DescendingIntoVertigo

Hello Cakewalk Team, I’ve been a loyal Cakewalk user since 1997 (starting with Pro Audio 5) and even purchased the “Upgrades for Life” plan under Gibson. I stuck around through every iteration, and I remain extremely satisfied with Cakewalk by BandLab—its workflow, GUI aesthetic, and rock-solid stability have allowed me to create and manage hundreds of projects without a hitch. That’s why I’m baffled—and frankly irritated—by the new Sonar and Next releases. After purchasing the BandLab annual subscription last year to be given the opportunity to test drive the new offering. The redesigned GUI feels janky, cluttered, and unintuitive compared to Cakewalk by BandLab. Both Sonar and Next programs are less stable than the Cakewalk by Bandlab offering on both my desktop and gaming laptop running Windows 11. The overall user experience is no where close to the feel of the Cakewalk by Bandlab offering. I understand these both of these programs are in their infancy and can't be expected to perform along side a program that has been refined over decades. Which brings me to my biggest complaint. Why would you completely overhaul a perfectly good interface only to ship an inferior product? What is the point of the NEXT offering? Why should a user waste time creating a project in NEXT when you can create it in Sonar instead and have greater track count and more advanced features later on as the project evolves. I have come to rely on the themes and color coding of the tracks and instrument folders as part of my work flow. Dropping back to the monochromatic 2D feel of the new SONAR and NEXT is completely unappealing to me and significantly impacts my workflow. On a related note, I remember reading in this forum about a plan for a perpetual license key that would allow Cakewalk by BandLab users to continue using the platform after the retirement date. I'm assuming this no longer an option. I would gladly pay to continue using Cakewalk by Bandlab even if it meant no future updates or bug fixes in the future. Being able to open my existing projects in a format and work flow that I'm already familiar with give me some peace of mind in the future. I can't say that I feel the same way about NEXT and SONAR. They seem like a huge step backwards. Finally, I’m struggling to see the point of NEXT? Who is this application target toward. It feels kind of like the new Sonar with fewer bells and whistles. Sort of like Cakewalk Studio was to Sonar or Platinum. How does it fit into the long-term roadmap? Just curious did anyone bother asking the end users what we wanted (or needed) from you? I do appreciate all the hard work that goes into building these tools for us. I’m simply hoping for more clarity and guidance on the future vision for the product and for a reprieve from having to completely start over with a new workflow. Looking forward to your thoughts.

I've been a Loyal Cakewalk user since 1997 when I bought my first PC starting at Cakewalk Pro Audio 5. I started using the DAW based on a recommendation from Doug Marks Metal Method. I've been a loyal customer for 27 years and I did the annual enrollment to Band Lab in order to get access to use NEXT and the new the mew Sonar. Thank you (Band Lab) for saving Sonar from the incompetent fools at Gibson and for resurrecting a titan in the Digital Audio Workstation space. Now that that is all out there, I don't really see the advantage of NEXT or the need for it. Why would I want to use a reduced capability application like NEXT when I could just start my project in Sonar? As a guitar player, I tend to transcribe my song ideas into Guitar Pro 8 and then upload the midi when I'm happy with the results into Cakewalk by Band Lab, so I can use profession my Kontakt 7 libraries and more professional VST. If NEXT was more like Guitar Pro 8 I would use it more, but it really seems like a failure to me out of the blocks. Am I missing something? Please enlighten me... First impressions... The new Sonar seems like a huge step backward from Cakewalk by Band Lab and even Sonar Platinum. The console view may be higher resolution interface and according to Mike from Creative Sauce (on YouTube) has some advantages like Sprectum analysis in each track pane, but to me the Cakewalk by Band Lab interface looks a lot more professional and cleaner. I prefer it from an esthetics point of view. Why didn't you start the new software build at the latest Band Lab version or is it an IP ownership issue? Since I paid for the privilege of using the new Sonar, I have been using it lately, but really can't help feeling like it's a major step backward and that I should maybe start hedging my bets on a new DAW instead. Most of my musician friends are using Reaper. I don't really want to start having to learn a new DAW. I will have to wait and see what future updates. I hope the development management team is listening to your legacy customers and will return to the Cakewalk we all knew and loved. Also, as other have stated above I prefer the annual upgrade plan to the subscription plan that Microsoft started. I don't need a new upgrade every other week unless Microsoft does some major upgrade that breaks the current version.

Noel/All, I've been a cakewalk user and supporter, since 1997. My studio computer is running the latest version of Cakewalk by Bandlab and have been having the same issue as others above. It started about a year ago. The work around for me was to launch my cakewalk projects in safe mode (shift or ctrl) while opening the project. Then I disable and removal all Waves plugins in the project before saving it. Here is a screen capture of the fault I got while opening an older project tonight. I will attach the 05072021 220814.dmp if it's small enough. Is Waves aware that their plugins are causing people issues? I saw notices on other forums from users of Reaper, FL studios, and others. Best Regards, Tim _05072021_220814.zip