Noel Borthwick

1 hour ago, tdehan said:

@Jesse Jost it indeed has hung Cakewalk twice!  Also, as stated the splash screen positioning on my Surface tablet sits below the taskbar and the count down is not in view as well as the CLOSE button.  When my band is performing live, the Surface tablet is mounted in Portrait position.   Not knowing what was happening as there was no warning that this stupid splash screen was going to appear and block the usage of Cakewalk, the fix was finally to take it out of the mount, restart the Surface in Landscape position.  Then I was able to see the count down and click the CLOSE button.  I am sure you must see how nerve racking that was as we were starting our live performance!  However, as also mentioned, when my band is performing live many times we are performing outside where there is no internet connection.  So, in those cases in order to keep the pop up splash screen from happening I would need to use my cell phone as a hotspot, connect my Surface to it in order to be online.  Not a good user experience.  Also... I don't want my Surface to be online when we are performing so that there are no automatic updates etc that could happen which could affect Cakewalk in a live performance situation.  Unless we have all been under a rock, we all know that Sonar will be available soon!  That doesn't mean that we are all going to run out and immediatly adopt it.  There is absolutely no reason that we should have to constantly be hit in the face with this annoying splash screen reminding us of that!  Right?  This is an absolutely terrible user experience.  There either should be a counter that only shows this splash screen a few times and then not again or the abilty to turn off this annoying splash screen!

And lastly.... You state that CbB will be available for some time?  Are you stating that it will stop working at some point?  If so...when?  If so...is there a plan to let everyone know so that doesn't just stop working prior to a performance or recording session?????   Geez!!

PS.... This annoying splash screen does not give me a warm and fuzzy about purchasing a Sonar License.  In fact..just the opposite.

@tdehan can you confirm that you are running build 29.09.0.075? 
If it hangs you can capture a dump file while the app is hung and send a link to me to investigate. Here are some details about how to capture a hang dump This is always the quickest way to diagnose such issues.

Regarding the experience with this, we'll continue to improve on it but it was put in as an initial placeholder attempt for the announcement many months ago.
FWIW Its very common for free apps that have an upgrade path to display such messaging. (As you know CbB will be transitioning to a paid fully supported product)

19 hours ago, Tez said:

With the CbB current 2023.09 installed each time it is launched for the 1st time after booting up Windows  it pops up a toast that says  it is "Not Activated"  contrary to which believe it should be, I then have to immediately shut CbB down & relaunch,  which then pops up the activated notice and is good for the rest of the windows session...

This seems like a bug?

 

Pretty unlikely. Once the app is activated it doesn't retry until the lease expires which is quite long. Check whether you have some backup script or something that is restoring some state when you reboot. If so, that might explain why Cakewalk is not activated again after a boot.

This is likely due to some specific settings you have for the start screen that is referencing the cakewalk.com domain that doesnt support the older apps. What is the version of the startscreen exe you have?

We may update the Startscreen and change its references to Cakewalk.

Yes. If you are not a steam user who had purchased legacy SONAR, this article  doesn't apply to you.

3 hours ago, Cristiano Sadun said:

Just in case it helps. Haven't read the full thread so not sure if this has been solved already, but it was happening to me as well (so I came reading here).

Turns out that I had a Chrome already opened, and CW Help->Sign in after the update wasn't doing anything.

I closed the browser, restarted CW and Help->Sign in brought me to the login page and I could activate. 

The OP's issue was solved. Most likely temporary connectivity.

Your issue is some weird web browser bug where sometimes it won't open the web page if another page is open with the same URL. The old page is stale and no longer communicate with the app. That's why it works when you close it.  For SSO it's generally best to close the browser before signing in so it starts clean.

The www is a POS ?

The product center will only handle current cakewalk applications not legacy ones.

Would have to check what scalar is doing. It's very unlikely that the problem is in cbb. The plugin may be blocking audio processing when you drag in midi.

We already have full cross platform project transfer to and from Sonar <==> Next using our own new transfer format. It goes beyond what this does and supports tracks, buses, auxes, plugins, instruments, routing, automation, arranger track, folders and more. Since it's our own interchange format we have full flexibility to rapidly grow as the need arises.

@Klaus M Old versions of SONAR will always open newer files but without any new feature content. This is because we support backwards and forwards compatibility.

