Cakewalk saying I need to reactivate before 12 days

[JeffSouth]

Yet, it say log out as my username as if I am logged in.  Also, I see nothing about where to activate other than two opions for offline activation, export and import activation request.  I am afraid they are going to take the free version away by making this difficult to activate again, and I have been using the free version for a long time.  How do I do a FINAL activation to keep using the free version for good or until I can afford the new Sonar? 

Thanks for any help.

[DeeringAmps]

Read through this thread, the answer lies within:

HTH,

t

[DeeringAmps]

1 hour ago, JeffSouth said:

How do I do a FINAL activation to keep using the free version for good

You can't.
You will have to Sign into your BandLab account every time the software requests it.
At some point CakeWalk by BandLab will no longer re-activate.

"When" you ask?

Well, that's the 64 thousand dollar question, isn't it?

As of yet there is no timeline for when Sonar will be released and CakeWalk will cease to function...

t

[John Vere]

Yep exactly 

[Bristol_Jonesey]

20 hours ago, JeffSouth said:

Yet, it say log out as my username as if I am logged in.  Also, I see nothing about where to activate other than two opions for offline activation, export and import activation request.  I am afraid they are going to take the free version away by making this difficult to activate again, and I have been using the free version for a long time.  How do I do a FINAL activation to keep using the free version for good or until I can afford the new Sonar? 

Thanks for any help.

From the Help menum sign OUT of Bandlab and sign IN again

[User 905133]

1 hour ago, Bristol_Jonesey said:

From the Help menu sign OUT of Bandlab and sign IN again

Yup!  This method has worked for me several times when faced with the "expiring in N days" notification. Not 100% sure, but one time I might have just signed in via the Bandlab.com sign in link from the Help Menu.  I have a mental note to try that intentionally the next time I get the notification.

[henkejs]

1 hour ago, Bristol_Jonesey said:

From the Help menum sign OUT of Bandlab and sign IN again

This is what I do when I get that message. It works fine. What I don't understand is why I'm being asked to reactivate when CbB knows I'm already signed in to Bandlab?

[John Vere]

3 hours ago, henkejs said:

This is what I do when I get that message. It works fine. What I don't understand is why I'm being asked to reactivate when CbB knows I'm already signed in to Bandlab?

As reported by many and the dozens of threads with this topic. It is the state that CbB is now in prior to it's final closing. 

Your choices are:

Move to using Sonar  via by paying a monthly Bandlab Membership fee of around $15 USD. 

Move to using another DAW = $$$??  or free if you don't mind basic. 

Move to using a version of Sonar pre Bandlab = Sucks for many because of the old bugs and missing features. 

Put up with the inconvenience of using CbB for the short term until Sonar is released and can be purchased.  CbB is still free. 

 

Edited May 22 by John Vere

[henkejs]

37 minutes ago, John Vere said:

As reported by many and the dozens of threads with this topic. It is the state that CbB is now in prior to it's final closing. 

Your choices are:

Move to using Sonar  via by paying a monthly Bandlab Membership fee of around $15 USD. 

Move to using another DAW = $$$??  or free if you don't mind basic. 

Move to using a version of Sonar pre Bandlab = Sucks for many because of the old bugs and missing features. 

Put up with the inconvenience of using CbB for the short term until Sonar is released and can be purchased.  CbB is still free. 

 

Yes, I understand the options and am happy to still be able to use CbB while waiting for the new Sonar's terms to be sorted out. I just took this opportunity to whine about the curious strategy of requiring such frequent reactivations. What does Bandlab gain by confusing or, at minimum, annoying its users this way? I realize any answers to this question from other users are all speculative anyway.

By the way, I've been a loyal customer since long before the original Sonar came out and hope to continue when the new Sonar is formally released.

[John Vere]

I don’t think it’s done on purpose. I think all hands are on deck and working on Sonar and some on Next. Cakewalk has been sort of left to it’s own demise. 

[JeffSouth]

This nag thing only comes up every few days or so.  It does stop so it appears I can just log in as I am doing without logging out first and some here say even when they do it shows up again just like mine does anyway.

Looks like they will drive me away to another daw like reaper which is still free.  I am elderly and on Social security.  I can't afford another bill per month even at 15 dollars, that's near half my water bill, and food prices have exploded, my electric company just added on 17 dollar per month on top of all private residents, my SS is supposed to raise us each year for cost of living costs jumps. My raise this year? 21 DOLLARS.  The raise in my elec bill alone takes 17 out of that, so I get an extra FOUR dollars for the raise in food prices, lol.  Water used to be paid in my apartment building, no more starting last year.

This is why I use Cakewalk free, so no way I can take on a new subscription.

I could have sworn I read that they said the free cakewalk would keep working and they said nothing about some time limit then they would stop it. 

That right there would make me not want to buy Sonar. If I can't trust them to keep their word to us then that will play a role in whether I would buy Sonar as opposed to something else.

On top of all that,  I made a request earlier about the new Sonar.  If I ever do buy another daw  it will absolutely HAVE to have oversampling per channel like Reaper does.  I have looked to see if anyone mentioned this being a new feature but have not heard anyone mention this.  I saw a PIC somewhere of the new Sonar interface and didn't see the 2X button up top like Cakewalk, so maybe they have added it and I just haven't seen folks discussing it.  But if I buy another daw, it will have to have OS per effects bin or per plugin,.  I still use many old plugs like Waves and various other old stuff and now that Reaper does this, no reason at all they can't implement this in the new Sonar.

