi Folks, Bakers.

It had been over a year now since Bandlab took over Cakewalk. I am glad that I stayed and (very!) impressed with the pace of development and fixes.  Cakewalk does 99% of what I need...

I am sure it was discussed, but just to be certain... In case something unpredictable happens, what to expect? I have over 150 projects at various states of completion in Cakewalk format.  If "What If" happens,  will the final version be distributed as installation download package, or what is contingency plan?

 I do have a physical (box) of old Sonar (X1 I believe)  and Home edition from Gibson days.  I assume these would still work regardless of situation, at least for the projects done up to date.

P.S. I do hope Cakewalk stays around for MANY long years, but just want to have an idea of a backup plan.

Thank you.

 

The whole premise of unpredicatble is the fact we won't know.  

Only old versions of Cakewalk that authorized locally off-line by using a serial number and registration code that did not connect to any server to authorize are the only way you can assume to be able to install Cakewalk should something outside of anyones control happens.  Of course there is no guarantee that version will work on any future state of Windows, etc.  

That is actually a better backup than you will get from most other DAWs as they majority (such as current Cakewalk state) requires the company to be in business to authorize.  At least there was a period of versions where Cakewalk didn't and therefore if you own one of those versions, you might have a small amount of security.  

Not sure about backwards compatibility though.  I'm only opening with current versions of Cakewalk these days, including projects created many years ago.  

Edited by Brian Walton
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Nobody can answer questions about the future with certainty - if we could we'd all be rich :)
We can look to the past though and make educated predictions. Cakewalk was shut down and was acquired by BandLab. It's now alive and better than ever, right?
When Gibson shut us down the contingency plan was if all else failed and there was no succession, the last version of the software would be permanently unlocked. We even prepared the mechanism to do that in the last month of ownership. Fortunately it never came to that.
  
Its pretty rare to see mature products completely go extinct. Most products that made it this far are still around in some incarnation.

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Noel,

Thank you for injecting some positive reason into this uneasy and dark question :) 

You are right, it is the best, most stable Cakewalk I ever used (and the best DAW for my tasks)  

This probably belongs in "Feedback Loop" section, but since it is on topic, I will put forward this suggestion. I am sure I am not alone asking this question.  Most likely  Bandlab has reasons not to distribute  offline install package, but It would still be nice to have it,  as one developer said to me once. "a comfort copy"...  and perhaps make some money too.  For example Bandlab branded usb key with installer, similar  to iLok, with authorization info for specific user.  This way you can install and re-authorize software on any machine offline, as long as you have the key plugged in. Similar to WAVES licensing where you can move license either to Computer ID, USB flash or keep license online. Sure, it is a hassle, but at the same time I think number of people would pay to have a backup installer on hand. 

And a little bit more on this. The same USB key could have a small program, similar to Microsoft SyncToy to sync Cakewalk Project files/data on PC->USB.  Manual or perhaps even timed backup... Or maybe even a button in Cakewalk itself that would do a backup in one click  :)  This way a single key would have installer + all projects in one compact solution for easy migration or such.

 

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Hey Misha . . . in the true cakewalk doomsday scenario you would clone your OS drive, and your samples / data drive so you could always recover back to a point in time when everything worked. If your computer / motherboard fries, then your cloned drives mean nothing, since they would only restore to similar hardware. So, you must ask yourself the question, how long will you need to keep your cakewalk project files editable and intact ?

If there was a CD / DVD / USB or cloud based re-install package of Cakewalk by Whomever always available, and kept up to date with the latest Windows OS, you would surely be future proofed.

Basically, we must trust the programmers, to keep developing when there is still a need for their product.

Noel Borthwick has been a player in this game a very long time, so I'll quote him here:

"Its pretty rare to see mature products completely go extinct. Most products that made it this far are still around in some incarnation."

 

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Worst case scenario: Bandlab announces that they will immediately cease development of Cakewalk and shut down all support of it including the validation server. Everything dark, everything offline, bye-bye. Noel and company are forbidden to release a last build with offline registration.

