Thanks for a great 32 years!

[jkoseattle]

Farewell Cakewalk!

I bought my first PC in 1989, and Cakewalk 3.0 for DOS:

was the very first software I installed on it. So exciting! I got married, bought two houses, raised a dughter, and went through too many different jobs, and Cakewalk was one constant all those years. Using only Cakewalk and then Sonar and then again Cakewalk I have produced: Songs for Disney * half a dozen musicals * 1 opera * 4 albums * countless miscellaneous projects * hours of as-yet unreleased music * much more.

Cakewalk was my first introduction to digital music production, and up until this weekend, has been my one and only DAW for 32 years!! 

I finally decided it's time to move on, however, and am switching to Presonus Studio One as of this weekend. I have a month of downtime, (well not really, but only low-stakes projects to work on) and holiday break coming up, so now's the time.

So I thought I'd write this little note into the the ether so just say an enormous THANK YOU to all the devs, support people and helpful forum chatters for all the great work and help. It's going to be really hard losing my decades-old workflow patterns, custom keystrokes, and general way of looking at music that Cakewalk has afforded me. But it's an exciting time as I acquire new ways of working, custom keystrokes, and hopefully will get new inspiration from it.

Thanks, Cakewalk, I'm forever grateful, and I bid you a fond farewell (sniff)!

I will leave you all with a link to one of the most enormous and complicated pieces I ever created using this terrific software. What you hear was entirely produced in Cakewalk. 

https://open.spotify.com/track/0Q3dd8ydsw2HK3n2Xi4LD4?si=38c375181ced4ff8

[johnpeeee]

Respect.
Sonar/cakewalk has been my only DAW since I changed from tape. I wish cakewalk by band lab had a bit more credibility out here. The updates since bandlab took over are amazing. Yet (for example) Sound on Sound just ignore it. Shame.

[antler]

You know - you can still stick around even if you decide to use to another DAW ?

[SUPAREELS]

On 12/2/2021 at 9:02 PM, johnpeeee said:

Respect.
Sonar/cakewalk has been my only DAW since I changed from tape. I wish cakewalk by band lab had a bit more credibility out here. The updates since Bandlab took over are amazing. Yet (for example) Sound on Sound just ignore it. Shame.

You are dead right .. seemingly an ignored but fantastic DAW ..and now for Nicks !

Although I'm shown as joining this in 2020, I joined much earlier then that, ( I had the Atari version and a DX7 for my midi !)  it was due to the lag involved between Sonar's disbandment, and then Bandlab taking over the helm after the lag. Sadly I ditched the 'supareels music' tag and crossed over to Cubase Pro.

I wrote to SOS regarding their narrow vision for this DAW, having read their monthly mag since they called themselves MAPLIN then 'Electronics & Music Maker'  inquiring why they never really gave it the respect it deserved, after all there were so many professionals using this DAW with great success, yet still it didn't reach the dizzy heights of, say, Pro Tools.  I had paid full price for my Cakewalk DAW right up to the Boston version and I thought that was great value at the time, ... but my message was, obviously, completely ignored as you might expect, I never bought another Mag after that.

I could go on but my message is that Bandlab saved a lot of Musoes and this is a very warm place to be with helpful reviews, seemingly using any DAW. Personally I use Bandlab, Cubase Pro 11 and pro tools. BUT

I ALWAYS use Bandlab for new songs because it's still an easy tool to use  ....so keep posting  JKOseattle

Edited December 4, 2021 by SupaReels

[Wookiee]

Unfortunately I do not listen to Spotify  

[garybrun]

I have been with Cakewalk since day 1.
Also invested in Vs Studio system and still use it now (except the rack unit) with my Apollo X8p.
I have owned a lot of the Presonus mixers which I have used for Live Sound Engineering but still always use Cakewalk for my every day use.
I know it, Love it,  and Im not willing to re-learn different DAWS as its a waste of my time.

I have licences to the Presonus stuff if anyone would like them?

[Bapu]

21 hours ago, antler said:

You know - you can still stick around even if you decide to use to another DAW ?

