No more updates?

[Frank DeFede]

I had paid for Cakewalk, and updates for years.  Spent a lot of money on it.  I love the software.  The last update I did with Cakewalk was supposed to be all updates free there on out.  I was most disappointed when they sold to Bandlab as I had never heard of it.

I must admit since Bandlab has taken over I think it has been great.  I don't know how they do it for free and even keep updating the software.  I really appreciate it.  

[Clovis Ramsay]

As long as the software stays competitive to the other daws with its capabilities, I have no reason to feel that I am missing out on anything.  
 

Although, I do miss Logics Variation feature as it gave me a quick overview of how a song would sound and benefit from a key change while maintaining tempo, all without introducing artifacts and destroying the transits.  Thats not what the variation speed is for but it works brilliantly utilized in that way.

[fitzj]

5 hours ago, Colin Nicholls said:

What's wrong with the current one? Please post your ideas and mock-ups in the Feedback forum.

The console view is not great. I would like to be able to see the numbering on the  meters when you are in  narrow mode.

[petemus]

10 hours ago, fitzj said:

The console view is not great. I would like to be able to see the numbering on the  meters when you are in  narrow mode.

The sliders and meters could also stretch up to utilize available screen estate better...

[Craig Anderton]

19 hours ago, Frank DeFede said:

I had paid for Cakewalk, and updates for years.  Spent a lot of money on it.  I love the software.  The last update I did with Cakewalk was supposed to be all updates free there on out.  I was most disappointed when they sold to Bandlab as I had never heard of it.

I must admit since Bandlab has taken over I think it has been great.  I don't know how they do it for free and even keep updating the software.  I really appreciate it.  

I know a lot of people who signed up for the free updates felt burned when Gibson closed Cakewalk's doors. However, I think the fact that so many people were willing to pay for, and support, Sonar may have been one reasons why BandLab saw something that deserved to continue. And we're getting free updates anyway

Edited March 31, 2021 by Craig Anderton

[petemus]

2 hours ago, Craig Anderton said:

I know a lot of people who signed up for the free updates felt burned when Gibson closed Cakewalk's doors. However, I think the fact that so many people were willing to pay for, and support, Sonar may have been one reasons why BandLab saw something that deserved to continue. And we're getting free updates anyway

Yes, and everything we paid for is still usable, if installed...

[RBH]

On 3/30/2021 at 2:54 PM, Jimbo 88 said:

Yes, more notation related updates please,  how about something like piano roll view that looks like this photo I stole from someone many years ago:

This looks pretty cool actually.  I've advocated for the keys on the Keyboard graphic to respond to notes on standalone tracks - or respond if a multi track PRV screen had a track soloed. Over laying a staff looks really useful.  I might actually learn to sight read this way.

[Per Westin]

20 hours ago, Craig Anderton said:

I know a lot of people who signed up for the free updates felt burned when Gibson closed Cakewalk's doors. However, I think the fact that so many people were willing to pay for, and support, Sonar may have been one reasons why BandLab saw something that deserved to continue. And we're getting free updates anyway

I didn´t feel burned, maybe a little disappointed, I see it this way - I still got more updates/stuff in $/day than what the (kind of) yearly update fee would have cost me, my biggest concern when the doors closed was about the servers so I still could do new installs when necessary.?

I´m VERY grateful? to Bandlab and the CW-staff for what they´ve done after the shutdown, from keeping the servers alive to updating the renamed Sonar platinum in the same (maybe even more) forward thinking spirit as before the shutdown.?

[Brian Walton]

On 4/1/2021 at 7:16 AM, Per Westin said:

I didn´t feel burned, maybe a little disappointed, I see it this way - I still got more updates/stuff in $/day than what the (kind of) yearly update fee would have cost me, my biggest concern when the doors closed was about the servers so I still could do new installs when necessary.?

I´m VERY grateful? to Bandlab and the CW-staff for what they´ve done after the shutdown, from keeping the servers alive to updating the renamed Sonar platinum in the same (maybe even more) forward thinking spirit as before the shutdown.?

Yep, the 6 month refresh requirement is about my only gripe coming from an easy unlimited off-line install scenario that never needed to check in or phone home.

[Michael Vogel]

17 hours ago, Brian Walton said:

Yep, the 6 month refresh requirement is about my only gripe coming from an easy unlimited off-line install scenario that never needed to check in or phone home.

I’m not in front of my DAW at the moment so cant confirm, but I think that recently this was changed and the 6 month authorisation refresh is no longer required.  Happy to be proved wrong but...

UPDATE:

Here’s a direct copy of the pinfold regarding Single Sign On which I believe removes the need for a deliberate action every 6 months to reauthorise Cakewalk.

Feature in the most recent Cakewalk Update. (2021.01 Update 1)

SSO (Single Sign-On) for Cakewalk activation

Cakewalk supports SSO (Single Sign-On) for activation, which allows you to log in via any service supported by BandLab as your sign-in authority. Google, Facebook, Apple ID, mobile phone and BandLab user/password credentials are currently supported.

SSO is only used for Cakewalk activation, and under normal circumstances you will only need to sign in once. Cakewalk will attempt to refresh your activation status silently and automatically on occasion during start up. Use the SSO login as you have done with your BandLab account in the past.

Note that BandLab Assistant is still required for requesting offline activation of Cakewalk on computers that don’t have an Internet connection.

