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A Cakewalk Observation


Larry Shelby

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I, personally, think that Cakewalk dropped the ball BIG TIME on the PC!
They had a golden opportunity to cash in, but apparently didn't want to 
put forth the effort to get more Vendors to use it!  Now that I'm sure the
number of Cakewalk users has doubled, it's an even BIGGER market share!
Sure there are some who "just want FREE", but most users familiar with 
the PC would LOVE to have other plugins that would work there!  

That's just MO....YMMV

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26 minutes ago, cclarry said:

I think some of the Overloud Plugins in the PC also

Yes, the VKFX modules for instance, although these are now legacy... Breverb2 and Rematrix on the other hand aren't, even more useful would be some of their Gems.

I wish for more Boz modules like T-Bone, Little Clipper, Gatey Watey and of course Pan Knob. And something to take over the somewhat limited Quad Curve when I'm starting running out of bands :) 

Edited by chris.r
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On 1/17/2022 at 6:16 AM, cclarry said:

I believe Saturation Knob, TSAR-1R, FET Compressor...there may be others...

A couple of EQs too.

However, Softube went out of the PC module business in April 2020.

They broke all the PC modules with the update that month. 

AFAIK the only way to use Softube PC modules is secure a release prior to April 2020.

Update: Softube fixed their PC modules in v2.5.39.0

 

One of the problems with the PC module format is the tiny UI. Most 3rd party PC modules are defeatured versions of the full size VSTs.

The only PC module to address this is the Quad Curve EQ. I believe the flyout feature used by the EQ is not part of the PC spec. 

 

One of the issues with FX Chains in the PC is its strict adherence to the PC module size. Having the ability to change its size or having a few predefined sizes would help quite a bit.

Edited by scook
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i almost never use the track FX bin as most of the stuff i'm using is the in the PC modules. so i use the PC FX bin/chain for presets that include non-PC/VST/DX modules like compressors, effects, etc.

then with a bunch of presets, it's easy to add them across tracks and busses. and tweak. plus my templates already have the bulk of PC modules per track and busses setup.

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14 hours ago, dubdisciple said:

....... If you have numbers showing Cakewalk usage has actually increased beyond the numbers of sonar at peak since Bandlab acquisition, I would love to see. I am doubtful there is a big enough spike to generate an interest in developing  modules that were not there prior to cakewalk folding. 

I don't think they are going to release actual numbers, but Cakewalk staff indicated in posts that the influx of user base exceeded expecations.  I'd have to imagine they had pretty high expectations when they went from "lets charge $500 for the flagship" to "we are going to give it away for free (minus some of the 3rd party stuff)"

It is fair to assume there are more Cakewalk users now than there ever have been.  That said, it is still a small market in general and Cakewalk is a fraction of that base.   I'd imagine that if they sold the products for a low price and got some advertising around here, we would see some sales.

The only reason I picked up some of the Boz plugins were because of PC compatibility.    It really can't be that much development work if you already have the plugin and the controls are simple.

14 hours ago, abacab said:

Has anyone tried this lately? https://www.cakewalk.com/Documentation?product=SONAR&language=3&help=ProChannel.10.html

The FX Chain module

"The FX Chain module allows you to use FX Chains (see Effects chains) and individual audio effects within the ProChannel signal flow. The FX Chain module can be used as an FX Rack that can be inserted between other ProChannel modules.

An FX Chain is a container that can include multiple audio plug-ins. Assignable knobs and buttons can control automatable plug-in parameters in the FX Chain. An FX Chain preset can store up to six assignable knobs and six assignable buttons."

 

Yes, this is what I mentioned above I did with the Boz Pan Knob.  It is annoying to have to manually add it by searching in a menu for each individual track.  If it was a PC module with 2 clicks I could add it to all my channels in a project, just like God intented.  