@jkoseattle I've been recording/producing music in Studio One for about 3 years now. I'm still here because this is a great forum with (usually) no prejudice to the DAW we all use (some here are on Macs too).

 

Edited December 4, 2021 by Bapu

[bjornpdx]

Any way to get around the Spotify paywall?

I use Studio One and Cakewalk. Cakewalk for all the old projects I've never finished over the years (and there are lots of them) and S1 for new stuff.

-Bjorn

[jkoseattle]

Hello again. So far Studio One is proving to be pretty wonderful, only 1-2 things I really miss from Cakewalk. #1 being the ability to scrub in the PRV timeline at the speed of my mouse rather than at the song's actual tempo. That one is a big loss.

HOWEVER... I realize that I've got all these years of unfinished projects in .cwp format that I need to go through. Starting a new thread here for that mammoth project.

[ant_in_wales]

On 12/2/2021 at 9:02 PM, johnpeeee said:

Respect.
Sonar/cakewalk has been my only DAW since I changed from tape. I wish cakewalk by band lab had a bit more credibility out here. The updates since bandlab took over are amazing. Yet (for example) Sound on Sound just ignore it. Shame.

I find this strange too. It's clearly a £250+ product FOR FREE, with updates and no license nonsense to deal with.
I can't understand why everyone doesn't use it.

My kid is looking to study "Music" in the autumn, and they all use ProTools. So if want to work from home, he needs a £2k Mac & £180 license for PT.
Or he could carry on using free Cakewalk.
But that's a whole different Grrrr.

[ramscapri]

 

Goodness me ! Why would one ever want to bid farewell to any DAW, unless of course there is shortage of storage space in the computer and a conscious choice has to be made to uninstall an existing one. By the way, we can definitely use more than one DAW ? 

I house six DAWs in my computer, five of them pro-versions and one of them lite-version. Of course, two of the five pro versions are Sonar Platinum and Cakewalk by Bandlab which are of the same genesis. 

I will admit though that notwithstanding my madness for exploration, my first love was and will always be Cakewalk Sonar from X1 days (which has now developed into the continuously improving Cakewalk by Bandlab). I find no reason to discard any of them, unless if I may ever have to, due to lack of storage space. 

Hey... let's keep exploring... and most importantly... let's keep making beautiful music ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?️ ? ? ? 

P.S. :  By the way, somehow the Spotify link doesn't play for me too. 

Edited January 5, 2022 by ramscapri

[Jimbo 88]

I have a very similar story to the OP (and others in this thread) and when Cake and Gibson went down I headed over to Cubase.  There are things in Cubase that are really great, I can't live without at this point, but Cake and the bakers are really stepping up.  I spend more time in notation software these days.  I picked up Dorico in the hopes it will be integrated with Cubase. 

But I still start every project in Cakewalk.  Composing in Cake is the best. The occasional audio editing/mixing projects I do in Cake.   I tried Studio One and I'm not sure what the advantages are.  Anyways, my point is, I stepped away from CbB and into other DAWs, but I come back and spend tons of time on CbB...and it feels good.    

[jkoseattle]

On 1/5/2022 at 6:28 AM, ramscapri said:

 

Goodness me ! Why would one ever want to bid farewell to any DAW

 

P.S. :  By the way, somehow the Spotify link doesn't play for me too. 

Goodness me! Why would anyone have 6 DAW's! 

Yours is a good question though, here's why I'm switching:

1. Most of my sounds come from EastWest's Composer Cloud library, which is not cheap. Recently they came out with a new engine called Opus, which is a major improvement over their previous one. Game-changer. And does not run on Cakewalk. That was really the dealbreaker.

2. While I've developed a muscle memory over the years with Cakewalk, there are just far too many obvious things never fixed or improved that cause me to question what's been going on over there all these years. I've sort of lost trust in their dev team. My muscle memory, I came to realize, consists of too many workarounds that I've long since forgotten were workarounds. As a former software dev myself, the fact that so many obvious things have never been fixed over the years points me to one dreaded conclusion: Spaghetti code whose authors are no longer available.

