Craig Reeves

I'm not going to argue with you if you are not going to even read my posts. Accusing someone of "bitching" is not a "simple" or "direct" question. It is also a stupid-as-hell question as you could clearly see in my original post, I demonstrated no less than three specific issues with videos showing step-by-step on how to reproduce them. It is your problem if you're too lazy to watch them. I do not "whine on Youtube" as I do not post Youtube videos publicly. The videos in my post are and have been unlisted as they are specifically for this forum so people can view how to reproduce the bugs. You do not need to tell me about troubleshooting software, as software development is my trade by day. Perhaps had you actually watched the videos you would know I was doing exactly what it is you accuse me of not doing: demonstrating bugs and giving specifics on how to reproduce them. I have also done this in past posts.

This is exactly what I was talking about in my post and also the reason why many people who have problems don't "bitch", they'll just find something else to use, which is probably at least one of the reasons Cakewalk did poor business (along with poor marketing) when it wasn't free. Most people don't "bitch", they just use something else, and as you can see I literally just got finished documenting every one of the bugs I brought up not only this time, but in the past as well. Every one of those videos I posted are videos I have posted before on this forum. I do not just come on here and "bitch", I give full details on how to reproduce the bugs, but I STILL get flack from at least one person every time I do. The problem is that people like you don't actually read the full context of a post before commenting. There is a history of people expressing their frustration with this DAW but then getting attacked by people like yourself for telling it like it is. I suspect this is why some of these bugs don't actually end up getting addressed, because folks don't want to deal with the bullying, the gaslighting and the attacks for bringing up legitimate problems. Because rather than simply addressing the fact that yes, X issue is indeed a bug I was able to successfully reproduce and therefore needs to be addressed, people will either literally tell you that you're imagining it (gaslighting), tell you it's not their problem, or tell you to "quit bitching". That needs to end if these problems are going to get addressed. I want you to notice that hardly any of the bugs I brought up have even been addressed in this thread. All I get is "well, it's not my problem because I don't care about X feature", or "Cakewalk works fine for me". As Noel mentioned, people use Cakewalk for many different reasons. If all you're doing is tracking vocals or guitars, you're not going to run into problems with VST instruments or MIDI. If all you do is compose film and game music, it is unlikely you will run into problems with the Matrix, etc. I produce R&B and pop music, so I'm probably not going to run into articulation map issues because I don't use the articulation map often. I've never said that Cakewalk doesn't work at all. I said compared to the other DAWs I use, it is much buggier than those DAWs. It crashes far more often, and has way more broken features. That is not to say that Pro Tools doesn't have bugs too, or Ableton. They do. But they are far more stable and have far fewer broken features that don't work. As I've said multiple times already, I still prefer Cakewalk to both those other DAWs, but that doesn't mean there aren't areas I feel Cakewalk is inferior. The reason I single Cakewalk's problems out is because I'm on Cakewalk's forum. We have to face the reality that Cakewalk's future is uncertain, and I want to continue to use this DAW. I actually want Cakewalk to survive because I love it. But we have to be honest and live with the fact that it is not good enough that Cakewalk be AS GOOD as Studio One or Cubase, it has to be BETTER. Because in order to catch up you have to be going faster. That's a fact. Cakewalk is already 5 laps behind in a 30 lap race. And Cakewalk has the potential to be that good. It's only real flaw are the bugs.

I'm sorry I'm just super frustrated and in a bad mood. All I wanted to do was some basic MIDI sequencing and ran into a litany of bugs.

I know you guys are trying, which is why I am here and no longer use Ableton as my main DAW. They've rested on their laurels over there and really aren't the least bit concerned about actually making their DAW actually good. It's claim to fame is that it is really well marketed and comes with a bunch of stock plugins out of the box (and live performance features, whatever). I use two other DAWs, Pro Tools and Ableton daily. They indeed have their bugs, but not as bad as Cakewalk. Those DAWs have their own severe problems. I'll be the first to say that. Pro Tools is awful and I don't like Ableton that much for large projects. Trust and believe, those DAWs have other severe problems which is why I don't use them anymore as my main DAW.

