Alan Tubbs

I haven’t had any probs with the newer ultralight M5 on pc.

Cakewalk has had several different plans for payment. Mostly you just bought a lease of the software (you don’t own the software and can’t use the code itself ). You can, tho continue to use the software until MS breaks something. This usually came with a years worth of updates. cakewalk has sold versions of their DAW with effects and softsynths included, or just plain. Those cost more but continue to work to MS breaks something. Updates incl for the year. and the most problematic was rent to own. You sent in a monthly payment for 12 months and then you owned the last version of cakewalk you paid for. It didn’t die and leave you stranded. Why this is so hard to grasp is beyond me. Maybe if cake called it layaway.

If you read all that cakewalk has put out here and on-site it seems that CbB is going to eventually wither into obsolescence since it won’t get updated. Window will eventually break it. Two of my favorite synths died this slow death - Komplexer and one that went Mac only. this makes sense if you are selling software. Don’t kill the golden goose but don’t unnecessarily ***** your base. After 6 months or a year CbB will be phased out (see the link below and read staff’s remarks). No more freeloading of their top line software. You’ll have to decide on Sonar, Next, Bandlab or some other company’ Daw. https://www.cakewalk.com/sonar Hopefully there will be a cheaper standard Sonar and one with cakewalk synths and effects. By now Bandlab Co has a good idea of expenses for keeping Sonar (and Next!) updated. Hopefully the vanilla version of Cakewalk with come in from a hundred dollars to 2 hundred and keeps the flow of newbies from Bandlab entering their paid world.

See Next.

Thanks Bass, these are all new interfaces for review. They all say windows 11.

Thanks all.

My main rig is still windows 10. I’ve been testing various interfaces this year and they all seem to work fine. The new Neumann interface is next on the list. pros con at this point in windows development.

A bit on the expensive side, but an excellent input channel. RND cut and simplified features but the sound is the same as the “new” Neve cleaner sound. This is not an 1073 or older neve sound like the RND Shelford channel strip but more in the line of the Portico ll. it goes for 2000$ which is a lot, but not for a professional tool. The sound is brilliant and the control it does provide is well chosen, if stripped down (semi parametric eq, fixed comp attack, etc.). If you can get one you won’t have to ask yourself is it me not capturing the signal? It is and not the equipment. a great price for what you get. But get two as there is a link function and as a buss effect it really shines (as well as stereo recording). The review should be in Tape Op’s next issue. Tape Op is free just sign up. An audio engineer’s magazines.

Greg, add “solved” to the title so others can see your solution.

The unpro simple Dimension was part of P5. I don’t think it was included in Sonar until after it became Dimension Pro.

On what?

Yea, that was going to be my suggestion - fins a transfer shop usually in video production house.

Most soft effects have presets for drums, guitar etc. that is as close as you’re gonna get. what you actually asking is to be replaced by AI.

Dithering is the last process to do for a final mix file. Don’t dither unless it is a final file that you don’t plan on working on that file anymore. check both dithering algorithms and use whichever one sounds best to you.

Most rooms can be made decent for little money. I made some traps and it cleaned a lot of sludge out of the way. these are simple to make. Buy some rockwool at a Home Depot or such, order some pillow covers from Amazon and have your coffee roaster or find one that will give you enough 70 kilo burlap bags. Cut the rockwool into pillow sized panels, stuff them into the cases to keep fibers at bay and put them into the decorative burlap bag and hang them in the corners and reflective spots. It will clean up your soundstage for under $100 and an afternoon.

Maybe Moog has better shipping than Uri.

I think Rene already had zeta going before Cakewalk came calling. I always thought it was Zeta, then the + plus for Cakewalk’s version while Rene worked on the Dimension sampler for P5. Then the freestanding Dimension Pro, followed by Rapture. Rapture pro contained the samples and programs for Dimension Pro and so superseded it. I think that is the correct sequence. id love a new Rapture Pro. The original was good but had some flaws. Still I used it as one of my main synths for 10+ years.

