Major regret, warning; do not use for more than two or three tracks

[Cristiano Sadun]

14 hours ago, Matt M Luthanen said:

I am troubled that my intention was not clear to everyone - I posted an account of my experience with a Bandlab program*. I wish I had seen such an account before I put so much time into what turned out to be a program suffering from too many malfunctions to safely use. I was not asking for help and the tone of my message was that of caution and nothing else - I clearly explained what I was using, what I was using it for, and what did not work. It was a warning to not try to use the Bandlab DAW program that runs in Chrome for anything but the most simple of projects and then only those you are comfortable with maybe turning out too mangled to salvage.

 

Matt, the challenge with these kinds of warnings - and the reason sometimes they are met with a little hard looks - is that 99% of the cases the problem is user error.

To a little more experienced people, it feels a bit like someone driving a car with a manual gearbox, shifting gears without using the clutch, breaking the gearbox and then warning not to use the car because it destroys gears. 

It may well not be your case: but the way you framed the issue - without any detail, without a hint that you actually are experienced in the software you are using, mixing up two completely different software (a pro-level DAW and a casual-music making web application) suggested an "arrogant beginner" (again, not necessarily true, but the impression you gave).

That does not warrant hostility, of course - but might explains why more experienced people (who has seen many arrogant beginners) to be a little more curt than it would be nice.

This is the wrong forum for issues related to the Bandlab webapp, but if you find the right forum and provide some details on what happened and asking what you might have done wrong, you will certainly find people that will give you suggestions. It's one of the ways of learning. It won't help for the project you have already lost, but it may prevent you from losing more - regardless of what software you decide to use.

 

[murat k.]

I think we need a new section for BandLab in Cakewalk Discuss. Because there is nowhere to talk about BandLab apps like we talk about Cakewalk in here. Sometimes I use BandLab Mix Editor for sketching ideas. It's great for simple tasks actually. Talking over some problems or requesting features may help the development of sibling softwares together. 

Edited May 10, 2021 by murat k.

[John Vere]

Possibly there would be less confusion if we return to calling our favourite Daw  Cakewalk and drop the Bandlab extension. 
That way there’s just Cakewalk the Daw and Bandlab the music app. 

To me at this point if someone says Sonar I know they are using the pre Bandlab version. If they say Cakewalk I know that they are using the new version ( or really really old ) They don’t need to say Cakewalk by Bandlab anymore. 

 

 

Edited May 10, 2021 by John Vere

[Mike B]

Hey all! I thought I'd take a moment to pop in here as someone who works with both BandLab and Cakewalk. 

First, I'm bummed to hear about @Matt M Luthanen's experience with the Mix Editor. There are tons of factors that can play into the performance of recording and playing back multitrack audio and MIDI over the web, so we'll definitely have to dig deeper to find out what's going on there. To Matt, and anyone else who uses the Mix Editor and runs into trouble, just giving us a heads up at support@bandlab.com will be the best bet for the moment.

That said, I also saw a mention about having a BandLab specific section for the Cakewalk forum, or another resource in general. Would you guys like to see a dedicated forum space for BandLab? We currently have a Help Center, a YouTube channel, Discord, etc, but we're definitely on board with the idea of a forum as well.  It would likely be tied directly to our Help Center, much like how you can now submit a crash report directly on help.cakewalk.com using the "Submit a request" feature.

Just to round back, BandLab's Mix Editor and Cakewalk are so different from a build and tech standpoint that performance will absolutely be different with each. In both cases though, saving early and often will definitely be beneficial. If work in the Mix Editor was saved but you're having trouble finding it, or there are changes to what you're hearing upon playback, reach us at support@bandlab.com. We'll be there to help!

[RBH]

Mike B. - Sounds like a good idea. Adding a beginners forum to each might also help new patrons find answers to the basic start-up pains that we all have gone through ( great place to link to the tutorials section)  The Cakewalk users in these forum groups are enormously helpful generally speaking and having the CTO of the company regularly chime in on what's real and what's perceived in the software is an exception to the rule.

