New FREE version/tier of the venerable Cakewalk Sonar

[Larry Shelby]

https://www.cakewalk.com/sonar
(Note the tiny Download for Windows text. Sorry, other platforms.)

They're also offering $100 off for you membership/subscription types, One year of Sonar Premium (not to be confused with Platinum ) for $49 USD 

https://www.bandlab.com/membership/get-membership?productAttribution=cw-cbb-offer

[Tommy Byrnes]

I don't care if they offer it for $19.99 a year. I'll never sign up for a software subscription. It is beyond absurd there is no perpetual license yet. 

[MusicMan]

15 minutes ago, Tommy Byrnes said:

I don't care if they offer it for $19.99 a year. I'll never sign up for a software subscription. It is beyond absurd there is no perpetual license yet. 

Definitely not alone there 🤣 

There's zero chance I'll subscribe for any DAW (or any audio plugins and instruments really). There's a lot of great alternatives that are perpetual at least, so they're easy to avoid.

Even outside of audio I'm not a fan. I ditched Adobe because of that and won't use them again. I've found alternatives that are perpetual licenses and pretty good anyway, or free in some cases.

The only time I personally think they can make sense, is for business use and if they're tax deductible. Otherwise they're just a financial trap and you're at the mercy of them being able to increase the price to whatever once you've got all your eggs in their basket. Your only option is to stop paying, but then you lose access to the software and as a result your projects etc.

[Brian Walton]

24 minutes ago, Tommy Byrnes said:

I don't care if they offer it for $19.99 a year. I'll never sign up for a software subscription. It is beyond absurd there is no perpetual license yet. 

It isn't clear on the website but there is now a free version with unlimited tracks, it doesn't have all the addins and features of the paid version, but it is fairly close.  Use the same installer as posted in the OP.

Seems to just have a nag screen and you have to login to your account like you have to with CbB and will have the periodic check in requirement just like the same.

Edited Saturday at 12:31 PM by Brian Walton

[aidan o driscoll]

Just installed it and YES its FREE .. just need to login with usual bandlab details. Pretty much NEXT look and feel, i like it. Currently doing the VST Scan.

So it looks like all we need is there FOR FREE .. so this is in a way a FREE SUBSCRIPTION, not a paid software subscription.

I recommend installing it, check it out and if it does the job I WILL be dumping the Cakewalk by bandlab from my system because no doubt this new version will have updates going forward  

[MusicMan]

7 minutes ago, Brian Walton said:

It isn't clear on the website but there is now a free version with unlimited tracks, it doesn't have all the addins and features of the paid version, but it is fairly close.  Use the same installer as posted in the OP.

Seems to just have a nag screen and you have to login to your account like you have to with CbB and will have the periodic check in requirement just like the same.

I thought the free offer was pretty generous. The free versions that some companies offer are so crippled that I don't even spend enough time using them to really consider buying their full product.

I'd already installed this, but unfortunately it's having problems completing plugin scans. I haven't checked the log files yet and I do have a lot of plugins (a lot! 🤣), but it doesn't seem to get far.

The worst part is it was failing in VST2 plugins that I don't even use. That's why I hate companies forcing you to install other formats. Softube and Arturia are prime examples. The scan was failing on Arturia on the last pass.

Not a great intro to this version and needing to troubleshoot right from the get-go.

[aidan o driscoll]

@MusicMan No failure for me on any plugins inc ARTURIA

however I recently did a complete cleanup of my plugins ( like you I have a lot ) ..

i just went to the VST folders and moved the ones i dont use anymore to another backup folder. I was being honest with myself  .. Alot are freebies i installed, never used and had left them there

Also seperated the 32 bit VSTS to another folder that I DO NOT scan

Edited Saturday at 12:54 PM by aidan o driscoll

[aidan o driscoll]

10 minutes ago, MusicMan said:

I thought the free offer was pretty generous. The free versions that some companies offer are so crippled that I don't even spend enough time using them to really consider buying their full product.

Looks pretty similar to REAPER offer wise / free evaluation, probably a bit better because the Free ( evaluation ) version is FOREVER it seems 

[MusicMan]

4 minutes ago, aidan o driscoll said:

Looks pretty similar to REAPER offer wise / free evaluation, probably a bit better because the Free ( evaluation ) version is FOREVER it seems 

Reaper is a little different in that they do say it's not free and only for evaluation. But of course half the world treats it as free 🤣

I do think that works in their favour though. I reckon a bunch of people eventually buy it as they use it more and become more familiar with it.

I was surprised with this one that it presents as a demo. Given they said free, I didn't expect it to have the popup and banner. It doesn't really matter I guess, but I wasn't expecting that.

[aidan o driscoll]

I tried the NEXT download and install hoping there might be a "FREE" version of that too .. Nope - its a 29 day trial

https://www.cakewalk.com/next

[MusicMan]

13 minutes ago, aidan o driscoll said:

@MusicMan No failure for me on any plugins inc ARTURIA

however I recently did a complete cleanup of my plugins ( like you I have a lot ) ..

i just went to the VST folders and moved the ones i dont use anymore to another backup folder. I was being honest with myself  .. Alot are freebies i installed, never used and had left them there

Also seperated the 32 bit VSTS to another folder that I DO NOT scan

I removed the whole VST2 folder from the config and it still failed on just VST3 🤣

I periodically clean out my 32 bit folders as lazy developers keep installing stuff to them over time instead of updating their installer, or giving us choice in formats to install.

