I have yet to try the free version. After the decision to discontinue Cakewalk by Bandlab without the choice to simply keep what you have without updates or support, I have little reason to think the same won't eventually occur with this version. My nostalgia and love of Cakewalk from the old days will eventually lead me to try it in hopes of being pleasantly surprised, but right now I feel like we are are getting less than what we had. Hard to complain about a free product, but time is money. I paid for multiple versions of Cakewalk in the past, but subscription is not an option for me so free version it is. It's just hard to put much dedication into a DAW that might pull the plug again. I realize that can occur with any software, but since this is cakewalk forum, we are talking about cakewalk. I feel like they gave us a lot of what we didn't want and kind of ignored what we did want. I'm not trying to disrespect the bakers. I have always appreciated them and I know they don't make these policies. I'm not even trying to be negative. Just expressing an honest concern.