Hmm, just saw Creative sauce channel because of watching him about CW and he is doing a vid about this FREE UA Luna for windows, looks very easy and similar to Cakewalk, well well, I will download it today and start learning it as a backup optik.  Anyone else looked into Luna?

[John Vere]

Look at my above post. It’s simple. You have choices so no point complaining about stuff nobody here can fix. 
Note- Reaper is not actually free unless you choose to not participate in the concept . 

[Noel Borthwick]

6 hours ago, JeffSouth said:

If I ever do buy another daw  it will absolutely HAVE to have oversampling per channel like Reaper does

We have had per plug-in up sampling all the way back from 2015. It's in the effects view menu and described in the manual.

Here is when it was introduced. 

https://noelborthwick.com/cakewalk/2015/10/24/improving-your-synth-sounds-with-real-time-upsampling/

[Jim Fogle]

@JeffSouth, sorry to be picky but Reaper is not free.  Per the +++ website +++

Quote

You can evaluate REAPER in full for 60 days.

Quote

Purchase a REAPER License

There is only one version of REAPER. The license price depends on how you use it.

$60 : discounted license.
$225 : commercial license.

You may use the discounted license if:

You are an individual, and REAPER is only for your personal use, or

You are an individual or business using REAPER commercially, and yearly gross revenue does not exceed USD $20,000, or

You are an educational or non-profit organization.

 

[Starship Krupa]

10 hours ago, JeffSouth said:

Looks like they will drive me away to another daw like reaper which is still free.

As others have already pointed out, REAPER is only free during the trial period, after that, if you use it, you're in violation of the use agreement.

So your plan was/is to dump CbB because it has a login request screen "every few days or so" in favor of using REAPER in post-trial pirate mode, where the nag screen comes up every single time, and takes upward of 30 seconds before you can banish it?

If you want a free option, better to cozy up to Waveform Free. I always recommend being familiar, if not fluent, with multiple DAW's anyway.

[CSistine]

Frankly the new re-activation time is really annoying! On my laptop I reactivated only 17 days ago and there it is again! 👎

I think that their "fake" reason to change the activation server caused by "technical"  changes is just not true! I suspect it was more to reduce the validity to just some days!

I am close to skip CbB and jump to Platinum or X3 together with Reaper! Better to skip this re-activation nag and lose some minor (for me at least) improvements (in Platinum/X3, not in Reaper)! It is sad, so sad!

[GreenLight]

No sticky thread for activation issues and questions yet? Please make one.

It would save the world many bits and bites, and therefore be good for the environment. Please think of the squirrels! 🐿

[John Vere]

It actually seems like a very small group that are complaining still.

I think the majority are following along with Choices 1&2 from my list above. 

I really like Sonar and totally got used to the new GUI. I uninstalled CbB. I have no nag screens.  It’s not very expensive for now, but still will only purchase, not continue to rent. 
The bonus has been getting Cakewalk Next as well. It a great little DAW for quick song ideas. Super fast to load and get going. 

[pwal³]

42 minutes ago, John Vere said:

will only purchase, not continue to rent. 

what's your plan b?

[John Vere]

1 hour ago, pwal³ said:

what's your plan b?

Good question and I'm pretty confident I won't need it, But I have a massive Plan B!   

I already have purchased Mixcraft 10 Pro Studio. I liked it enough to get it on sale dirt cheap. I also am using Pro Tools First because I have other people I sometimes work with who are Pro Fools. Bummer is the inability to use some of my favourite Plug ins. I don't think I would ever pay for the full version. Out of my league. 

I can also upgrade my Cubase Elements 7 for around $250. I prefer Cubase over Studio one for midi editing.

I tested all of them and those were my short list.  I can never get my head around Reaper so off my list. I like Harrison Mixbus but like many, it's weak at Midi editing.  I tried the newest versions demo and I own Version 4. 

I have various older version of Sonar that I could use if I needed to open older projects. I would never return to actually recording with them. Seems stupid to step back 10 years. 

I am in the process of backing everything up to Midi and Wave stem files so all my important stuff is future proof. I've finished and published all my originals up to date. I don't have anything that is unfinished other than a few song ideas that were obviously bad song ideas!  

Then I have hundreds of backing track projects that are 100% midi so they already open and play in all other DAW's. I'm not dependant on things like the Pro Channel. I generally don't use many plug ins so swapping over is not as complicated for me as it would be for those crazy guys with 700 plug ins on a project. 

I also own 2 digital multi track recorders one which can do Midi sync as well as a bunch of Hardware. I could almost stay out of the box. I have a neighbour who owned a small studio back in the 80's and has a bunch of old semi pro studio Reel To Reel 2 tracks and I think even a 16 track 1/2"  he offered I could borrow.  But I can't afford the Tape and I lost my razor blades and white lead in tape. 

So I'm not overly concerned about what Bandlab does. I would like to carry on with Sonar and feel that is all that will happen and it will be business as usual COMING SOON I HOPE!  June 6th is fast approaching!   Geez. 

Edited May 25 by John Vere