Misha

Lord Tim. "Noel mentioned earlier in this thread that they had plans that if anything..." That "anything" is about to happen, as it is official: "Will Cakewalk by BandLab be discontinued? Yes, eventually. We will continue providing community support and maintenance for Cakewalk by BandLab until Cakewalk Sonar becomes publicly available. " I am not saying give these older Gibson versions away. I am asking to unlock these for those folks who paid for them. So they do not require "servers" or any other bologna with expiring "activation" after 6 month.

"Those old Gibson-era products still work though, so in effect anyone who bought the licenses back in the day still can use those products" But they will still require a "server" to activate and I believe would still de-activate in 6 months! Dear Bakers, seems you are tight lipped on this one.... Why not unlock legacy Gibson versions for those who might need them for archival purposes, and discontinue/retire these gracefully? New kids will either buy/rent or steal new products. Why keep these older 2018 versions caged?

I had been a fan of Cakewalk for over 20 years. I had very mixed feelings about the news. Here is what it boiled down for me. I absolutely believe in supporting a company that makes software I enjoy using. However, what bothers me the most is ability to go back to older projects in foreseeable future. 5-10 years from now if "something" happens to Bandlab. The only way to insure that I will be able to do that is by having unlocked license stored locally. The one that would not "expire" and will not require any servers to re-activate at a later time. To show good faith, Bandlab should unlock last patched version of CwB, even if it will not be supported after the release of Sonar/Next. If that is completely off the table, unlock permanently versions purchased under Gibson.

"The "check activation" thing has been talked about a lot and the short answer is: 1. Small team, finite resources to support the product, so the more people on a current product, the less wild goose chases for old bugs that may already have been fixed in the current version" This makes "0" sense. Most software titles have "Automatically check for updates" option. Same goes for Cakewalk. Locally shutting down a paid license software is not a friendly or cool thing to do to a customer. It didn't bother me too much with cheap / free versions... As I mentioned, only a minor software title (single developer gig) done similar from my experience. That and Cakewalk. I hope some kind of clarity on that is given prior purchasing paid annual license. Bottom line, if a full annual license is purchased, there should be an option/choice to keep this license on a local machine as most companies do, without any trickery with de-activating software.

"Thanks for your support over the years, we just sold Cakewalk to Wal-Mart, have a nice day" LOL. That is actually another concern. It was mentioned several times after Gibson thing (even in this thread), that there was a plan "B" to permanently unlock existing licenses. That brings me to a question. Actually two. 1) Can a similar promise be made on the new paid (non-subscription) licenses if unfortunate (or fortunate) event similar to Gibson happens? 2)Why there is a 6 month de-activation happening in the first place? I do get that "free" is "free" while it's free, but a paid perpetual license, in my view should never de-activate on a chosen machine, while that machine is intact. I own a decent set of musical software. Only one, a very minor app deactivated and asked to be re-activated after a period of time. That one and Cakewalk. What bothers Bakers, not allowing to permanently activate license on particular machine (Machine ID) , like 90%+ of others do?

"But Terry times change... technology changes. As things develop your purchased products wont work" Not true. At least for Windows, which has awesome backward compatibility. I still use a couple of smaller pieces of software developed ~20 years ago on Win11, where companies who developed them are loooong gone. My main concern is of ability to open older projects if needed, when the software license is purchased. Considering I have proper machine with proper hardware / OS that supported that version. I am with Terry on this one.

"I would want my software, that I hold rights to use indefinitely after I've bought it, to be able to install and run even after the company is gone provided all factors such as hardware and OS are intact" +1 That is exactly what worried me since early days of Bandlab. I have projects from 90s that I do want to go back to at some point in my life and I don't want to be dependent on some server that might or might not work or mercy at those who might run he company in the future. I still have boxed X1 and an older laptop that will allow to open older projects. That is what I want to see with "unlocked" paid future versions. P.S. In my view, the whole 6month activation thing is absolutely meaningless, as those who want to steal, will steal, but those who actually pay and support progress will suffer.

Mark, "it makes me laugh when people say they want to "own" it because you never do - it's just licence." License that doesn't expire, unlike subscription only models (possibly excluding future Sonar). I see absolutely nothing funny about that. Do you also laugh at people who prefer to own favorite books instead of going to libraries? It's a choice. So far, Sonar/ Cakewalk was great at backward compatibility. It seems this trend will stay.

Cool!

