John Vere

That's got to be old information? We haven't used the Bandlab assistant for a long time. All Activation is done within the software. It's not your fault , they suck at web sites and there's not even ever been any official information stated clearly here on the forum. Your right I've very tired of repeating myself. Example the question above, Didn't I just answer that on the last page? And then people re answer it again and round and round we go.

Have you tried just moving Dim pro or Rapture to the default location on C?

I find it odd that people are not understanding all this?? Activation has nothing to do with the installation of the software. You can install any version you so choose and it will stay installed forever. You'll even be able to do stuff with it. But you will not be able to Save any changes or export the project. To do that the software needs to be activated. Bandlab is 100% in control of the activation. In other words the software is worthless without it. This is true of a lot of software, not just Cakewalk...OK is that Clear! Next, the other mystery to me is even though this has been said a over and over by staff and forum members! Sure you can use the old installers, they will install Cakewalk, but they will not activate. Only the latest release can be activated. In other words there's no point saving old installers as they are basically useless. This has been done on purpose stating last fall. The only exception to this is I recommend saving the full installer from last November as it was the last version that will install the TTS-1. But you would have to immediately update after your ran it. This below, is the only version of Cakewalk that can be activated right now as far as I know. And sure you can save it as a back up 'till the cows come home but why? This seems the other thing people are not understanding. Even this copy shown below will be updated someday as stated in the announcement. So it too will become useless. It would seem the Cakewalks installers will most certainly remain available from the web site ( or the Product Center) as long as Cakewalk is kept alive. The day Bandlab announces the end of life for Cakewalk it is highly likely they will not allow new installations to be activated. And all the old installs will slowly become de activated. Therefore once again there's seems no reason to save old installers of Cakewalk as it is most probable they will be useless. Note: I cannot comment on that Offline activation possibly is a loophole in the system as I have not tried that myself.

That info is now outdated due to the fact we will still have the latest version always available directly from Bandlab. You always need the latest version. The staff member even stated that there will be updates occasionally for maintenance reasons. At this point in time there’s no reason to install the Product Center unless you want to do an off line. Saving old installers is a waste of time unless that is the one from November which you will need someday to install the TTS-1. All new installers don’t have the TTS-1.

I couldn’t get other DAWs to scan it. But Rapture works fine and uses the same sounds.

I have tried real hard to support the release of SonarI really hope that by this time next year I will own it. But while I can afford to purchase it, I can’t afford to rent it. Who knows why they choose to hold back that one unanswered question that was on the very first page of the June 6 2023 announcement. It was asked by @wetdentist “just out of curiosity, will the CbB software continue working after the the Sonar/Next release?” If you go and keep reading the answers were only from users and all speculation. The next reply from a staff member ignored this important question. I scanned the whole 38 page thread and never saw an official answer. Only that it will give people time to transition to Sonar. And even the answer we finally have now is still open ended. But it is at least a lot more optimistic. I already got a PM from one of my subscribers saying they were just about to purchase another Daw and after they watched my video stopped dead in their tracks. They thanked me for saving them money. They did a lot of damage by not answering this question a year ago. I don't have as many subscribers as Mike by a long stretch but my small crew was very upset and confused. Mike immediately put out a video in support of Studio One and you can only imagine how many people jumped ship due to that one video. The talk all became speculation and about trying other Daw's. All 100% avoidable with just a few words about the future plan for CbB. All we got was a non answer.

Boy do you have that right! I was being corrected by a staff member who quoted me from back in May. That was my answer. If Bandlab doesn’t want speculation flying around this forum then you should have laid it all down a year ago about the future. 100’s of pages of speculation and threats to switch DAWs etc would not have been posted here. I know that the staff are not to blame but there’s got to have been a solution to all this crazy stuff.

That’s not how it works with Cakewalk. Your account is on line and all your products, free and paid for are stored in your account. We have always been able to install Sonar and Cakewalk on as many machines as we want. And Bandlab was even kind enough to keep all of our Legacy products available on their servers even though those products have nothing to do with them . The linked to a machine copy protection is only used by a few vendors like XLN and Celemony. The way it will be is CbB will be available as a download for a ??? while yet. So no point worrying about it. If they do decide to end it they will be able to control this as when that day come all they need to do is shut down the activation system. Every copy of CbB will become unusable once it times out. As they said . It’s the price of using free software. I think that’s totally fine.

Yes I’m aware that now this changed. You will see I even released a video announcement about how CbB is not going away and hopefully not for a long time. When I posted that it was based on the information staff was providing at that point in time. The only statements I found said “Cakewalk will be kept long enough to allow people to transition “ So please don’t blame me for posting miss information. This is an example of the lack of the official information causing rumours and speculation. If they had supplied solid answers a year ago this forum would be missing 100’s of pages of speculation about the future. I just read over the original announcements from a year ago and scattered in that thread are people asking the question. “ Will we be able to use Cakewalk and for how long” Each time this was ignored and only specific questions were answered. The only answer was always the one I just quoted above. That answer to me implies that it would be very soon after Sonar was released. It’s all good now and judging by the comments on my video people are super happy to hear we now have hope to continue using Cakewalk. But they had to get that information from another user, it is still unofficial! Many were on the brink of switching DAWs and like me have now scrapped that plan. But why is this info still hidden from the general public ?

