Activating Cakewalk Software

[scook]

22 minutes ago, petercarlson said:

Bit concerned that I originally spent a lot of money for Sonar Platinum, and now I am expected to re-activate Cakewalk.  This does not make me comfortable at all, is this not a conflict to the original contract I took out with Sonar?

SONAR Platinum was made by Cakewalk, a Gibson brand company. Nothing has changed regarding SONAR Platinum.

BandLab Technologies makes Cakewalk by BandLab, a free DAW based on code they purchased from Gibson. They require their product be re-activated every 6 months.

[THINKGOD]

The Bandlab Assistant app needs a resume function implemented so updates to Cakewalk by Bandlab don't have to be restarted if users suffer a disconnection then reconnect at a later point.

[Clovis Ramsay]

On 5/21/2021 at 10:56 AM, THINKGOD said:

The Bandlab Assistant app needs a resume function implemented so updates to Cakewalk by Bandlab don't have to be restarted if users suffer a disconnection then reconnect at a later point.

Updates to Cakewalk are done from within Cakewalk.  You should receive a prompt when they are available or manually check in the Help menu.  Once you have installed Cakewalk initially, you no longer need to utilize the BandLab assistant. 

Also to note if it helps, when installing the add-ons through the assistant, the instrument download is about 1.7GB and contains demo project files as well, so this file does take some time to download and I would suggest downloading it by itself.  

Drum Replacer runs around 450MB, the rest is less than 200MB.

[THINKGOD]

On 5/23/2021 at 11:11 PM, Clovis Ramsay said:

Updates to Cakewalk are done from within Cakewalk.  You should receive a prompt when they are available or manually check in the Help menu.  Once you have installed Cakewalk initially, you no longer need to utilize the BandLab assistant. 

Also to note if it helps, when installing the add-ons through the assistant, the instrument download is about 1.7GB and contains demo project files as well, so this file does take some time to download and I would suggest downloading it by itself.  

Drum Replacer runs around 450MB, the rest is less than 200MB.

I actually like updating Cakewalk from BandLab Assistant. I don't like thinking about updating while I'm in my DAW. Auditioning potential sounds from BandLabs awesome selections gets a pass as far as deep integrations go but updating Cakewalk from withing Cakewalk isn't necessary. IMO it is too much distraction and I don't like it but if they decide on that direction, oh well can't complain too much when you have, arguably, the best DAW in the industry for free with consistent updates. All we need now is a killer internal sampler (comparable to E-mu Emulator X3 or Magix Independence Pro sampler) and we're good.

Edited May 31, 2021 by THINKGOD

[user 905133]

12 hours ago, THINKGOD said:

All we need now is a killer internal sampler (comparable to E-mu Emulator X3 . . .) and we're good.

Since Creative Labs seems to have had zero interest in doing anything with the Emulator X3 for many years, perhaps Bandlab could get the intellectual property for a bargain basement price (as I have suggested before).  It is extremely efficient and runs very well as a standalone and as a plug-in within Cakewalk. Very low CPU usage in my experience with dynamically-assigned polyphony (notes don't cut-out with preset changes, etc.) with efficient multiple output ports .  (I gave up on Independence.)  

Edited May 31, 2021 by User 905133
fixed typo in don't

[THINKGOD]

On 5/31/2021 at 1:00 PM, User 905133 said:

Since Creative Labs seems to have had zero interest in doing anything with the Emulator X3 for many years, perhaps Bandlab could get the intellectual property for a bargain basement price (as I have suggested before).  It is extremely efficient and runs very well as a standalone and as a plug-in within Cakewalk. Very low CPU usage in my experience with dynamically-assigned polyphony (notes don't cut-out with preset changes, etc.) with efficient multiple output ports .  (I gave up on Independence.)  

Would be really nice! Still hard to find a software audio playback engine that can dethrone the superb audio engine of Emulator X3, except for Dimension Pro which came close and can be dead on with some smart tweaks via Channel Tools/others in Cakewalk.

[Starship Krupa]

On 3/4/2021 at 1:23 PM, petercarlson said:

Bit concerned that I originally spent a lot of money for Sonar Platinum, and now I am expected to re-activate Cakewalk.  This does not make me comfortable at all, is this not a conflict to the original contract I took out with Sonar?

The entity with whom you had the contract, the Cakewalk division of Gibson Brands, no longer exists. However, you are entitled to continue to use SONAR, it doesn't require any reactivation. The core program and plethora of add-ons that you paid for should continue to function just as they did when you bought your license.

Cakewalk by BandLab is licensed under a completely new and different licensing agreement. It's a free subscription that requires contacting BandLab's server once every 6 months to re-subscribe. BandLab is not affiliated with Gibson Brands or the defunct Cakewalk company. It bought some of the liquidated assets including the code for Cakewalk's old SONAR program and has now issued it under the name Cakewalk by BandLab. It has nothing to do with SONAR except for being still mostly derived from the old SONAR code and being compatible with SONAR projects and workflow.

