Dave Maffris

Still pondering if I wish to sign up for the subscription...long time Cakewalk users, any feedback? I've used since 1995, just not sure I wannt go the subscription route (again), as I have with a few companies (Izotope, for example). Tried to switch to Studio One years ago, just couldn't make it work like I wanted it to. Still would consider it, but I'm so old I find change very hard. So is this new version worth the cost of membership? What say you!.

Thanks, you nailed it. I bet I unchecked it randomly for no apparent reason a while back, actually. All good now. Will make a big difference, -glad to be able to "arrange" again.

I don’t think this is project-specific. Curious that it always used to work my only other thought is maybe related to my hardware, but that’s the same as it’s been for a long time.

It's always worked before, but now when I select an arranger section, none of the underlying tracks will be selected, thus, the arranger editing is seriously compromised. I cannot find any answer or setting that may or may not have changed, but nothing I've read about this issue has solved the problem. I'm a long-time user, but for whatever reason, this function has ceased to work properly. I'm sure it's a setting that I've inadvertently shut off, but I can't find it. Can anyone help? Thanks.

Anyone else have this happened to them? Today I was doing some recording, as usual, tired to place Neutron 4 on a track and it said I had to reauthorize it or something to that effect. Anyway, I had to login to my account, but it didn't work. I decided to change my password, and although it said it was changed, it didn't work, either. To contact support online I was prompted to login, so I couldn't do that step. I emailed support@izotope.com, and got an auto reply that they no longer provide support thru that email. I was prompted to go online to a support link and I filled out a questionnaire on the problem and provided a screenshot of my lockout message. I have NO idea why I suddenly lost access, and in fact, my Pro Suite subscription was recently renewed, so I know I'm a paid-up member, at least the funds were debited from my account on August 19th. If anyone has an idea of why or had this happen to them and how it was resolved, I hope you can help me, as I am a daily user of this software and am stuck without it for the time being. All my projects have a multitude of Izotope plug-ins on them, it is my primary studio tool. Thanks in advance.

Thanks for the link, I read the article. Still on the fence about it. What is clear is that this is the cost of updating and incrementally developing Cakewalk, ie. Sonar, et al. I didn't see too much that jumped out at me as a "must have" but I can see it's heading to a point where it might be worthwhile to subscribe. I guess having the option is good.

I am curious what new features and improvements have been implemented in the new Cakewalk Sonar; I would consider the subscription if there was enhanced value vs. continuing to use CbB or trying (again!) to master Studio One. Any folks that can tell me what they appreciate most about the new (subscription-based) version, I'd love to hear from you.

Totally agree on that. I wish I found Studio One useable for everything, but I simply don't get it most of the time. Trying to translate my "Cakewalk" brain after 30 years of it makes it harder than if I just came into it from scratch. But for sure the Mastering and Delivery options are of great use to me.