Did you try renaming the file back to cakewalk.exe and trying. If it doesnt work then something  is still blocking the Windows services somehow. As mentioned, there are other apps that install hooks or tamper with Windows for nefarious purporses leading to issues like this.

This is the wrong forum to post information on Next

7 hours ago, Klaus M said:

Unfortunately, the same activation problem appears with the newest update version 2023.09.

Renaming the cakewalk.exe did not help. Turning off all firewall also did not help.

If I try to sign in via Help menu, but no feedback happens. After some time, a message Message see attached file. Before  there was a message like "Error 20 ...", which got replaced by the red message (s. attchmt)

Help is VERY appreciated. Thanks!

 

Error 20 means something on your PC is tampering with the system used to check the digital signature of the app. Most likely caused by running cracked software or your PC has been hacked by something. 
Look in the registry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options
Check for a value DevOverrideEnable set to 1 for that key. If its there delete it and reboot your machine and try again.
Also sheck if cakewalk.exe is listed as a sub key underneath there with a value "debugger" or similar.  If so, delete that as well. 

1 hour ago, limpet said:

Hello, I just tried to download and install the latest update and I got the message " Cakewalk experienced a problem with activation, please contact support (4)"

Any ideas?

 

Keith

@limpet if you cannot sign in then activation will not work. There have been zero changes to sign in for this release.
Close your browser first and then click sign in in the help menu. If that doesn't launch a browser window then something on your system is blocking that (likely an AV setting) and you will have to resolve this issue first. 

On 9/26/2023 at 3:09 AM, Shinjiman said:

I've just updated CbB to version 2023.09 build 062 and prompted to sign in using a Bandlab account. After sign in the Cakewalk app still unable to activate the product with error code 4008, although it shows "Sign out from Bandlab (username)" in the Help menu after signing in. Tried to restart either CbB app and it would be the same.

@Shinjiman did you try signing out and signing in again from the Help menu? After you sign in do you get any error message or does the web page accept your sign in? 
Please turn off any AV that could block the web page communicating with Cakewalk.

On the next discord channel. The discussion is there. This is the suggestions topic.

https://discord.com/channels/1024921285953863700/1065147809805893712

Introduction

This article only relates to legacy versions of SONAR distributed via the Steam platform. As of 2023 Sept, changes to the Steam platform and Cakewalk's website have caused compatibility problems with activation. Some symptoms of this are the SONAR app being in demo mode after installation from Steam or "communication problem with the server" error messages when trying to register the application.

PS: These instructions are provided as a courtesy to users using legacy versions of Cakewalk that are no longer supported or maintained by us. No support or fixes are provided for these products.

This article discusses how to resolve these and reactivate your software if necessary.

Activation Steps:

1. Open the Steam client and copy the serial number of the software you wish to activate. (Go to Manage | CD Keys to find it)
   
   
   
    
2.  Download and unzip SteamReg.zip  which contains the latest version of SteamReg.exe for both 32 and 64 bit installations.
    
3. Copy the appropriate flavor of SteamReg.exe to your Steam application's program folder.
   e.g for 64 bit SONAR it typically is:
   C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Cakewalk\x64\SONAR
   Note: The path may be different from above if you have installed Steam to a different folder. This will replace the existing file in that location.
   
   For Instruments (Rapture Pro/Z3TA+ 2), you'll want to place these in the folder with the microhost, the default for x64 Rapture Pro: 
   C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Cakewalk\x64\VstPlugins\Rapture Pro\ 
   
    
4. Open a command prompt (Start | Command Prompt)
    
5. Type the following command, replacing <serialnumber> with your serial number as obtained in step 1.
   "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Cakewalk\x64\SONAR\SteamReg.exe" /SN <serialnumber>
   
   For Instruments, you would use the appropriate equivalent path. Here's how a successful entry for Rapture Pro would appear in Command Prompt:
   
   
    
6. If step 5 succeeded with no errors, you may now open the application from the Steam client. 
    
7. When the app launches you should see the registration dialog prompting you for your e-mail address.
   NOTE: If you have previously registered the product with Cakewalk, its very important to enter the SAME email address you used before, otherwise the registration will fail. Your PC must be online for this step.
   
    
   
   
    
8. The app should now be activated!

The same steps may also be used to activate plugins from Steam such as Rapture. Note that if you reinstall the application, you will have to redo the above steps since Steam will restore the SteamReg file to the original version.

