Jesse Jost Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 On behalf of BandLab Technologies and the Cakewalk team, I’m thrilled to announce the following updates and hope you share our excitement for what's to come! The brand Cakewalk by BandLab is now Cakewalk, standing as an independent brand within BandLab Technologies, focused on delivering the next generation of music production software for desktop. Since BandLab’s acquisition of Cakewalk in 2018, we made it our mission to prioritize stability and performance enhancements to make Cakewalk by BandLab the DAW of choice for Windows users. During that time, we’ve witnessed incredible adoption and an ever-growing user community. These forums remind us that one of the software’s best features is its community, and we’re supremely grateful for the positive engagement we see here daily. In order to build our community further, the Cakewalk brand now encompasses two key products. So we’d like to introduce you to the newest member of the family: Cakewalk Next. Next is a creation-focused DAW, built from the ground up to better address the needs of creators and meet the demands of tomorrow. It’s designed to be easy to use yet powerful, suitable for creators regardless of where they are in their musical journey. Learn more about Cakewalk Next and request participation in the public beta. We can’t wait for you to experience it and share your thoughts! Additionally, we’d like to announce a product with a name that is both familiar and new: Cakewalk Sonar. In deference to the audio production legacy that has been a critical tool of choice for so many over the years, this name reflects our continued commitment to serving core production workflows and providing the best all around audio solution on Windows. Cakewalk Sonar will bear a dramatic UI refresh and carry forward as a new product with ongoing improvements and features. Note that Cakewalk Sonar will install alongside Cakewalk by BandLab and any legacy editions of SONAR you may have installed in the past. New products will be available later this year. These changes also bring a new visual identity, which you’ll be seeing across our products, website and everywhere the Cakewalk brand is represented. Check out some examples of our new logos (below) and more at our redesigned website: www.cakewalk.com. So what lies ahead? Our roadmap is filled with some exciting updates, and we’re just getting started. But in short, our focus remains fixed on enhancing your productivity and joy of music creation. Stay tuned for more news to come! 19 13 2 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Tim Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 Wow. Not gonna lie, having the Sonar name back is giving me the warm and fuzzies This is starting to explain the long wait between updates this time! 11 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
estolad Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 I wasn't expecting Cakewalk to be free forever, but hopefully not subscription only. Quote Will Next and Sonar be free like Cakewalk by BandLab? Next and Sonar will be offered at price points designed to meet the needs of different customers. More information will be provided as we approach the launch date for these new products. Will there be another Cakewalk by Bandlab release or is the next release Cakewalk Sonar? Is there a rough time estimate for the release? 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Barton Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 Just signed up for the Next beta. I'm curious to see how things go! What sort of timeline are we looking at for both products? 49 minutes ago, Lord Tim said: Wow. Not gonna lie, having the Sonar name back is giving me the warm and fuzzies I first bought Sonar X3 nearly 10 years ago and been a happy Cakewalk user since then. Seeing that name gave me some warm fuzzies too! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LittleStudios Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 (edited) Will they honor the lifetime licenses sold a few years back? Will they give Sonar to the people who purchased lifetime licenses? Edited June 6, 2023 by LittleStudios 13 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Tim Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 11 minutes ago, LittleStudios said: Will they honor the lifetime licenses sold a few years back? Will they give Sonar to the people who purchased lifetime licenses? That's an entirely different company who no longer exists, so I guess you need to ask Gibson about that rather than Bandlab. There's been a lot of good faith so far with Bandlab allowing compatibility with old products locked to the previous company, and access to old accounts and all of that stuff, so while I wouldn't expect any company to just give away a product that was sold by a completely different company, I'd expect whatever they do to be at least fair. 14 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Einstein R Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 7 minutes ago, Lord Tim said: That's an entirely different company who no longer exists, so I guess you need to ask Gibson about that rather than Bandlab. There's been a lot of good faith so far with Bandlab allowing compatibility with old products locked to the previous company, and access to old accounts and all of that stuff, so while I wouldn't expect any company to just give away a product that was sold by a completely different company, I'd expect whatever they do to be at least fair. I hope they will be fair to us previous licensees just to get the same functionality like we have today. I don't mind paying like they did in the past, $150 for an upgrade fee, but if they want to charge us $300 or more just to keep the same functionality....then I will be scratching my head for that move... 