Things have gone very very very Quiet (Nostalgic reminder of Mr Meng's generosity)

[Winstonhulley88]

Meng's Announcement (2018.04)

Hi Everyone,
 
Today is the day! Let’s dive straight in with a TL:DR version:

Today we’re launching Cakewalk by BandLab – a free, streamlined version of SONAR Platinum

There is only one version, with full authentication and the advanced feature set for free

Cakewalk by BandLab is available via BandLab Assistant for Windows (sign in with your BandLab account)

No matter what plug-ins or bundles you’ve bought in the past – anything that worked with SONAR before will work with Cakewalk by BandLab and should integrate seamlessly.

This is just the beginning, we have an aggressive feature roadmap ahead

Firstly, thank you to everybody here for your incredible support in the last month (and a bit!).
As you might have guessed, it’s been a busy few weeks for us at BandLab. On top of maintaining the steady flow of feature releases that we consistently do on BandLab every week, the whole team has been working tirelessly to pull together the new flagship, streamlined version of SONAR so that we could get it to you ASAP.
 
We have an aggressive vision here at BandLab – and that is a world in which there are no barriers, physical, geographical or technical to the making and sharing of music. For the millions of creators already on BandLab in more than 180 countries around the world – this vision continues to develop every time we push a new release.
 
For the professional musicians who use our platform, access to a complete toolset is a key part of this vision and this release is one of our biggest yet. The big news is a business model change that is only possible because of our ecosystem – we’re releasing the entire feature set of SONAR Platinum (sans certain 3rd party plugins and content) in its new form of Cakewalk by BandLab completely free.
 
We want anyone to have access to the highest level of professional music production tools in the same way that we empower musicians to make and share their music around the world with BandLab’s creation, collaboration and social tools.
 
Cakewalk by BandLab has all the premium features of SONAR Platinum that you know and love but we’ve also added some small new features for now: you now have the ability to replace Track Templates and enjoy a theme-capable Piano Roll View (easier on the eyes for those late nights). These are just two quick additions – there’s a lot more coming based on your feedback and I’m confident you’ll be excited about what’s on the horizon.
 
Existing Platinum users: all previously purchased third party bundles, plug-ins and instruments already installed on your system should automatically integrate with Cakewalk by BandLab. If you have all your third party products and plug-ins previously downloaded from the Command Center, everything should work seamlessly.
 
People who are downloading Cakewalk by BandLab or experiencing SONAR Platinum’s features for the first time (not relevant to many people in this forum, but still including it to cover all bases!): we have removed certain 3rd party plug-ins and content that we felt were unnecessary and/or not feasible to be released in this first version. Updates will come and more features and content will be available in the core pack. For now, check out the Sounds tab on BandLab Assistant - there are thousands of loops available there - just drag and drop. ;-)
 
For anyone concerned that downloading Cakewalk by BandLab via BandLab Assistant might mess with your system or existing software – we’ve put a lot of effort into making sure that it doesn’t affect previous SONAR installations - Cakewalk by BandLab and previous versions of SONAR can run on the same machine with no issues. That said, there will be no more updates released for legacy SONAR products. As always, keep in mind that if you make changes to your operating system, this could affect performance of any legacy products as updates won’t happen in the future.
 
Many thanks to everyone who has already signed up for a BandLab account. As mentioned before, it will be necessary for tagging other purchases you have made in the past - for example, the next iteration of Rapture will not be released for free when it is ready unless you are an existing owner and eligible for a crossgrade. Having your obsolete Cakewalk ID linked to your BandLab Account ensures that we can verify your previous purchases, and any future upgrade or cross grade opportunities are available to you. For those who haven’t signed up yet, you’ll also need a BandLab account to install and authenticate Cakewalk, as well as to receive future updates and new releases.
 
On a side note, we’ve also been busy organising some Cakewalk swag (featuring new and vintage looks) to celebrate the launch and offer something fun for some of you lifetime Cakewalk fans. We’ve souped up our Tip Jar and released an early version of our upcoming Rewards feature, and you’ll visit this page once your install has started. A reissued version of Noel’s famous Cakewalk mug is there as well as some other swag - I'll add the link in a second, we're just updating some photos! There is no obligation to send a tip.
 
