Is Cakewalk gaining users/popularity with Bandlab?

[msmcleod]

22 minutes ago, abacab said:

It seems to me that Cakewalk development has stepped into the slower lane. I am showing my installed version as current at 2019-03, and it is already May. So that was only the 2nd one this year, following 2019.01.

Cakewalk by BandLab Release Notes:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aFOe_zJrd3x2EnaZ_Jc3iSbZPG2WANiCD4_RP83OjlA/edit

I suspect they're just working on bigger stuff. 

Also the NAMM show no doubt put a dent in the schedule, and the Melodyne & Plugin settings reset issues have probably got priority at the moment.

[garybrun]

I can assure you it is not.

[Feral State Sound]

30 minutes ago, garybrun said:

I can assure you it is not.

What are you referring to?

[garybrun]

1 hour ago, Feral State Sound said:

What are you referring to?

Quote

It seems to me that Cakewalk development has stepped into the slower lane. I am showing my installed version as current at 2019-03, and it is already May. So that was only the 2nd one this year, following 2019.01.

 

Edited May 8, 2019 by garybrun

[Feral State Sound]

43 minutes ago, garybrun said:

 

You are a very communicative person.

Edited May 8, 2019 by Feral State Sound

[garybrun]

13 minutes ago, Feral State Sound said:

You are a very communicative person.

Thank you.
Its one of my great gifts ?

[emwhy]

I don't like the frequent updates though, this seems to be something unique to Sonar users, who expect one a month and think that is a good thing

If you were a SONAR user before the "Great Panic of 2017" you got used to this schedule for a few years. I think it's great the Noel & Co. still do updates on what seems a more quarterly basis, but I do like monthly updates for bug fixes etc. vs. feature updates. I'd rather have stability vs. a bunch of features I may or may not use.

As for the program's popularity. Who really cares? It works, it's still here, it doesn't look to be going away anytime soon. This is great news for my work (commercials and post production) since we have almost 16 years of projects on back-up. If we did have to switch DAWS it would have been a major problem because we often have to go to projects from several years ago.

 

 

[abacab]

3 hours ago, msmcleod said:

I suspect they're just working on bigger stuff. 

Also the NAMM show no doubt put a dent in the schedule, and the Melodyne & Plugin settings reset issues have probably got priority at the moment.

I wasn't complaining. I actually PREFER the slower pace of releases. I hope they keep it up. I would rather that they get released when they are fully baked.

[Starise]

Cakewalk could come out with the most astounding stuff ever devised for a DAW. Could shine buttoxes without wax and I guarantee within 3 months or less someone would be wondering what's next.

 

[abacab]

16 minutes ago, emwhy said:

As for the program's popularity. Who really cares? It works, it's still here, it doesn't look to be going away anytime soon. This is great news for my work (commercials and post production) since we have almost 16 years of projects on back-up. If we did have to switch DAWS it would have been a major problem because we often have to go to projects from several years ago.

 

That's where AAF import/export would be a nice feature to have!

What is the difference between the OMF and AAF formats? Why do I want to use one vs. the other?

http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/en_US/FAQ/en331113

[Jim Fogle]

On 4/4/2019 at 2:59 PM, Craig Anderton said:

2. Making it easier to get started. Currently, the irony is you need to know  a lot about the program in order to take advantage of the features that simplify it.

Bingo!  The instructional YouTube videos created by Bandlab, ChernobylStudios and some other creators are great.  But there are so many of them.  Who has time to churn through all of them?

The Cakewalk by Bandlab Reference Manual is wonderful but asking anyone to become familiar with 2,184 pages is a reach.

I find the program to be very intimidating.  Simple editing tasks like highlight, cut, copy, delete, paste and move that are intuitive and easy to perform in other programs like Audacity are not listed in the menu and do not follow keystroke combinations used in any other program that I know of.

The Control Bar defaults enable too much stuff.

I would love for the developers, a very knowledgeable user, or third party like Groove3 create templates with lenses that focus on performing specific tasks.  Tasks I would like to see include:  Installing an audio interface, installing a MIDI interface, using the built-in audio features on a laptop (microphone, headphones, USB mic, USB headphone).  The next step is recording audio, recording MIDI and playback.  Then there is importing files and creating projects.  Next is editing, then adding effects, then using groove clips.  In other words, baby steps.  Don't assume anything.  Use lenses and screensets to create demo project templates where the Control Bar and screens have only what is needed to perform each task displayed.

There are a lot of people interested in creating music, recording and audio production that DO NOT KNOW how to get started.  Cakewalk by Bandlab needs to be the Windows product everyone first thinks of when the subject of computer recording is brought up.  The product is feature rich enough that it can grow  as a user progresses.

[msmcleod]

It's extremely difficult to dumb down any complex bit of software. Any feature rich application is going come with a learning curve.

Lenses do go some way to mitigate this. I did at one point suggest that the installer ask you what level you're at so it could automatically apply the default lens accordingly... however you can bet that there would be a bunch of haters out there complaining that you can't do this, that, and the other just because the lens has hidden it and they didn't know that.