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Tim Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 Sorry, @Einstein R - just replied to you in the other thread regarding this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Wynn Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 This is exciting stuff ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noel Borthwick Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 1 hour ago, estolad said: I wasn't expecting Cakewalk to be free forever, but hopefully not subscription only. Will there be another Cakewalk by Bandlab release or is the next release Cakewalk Sonar? Is there a rough time estimate for the release? There will be another final CbB release with bug fixes. We're wrapping up the details on that... 32 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlos Iglesias Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 Are these new versions free or paid? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Phillips Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 Thank you Bandlab and Cakewalk Team! Man, I can't wait to see both products! Unfortunately I'll have to wait. My DAW PC was apparently fatally injured by a failing power supply and I'm in the middle of deciding what to replace it with. Now, I've got even more motivation to get that done. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wetdentist Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 just out of curiosity, will the Cakewalk by Bandlab software continue working after the Sonar/Next release? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Barton Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 Just now, wetdentist said: just out of curiosity, will the Cakewalk by Bandlab software continue working after the Sonar/Next release? Reading between the lines, it sounds like they're sunsetting Cakewalk by Bandlab and replacing it with Next and Sonar. You should still be able to use it after they release, it just won't receive any updates. 5 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Tim Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 (edited) It says on the FAQ on the Sonar page that it installs to its own directory, so as a different app, so I'd say that CbB will continue to work, but just won't get all of the updates going forward like Sonar will. EDIT: Ha, Jack beat me to it by a couple of minutes and I didn't see the page refresh. Yeah, what he said! Edited June 6, 2023 by Lord Tim 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelhanson Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 To be honest, the jury is out for me. I have been a Cakewalk/ Sonar faithful user since the first days of release. I've been through all the buy outs, the ups and downs. When Cakewalk was sold by Gibson and in limbo, I purchased Studio One to ensure that I had a platform to work from. Also started replacing all plug ins with 3rd party. I was not going to get caught with my pants down in the future and had to ensure that I had a platform and tools to work with. I still use Cakewalk the majority of the time, but I decided not to put all of my eggs in one basket. Depending on where this goes, I will have some decisions to make. I don't want 3 platforms on my hard drive taking up all my SSD space, not to mention the financial aspect of keeping up with 3 platforms; that is if Cakewalk comes in 2 formats. I'm not real keen to putting money into a platform that left me hanging the last time. I understand not honoring the "Lifetime" commitment made through Gibson ownership, completely. I'm just not sure how much loyalty I need to dish out. Sounds like some major decisions may be on the horizon for many of us, or at least for myself. 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asato Maa Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 (edited) Colleagues, if I understand info from the new site: 1. Cakewalk Next is the desktop version of the browser version of Bandlab 2. Cakewalk Sonar is a continuation of Cakewalk by Bandlab. I think that the paid version and monetization are a logical continuation of the free product. Developing a good product costs money, and someone has to pay for it. It is clear that the new product will be further developed. I think it's a very cool start! Good marketing))) The product is evolving, and it's cool! I want to be a beta tester!!!@Jesse Jost I want to join the team as a project / product manager! I sent you a private message. Edited June 6, 2023 by Asato Maa 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlos Iglesias Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 Won't they fall into the subscription error again? with Gibson it did not work. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerraSin Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 I'm excited for this. I'm also curious if this means they will be expanding the development team. They have said a few times that the team working on Cakewalk is pretty small. I noticed they were asking about platforms in the questionnaire... is Cakewalk getting a Mac release again? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Tim Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 Next is cross-platform. I'd be surprised if they try the Mac route for Sonar any time soon though. I'd love to see one, mind you! I'm stoked for Sonar, but I think Next is actually the more interesting product out of the two. I have a lot of clients who do recording at home, and people I've introduced to recording that I've set them up with CbB. Having something that opens up the platform to Mac users and beginners is super handy, and integrating it into Bandlab itself is smart - it looks like it's kind of a computer front-end to the Bandlab editor and their sound library, which could mean creating a project in Next, uploading to your Bandlab account and then being able to Browse Bandlab Projects in CbB or Sonar to get those tracks in to keep working in the flagship app. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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