Lee D

I think we are actually saying the same thing

Yeah if they re-release Rapture Pro and Zeta 2 as paid add-ons then that would pretty much do the trick.

I've used it on and off in the past and would do so again in the future. It's just a conversation, maybe I should have posted in a different section of the forum?

Yeah I read their privacy policy. I'm not saying they are doing anything evil. But I think that's their business reason for offering a free DAW.

Edits to frozen audio don't translate back to midi. Use freeze to free up cpu and memory when you don't need to edit the track.

Actually I was just hoping to troll you. Mission accomplished!

I think you captured part of it. After giving it some thought, my hypothesis is that the free services provided by Bandlab have the goal of collecting and running analytics on an increasing number of users for the purposes of: 1) Creating brand recognition and loyalty 2) Marketing other products in the Bandlab portfolio 3) Assisting with product development 4) Selling this data to 3rd party partners and services I think that Cakewalk will be modified in the future to collect user data and to more tightly integrate with the Bandlab ecosystem. This might even allow them to collect data on the usage of the other equipment such as the audio interfaces, guitars, etc which would give a big step up in terms of product development and marketing.

Totally agreed on the loss leader theory. But loss leader for what? This is what I'm pondering. And full transparency, I have used Sonar in the past but currently don't because I prefer another DAW. But Sonar is wonderful, especially for free. I'd like to see it and Bandlab do very well, and I'd certainly consider trying something innovative in the future. So I'm more of a spectator at this time, not an ungrateful recipient

I guess that's theoretically possible that they are doing it as advertising and PR to sell more of their other products. But that can't be the only driver. . . that would be a lot of money and effort just to get their brand visibility up. Now, if their other products integrate with the free CbB better than the competition, that's a different story.

I agree that CbB is more than enough to create professional music (other than VST instruments, of which there are zillions of cheap / free options and zillions more not-so-cheap options anyway). And I don't think there's any better free option right now available. What I was actually wondering though is how Bandlab is going to monetize CbB. I'm thinking about it more from the business perspective. That's on the assumption that they acquired it to help them make more money in the long run, which may be incorrect. Perhaps they are doing it as something charitable. Assuming it's to make more money, then at some point they will either need users to pay or advertisers to pay for something. I'm just trying to figure out what that would look like. I don't think they could release Cakewalk as a paid product as-is and make much money off of it (as was shown by Sonar's predecessors). So they are going to have to innovate and maybe introduce something disruptive to the market.

Yeah I can definitely see them differentiating themselves by having projects on the cloud where you can collaborate with other users. I think they will need to release a few "unified" instruments and effects for this to happen. A subscription fee could then be charged to be able to create music in this way. That would be very interesting.

K you win.

That's fair if they want to run it that way. I was just curious, you figure they have some plans for the future. Many businesses are happy when people want to know more about them and their plans... I figure Bandlab is probably one of them because they are based online.

Humble? That's what they call unsolicited off-topic opinions nowadays? Can the folks who don't have anything constructive to add please just ignore this thread and move on? I didn't create this topic to get your opinions on whether it's a valid topic.

Sorry, I should have checked with you. What criteria should I be using to determine if something "really matters"?

Maybe they'll provide some info at Summer NAMM then...

There was a lot of excitement when it was purchased by Bandlab and made free. But it's gotten very quiet now in terms of commentary by Meng. Just curious if there's any details of how Cakewalk is going to fit into Bandlab's business or generate revenue going forward, or a planned timeline?

Which is better?

Hmmm 80% off is like $20 and you get 3 free new synths. I am not familiar with any of their stuff. . . is it not worth that price?

Does it compare favorably to Addictive Drums 2? I have Addictive Drums 2 but don't really like it because I feel like building a drum track with it is a painful exercise, and the ability to customize the rhythms is not very good.

My plan is to upgrade every 2 version updates unless they drop the upgrade price. $199 each time is pretty pricey for 4 extra synths in my opinion. I upgraded from 5 to 7. . . totally worth it.

If they put the full one on sale at some point (I only own the light version) is it worth the purchase?

Man I am having a tough choice on this. I have Halion 6 already and I'm tempted to pick up Kontakt as well because of the expandability and the availbility of free libraries. But then I'm thinking that I probably have everything I really need as far as instruments in what's included with Halion 6, and can layer and tweak as necessary. WHY IS IT SO TEMPTING????

I just upgraded but I got an email saying they're having a glitch and I'll get my license email in a day or two. No biggie. I'm upgrading from V5 so I reckon it's worth it.

I am using 13 and I think it looks great actually!