I’ll add this note here because I didn’t go into it in the video. I got a question in the comments about this. People are still stumbling over the whole activation process and there are people who are just discovering that things changed last fall. So this is where we are at You are required to run the latest version of CbB that you can download from the Cakewalk by Bandlab web page. All older versions will not activate. You will be asked to sign in to your Bandlab account to activate. It’s simple but sometimes people get messed up. Do not use the old Bandlab Assistant. There’s a toast messages you can click or go to the Help menu. The other thing you need to know is the TTS-1 is no longer supported and has been removed from all new releases of both Cakewalk and Sonar. It will stay installed on your current system but if you do a fresh install on a new computer you will need to follow my instructions in this video https://youtu.be/kF3tEttGdIQ?si=QHazMYKM6cIEe1o8

This video will bring you up to date on the status of CbB

Well I directly PM's a staff member instead of second guessing all that seems spread over 40 pages here, and their answer was very clear, " Hi John, So the app still needs to auth at the 30 day interval, it just will do it silently rather than in your face. The current behavior was a byproduct of the older 6 month lease. 15 days heads up at 6 months is a big difference. The reauth is just part of the deal with getting free software. " As well as I would guess they still need to keep track of who is using the software. My guess is also that at this point it is in the millions and they are not wishing to screw those users because that would be a huge mistake brand loyalty wise. Each and everyone of those people IS a potential future Sonar customer. I have at this point zero fear of now being shut out as I feel if you are just patient, keep using Cakewalk if you don't like the Backstage Pass option, and in less than a years time all will be a totally a different situation. And it will be to the liking of 99.9 percent of those millions of loyal users. Why do people fear the worst? This is just another transition. Go read the old forum from the end of 2016 forward.

I have a series of tutorials, This one is all about using the TTS-1 https://youtu.be/pwEMq67Zn3s This one is about instrument tracks https://youtu.be/rVWeMsPZ-hc If your new to using Cakewalk it's best to start at the first video on the playlist and work your way through. They are mostly short videos so it doesn't take long to have a when your done you will have learned a lot about using Cakewalk. This is the playlist https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7YqVth30eGsURWrKGeu-fFyg3ETjF-Ox

What I’ve noticed is the track in focus in PRV will have input echo on. This trips me up when I insert a new instrument and I go to record on it and I can’t turn off the input echo of another track? I learned to open PVR and put the focus on the track I want to record to. Not sure if it’s a bug or by default but it annoying.

This will save you slogging through all the dozens of 8 page threads looking for the correct information about what is happening in regards to Cakewalk by Bandlabs future.

Did you want to be using this to set the controls remotely or record automation?

I don’t know if you are out of the loop but we were just informed that they have no plans to remove CbB and it’s download. So all that stuff I guess you got watching a certain video is wrong now. Here is the most updated info https://youtu.be/cOHqt-vj_d0?si=eN8bQfbw3COPBCIp

Did you save the project?

About what? CbB lives on. What else do we need to know. No subscription- free!

You can’t use midi if the original audio recording was not played to a metronome following the project tempo. You can drag an audio track to the timeline and Melodyne will create a tempo map. But there’s more to that to get good results Which drum VST are you using? Which sequencer are you using? I have a few videos that cover the details of writing a song this is my complete playlist so you can look for the topics that you need https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7YqVth30eGsURWrKGeu-fFyg3ETjF-Ox&si=qoQ2eq1JvC-Ti-7Q

@Glenn Stanton Wow! I am a huge fan of zero fret. I’ve only ever had it on old guitars. One of the advantages is open strings will sound brighter. Thanks for the link. I have an old guitar I was going to put a new nut on this is perfect!

In a way no it doesn't, The only way I'm aware of that this happens is when you choose " enable midi output" in the synth properties. The TTS-1 is DX and doesn't have that option as far as can tell. If it does it's most certainly hidden away somewhere. Midi output will allow midi data to loopback to a track that has its input selected to all inputs or none. Possibly the TTS-1 midi output is always on. You could also have a hidden midi track feeding 14, so open the track manager and check. You are not showing the more important dialogue boxes in your screenshot. If I could see every tracks header I might spot something. Drag the divider all the way right to show all the dialogue boxes like I did here.

This is also an new feature available with Cakewalk Sonar. The track manager is always available in the upper left and you can create custom track categories. Very cool.

I have arthritis in my whole dang body and the only cure is to keep moving. Sitting at a computer is bad for me. I had to sell my full size acoustic and I bought an Epiphone L00 Folk size guitar that is easy to play. It has a short scale.

Thanks. I just went and downloaded Cakewalk and installed it with out the Product Center. I guess it’s something we might have to use in the future but right now I guess it’s only needed for off line activation. When I click on Cakewalk nothing happened probably because it wasn’t installed. But why isn’t Sonar listed?