You have the choice to use SONAR under the old license terms or Cakewalk under the new license terms or even switch back and forth between both of them (if you take care to avoid certain Cakewalk by BandLab features that never existed in SONAR). Cakewalk will utilize the extra software and content that came with SONAR. There is no conflict legally or technologically.

[Jim Fogle]

Bandlab Technology also decided to keep the Sonar Command Center servers active so Sonar product owners can continue to have access to the Sonar products they've purchased and to archive the Sonar forum for reference.

[Richard Ramsey]

So if I do not have a recent Sonar/cakewalk product will I still be able to install cakewalk by Bandlab? My Sonar8 Producers edition is a legit version but I can't register it. Cannot create an account to register. 

[scook]

20 minutes ago, Richard Ramsey said:

So if I do not have a recent Sonar/cakewalk product will I still be able to install cakewalk by Bandlab?

Yes

20 minutes ago, Richard Ramsey said:

My Sonar8 Producers edition is a legit version but I can't register it. Cannot create an account to register. 

SONAR 8 required registration when initially installed. After that, subsequent installations used the serial number and registration code provided during the initial install. It was not possible to register SONAR more than one time.

 

When Cakewalk was shutdown by Gibson, the customer account database was archived. No new accounts may be created. 

If you are receiving a "cannot create account" message, it means you are trying to create an account on the Cakewalk website.

 

Installing Cakewalk by BandLab relies on a BandLab account (the same account used for this forum) NOT an account on the old Cakewalk website.

 

The image shows a problem with IK Product Manager. This is not a Cakewalk or BandLab product.

[Richard Ramsey]

Ok...so if I don't have an older sonar/cakewalk program would I still be able to install this cakewalk from bandlab even if I can't register this Sonar 8? Sorry for the noobness!

[scook]

Yes

Try the new Cakewalk Web Installer

[Richard Ramsey]

Thanks scook for the link. This is the error message I get every time I try to record any audio in Sonar 8 as well as this latest cakewalk install. Could this be a sound device issue?  My old pc which was running on Win Vista Home had a NVidia GTX 760 sound card. The new one has integrated Realtek High Definition Audio with PreSonus Studio 24c audio interface, HP 16gDDR SSD 1T. Any thoughts?

 

[scook]

Please start creating new threads.

Also post just the error message. Tiny error messages in the middle of the screen shots are hard to read.

 

This problem is often caused by software on the PC preventing the DAW from creating new files.

Could be anti-virus or anti-malware software.

Bytefence has a history of causing this problem. If it is installed...uninstall it.

Update your AV software and whitelist the DAW.

[alan j. wilson]

Hello, I had an install of cakewalk which worked fine till malware got into it. Window keeps cycling trying to and then says in won't start on ssd. I have a larger newer unused ssd I downloaded window installed fine works great. Cake walk installed fine except it will not activate. No way. What can I do?I have most stuff saved but not latest and its important.  Anybody out there can help I'd appreciate it. Alan

[alan j. wilson]

[msmcleod]

@alan j. wilson - it looks like your default browser is set to Internet Explorer.  I suspect that's your issue.   IE has been deprecated by Microsoft, and doesn't support the most up to date security settings most modern websites require.

Microsoft Edge, Chrome or Firefox should work fine.  Opera may be fine too, but I've not personally tested that one.

It looks like you've got Chrome & Edge installed - set one of them to be your default browser.

[alan j. wilson]

thanks will give it a shot. What started my problems was when i went from basic to advanced or arranger and it would crash cakewalk.  I don't know what is causing that any help would be appreciated.

On 2/18/2023 at 2:08 PM, msmcleod said:

@alan j. wilson - it looks like your default browser is set to Internet Explorer.  I suspect that's your issue.   IE has been deprecated by Microsoft, and doesn't support the most up to date security settings most modern websites require.

Microsoft Edge, Chrome or Firefox should work fine.  Opera may be fine too, but I've not personally tested that one.

It looks like you've got Chrome & Edge installed - set one of them to be your default browser.

 

[spacey]

Now I get "Missing Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime" that prevents reactivation. 

I go through the install and the program shows installed in my programs list but nothing changes. When I try to re-activate the same BS. 

What's going wrong? I've had to reactivate numerous times...which just pisses me off and now this.

If there isn't a simple solution it's sure an indication it's time for me to go shopping. 

Now if there is a massive amount of time with me answering questions just say so up front ...and I'll find a much easier solution and eliminate dealing with this BS. 

 

 

 

[Lord Tim]

@spacey - if you go to Help > About, what version of Cakewalk are you running? And which version of Windows are you on?

People are here to help you if you want it, but we're not mind-readers - this may need a few questions answered so we're not giving you bad instructions.