marcL

There is one important thing missing in your comparison: The Company W10 leads you on a more dangerous route (you often have to be online and most people do other online stuff on W10), whereas the Company W7 takes a route outside that is almost hazard-free (usually offline). IMO this is a more realistic view of a W7 DAW system, because most of the people still using it for music keep it mostly offline!

On the other hand there are not so many developers that force you to the newest OS versions, i.e. if you avoid those ones you still have a lot of choice for music software!

This is one of the illusions that many "novelty-fanatics" have! I would say minimum 80-90% of the power of new gear is being eaten by new software (included Windows 10, and CbB). And we are not talking about the time lost to keep the software "new"! Regrettably there are not many software developers like Cockos (Reaper) that cherish the users hardware by producing really efficient software and respecting older systems! Yes, it is very different in that a lot of software has become less professional. If I compare contemporary software (plugins, DAWs and operation systems) with the ones of 10 years ago, then I can't see a lot of real improvements, but I see a lot of trouble for its users (bugs, permanent updates, instability, resource eaters, intrusion by online enforcement, authorization issues by system and hardware changes, ...). But you are right, we can't change the world, thus we have to deal with the future (that's often some kind of past!). For this reason I collect a lot of hassle free music software that does not have too many requirements. The image you paint of the future seems to be very dark! Just look at people using happily 20 year old software today (like old Sonar versions)! Most of this old software is still running perfectly. For emergency I have also 2 old harddisk recorders that are running without doubt and you can still buy similar ones!

What has it to do with CbB and the new tempo track? I wonder?

Sadly you are right!

I wonder about this sweetwater article (very blue-eyed)! Yes, the spec has been around for 10 years, but the last year I read about so many problems with VST3 (now with AAS), thus I doubt that "VST3 is as reliable as VST2.4" at all, that's bullsxxt! Also, even if the spec has been around for 10 years, many manufacturers did not jump to VST3 for years! I mean a lot of the conversion has just happened or is happening first now (there are even great players that have not yet jumped on VST3)! "Remember, the issue isn’t the spec itself — it’s the implementation.": It seems the guy who has written this does not have any clue about IT! Specs have a lot to do with implementation problems, especially if used cross-manufacturer! Most specs leave a lot of details open, the spec theorists say: This is not relevant! But often in the real world it is! I have found and understood several of such issues in my IT career.

Unfortunately!

I meant this more as a provocative joke! But there is also some truth in it, as VST3 has been more bane than boon for the music world! I don't think that we really missed something if all plugins were still VST2! ?

This is only true if your system is always online, not for offline usage! On the other hand I do NOT have any objection doing offline activation with the Bandlab Assistent, so far it works witout any issues and is no big deal! ? It is even not necessary to update the Assistant on the online computer! I agree, but it is not necessary to do it repeatedly as long as you keep the same pc system. Dongles have the advantage that they are not bound to the system, but with CbB this is no problem as there is no limitation.

I agree with you that it is somehow strange! Also, I can approve that in most other industries Windows is taken seriously. The only thing to come to mind as a reason is that in most of those other industries there are professional IT guys that handle the Windows desktops and they prevent Microsoft to undermine the system stability with their permanent updates! On the other side most professional and hobbiest music studios can't afford having permanent ITs to handle Windows. As a result the permanent Microsoft updates create a lot of hassle. I've seen this myself! I have least trouble with my offline DAW that still has Windows 10 Pro 1909 ! I really don't understand and agree to forcing software updates, except for things like Windows Defender!

I have made exactly the same experience! It is annoying! ?

IMHO it is the result that quite a few of the more professional Sonar users left Cakewalk for another DAW or only use it occasionally nowadays. ? I've read a lot of such comments here on the forum where long-time Sonar/Cakewalk users say that they are very happy with their new DAW, that it is more stable and they regret that they did not switch earlier. Or some of those users simply admit using another DAW without comparison. That's why you do rarely hear comments of some of the former renown Cakewalk users anymore. There are other Windows-only or Mac-only DAWS that are not treated like this! ? I doubt it is only a money problem! This sounds too simple for me! I guess it has also to do with a DAW company's evolution direction and its user base.

=> Luckily!

More and more I am convinced that there should be an "official" recommendation not to use VST3, if there is a VST2 version! ? Maybe there should also be a switch in the preferences "Hide Related VST3 Plug-ins"!

I highly recommend Reaper!

The only way is if you saved the installer! ? I have already rollbacked to 2020.11, but as I looked in the release notes, you are absolutely right, the best version was 2020.08 ! ?

A product (not only plugins) with the word 'Smart' in the name raises my hackles! ? So many times I've noticed they are everything else than "smart"! Maybe the purpose is to obscure this!

Don't forget offline authorisation! It is only supported by BA!

Not that weird after the new CbB release! ? No, seriously, the last year until now there were too many dead bodies around me! ? When the Gibson debacle had happened, I looked around on the DAW market like many others. Then I had the same feeling like you about Reaper, maybe I was too lazy to learn another way to work, 'cos it seemed to be really different (actually it is not so much as I thought). But I regret that I did not invest some learning effort earlier, instead of wasting my time with Cakewalk bugs! ?

Exactly, I am going to love Reaper over all of them! ?

Yesterday I tried to gain-automate a clip in a project with a single track. There are about 40 vocal phrases in the single clip and I added maximum 5 clip gain changes per phrase. When I came to the middle the left/right scrolling got terrible slow, coming to the end of the track scrolling was nearly impossible! Annoying! Specification: Cakewalk 2021.01 (build 098), Intel i5-8600K 6-Core, 16 GB RAM, Windows 10 Pro (1909).

I agree to that! But I would add that there are a lot of areas outside of computer hardware/software that go the same way! Even politics, media and education! And there is some software, like Reaper (they support back to Windows XP with a small team!), that is not so intrusive in this way!

No it's not the only concern at all! But musical hardware/software is music related, thus it is not banished on this forum. In contrast politics, taxes, safeness, law is actually not music related! ?

No, at the moment I do not need to convert some projects, because I always work in small steps with their own projects and then I save the wave files (is super easy to backup and you can always jump to another program for the next step!) and use them in the final mix project. But thanks for the hint, maybe I will need it in the future! Studio One is no option for me, I don't like the interface and especially their business model!

Thanks Larry! I think your reminder is very useful, just at the right time! Well if I look at the current evolution of CbB ☹️ ... it is definitely time to cotton up to Reaper! I already have a license. ?