Most users figured Bandlab would improve and release their for sale modules like the synths or fx. They did, just 5 ye@rs later. BL has already intimated they will “bundle” DAWs, one assumes with Sonar and NEXt together but also synths and effects. I’m sure they are studying responses to their announcement and fine tuning pricing.

If you have the installers zeta2 still works.

Here here Ed. I lost my fav synth too when Alchemy went Mac only and a lot of libraries, too. Where do I go to get my investment back? Maybe Cakewalk should pay since that was the DAW I was using. Yea, that’s the ticket.

Yea those were the days when people paid $500 for a DAW with a goodly collection of synths ( Dimension pro, Rapture and Zeta 2 ) and fx. Most of it good if not great. If you used the provided apps you were covered. most DAWs cost less than that now and come with a good synth. maybe Sonar should come in a 16bit version like bigwig for $100? Save your money and bandwidth.

Anyone who bought into Gibson’s eternal updates - did you really believe they would support SONAR until judgement day? I figured that out in HS when other guys from the football team were selling gym memberships for life. It is an important lesson to learn “that which is too good to be true” usually isn’t. Even in HS it didn’t take too much thinking to figure out lifetime couldn’t work. Hopefully any user who believed Gibson learned a lesson that could save them a lot more in the future. yes, it still sucks but don’t burn your Gibson guitars in protest. as far as CbB, it is pretty funny users are upset that they might have to pay for a world-class DAW after 5 free years. Yea, I know that sucks too. Everybody loves free but that doesn’t provide much upkeeping. If you want your DAW to keep current you are going to have to pay something at some point. I don’t think BandLab owes any of us anything but I will be disappointed if they don’t make a generous deal for old users and the free users that they’ve built their product with. But not free. Since Cakewalk (jeez, what is the proper name for the EASY and Sonar company?) is still formulating pricing, I can just ask for them to be gentle but ignore all the threats of users leaving. If users can’t support Sonar or EASY let them find a better DAW cheaper (and let us know). as a P5 lover I have a hope EASY is similar to it, but Mac abled too. And provide the missing link between Mac world and the PC Sonar. That would be worth paying for.

I always hated typing all caps for SONAR so Sonar is already ahead.

Chris, Maybe if one can’t scrounge up a little cash for 5 years worth of free updates to what was a free program you can find a better deal somewhere else. BandLab doesn’t owe anybody a free DAW forever and I’m grateful they’ve kept cakewalk going. That being said, BandLab should have a cheap, clean version for the benefit of future customers or those that have plenty of fx and synths. Maybe for the destitute they can provide a crippled-up version with only a dozen audio tracks or so. The first DAW I bought was Plasma, an early cakewalk looper Daw. I got a crippled copy out of one of the European mags. I upgraded from that version until CbB today. Quite frankly, I’m not too interested in paying for someone else’s software. However, don’t mind helping BandLab expand their paying base which helps everybody who uses the software. But the more I think about it the more I figure you are right. CbB needs to end at some point because far too many would be customers will stick with a free version rather than paying to upgrade. Of course bandlab should give a long lead time before they close CbB and plenty of warning so any one could save up for Sonar or find a cheaper DAW.Another reason to keep the basic Sonar cheap. Mark, I said a stripped down version. My interpretation of stripped down means none of the more expensive software add ons like synths and melodyne and such. I thought that was clear. Did it not read that way to you?

The whole point of having it free was to create new users. Bandlab never said they were going to provide the a world class DAW for free for ever. Yet cakewalk by Bandlab will remain free even after another update. It should be good to go for as long as the OS updates work with it. And Next seems a next logical step for any new users. I’m actually stoked to see it and hope it is somewhat like P5. I loved that software. And the reason I use Sonar here at home is it works for me naturally. In the early aughts I tried out the various DAWS and liked Cakewalks look and flow. It needed to pc back then for home - couldn’t afford a Mac. I’ve stuck with it since and thru the change to Sonar (that was a major change in look and flow). The only DAW I liked better was P5. it sounds like the new Bandlab’s DAWs will have most people covered.