To be honest, I don't see Cakewalk being any more complicated than ProTools, Cubase or Studio One. There's probably more ProTools videos out there than anything else, and I don't think Cakewalk is that much different to use. The last time I used ProTools, I pretty much hit the ground running (and that was before the YouTube explosion on tutorials). It was certainly closer to Cakewalk than Cubase... mind you I was still using SONAR 8.5 at the time.

I find the CakeTV videos to be not much more than a taster, mainly for marketing, although the BandLab ones I think are enough to at least get you recording something.

The  ChernobylStudios tutorials are straight and to the point. They don't go into a huge amount of detail, but cover the important stuff. I would say they're the best to get your started.

The StreamworksAudio ones are more comprehensive, but obviously a bit longer.

The Groove3 "SONAR Explained" videos are by far the most comprehensive, but at five and half hours long it's a lot to take in. I managed it over two weeks of lunch hours in the office. I would add though, having used SONAR for over 20 years, I thought I knew it pretty well. I probably only knew 20%  until I watched the Groove3 videos. It's well worth the time and investment.

 

[Base 57]

43 minutes ago, fogle622 said:

2. Making it easier to get started. Currently, the irony is you need to know  a lot about the program in order to take advantage of the features that simplify it. 

I could not agree with this more. However...

44 minutes ago, fogle622 said:

Simple editing tasks like highlight, cut, copy, delete, paste and move that are intuitive and easy to perform in other programs like Audacity are not listed in the menu and do not follow keystroke combinations used in any other program that I know of.

Highlight: Click-Drag

Cut: Cntrl-x

Copy: Cntrl-c (Copy special: Cntrl-Alt-c)

Delete: Highlight-Delete (or cut)

Paste: Cntrl-v (Paste Special: Cntrl-Alt-v)

Move: Highlight-Click-Drag

These key combinations are common to practically all Windows applications and are  listed in the edit menu. I have never used Audacity but if it has different edit commands than the above then it is the one not following Windows standards.

 

[Jim Fogle]

msmcleod,

I agree there are some good tutorial videos out there.  There are just so many and, for a beginner, how do they separate the good from the so-so?  As you mentioned, there is only so much time.  I don't know if YouTube has a way to boost search results  but I suspect there is.  It would be nice if the Bandlab and ChernobylStudios video series popped up at the top of any search list when the terms daw or recording are used.

Base 57, I stand corrected about my examples.  Thank you for pointing out my errors.  Sometimes my zesl to make a point gets in the way of my thinking!

Edited May 10, 2019 by fogle622

[Craig Anderton]

To get back to the OP...something that's free, and good, will probably not become less popular over time

[InstrEd]

14 minutes ago, Craig Anderton said:

To get back to the OP...something that's free, and good, will probably not become less popular over time

Lets hope so Craig.   I think Bandlab has a good idea and I hope Meng has the capital to see this through for us Cakewalk fans/users 

[Starise]

1 hour ago, Craig Anderton said:

To get back to the OP...something that's free, and good, will probably not become less popular over time

I seen this for years with Audacity. It seems every other online conversation involving newbs  mentions it.  CbB is miles ahead of Audacity, not that Audacity is a bad program. If newbs eventually "get it"  and see the possibilities CbB will soar to new heights. 

I've been throwing suggestions here and there but I get tired of it. There will be this thread where someone asks about audio programs and someone always mentions Audacity. I then pop in with , "you know there's CbB and it does all of this other stuff". Three posts further down someone else once again says, Audacity, yeah man, try dat. 

Duh. If they don't get it I'm growing tired to try to get them to get it  Go use Audacity.

CbB is catching on with more knowledgeable users though, and I believe it's  causing paid software prices to drop. 

[Gswitz]

People trust open source because anyone can read the code. Might be safe. Might not be. But it is at least public.

Edited May 11, 2019 by Gswitz

[Some Guy]

I just got a 1 Day offer for Samplitude Pro Suite X4 for $149.

My God.  So tempting.  Has AAF support, too, which I badly need (and comes with Sound For Pro 11, which is probably worth the cost for me on its own).

Really trying to resist pulling the trigger, but they have really "check mated" me with the 1 day duration on this offer...

Probably means a new version is coming out soon, too ?

But goes to show why gaining users is hard, even when you're "free."  I think Steinberg is selling Cubase 50% off for some time, as well...

Edited May 11, 2019 by SomeGuy

[msmcleod]

2 hours ago, SomeGuy said:

I just got a 1 Day offer for Samplitude Pro Suite X4 for $149.

My God.  So tempting.  Has AAF support, too, which I badly need (and comes with Sound For Pro 11, which is probably worth the cost for me on its own).

Really trying to resist pulling the trigger, but they have really "check mated" me with the 1 day duration on this offer...

Probably means a new version is coming out soon, too ?

But goes to show why gaining users is hard, even when you're "free."  I think Steinberg is selling Cubase 50% off for some time, as well...

I got the Samplitude Pro Suite X3 way back, because it also came with Sound Forge Pro 11.... and it's one of the reasons I didn't upgrade to the Pro X4 Suite.

SoundForge is now at version 13, and they're still selling the Samplitude Pro X4 Suite with SF v 11.

I do use SoundForge, but I hardly use Samplitude - it's a good DAW, but I've got CbB set up more or less how I want it, and it's one of the few DAW's that support the Mackie C4.