Man, if I had known you'd list your Stage 3 I would have jumped, although I recently purchased a new one at a fanstastic price because of a mixup that the Store went out of their way to make up for. As far as the Leslie emulation on the Nord, a lot of very wonderful musicians I know who are also Nord owners have said they didn't like it--and I don't know what I did to customize mine, but I love it and consider it as good as any I've played (well, maybe the Hammond itself, the real thing, and who knows, there might be many more), not warbly on fast, and I love using the drawbar emulation, drive control, and percussion, etc. People who hear me way it sounds great, too, but again, very individual thing, I know. Also, I seem to have mastered the onboard controls very early in my ownership, and I use it a ton. So much so that when I decided to pick up a Yamaha CK 88 as an additional board, I did so because it, too, has a fair amount of on board knobs, sliders, etc. that I enjoy using to create instant sound variations without designing separate patches. To each his own, and I get it if someone else doesn't work the same way I do. The result is what matters and your own personal comfort and inspiration is what's most important. Playiing my Yamaha and Nord side by side (or up and down keyboard shelf), the superior sound of my Nord is obvious in many many patches, especially acoustic pianos, and yet so many keyboardists complain that Nord's ac piano is bad and praise yamaha to the hilt. Mind you, I'm comparing a $5000 vs. $1500 keyboard, so I get it. But I've played other brands and find the Nord (as I've customized it) White Grand, for example to be richer and more complex than any other keyboard's. As far as Kronos, I've always been interested in them, but a couple of things stand out to me--I've heard it's a long boot up, which is no biggie except when you have to reboot during a show, and it's weight. I may be uninformed here, but I can't lug a keyboard more than 30 pounds or so anymore, so that eliminates a ton of great machines (Nautilus, Montae, some Rolands, etc.) no matter how great they are. I gig a lot and I'm old and getting weaker every day--or more lazy. I've heard great things about the Kawai keyboards, but their sheer weight would make it impossible, especially since I do a lot of solo gigs. I hae three sub 30 lb keyboards, my Nord 76, casio 3100 and yamaha CK 88. I'd add a Kurzweil PC4, but I think I'm all out of money and space in my studio or car, lol.

Well, I have done a lot of work on my Nord over the years to get it sounding perfect in nearly all situations, from straight jazz solo piano to Tribute Band stuff, to Rock/Pop/Funk. Not using much of the factory patches, mostly my own, doctored ones, downloaded sound banks from Nord artists as well as 3rd party. Seems I can usually find what I need. Probably the weakest link, IMO are the brass sections and such, but I tweak them or layer and it does a decent job, and I don't hear too many other keyboards whose sounds are much better, although that is definitely a matter of taste and type of music.

Yeah, I know you can work around Song mode, but I don't feel the upgrade is worth it and I need as much patch space as possible in my tribute band, etc. As far as the Montage, I won't ever buy a keyboard for gigging that is super heavy, and for me, I prefer the 30 lbs or less, as my age, build and general health require this...and I gig too much to be shlepping too much, which is why I have a Nord in the first place and don't necessarily need two or more keyboards or a computer/tablet to do my shows. For studio, I would consider something heavier, but for what purpose, when in my studio most of what I do is software/controller driven, and I want to rehearse with the band and use the same equipment I use on a gig, anyway. There are so many great keyboards, but the heavy ones are just not for me, not even safe for me to try and deal with them anymore. I now also have a Yamaha CK88, which meets the weight criteria and has 88 weighted keys and sounds very good--not Nord good, but good enough for my jazz and variety band cover gigs, but not my Tribute work, where I use the Nords extra pedals, arpeggiator and other features extensively. As far as Song Mode, Yamaha Live mode isn't bad, but not as good at all, plus they don't have a software editor for me to organize my sounds and sets. So I'm gonna be ok with what I have now.

Jim, I agree with many of your points. I recently got the Keylab 88 and it is a very sluggish action, not sure it's going to work out, but I'm planning on just studio work with it, and as a pianist I can handle the weight ok, just not like my Nord Stage 3 at all. Also agree on the knob per fuction, but I don't really thing this particular keyboard is for those of us that are that sophisticated. In fact, I rather like the idea of prepping my sounds in studio--although, as you say, having knobs would make more sense but possibly add more cost. As far as polyphony, I missed that spec somehow, and agree it's limited--I did mention before the minimalist split function of only two sounds, because I use more than two frequently when I play out, as well. But I wouldn't use this for piano at all..I'm a trained pianist and I cannot and will not play piano on a non-weighted keybed--it just sucks...only in an emergency and on a limited basis. So this would be most likely a 2nd, top tier keyboard, and piano could be controlled by your 88 key master keyboard. Is that ideal, heck no. I'm avoiding 2nd keyboards and with a Nord I haven't needed one--but, alas my Nord is in need of a repair and is stuck in a shop now awaiting it's fate, so the idea of something to suppliment my other 88 note keyboard that isn't Nord-capable might work, due to the sheer amount of sounds you can dial in. I don't usually design sound on a gig, so perhaps the macro controls will appeal to folks who do their tweaking at home, like I mostly do. And BTW, I still will not upgrade to Stage 4 no matter how much better it is than Stage 3 because of--Song Mode--the workarounds people are doing do NOT appeal to me whatsoever, nor does recreating years of patches designed to fit my daily purposes. If I had your tech knowhow I might feel differently, but that lack of Song Mode just completely turned me off. I'm old and set in my ways, lol.