Bruno, I agree, requirements are pretty steep for "average" machine. A good and noble reason to maintain current CbB version available is... It is almost certain, many folks from less fortunate countries already adopted to it in the past several years, and since there are no compatibility issues with Win11, it should last for years "as is" with very minimal maintenance. P.S. Very curious if new versions will have classic "mercury" skin

Noel, Thank you for your reply! Subscription is definitely something I am not interested in. While I own many great software titles, none are subscription. I like to own my software. Personal preference. And for that matter most of musicians I know will not touch "subscription" model. "For those afraid of the software deactivating, there are models that allow you to purchase an annual (non-expiring) license. " Noel, pretty please, small clarification. "Annual" means no expiry / no deactivation after one year, just no further free updates after the year, right? P.S. I do believe in supporting good software that I like very much, and I am certain team will come up with reasonable non-subscription competitive pricing. Just subscription in not my thing. "Waves" surely proved very recently that subscription only is not what their customers wanted

"I’m pleased to see new life being breathed by the bakers." +1 My main concern is that whatever they do, they will let existing users keep current version, without "deactivating" it ever, even if buck stops now with development for last version. Mainly for backup purposes of existing projects. That surely will give me initiative to upgrade to paid (non-subscription) version and I am certain quite a few users will understand what I am saying. So those of us who have projects from 5-10-15-20+ years ago, have a peace of mind, knowing they will still be able to open their older projects 10 years from now and have them same way they left them. I still have Sonar X1 (in original box) Couple of years ago, for fun I tested it, opening projects from Cakewalk by Bandlab... With some plugin hiccups they did --- Jesse, Thank you for your answer. This was/is my concern since early days of Bandlab.

Question for Noel. Please. Current version expires every few months. When final built is released, what happens in a few months? It gets deactivated and dies in de-activated state? Can users purchase current version, if they don't like new versions for any reason, so Bandlab doesn't de-activate Cakewalk by Bandlab when it wants to? ---- What worries me the most, is that it seems intention is to forcefully take away current version from folks " at some point" by simply de-activating it and never activating it again... I have 2 decades of projects in Cake, and that would be a major disappointment. A honest thing would be to give existing users permanent activation to current version and then try to seduce them with new, better product(s) I don't mind Cakewalk becoming a paid software. Obviously not subscription. If it will be subscription only, I will among first to catch a train to another DAW Hopefully that is not the case.

John, I disagree with you on the "garbage" part. I have some amazing melodic phrases of Piano/EP (played) from Mango Loops and a few others like Studio Keys: Jazz (Fakulty Studio) that have this "not on the 1st bar" thing Obviously, there is no issues of auditioning these individually. The problems starts when you try to use them in EZ keys and similar software. When I manually move them, and re-export to start at bar#1/ beat1, they work as they should (in EZ keys) . There are just too many of these to do it manually. So.. I was wondering if there some kind of automation in Cakewalk that can set all clips, from all tracks to bar1 and re-save them as individual files in bulk ... Ohh yes, here is the vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntYhwLj9sbw ------------------------------------ P.S. something that I probably should of mentioned, if you are familiar with EZkeys. I am not talking about dropping a MIDI clip directly to timeline of EZkeys, but using an onboard EZkeys file browser.

"I have never heard of that." really? Several random packs had exactly that for me. To me more specific 4 out of 5. Yes, many MIDI phrase/loop packs have time offset. The clips would be in some random place on the timeline. Some software titles are cool with that and will play from the start of the loop (not where from it was saved), but for EZkeys, a clip has to start from bar #1 to be interpreted properly. Yes, I can re-save a dozen or two clips. What do you do if you have 500+ files that are all over the place and you want them to be re-saved individually starting at bar#1? (hopefully retaining original names)

Hi Folks. I have a tech issue I can't solve. Midi loop packs.... unfortunately many (if not most) "packs" sold have MIDI loops scattered on timeline. Meaning, they don't start on bar #1. That means software like EZkeys will not recognize them properly. I searched for a tool to batch convert midi files to start at Bar #1, but found nothing. So I went with my neanderthal way, batch opened multiple Midi files in Cakewalk (on separate tracks), moved individual files to start at bar #1 (in two packs I dealt with they were scattered on timeline) and exported files one by one as SMF.... It's ok if there are 20-40 files. But larger packs would take me hours... Can somebody recommend a tool (if one exist), or a more intelligent way to do it in bulk in Cakewalk? Thank you!

Noel and team, First, I want to thank you for your dedication & for the progress Cakewalk made in the past few years. Love Cakewalk! Coming from world of arrangers to computer recording, I would really like to see a true Chord Track implemented. To be able to drop a melodic MIDI phrase to the track and so it follows the progression and tempo map of the project. I believe competitors such as Cubase and StudioOne had this for quite some time. It is "kind" of available now in Cake, but not quite it. There are a couple of plugins that would allow for dynamic re-chording, but process is complex and unintuitive. In my mind, if made, right, this would make a mega feature for Cakewalk users. Thank you for considering.