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1 hour ago, Brian Walton said:

Yes, this is what I mentioned above I did with the Boz Pan Knob.  It is annoying to have to manually add it by searching in a menu for each individual track.  If it was a PC module with 2 clicks I could add it to all my channels in a project, just like God intended.  

you could just create presets to reuse things. i have made about 50 custom presets which include sonitus and PC, waves and PC, slate and PC, etc variations of eq, compressor, effects, etc which i can readily load and tweak. this way if my template defaults are just right, i load up the waves or slate variations and tweak if necessary. saves a lot of clicks and time ? then like other presets you can select multiple tracks or busses and load them in one go (like you could with FX Bin)

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20 hours ago, cclarry said:

I was just thinking:

Now that Cakewalk (Sonar) is FREE, I wonder why some REALLY SMART developer hasn't
jumped into the "Pro Channel" Pool?  I'm sure the market would be BOOMING!  As it stands,
we have Boz Digital and Softube, and then only a few of their plugins are PC capable.  Just seems
that it would be quite the lucrative market...but hey, what do I know?

1 - it would be proprietary and not worth a developer's time. that's why there is VST

2 - Cakewalk is not popular

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20 hours ago, Esteban Villanova said:

Same thing with Reason RE's. Seemed like a good business idea for developers but it didn't really pan out. VST format is just too prevalent.

Developing an RE is similar to creating something to use in Kontakt player.  Reason charges a developer 30%. The are fewer RE developers.  Many of the free REs are from developers who stopped making them. They can't be resold and proprietary and bloat a system drive.  My RE's take up 15GB of OS space because they can't be moved.

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Selling 100,000 plugins wouldn't be worth a developer's time? If you say so!
The Pro Channel IS  VST!  It's a "VST FX Bin", it just has a proprietary interface, which wouldn't be difficult for a developer to add on!
I completely disagree with "Cakewalk isn't Popular"!  I'm in MULTIPLE groups that are "Cakewalk User" groups,
so I don't know why you would say this?  It's not "Pro Tools" or "Cubase" popular, but it most certainly has a substantial base.

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Just now, cclarry said:

Selling 100,000 plugins wouldn't be worth a developer's time? If you say so!
The Pro Channel IS  VST!  It's a "VST FX Bin", it just has a proprietary interface, which wouldn't be difficult for a developer to add on!
I completely disagree with "Cakewalk isn't Popular"!  I'm in MULTIPLE groups that are "Cakewalk User" groups,
so I don't know why you would say this?  It's not "Pro Tools" or "Cubase" popular, but it most certainly has a substantial base.

 It isn't.  User groups are not always proof.  A developer goes by how  often a product is downloaded.

Somehow you think a developer is blind to your first statement.

A good example is look at all of the Kontakt libraries compared to Halion.

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2 minutes ago, Paul Young said:

 It isn't.  User groups are not always proof.  A developer goes by how  often a product is downloaded.

Somehow you think a developer is blind to your first statement.

A good example is look at all of the Kontakt libraries compared to Halion.

That's the beauty of American....YOU can believe whatever you want...

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15 hours ago, Variorum said:

adjusting multiple parameters with a single knob

perhaps the "style dials" was a reason for the 3rd party devs  to "pause"? 

however, the PC could represent some low hanging fruit and an additional "try it you might like it" channel given the glut of everything vst out there. 

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39 minutes ago, jackson white said:

perhaps the "style dials" was a reason for the 3rd party devs  to "pause"? 

Possibly but I doubt it. 

 

Style Dials were originally developed for Music Creator 7.

It did not have the full ProChannel, instead it had a MixStrip similar to SONAR Home Studio, Artist and Steam Edition.

MixStrip.1.1.png

Style Dials are customized FX Chains.

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1 hour ago, scook said:

Style Dials were originally developed for Music Creator 7.

It did not have the full ProChannel, instead it had a MixStrip similar to SONAR Home Studio, Artist and Steam Edition.

MixStrip.1.1.png

Style Dials are customized FX Chains.

Those Style Dials are ironically similar to the Waves "One Knob" series of plugins... :)

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