that would be interesting, great find by you...price would probably be pretty high, but I agree with other posters that they could have considered at least putting the Arturia line of instruments as a package deal, even though by itself Analog Lab has a ton of sounds and emulations.

I seem to have a minority view of this new product--I think it has great potential for musicians like me--who hate to bring a computer to their gigs and set up all the MIDI connections, program them via software like Mainstage and Gig Performer, etc., and would like to have the flexibility of software instruments (a very wide range of them via Arturia's software, which I already own) without the hassle of extra equipment and wiring etc. While I do feel the price is somewhat high (although you will be performing with sounds for over 33 instruments) and it doesn't include the full Arturia Suite, which I already have), it looks great as a stage piano. Since I already do a fair amount of sound design/programming in my studio for my Tribute gigs, for instance, if I spent the same time doing it on this product, then I would have a self-contained keyboard to plug and play, particularly since you can setup set lists, etc--it may be similar to what I do with my Nord Stage's Song Mode, having each song in the set point to various sound setups without haveing to duplicate patches. I do have a few quibbles with it, however, some of those have been mentioned by others online: For one thing, it's only offered as a 61 note keyboard-for me I would use it as a top-tier 2nd keyboard, and if I wanted to connect my 88 weighted keyboard to it as a controller or even just independently operate it, I could, so it's not a huge deal, but certainly not an all-in one solution for me. 2nd, the split capability is limited to only two sounds, and I often use 3--but again, as a 2nd keyboard, it makes sense and would be more efficient in some ways than using MIDI for all of that. I mentioned the price, I think it will go down a bit in time...but I've already seen it for $1599, and really, there aren't too many keyboards that can emulated all those instruments "in the box" that would cost less. Lack of polyphonic aftertouch will be a deal-breaker for some--but not for me, I barely use aftertouch of any kind...but it woud be nice to have in a brand new product, for sure. Having a weighted keyboard option (73-88 keys would work), more current aftertouch, and more split/layer functionality are probably the only real drawback. And it does look pretty, too.\ I recently bought an Arturia Kaylab 88 Mk ii for my studio, and currently I can't get the transport of other DAW functions to work at all in it--so it's not like I'm totally in awe of Arturia's products. While I own Keylab, I also own Kontakt's full suite and use this more extensively than I use Analog Lab and all their other instruments--but the instruments are very good, and for live use I have zero problems with using it as my main sound source, or as a supplement to my bread and butter, 88 note weighted Yamaha or my 76 weighted key Nord stage pianos. I do not mind editing the sounds in my studio and porting them to the Astrolab for live use. I do most of my sound design and patch mods in studio in advance, anyway. And there's just enough control with the macro controls to do some tweaking on the fly during a concert--I mean, who is really going to do any extensive sound programming while performing a live show? Not me--just the basic things I need to vary during a song or set. I hope we can have a conversation about this product, I'm seriously considering it, even with it's limitations and price, and even though it's a 1.0 product that is sure to improve in a year or two of further develpment and user feedback. If it were under $1000 I wouldn't even hesitate, but that's just not realistic, in my view, for this type of product--others disagree, but as a gigging musician and studio producer, I see loads of potential here, and immediate gratification--again, for those old guys like me who would rather not lug a computer and spend hours and weeks setting up MIDI control/patch changes. We will see what the market says.

Envious. Mine said $199, still might do it, however, I like the idea of the new stuff