Why I am not troubled about this highly unlikely scenario, off the top of my head:

It gives everyone 6 months of CbB working just as it always has, to finish things up, export what they need to export, whatever. And the only crippling in Demo mode as I understand it is that it won't save projects, but it can still export.

It also gives a clever anonymous 3rd-party who wishes to try 6 months to come up with their own "mechanism" to get Cakewalk out of demo mode that doesn't require BandLab Assistant contacting the validation server.

There's also the most obvious fallback: setting the realtime clock on your DAW computer to fool CbB that it hasn't been 6 months since it last talked to the validation server.

So I'm not losing any sleep. BandLab have so far shown no tendency toward treating their customers poorly, quite the opposite as a matter of fact. They have far exceeded expectations. I think it reasonable to believe that if they needed to discontinue Cakewalk as a product that they would do the right thing and create a last version that did not require the BandLab Assistant to validate it.

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Thank you everyone for the input!

Ohh no, I am not losing my sleep over this :)   Just a precaution, to have a backup of everything just in case, including a working Cakewalk DAW.

My earliest CWB (bundle files) date to  early 2000s.  I did open a few earliest things recently, just to check integrity. Some plugins were gone of course, but overall projects were intact. Basically I am looking for a way to backup stuff in a manner that would allow me to open projects, lets say 15-20 years from now regardless of the software changes.  (if I live that long of course :) ) 

I have a an older i5 Thinkpad that I plan to keep as a backup laptop. One of the ways I was thinking of is cloning HD. My question is this. If I have active installation of Cakewalk on it and clone the drive...and then swap  cloned one (on same computer), will Cakewalk still work, without server authorization? I know some software authorizes to specific hardware ID and if hardware changes (hard drive in my case), software loses authorization.  

Thank you.

 

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In the worst case scenario.....the grim Reaper may visit you while having the Audacity to use some Pro Tools, but as Logic demands,  Reason should be used with caution to Cue your Base for finding a solid Digital Performer.  

 

 

 

 

 

(I'll get me coat...)

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No, I haven't looked but, in other areas (audio, video, documents etc.), someone has created converters.  Has anyone ever created these for DAW formats?  If not, that would not only be the answer, but would be pretty awesome!  

 

Convert from Cakewalk to Pro Tools?  No problem.  Convert from Studio One to Reaper?  No problem.

 

Plus, if it was an open source project on GitHub, then others could contribute and verify the mappings.

(Sorry, I just DON'T have time to start this right now - I'm more of the "idea" guy here. 😆)

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Stem extraction / conversion are all excellent ideas, however l am a casual user and switching DAWs is not my goal, at least in the next years to come. Just want to know, if a cloned HD version of active Cakewalk would still work, without connecting PC to internet on same machine clone was created. 

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1 hour ago, Mesh said:

In the worst case scenario.....the grim Reaper may visit you while having the Audacity to use some Pro Tools, but as Logic demands,  Reason should be used with caution to Cue your Base for finding a solid Digital Performer.  

 

 

 

 

 

(I'll get me coat...)

You forgot to make sure your Studio is #1 One and make sure you have attitude by having Samplitude going
If all else fails you can relay on witchcraft. Make sure you have a black cat in the studio and a copy of MixCraft too.  🤣

I would get my coat but I think Mesh took mine by mistake  🙄

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Still does not answer specific question I asked... C'mon guys and gals, stay focused, it is really not that difficult.  90% was answered by Noel, the last 10% is, will a cloned HD with active Cakewalk will work on same machine clone was made from without server authorization/offline?

Thank you. 

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@Misha I don't think that will work that way.   

I think if you are that concerned, learn a couple of other DAW's in case CbB does fold.  Several of us did that when Gibson shut Cakewalk down. I'm back with CbB but have a couple other DAW's.  I have learned that each DAW have some pluses and minuses. 

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