I want to thank all of you for your support, your encouragement, your feedback and suggestions. We are constantly humbled by the passion and wealth of knowledge among the Cakewalk community. We are so proud to be able to continue development of SONAR’s core feature set as Cakewalk by BandLab and are committed to investing in this excellent product - we will continue to innovate to ship new and improved features as we do with all the products we develop.
 
We hope that you, the dedicated core of long-term SONAR users, will be able to keep creating music with your preferred workflow for decades to come – and that a whole new generation of music creators, artists and producers will be introduced to this fantastic professional music software.
 
I hope you’re as excited about the future as we are. Please jump in and explore Cakewalk by BandLab – for existing SPLAT users, you’ll find it very comfortable and I hope we’ve alleviated some of your worst nightmares. For those of you that never could justify spending on an upgrade – welcome to the real deal :-) In the coming days and weeks, there’s much more I will share and I’m sure you’ll discover some of the other things you can do with BandLab Assistant and maybe try out BandLab too, if you haven’t already!Happy downloading and music making! Long Live Cakewalk!
 
With love,

Meng
 
p.s I meant it when I said we were baking something special up for you!
 
p.p.s RIP the runner up names of TDFKAS, BONAR, LabraDAWr and BADASS
 
 

 post edited by Noel Borthwick [Cakewalk] - December 11, 18 6:35 PM

[Lord Tim]

To head off any speculation, a dev mentioned in a recent thread that the latest update of Cakewalk by Bandlab is more or less baked but they're waiting on some back-end changes from HQ before they can deploy it.

And I presume work continues on the upcoming Cakewalk Sonar and Cakewalk Next products. Sonar especially is getting a huge UI overhaul which is not an easy job changing something that's been in place for decades, so it'll take time.

Cheers to Meng though, we've gotten 5 years of free use out of what we thought was going to be a dead product (thanks for nothing, Gibson...!) and the dev team brought back into the fold to continue work on it.

[Mark Morgon-Shaw]

Deal of the century really for the past 5+ years

Edited August 26, 2023 by Mark Morgon-Shaw

[John Vere]

Normally over a 5 year period Sonar updates and whatever we probably saved well over $500 or more.  
Isort of remember reading this back then but key points I now understand are the implications that now have come forth 

10 hours ago, Winstonhulley88 said:

example, the next iteration of Rapture will not be released for free when it is ready unless you are an existing owner and eligible for a

And the PS. About baking something special 

[Herky Acuff]

I'm also grateful for the past five years with free Cakewalk. (I purchased Sonar only a few months before that, but overall, it has been a great deal). Perhaps what's coming "Next" was announced too early; it's been hard to wait to see what's "Next."

[Mark Morgon-Shaw]

Edited August 27, 2023 by Mark Morgon-Shaw

[Winstonhulley88]

On 8/26/2023 at 12:55 PM, Lord Tim said:

To head off any speculation, a dev mentioned in a recent thread that the latest update of Cakewalk by Bandlab is more or less baked but they're waiting on some back-end changes from HQ before they can deploy it.

And I presume work continues on the upcoming Cakewalk Sonar and Cakewalk Next products. Sonar especially is getting a huge UI overhaul which is not an easy job changing something that's been in place for decades, so it'll take time.

Cheers to Meng though, we've gotten 5 years of free use out of what we thought was going to be a dead product (thanks for nothing, Gibson...!) and the dev team brought back into the fold to continue work on it.

Cool, I cant wait and I am greatful for Mr Meng's kndness, Noel Borthwick and the crew  for Keeping Sonar alive and for letting us the use of a still Great DAW for 5 years

[Larioso]

No worries, as I said in June - "Coming soon" in Cakewalk terms will be at least 6 months.

- so christmas earliest

 

Are even the promised videos out, for Next as they mentioned?

- to release apitizers like that you need not have the entire product ready

- tells at least me it's nowhere on schedule

 

so I am set for Q1 2024....take your time, do it right....I use the 7 year old Sonar Artist 2015 till then....as I did the last 3 years as well....