 

Edited April 3, 2021 by Michael Vogel
Updated information

[Brian Walton]

2 hours ago, Michael Vogel said:

I’m not in front of my DAW at the moment so cant confirm, but I think that recently this was changed and the 6 month authorisation refresh is no longer required.  Happy to be proved wrong but...

UPDATE:

Here’s a direct copy of the pinfold regarding Single Sign On which I believe removes the need for a deliberate action every 6 months to reauthorise Cakewalk.

Feature in the most recent Cakewalk Update. (2021.01 Update 1)

SSO (Single Sign-On) for Cakewalk activation

Cakewalk supports SSO (Single Sign-On) for activation, which allows you to log in via any service supported by BandLab as your sign-in authority. Google, Facebook, Apple ID, mobile phone and BandLab user/password credentials are currently supported.

SSO is only used for Cakewalk activation, and under normal circumstances you will only need to sign in once. Cakewalk will attempt to refresh your activation status silently and automatically on occasion during start up. Use the SSO login as you have done with your BandLab account in the past.

Note that BandLab Assistant is still required for requesting offline activation of Cakewalk on computers that don’t have an Internet connection.

 

As you can tell by reading the statement it is phoning home constantly and requires an internet connection.  

 

It isn't about the manual process.  It is about the fact I have to refresh activation via the internet periodically or the software stops working.

[GreenLight]

On 3/30/2021 at 8:11 PM, Starship Krupa said:

Now when I use other DAWs I feel like I'm constrained in a box. Waveform especially feels like a straitjacket. Ableton Live is okay, but still restricted. Its interface is kind of Skylight-y, except without the ability to float the different views, at least in the Lite version I have.

Ahh, I thought it was just me! ?I've been interested in learning and trying Live, but within 10 minutes I felt GUI so inflexible... Live seems to be designed from the ground up for a single (laptop!) monitor setup.

[Vlad_Muc]

I would like to have more ProChannel plugins. A clipper, for instance! Maybe in cooperation with Kazrog or Newfangled Audio!
And I would like to have Softube ProChannel-plugins to work again. But it is softtube's issue, right?
And better support for my PLATFORM NANO controller, which is not able to deal with busses (no sync)
...and a really good explanation, why I have the least dropouts with WDM driver, rather than ASIO or WASAPI
...and a really good explanation, why I have less dropouts without load balancing checked (although I have a 6 core CPU)

?

Edited April 3, 2021 by Vlad_Muc

[Jeremy Oakes]

8 hours ago, Brian Walton said:

As you can tell by reading the statement it is phoning home constantly and requires an internet connection.  

 

It isn't about the manual process.  It is about the fact I have to refresh activation via the internet periodically or the software stops working.

For something as complete as Cakewalk AND free - thats asking too much ? It doesn’t bother me in the slightest. YMMV

[chris.r]

1 hour ago, Vlad_Muc said:

And better support for my PLATFORM NANO controller, which is not able to deal with busses (no sync)

Dang! Is that true? I was eyeballing at that controller recently... shame.

[Vlad_Muc]

1 hour ago, Jeremy Oakes said:

For something as complete as Cakewalk AND free - thats asking too much ? It doesn’t bother me in the slightest. YMMV

I bought it a long time ago as well as CA-2A, Limiter and the Overloud stuff so for me it wasn't a giveaway.  Nevertheless I prefer to pay for SONAR if they would provide me with updates in more predictable way. But my overall opinion is that the code quality is better than Gibson's.

Edited April 3, 2021 by Vlad_Muc

[Screaming For Attention]

I don't come to check, but I kind of want to now.

[Vlad_Muc]

3 minutes ago, chris.r said:

Dang! Is that true? I was eyeballing at that controller recently... shame.

Yes, but I think it's due to Mackie protocol, so the same thing for all controllers. But in the meantime (I bought it few weeks ago) I got used to it and I really use it for:
Play, Rewind, zoom, the Jog Wheel is really usefull, the fader for the master volume, SAVE, export and stuff like that. I cannot imagine using it for plugins, since this is too complex and you would have to learn every single plugin it terms of which knob is assigned to which function.  If you have a plenty of Softube plugins, maybe their controller is better...

[Brian Walton]

2 hours ago, Jeremy Oakes said:

For something as complete as Cakewalk AND free - thats asking too much ? It doesn’t bother me in the slightest. YMMV

I paid for lifetime updates.  The previous program didn't have this limitation.  It obviously isn't a deal breaker, but it is a step back for those of us that paid hundreds of dollars for this software back in the day.

I'm thankful for where it landed, but I also noted this was the one area that isn't "improved" from a customer perspective.  

[msmcleod]

1 hour ago, Brian Walton said:

I paid for lifetime updates.  The previous program didn't have this limitation.  It obviously isn't a deal breaker, but it is a step back for those of us that paid hundreds of dollars for this software back in the day.

I'm thankful for where it landed, but I also noted this was the one area that isn't "improved" from a customer perspective.  

Actually SONAR Platinum did have to re-authenticate every 6 months.

I rarely use SONAR nowadays, but occasionally fire it up to compare behaviour to see if a bug has been recently introduced or was already existing in SONAR.

I fired it up only last week and got the "Needs Authorization" popup. Once I'd logged into Cakewalk Command Center, it re-authorized and I was good to go again.