3. The nagging refrain of "you get what you pay for" kept coming back to me, and Bandlab's unique business model makes me nervous as to Cakewalk's future. I have no evidence to support this, but I have a history of hitching my wagon to bum stars (as my attempt as a Windows Phone developer bears out, among many other examples). 

4. I was interested in a creative shot in the arm which a forced new workflow would provide.

--------------------

So now it's been over a month. I am reluctant to rag on Cakewalk here of course, but I must say, my Studio One learning has presented me with nearly constant moments of "Oh wow, that's so much easier than how Cakewalk does it". I've also learned that the dreaded DAW learning curve really isn't so bad. Most of my most common functions were programmed into my fancy gaming mouse buttons anyway, so all I had to do was program those same things into a new mouse configuration. Also, Studio One has a keyboard shortcut importer which supports Cakewalk, so yay.

So far, the one major thing I'm missing from Cakewalk and which SO does not feature, and it's HUUGE for me, is Cakewalks ability to scrub through PRV at the speed at which you move your mouse. SO only lets you scrub at playback speed. Grrrr. Oh there are two, actually. The other one is the ability to playback all takes in a track simultaneously. And while Cakewalk gets way too clever with gradients and color schemes, SO doesn't get clever enough. It's super clean and simple UI is sometimes TOO clean and simple.

But overall, SO has so many features that reflect a deep understanding of how people like me really compose music, and is chock full of features you didn't know you needed until you learn them. Lots of "oh yes, of COURSE!" moments. Hate to say so here, but, well..... it's better. However, I would not recommend switching unless you are a real power user of through-composed non-repetitive music, as at the basic level, they are mostly interchangeable, and it's hard to beat 'free'. What is better about SO is primarily the weedsy advanced stuff.

OK, no seems like one can play my Spotify link, so after many hundreds of CW projects here's the 3rd to last one I ever did. 100% Cakewalk:

https://spintunes.bandcamp.com/track/snorkeling-snorkeling

 

[Wookiee]

On 1/9/2022 at 5:43 PM, jkoseattle said:

And does not run on Cakewalk

Has this been confirmed by Cakewalk Support that they do not support the new engine.

[Jimbo 88]

So a major hangup for me in Studio One is notation.  They just implemented it...but you can't print?

[garybrun]

Do you have their notation software?

[markno999]

Good song and fun production.  Thanks for posting your final Cakewalk project.       

I think many here use multiple DAWS for many of the same reasons you cite, and others.  For example, I prefer using Logic Pro X for Orchestral projects when using Project Sam, EastWest (Opus/Play), CineSamples,  etc... and have used it for many years (since around 2013) mainly for ease of use and workflow preference.     As you say 6 DAWS would be unmanageable but I can deal with 2 or 3:)  They all have their strengths and weaknesses, and of course personal preferences play well into the equation as well.    The main thing is what you do with them.   Your music and production level is definitely very good IMHO.

Regards

[steve@baselines.com]

You'll be back!  I went from Cakewalk to Studio One to Protools ... and ... back to Cakewalk.  Well, even if you don't, best wishes.  But ... you'll be back LOL!

Steve

 

[Bapu]

On 1/13/2022 at 2:47 PM, steve@baselines.com said:

I went from Cakewalk to Studio One to Protools ... and ... back to Cakewalk. 

I went from Cakewalk to Studio One to Protools (to learn from a 'pro')... and ... back to Studio One. 

[Starship Krupa]

On 1/13/2022 at 6:15 AM, Wookiee said:

Has this been confirmed by Cakewalk Support that they do not support the new engine.

I'm wondering about this, too. Did a couple of searches, couldn't find anything on EastWest's site that refers to compatibility or lack of it with any DAW, and here's a thread from this site with 48 replies, nobody saying anything about trouble using it with Cakewalk. Of course, plenty who hang in the Coffee House/Deals section no longer use Cakewalk, but still, these things don't usually stay quiet:

Please, @jkoseattle, elaborate. I don't know if the Cakewalk devs know about any problems with EastWest's Opus player and it seems like they would want to.