I have now just deleted any other folders in the config and only left the VST3 path for 64. Will see how that goes.

[kitekrazy1]

How did you come to the conclusion it's free?

I don't see anything on that page.

So I guess this is also the standard installer and no separate free one?

[aidan o driscoll]

20 minutes ago, kitekrazy1 said:

How did you come to the conclusion it's free?

I don't see anything on that page.

So I guess this is also the standard installer and no separate free one?

@kitekrazy1when you install it and open it and look up top left you see this

 

[CSistine]

For me a software is not really free if I have to re-authorize each month! Someone above said it correctly, essentially it is a free subscription and that means you can not trust in it IMO. You'll never know how long you can open and edit your projects that costed you hundreds of hours. That's too risky, especially if you have learned how open this company is actually! I have spent and lost so many hours to trust in them. No, I am healed! They can keep their pseudo-free stuff!

I jumped the boat with an uncertain feeling. But now I am glad I did. Mixing the last album I used my new DAW for all but one song. Already now after less than a year I miss some functionality of my new daw in Sonar. I never expected that happen so quickly! No instabilities and performance issues any more!

[MusicMan]

6 hours ago, kitekrazy1 said:

How did you come to the conclusion it's free?

I don't see anything on that page.

So I guess this is also the standard installer and no separate free one?

Check this post:

They mention it having a free tier and the table with the differences. They should really have updated the website to reflect that too. Not sure why it's not.

[LittleStudios]

So basically nobody was buying into Sonar as a paid product.  Now it's back to being free.  Make up our minds, please.

[Starship Krupa]

7 hours ago, CSistine said:

Someone above said it correctly, essentially it is a free subscription

As was Cakewalk by BandLab. When I wrote the Wikipedia entry about Cakewalk by BandLab years ago, I put in a descrption of the licensing and said that it was a "free subscription."

Since it's in Wikipedia, it's the Official Truth of the Internetz.🙄

I agree that if it needs to phone home to a server every 6 months or every month or whatever interval to keep functioning, that's a subscription. In the case of free tier Sonar, the "cost" of the subscription is embedded advertisements for the BandLab membership. Fair play, CbB was always an advertisement for the BandLab brand.

Subscriptions require the user to trust the software manufacturer not to change the rules, go out of business, whatever. Fortunately, BandLab have so far continued to provide a free way for Cakewalk/Sonar users to access our projects. This has never been interrupted in the 7 years of BandLab's ownership of the Cakewalk/Sonar brand, although there was the scare of the announcement of payware Sonar replacing CbB.

The differences between Free Tier and Premium seem trivial to me. If your plug-ins have a case of the grainies, get new plug-ins or render at 88.2K or 96K. I did some subjective tests using a virtual synth that benefited audibly from plug-in upsampling, and rendering at the double rate had the same effect as 2X upsampling.

As far as which dithering or stretching algorithm I use, should I care enough to do a shootout?

Multiple Arranger tracks is nice, but I've never used more than one per project.

[CSistine]

2 hours ago, Starship Krupa said:

I agree that if it needs to phone home to a server every 6 months or every month or whatever interval to keep functioning, that's a subscription. In the case of free tier Sonar, the "cost" of the subscription is embedded advertisements for the BandLab membership. Fair play, CbB was always an advertisement for the BandLab brand.

Subscriptions require the user to trust the software manufacturer not to change the rules, go out of business, whatever. Fortunately, BandLab have so far continued to provide a free way for Cakewalk/Sonar users to access our projects. This has never been interrupted in the 7 years of BandLab's ownership of the Cakewalk/Sonar brand, although there was the scare of the announcement of payware Sonar replacing CbB.

1. BandLab have changed the rules for CbB IMHO, as they altered the re-authorization interval from 6 months to some weeks (2 or 4). For me this was a crucial cut, because my major systems run offline usually and the new interval a) introduced to many chores and b) ruined my confidence in the company.
2. I guess that BL will soon stop CbB with the introduction of the "free" SONAR. Again, this would be an essential shift for the people using CbB, because they would be forced to change their installations/habits/workflows. And besides the functionality is probably reduced in some areas.

[Brian Walton]

2 hours ago, CSistine said:

1. BandLab have changed the rules for CbB IMHO, as they altered the re-authorization interval from 6 months to some weeks (2 or 4). For me this was a crucial cut, because my major systems run offline usually and the new interval a) introduced to many chores and b) ruined my confidence in the company.
2. I guess that BL will soon stop CbB with the introduction of the "free" SONAR. Again, this would be an essential shift for the people using CbB, because they would be forced to change their installations/habits/workflows. And besides the functionality is probably reduced in some areas.

I agree the interval can be problematic.  

Any computer that is used to create one of a kind art needs the option to work offline for security of that data.   

I do appreciate we can now use the new version without paying for it (as someone who purchased lifetime updates back in the day always hoped this would be honored even though legally they were not responsible do to they way they purchased the IP.  

That said, I hope they keep CbB as there is a massive difference in the UI for those of us running custom themes.  If you use one of the defaults getting used to the same theme but flat isn't a world of difference.  My custom theme is already pretty flat but both the colors and the fact I've decluttered it by removing text and things of that nature in a few places is easier to work with.

There are also some pro channel stuff that is installed in my CbB that isn't in Sonar on the same machine.

[sjoens]

20 minutes ago, Brian Walton said:

There are also some pro channel stuff that is installed in my CbB that isn't in Sonar on the same machine.

What does it omit?