Win 8 and Sonar X1 vs Win 10 and Cakewalk by BandLab

[Marty Miller]

I am very new at ANY work with DAWs, even though I bought several versions of Cakewalk in the past and had high hopes of learning it back then. (I actually used Cakewalk way back in the mid 90s to record keyboard tracks, but you couldn't record guitar or vocals).

I bought Sonar Power Studio 250 YEARS ago. Then I bought installation disc to Sonar 8 and updated to 8.5 in 2009. Then I downloaded an update to Sonar X1 in 2013, and bought a Gateway Desktop to put it in. I never ended up really learning how to use Sonar, and got away from it, and just worked on concerts. Back in 2014, Cakewalk had advised users to migrate any previous registrations to their new account platform that would combine the web store, the user forum, and features from cakewalk.com all within one account to log into. I didn’t see that, and never did this. And now, I cannot get a new account, as they are gone. So, the ONLY hard disc that I actually have is for the Power Studio 250.

I still have Sonar X1 in my Windows 8 computer, and finally going to learn how to use a DAW, with my Zoom L-12 sound board as an interface.

My question to you is… which of these ideas should I do:

1  Keep Windows 8 (which I hate), and still have Sonar X1 installed, just in case i ever learn to use it, and also install other DAWs, like Cakewalk by BandLab, (which I can't seem to download with Win 8 yet)

OR

2  Install Win 10, lose Sonar X1, and download new free DAWs like Cakewalk by BandLab, Pro Tools FREE (which I apparently can download because I bought a MOX6 keyboard some years back), PreSonus Prime, etc… to see which brand works best for my needs.

How does Cakewalk by BandLab compare with Sonar X1? I want to use my Zoom L-12 sound board as a 14 track interface, and record my songs into it, and have them also go into a DAW on my desktop, so I can tweek the tracks in the DAW. Will Cakewalk by BandLab work for that?

Thanks so much!  Stay safe!!

[Mark Morgon-Shaw]

18 minutes ago, Marty Miller said:

How does Cakewalk by BandLab compare with Sonar X1? I want to use my Zoom L-12 sound board as a 14 track interface, and record my songs into it, and have them also go into a DAW on my desktop, so I can tweek the tracks in the DAW. Will Cakewalk by BandLab work for that?

Thanks so much!  Stay safe!!

CBB is light years ahead of X1 , I would just upgrade to Win 10 and install CBB

I've also used Pro Tools free as one of my mates uses PT 11  so I thought it might be a good way of transferring projects we were co-writing but having tried it once I think it's terrible, that was a couple of years ago now YMMV.

So you want to record onto your Zoom and then dump the tracks into a DAW afterwards for mixing etc ?   Should be totally do-able, I used to do this years with my ADAT.  Record the band live at the practice room and then transfer it digitally to mix afterwards. I don't know what file formats your Zoom uses , it's probably just a case of transferring them over USB somehow and importing them into CBB. Shouldn't be an issue. 

[JonD]

You don't say why you "hate Windows 8", but I'm rock solid here on Windows 8.1 (I have another machine with Win 10 as well).  I use the free classic shell utility which makes Win 8.1 look like Win XP or Win 7, as I don't care for the Metro GUI. 

In any case, I will go against the grain and  suggest you stay with Win 8.1, then install CbB, as unlike with  Win10, there are no mystery updates that will break something and suddenly render your system unusable (until you troubleshoot and fix the problem).  Also, more older interfaces still work with Win 8.1 while it's a crap-shoot with Win 10.

Bottom line, Win 8.1 is much more predictably solid than Win 10 in my experience.  With Win 10 you will likely spend more time trying to figure out why CbB suddenly isn't working the same as it did yesterday due to an MS update.

[Mark Morgon-Shaw]

Microsoft will implement Windows 8 end of life in January 2023, meaning it will discontinue all support, including paid support, and all updates, including security updates. However, between now and then the operating system (OS) is in an in-between phase known as extended support

[57Gregy]

8 hours ago, Marty Miller said:

also install other DAWs, like Cakewalk by BandLab, (which I can't seem to download with Win 8 yet)

I don't see whether your box is 32- or 64-bit. Cakewalk by Bandlab is 64-bit only.

[JonD]

10 hours ago, Mark Morgon-Shaw said:

Microsoft will implement Windows 8 end of life in January 2023, meaning it will discontinue all support, including paid support, and all updates, including security updates.

Jan 2023?  Lol.  That only gives me OVER TWO SOLID YEARS OF CONTINUING TO WORK ON MY ROCK-SOLID SYSTEM until I have to think about updating.  What was I thinking?

[StudioNSFW]

12 hours ago, Marty Miller said:

 

I bought Sonar Power Studio 250 YEARS ago.

I didn't know they had been publishing software for that long!

[Mark Morgon-Shaw]

9 hours ago, JonD said:

Jan 2023?  Lol.  That only gives me OVER TWO SOLID YEARS OF CONTINUING TO WORK ON MY ROCK-SOLID SYSTEM until I have to think about updating.  What was I thinking?

Continuing to use what you already have is one thing but I don't think it makes sense to move to a dead platform that's already got an end of life date looming. Personally if I jump ship I want the next OS to last as long as possible. That's why I went 3.1 - 95 - 98SE - XP - 7 - 10...missing out the mess that was ME - Vista & 8 

I've not had an issue since moving to 10