Edgar Lindo Posted May 1, 2021 Share Posted May 1, 2021 So I was looking for instruments to add to my new Cakewalk software and I got information of a bunch of free plugins. Question:.. what are the Sonar Home Studio, Artist, Professional and Platinum packages for? I will be using cakewalk to create small pieces of music and maybe mix it with as much effects I can find from MIDI instruments or sounds. Also, I just chose cakewalk just because of some online research and figure I would give it a try, but I also see the Sonar software doesn't seem to have any updates since 2017?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scook Posted May 1, 2021 Share Posted May 1, 2021 1 hour ago, Edgar Lindo said: what are the Sonar Home Studio, Artist, Professional and Platinum These are slightly different versions of the same DAW with different content developed and sold by Cakewalk. SONAR Platinum was their flagship product. In 2017, Gibson Brands, the company that owns Cakewalk, shut down operations. It is unlikely that Gibson will restart Cakewalk or update their products. In 2018, BandLab Technologies purchased Cakewalk IP from Gibson and hired some of the old Cakewalk staff. Using the code base for SONAR Platinum, BandLab released Cakewalk by BandLab. Other than the price, the main difference between SONAR Platinum sold in 2017 and Cakewalk by BandLab released in 2018 is the bundled content. Platinum included a different loop library and more plug-ins. BandLab continues to update and support Cakewalk by BandLab. Updates happen every couple of months. They just released an update this month Most of the content bundled with old Cakewalk DAWS is not locked to the DAW and maybe used in any DAW. However, there are a few items that are locked to the DAW and will not work outside of the product-line that included them. These items still work in Cakewalk by BandLab. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msmcleod Posted May 1, 2021 Share Posted May 1, 2021 You can find an old comparison chart between SONAR & Cakewalk by BandLab here:https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1AwrivrPMMqFyAnbRfV03U2ki00VwOJNHeFXolbyyzKA/edit#gid=0 The current (2021.04) release, also includes the following: Cakewalk Classic Effects Suite: Alias Factor, Compressor/Gate, HF Exciter, Modfilter, Multivoice Chorus/Flanger, Para-Q, Tempo Delay ... and also Channel Tools and the PC2A pro channel module. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edgar Lindo Posted May 1, 2021 Author Share Posted May 1, 2021 Thank you much for the information. I see BandLab still selling the older Sonar packages then? I am interested in experimenting with instruments, sounds, and effects for small projects. The price tag for Sonar professional and platinum is a good chunk of money. Is there a way to try it to explore the instruments and sounds before considering a purchasing? Is there any core products BandLab is selling these days? How are you guys keeping alive? I also haven't explore any other DAWs for instruments and sounds, but I suppose many offer similar features. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msmcleod Posted May 1, 2021 Share Posted May 1, 2021 Just now, Edgar Lindo said: Thank you much for the information. I see BandLab still selling the older Sonar packages then? I am interested in experimenting with instruments, sounds, and effects for small projects. The price tag for Sonar professional and platinum is a good chunk of money. Is there a way to try it to explore the instruments and sounds before considering a purchasing? Is there any core products BandLab is selling these days? How are you guys keeping alive? I also haven't explore any other DAWs for instruments and sounds, but I suppose many offer similar features. You cannot buy SONAR anymore. In fact you can't buy anything anymore. Cakewalk by BandLab is what SONAR Platinum was, but now it's free with loads of new features and well over 1000 bug fixes (maybe even 2000 by now). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edgar Lindo Posted May 1, 2021 Author Share Posted May 1, 2021 Oh my... what is BandLab's mater plan? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Byron Dickens Posted May 1, 2021 Share Posted May 1, 2021 Do a search. That's only been discussed 647,862 times.... 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeGBradford Posted May 2, 2021 Share Posted May 2, 2021 If you install Cakewalk by Bandlab there are many, many VST instruments and effects that you can get for free or a small cost. In my view it would not be worth buying another DAW just for the included instruments (though I'd stand to be corrected). It is worth trying demos of the different DAWs and see if any feel more intuitive to you than Cakewalk - if not use Cakewalk and add on instruments and effects as required. Be aware though, like any serious software, there is a learning curve to go through but there are many excellent tutorial videos on line including whole series on Cakewalk from Creative Suace and Home Studio Simplified to name but two! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Vere Posted May 2, 2021 Share Posted May 2, 2021 I think the OP is being confused because Google search often brings up old web pages and they really need to delete those as they are misleading. Here's a example. I simply typed in Sonar Home Studio to Google and this is what you get... It say's Buy Now- 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abacab Posted May 5, 2021 Share Posted May 5, 2021 (edited) On 5/1/2021 at 12:34 PM, Edgar Lindo said: Oh my... what is BandLab's mater plan? BandLab Technologies is a large group of music related businesses. https://bandlabtechnologies.com/ The BandLab CEO, Meng, purchased the former Cakewalk DAW from Gibson in order to add a fully fledged desktop DAW to the BandLab portfolio, and promised to release it for free indefinitely. So Cakewalk (by BandLab) is really a minor piece of a major company. Since the acquisition of the property rights for the Cakewalk Sonar software (the former Cakewalk company was totally disbanded), no parts of Cakewalk have ever been offered for sale. The members of the former Cakewalk development team that Meng hired have provided thousands of bug fixes, and many important new features for Cakewalk since 2018. Free for us to enjoy! Edited May 5, 2021 by abacab 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starship Krupa Posted May 12, 2021 Share Posted May 12, 2021 On 5/2/2021 at 12:54 PM, John Vere said: It says Buy Now But y'know, for heaven's sake, it also says "Cakewalk by BandLab released: Learn More." And if you click on that "Buy Now" button it takes you to a statement by Noel about Gibson's halt to Cakewalk, Inc. operations. Apologies to the confused, and I understand that English is not the OP's first language, but it's hard not to learn about Cakewalk by BandLab once you get to the old company's website. This forum also has a search function, and these questions have been asked and answered many times. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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