 

 

[John Vere]

A sub forum would be a good idea in general for Bandlab users. A lot of people have posted here over the last few years asking questions and were frustrated there was no forum for them.

But, keep in mind, the forum will only be useful if those folks participate and help each other out. That's how forums work. There's a lot of helpful people here on the Cakewalk forum, many of us go way back in time too. But most of us have no interest or experience with the Bandlab app. It would have to grow a new community. 

 

[John]

John Vere wrote;

"But, keep in mind, the forum will only be useful if those folks participate and help each other out. That's how forums work. There's a lot of helpful people here on the Cakewalk forum, many of us go way back in time too. But most of us have no interest or experience with the Bandlab app. It would have to grow a new community."

 

Excellent point. I was thinking much the same thing. I know nothing about the Bandlab app . One reason I believe no one at first understood the OP's post.

[murat k.]

I believe the number of users of Cakewalk should increase, and BandLab is a gate for the new generation.

In the tutorials that I watched on the internet, people usually use Cubase or Ableton. Some of them use FL Studio and Studio ONE. Cakewalk is so rare. 

BandLab Mix Editor can be used on phones and tablets, its accessibility is high. New generation people are working mostly on their phones and tablets. After adding a new section on the forum, it will help to grow a new BandLab community like @John Vere said, also this will help new people to meet Cakewalk. 

This community is great, a bunch of experienced people like they are racing with each other for helping people. But we are not so many.

I anticipate that it will be the number 1 DAW with the new features added to the Cakewalk in a couple of years. The integration with the BandLab will be more important when it becomes. I believe the community with the new forum sections and the user people should be ready for that day.

[Larry Jones]

Cakewalk and the Bandlab app are two completely different animals, with different goals and different users. The overlap between the two groups of users is so minimal that I would not recommend adding a Bandlab app forum here. Very few Cakewalk users would have the experience or knowledge to help out the Bandlab app users, and from what I've seen there is not much chance that technical help would go the other direction, either. Adding a Bandlab app forum here would just bring in thousands (?) of users who are (for example) making beats on their phones and are not the least bit interested in producing 40 orchestral tracks or putting together music with traditional rhythm sections.

Since we were required to set up Bandlab accounts, I have gone to the site and poked around, and it was like an alien planet, where the natives did not know R&B from Folk, and didn't care.

Just my opinion: Bandlab the app should have its own seperate user forum.

(For the record: I have always thought that Bandlab (the corporation) expected the phone users one day to migrate to Cakewalk and Cakewalk users to start collaborating with each other through the Bandlab app, but during the pandemic I started making music with friends around the country and I told them they could get the app and make their tracks that way, but they all downloaded Cakewalk instead, and we share tracks with Dropbox. I don't know what incentive would get mainstream musicians and singers to switch to Bandlab when Cakewalk is so full-featured and flexible.)

Edited May 13, 2021 by Larry Jones
clarity and grammar

[Jim Fogle]

I would like to see a Bandlab sub forum "tied in" with the Bandlab Help Center as described by  @Mike B .  At the very least the sub forum would provide a support point of access for Bandlab.  There are many users in this forum that enjoy helping others.  However I feel a little illiterate and helpless when I think I've encountered a question about the online DAW and social media platform., Bandlab.

Having a sub forum here would also provide a common location where users of Bandlab's offline and online DAWs can learn about each other.

I agree with the idea to call the offline DAW Cakewalk and the online DAW Bandlab.  Presently there is not enough distinction between the two product names which creates confusion in conversation and internet searches.

[chris.r]

1 hour ago, Larry Jones said:

...I don't know what incentive would get mainstream musicians and singers to switch to Bandlab when Cakewalk is so full-featured and flexible.)

some of my friends are so tech resistant that if you ask them to 'take the mouse' they'll prepare a cage and get some fodder yet they are great singers... no, seriously I'd prefer them to simply cut a vocal track on their phones and invite me to collaboration on bandlab, that's much more feasible  

having dedicated forum here could be a bonus just need to think out how to avoid confusion with the DAW names