A proud BIAB user of 5 years. One of the best music tool discoveries since Cakewalk You would think it would do what I want to accomplish with MIDI phrases? Surprisingly not. Well.. .not completely true. I looked into it. It has a "tool" but it is very convoluted and buggy, it was not specifically designed for it. And it doesn't have a Media Browser to audition these MIDI phrases. So you kind of doing it "blindly". Some MIDI libraries have great phrases that I would never be able to play on keyboard, but to use them in existing composition would require a lot of elbow grease. ---- Until Cakewalk bakes Chord a Chord track, I am on a quest to find a middle man solution in the form of a VST that could do that. The technology/logic of hardware arrangers is ancient, not sure why I am having a hard time of finding a VST that can do similar inside of DAW.

User 905133, Don't I mentioned physical arrangers as a case study only. Just a concept I am trying to achieve in Cakewalk. With so many MIDI VSTs, there must be one which can do this stuff. Thanks.

1) I am talking about MIDI clips that I can audition in Cakewalk Media Browser YES 2)onto a MIDI track 3)Not audio, but MIDI transposed according to a Midi (block) chord track that sits on another MIDI track. 4)so it can be routed to a sound producing synth (Kontakt, Halion, etc.) ----------------------------------------------------------- I came to computer recording from hardware arrangers such as Yamaha arranger keyboards & Yamaha modules such as QY 70/100. To explain this in simple terms... These arrangers had a library of melodic & rhythmic parts that were made into pre-made styles. But also, these arrangers allowed to assemble a fully customized style by threating these phrases / lines that made up a style just as midi clips. You would simply make your style by combining and re-voicing almost any parses from the pool (of all styles). With exceptions of combining phrases with different time signatures and a few other insignificant nuances. There are plenty of plugins that will follow a MIDI chord track (Scaler, Kontakt, Halion and many many more) However I am not familiar with any that can take a midi clip placed on the MIDI track (of the Cakewalk) and transpose it automatically according to a MIDI (block) Chord track that sits on another MIDI track (in the Cakewalk) I hope that clarifies what I want to achieve.

Will bump this with two more items. Does anybody know if this was the latest Chord Track request thread, or was there another, bigger thread? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Since Cakewalk doesn't have in house Chord Track at the moment, maybe somebody can suggest a VST that can be used in similar manner with flexible routing. Idea is to drop a midi clip from Cakewalk's browser to a track, so that follows/transposes these clips according to MIDI chord track that sits on another track, without surgeries, except maybe for length of the clip. Thank you.

msmcleod, Thank you for extensive reply! Looks like there are many hoops to jump through. Not exactly the workflow I was after. A musical friend, who uses Studio One, says that with their "Chord track" you just drop that melodic midi loop and you are done. It will follow chords, etc. I do remember quite a few people requested Chord Track for Cakewalk time ago.... I wonder if it is planned / seriously considered? I guess only the Chief baker Noel would know

Thank you for the reply! "A chord track has been requested but does not yet exist." I do remember that request... I believe I vote for that. Maybe somebody can suggest a workaround., as I do have a MIDI chord (block chords) track available. Perhaps there is a way to tie it with melodic MIDI loop? Thanks.

Hi Folks. I have some melodic MIDI loops that I want to use in Cakewalk. My average composition is audio tracks and imported MIDI chord (block chords) track. Is there a way to make these MIDI loops transpose / follow chord changes according to my MIDI chord track within Cakewalk? Thank you.

Will, Thanks for trying! I gave up on Izotope plugins about a year ago. In my view, they are just resource sucking leaches, compared to most others, except for their older/legacy plugs. My main plugins are from Fabfilter. Noel, Thank you for replying! I was just about to post to topic and got your reply. I freed about 100gb from the hard drive and HD icon at resource monitor is not lit any more. For "disable dropout detection" You mean: Mask Dropout detection = True? My final thoughts on this is that all most USB bus only powered interfaces do not work well with larger projects. I have tried 4 and had same issue on all 4. The 5th interface Original (rev1) Arturia Audiofuse was a "Rosetta Stone". Because it can run bus power only and with external AC. Running Audiofuse without external power supply at highest buffer gives same "Stopped audio engine 01". As soon as I plug in the AC cord, all issues go away. I picked up MiniFuse, thinking that it is a newer interface that should take the load well. I guess not. I am not sure of true Thunderbolt bus powered interfaces, perhaps they get enough power to pull heavier projects.