With regard to Legao, why they don't just have a Legato option under Process is beyond me. Retrograde but no Legato...oversight.

The sad thing is that in many ways it already is the best. There are GREAT qualities about Cakewalk. It's just frustrating seeing so much potential being wasted because of bugs that have been around for years yet still haven't been fixed. But everytime I mention anything about it people will just say "go back to Ableton" or whatever. People who claim to be so pro-Cakewalk telling somebody who left another DAW who came to Cakewalk to "go back" to the DAW they came from. Who does that?

Cakewalk clearly doesn't work for a lot of people which why hardly anyone uses it anymore. I want to see that change. Cakewalk has a ton of potential and I don't like seeing it go to waste. And I've used Cakewalk for 21 years so I'm in the same boat. Literally the only real tragic flaw of Cakewalk for decades has been its instability and numerous bugs. I can say all kinds of negative things about America, but that doesn't mean I don't love America and want to move to another country. I hate when people say stuff like this. Nobody ever addresses these kinds of problems and anybody who expresses legitimate concerns with this product is bullied into leaving. This kind of behavior isn't helpful to Cakewalk.

Cakewalk is the buggiest major DAW and it's not even close. There is a reason Cakewalk failed as a commercial product even against more limited DAWs like Reaper and FL Studio and I can't imagine this not being at least one the reasons. It's unacceptable and embarrassing. I get that's it's free but it was actually WORSE in the past when it wasn't free. When Cakewalk actually works it is excellent. It just doesn't work very often, and MANY features are just plain broken. Just focus on bug fixes for the next year. Seriously. And I don't say any of this out of malice. I say this because I genuinely want Cakewalk to do better. Consider this tough love. I've used this DAW since 2000 and I've spent a lot of money on Cakewalk and their products. If I didn't care or preferred some other DAW I wouldn't be here. But it feels often that NOTHING ever works right in this DAW. I literally find a new frustrating bug every single time I use it. Using this DAW is an exhausting experience all too often. It's just not fun anymore. That is why people left this DAW in droves. It doesn't seem as though any of these bugs ever get fixed despite being reported multiple times by multiple people. I've compared Cakewalk to Ableton Live 10 and Pro Tools which I'm more or less equally proficient in. Ableton certainly has its problems and I do think Cakewalk despite my complaints is the better program for my needs. I've also compared it to Pro Tools. Pro Tools is TRASH. By far the most overrated DAW on the planet. Workflow is awful, lacks several key features for production and Avid is downright abysmal to deal with....and it's overpriced (as is Ableton Suite). Pro Tools is an awful program and I only use it when I have to. But the MAJOR advantage Ableton and Pro Tools have as far as I'm concerned is that THEY WORK. They're reliable. Limited in many ways? Yes. But IT JUST WORKS. It doesn't crash, no new sudden bugs I've never seen before, no oddities that have been long reported that haven't been addressed. Trust me, if you think I'm rough on Cakewalk, I'm worse to Ableton and I've pretty much all but given up on Avid. These are just a few issues. Suddenly, Legato.cal doesn't work right anymore. Instead, it just shortens the note lengths to 64th notes instead of connects them no matter what setting (whether it be 10 or 100, doesn't matter) I use. This didn't happen until today. You really never know what you're going to get with this DAW. Video below: So I think, "OK, let's try re-installing Cakewalk to see if that will fix the problem". And in pure Cakewalk fashion, I run into yet ANOTHER bug trying to simply reinstall the thing. BTW, no other DAW has this problem (which is a common theme with Cakewalk, which may be why they're still in business and Cakewalk is not). No other choice but to choose "Skip this file (not recommended)". It didn't fix the Legato problem, btw. *sigh*....this freaking DAW... Quick-group latch automation STILL doesn't work properly and has been a bug since at least SONAR X3, despite reporting of it being detailed multiple times in how to reproduce the error. Video below of this error and how to reproduce: AudioSnap....oh boy....we all know that's broken. Here's just one example... Workflow issues abound with regard to cutting, copying and pasting.... At this point I'm just honestly at my wits end. What's even worse is that very often bugs can't even be reproduced because they only exist in a particular project (the dreaded Cakewalk per-project bugs). Bugs that are limited to a particular project, which is strange. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've said "Welp, looks like [insert feature here] isn't working in this project for some reason. It's just frustrating, kills creativity and is downright infuriating. I promise I'm not trying to be nasty. I'm really not. But the truth really needs to be said, because the reality, and you all know I'm right about this, is that all too often, it just seems obvious that the only people who still love Cakewalk are those who have not used anything else. The minute they try a Studio One or a Logic or whatever they see all the flaws Cakewalk has. Well I'm honestly tired of seeing that. I want Cakewalk to do better. Maybe if Cakewalk does, they might get picked up by a big company and be back in business again. But until I start seeing different I can't really recommend this DAW to others and at this point the only reason I even still use it is because I am too busy to learn anything else and I favor over the other DAWs I know well (Pro Tools and Ableton).