That is also a symptom of old third party software components expiring due to timeouts or certificate expiration.
While we have kept the legacy back end in place as a courtesy, it no longer receives any updates so its subject to failures like this.

This is one reason why we want users running the latest version of our software since that is the only version that is actively updated.

On 9/22/2023 at 11:13 AM, Shayne White said:

Honestly, I hope that Cakewalk brings back something resembling the Command Center when the new Sonar is released. It was a great app and easy to use for downloading and installing all the Cakewalk content. Kind of similar to NI Access.

We are in fact going to have a new product center app to list all user specific product assets. In app updates will still be there, but this will be a simpler way to navigate and reinstall etc.

On 9/22/2023 at 3:41 PM, Andres Medina said:

CW keeps hanging after drawing tempos with the line tool. Got another crash dump, if needed.

@Andres Medinaplease share the dump file with us.

5 hours ago, Keni said:

A bit harsh, but to me it looks like a program version of the Bandlab editor...

No it isn't. There is a lot more beneath the surface and more to come of course. 

What you are reacting to is similar theming and branding that we following for our apps to look consistent. 

7 hours ago, Bristol_Jonesey said:

I see your point.

That page is just the discord invite to switch to the app. Nothing to do with Next guys. We don't write the discord software ?

7 hours ago, christian.landstrom said:

tried to sign in through "help" and "sign in to bandlab" nothing happens??? I see a round blue ring next to the mouse pointer and then nothing?

Most likely what happened is the page opened as a tab in your web browser but it did not jump to the foreground so you didnt see it. Either that or something is blocking the application from simply launching a URL in the associated web browser.
If you run into that its generally recommended to close the browser before trying to sign in so it will launch visibly. Again nothing has changed in the sign in process itself. Its worked this way for over a year now.

2 hours ago, Will. said:

As I have stated in an earlier post. I first had to go to the .com site | signed in there and then went to the app before it accepted my sign in through the app. I had to sign in there too. I was confused that day, but thought it was because i had done a clean install of my OS. This was before the EA release about a month and half back. 

Far cry: Could it be related to the jump made with the new servers perhaps? 

Not at all. Even though Sign in is a prerequisite for  activation its a completely independent processes. Also signing in through the web browser on its own has no effect  on Cakewalk. 

24 minutes ago, billp said:

Yes I did exactly that: used the sign-in from within CbB. It has always worked before.

Here's the Fiddler results:

@billp I'm more interested in the errors displayed in the app rather than the HTTP errors. Let's take troubleshooting your issue offline. Check your PM messages and we can try and troubleshoot further one on one. 
The 400 HTTP error makes me wonder if something in your network (firewall, router or AV possibly) is blocking the bandlab OAUTH sign in process which requires communication with the application via a localhost port. 
I'm curious if simply going to the bandlab website and trying to sign in from there is successful. (Even if that works it doesn't rule out something blocking the communication between the browser and Cakewalk itself). 
Also, the digital signature of the application has changed since the last version so it's not impossible that if it was whitelisted before that has changed now. The actual sign in process hasn't changed since 2021 so we're pretty sure it's not directly related to this update.

2 hours ago, MarcL said:

Here it did only work if I installed a version before 2022.11. But then it works to get the full installer.

But it seems 2023.09 cannot be activated offline! I tested this on my laptop to ensure it will work on my other offline systems. Although I could export an activation request, BandLab Assistent told me the request is invalid. Is this true?

This is clearly mentioned in the release notes. BandLab assistant is no longer compatible with CbB since it uses an obsolete activation server. 
Offline activation is not yet available for this version. We'll provide a tool to do that somewhat later.

Quote

• BandLab Assistant has been deprecated and is no longer compatible with CbB or other Cakewalk products. You must use in-app activation as described below.
• Version 2023.09 currently does not support offline activation, so your computer must be online to activate it. Offline activation will be available soon.

2 hours ago, Keni said:

Hi Noel...

I'm ok here, but I'm a bit confused... When performing an update, an activation is required and the experience by my friend yesterday showed more than a 2 hour delay in activation happening after update. So many people are confused, uncertain and bewildered...

You might post a note informing them of such delays and reminding them to be patient even for that long!

 

The OP was asking if he needed to sign in and activate before updating to a new version. I was responding to him.
If its taking that long its more likely that there is a connectivity problem on the client machine. Activation is instantaneous here. Ive never seen it delay.