Thoughts about Cakewalk compared to other DAW?

[Canopus]

14 minutes ago, Joya Ali said:

Cakewalk has great features for a free DAW, but it's known for being buggy and sometimes unintuitive.

It is? Wow, thanks for telling us. I’ve used it since its launch back in 2018 and never noticed that. Hadn’t it been for your valuable insights, I still wouldn’t have known. Gosh, what an eye-opener!

[Glenn Stanton]

8 hours ago, Joya Ali said:

I get your frustration! Cakewalk has great features for a free DAW, but it's known for being buggy and sometimes unintuitive. Other DAWs like FL Studio, Ableton, or Logic Pro are more stable and user-friendly but often come at a cost. If you're serious about music production, it might be worth investing in one of those. Don't give up—every DAW has a learning curve!

maybe spend a few hours on the "other DAW" forums, or even FX product forums where numerous bugs, lack of features, etc are presented hourly if not daily. no software is free of defects or perfect. e.g. some DAW take the approach of releasing a new "version" when enough bugs or limitations surface and announce new features. not a great way to support paying customers. Others do not support ARA properly some many ARA plugins don't work with those DAW.  etc etc etc

so, definitely take a look at the support forums for those products as well as report your own experiences, any number of folks here are definitely on the search for alternatives due to the subscription vs perpetual licensing, and would love to identify something more feature laden, stable, fewer bugs and better support.

Edited November 18 by Glenn Stanton

[John Faughey]

8 hours ago, Joya Ali said:

I get your frustration! Cakewalk has great features for a free DAW, but it's known for being buggy and sometimes unintuitive. Other DAWs like FL Studio, Ableton, or Logic Pro are more stable and user-friendly but often come at a cost. If you're serious about music production, it might be worth investing in one of those. Don't give up—every DAW has a learning curve!

I respectfully disagree. I find cakewalk to be extremely intuitive. I have a degree in audio, and I was taught on ProTools. I was tired of the constant updates and increased pricing…that’s why I flipped. I have found Cakewalk to be very solid and extremely stable. My only complaint with the new Sonar is the look. I personally prefer the look of something like Luna. but the cakewalk/sonar workflow in my opinion is hands down the best…for what I do at least. Everyone who uses a DAW has different needs..so I guess, go with what works…

[Mark Morgon-Shaw]

None of them are bug free...my Cubase mate is always complaining, just look at the Cubase 11 debacle. The problems led to a lot of backlash, and Steinberg later committed to improving their system, including ditching eLicenser for a more modern licensing solution.

My Logic Pro owning composer friends were all high fiving each other this week because ' THEY FINALLY HAD A WAY TO SEARCH FOR PLUGINS !!! '

I mean WTF....we've had the Browser since 2011 !!!

So although we sometimes look enviously at other DAWs that are more popular and have more swanky new features, the grass isn't always greener. 

That said I think we no have the ugliest GUI, many agree and I wish they'd improve it. I trialled Cubase 14 and the clarity of the GUI is s night and day. However it doesn't suit my Workflow so I am staying put.  

[Terry Kelley]

I don’t find Cakewalk or Sonar anymore or less intuitive than most of the others DAWs. You do X by doing Y. In another DAW you do X by doing Z. You’re just pushing or clicking difference buttons. 
 

Any of them can be learned if someone spends the time. 

Edited November 19 by Terry Kelley