Pro Tools is TRASH. It is not a good DAW. So many aspects of Pro Tools and the workflow is extremely outdated. The audio editing features aren't THAT much better than Cakewalk, but there are so many things that are worse. I only use it because that's where recording sessions come from as they are usually recorded in a commercial studio that uses ProTools HD. I'm proficient in Pro Tools and Ableton as I use them both daily. Ableton is good but my God it is overrated AF for production. the UI is dated, lacks several key features other DAWs have and the piano roll just plain sucks (it's per-clip rather than per-track.....Cakewalk abandoned that with SONAR 1, c'mon Ableton...). And no comping AND NO REAL STEP RECORDING (jeezus, Ableton what gives). Warp is cool but Cakewalk's timestretching, while certainly no where near as good, can get the job done most of the time if you know how to use it. I honestly think the only reason Ableton is so popular is because it comes with SO much out of the box, and not only that, famous people use it, and that really came from the live performance features...Ableton is second to none when it comes to live performance no doubt. I know Ableton very very well, Cakewalk is better for production all-around. I have not used Logic in many years so I can't speak on Logic. That said, Cakewalk is buggier than both those DAWs.

I have not but will definitely start if that helps!

GarageBand is probably the most stable DAW in existence. That doesn't mean it's the best.

Cakewalk crashes at least once every session. Sometimes multiple times in one session. I use Ableton on just a regular of a basis on project just as big and it hasn't crashed in weeks.

I swear Cakewalk would be the best DAW in the world by far if it didn't crash so often and didn't have so many bugs. It really is the smartest and intuitive workflow there is overall....when it works. It certainly hangs and crashes far more than Pro Tools and Ableton do, but it's certainly better than both those DAWs in many other respects.

Track duplication is a very useful and time-saving feature. Duplicating busses would be a really nice addition!

This occasionally happens to me as well. Although not as often as it used to.

The same thing occurs whether the track is first selected or not.

There are workarounds, sure, such as just copying and deleting, but the point is that it's a bug.

You're absolutely right, murat. I stand corrected then!

This update is SO good!

It seems like the performance is better in this version. I can load more VST's and more audio, even on a laptop that's not very fast and Cakewalk can easily handle it, whereas it seems like before it would (as well as some other DAWs) struggle. It seems like for whatever reason this version is faster and performs better.

Ahhh I see. Thanks.

Ableton 11's beta is out and it said something about MPE support. It seems like all the other major DAWS (Ableton, Cubase, Logic Pro X and Studio One) all have this except Cakewalk. But what exactly is it? All I'm finding on it is something about the Roli Seaboard. EDIT: Years ago I used a Roli Seaboard with Cakewalk and didn't remember having issues.