New FREE version/tier of the venerable Cakewalk Sonar

[Billy86]

Thanks for the response. I’ve been away from the forum for a while, so I’ll track down feedback and weigh in. Totally unacceptable there’s no way to improve visibility. There is a custom Cakewalk themes link in your signature. Are those for the old Cakewalk?

[Starship Krupa]

14 hours ago, Billy86 said:

There is a custom Cakewalk themes link in your signature. Are those for the old Cakewalk?

Yes.

I'll reiterate: there is no way to create a custom theme for the new Sonar. You can't even change any of the meaningful colors. All you can do is choose from half a dozen color themes that the devs have come up with.

If you'd like this to be another way, please post in the Feedback forum.

[Billy86]

36 minutes ago, Starship Krupa said:

If you'd like this to be another way, please post in the Feedback forum.

Done. 

[Swone]

Hi excuse my english but what is the difference with sonar prenium and platinum on bandlabs platforms ?

 

[Brian Walton]

4 hours ago, Swone said:

Hi excuse my english but what is the difference with sonar prenium and platinum on bandlabs platforms ?

 

See chart here. https://discuss.cakewalk.com/topic/85290-current-sonar-release-202506/

[Starship Krupa]

4 hours ago, Swone said:

Hi excuse my english but what is the difference with sonar prenium and platinum on bandlabs platforms ?

Sonar Premium is the full-featured version of Cakewalk's flagship DAW.

SONAR Platinum was a product whose life ended in late 2017 when Gibson, Cakewalk's parent company, dissolved Cakewalk, Inc. SONAR Platinum came with a great deal of bundled plug-ins.

They later sold the Cakewalk intellectual property (not the company, just the intellectual property) to BandLab. BandLab reissued what had been SONAR as "Cakewalk By BandLab." The core program was the same as SONAR Platinum, but did not include most of the bundled software.

The DAW got a major UI update and changed its name to Sonar (mixed case). Up until now, Sonar has only been available as part of a paid BandLab membership. This version is now "Sonar Premium" and is still only available as part of the BandLab membership.

Sonar Free Tier is Sonar minus a few features (plug-in upsampling, multiple arranger tracks, free sound library). It also has a splash screen on start up that encourages the user to upgrade to the premium version. For most people's uses, it will function as well as Sonar Premium, and better than Cakewalk By BandLab.

There are so many free plug-ins around now that bundled software is not as important as it was when SONAR Platinum was still around.

I hope this clears things up. I know it's hard to follow.

[Starship Krupa]

8 hours ago, Billy86 said:

Done. 

I don't see a topic from you there. Are you sure you posted it in the Feedback forum? I'll look in the Sonar forum....

[Wookiee]

On 6/24/2025 at 5:06 AM, Billy86 said:

Thanks for the response. I’ve been away from the forum for a while, so I’ll track down feedback and weigh in. Totally unacceptable there’s no way to improve visibility. There is a custom Cakewalk themes link in your signature. Are those for the old Cakewalk?

Currently there are only the company provided themes for Cakewalk Sonar. There is an extremely good reason for there not being a Theme editor at this time. That being,  that the whole way the GUI is generated has changed from the old PNG/BMP days of Platinum and CbB. It now uses vector graphics, this requires the theme editor to be rewritten from the ground up.

As you noted yourself, you have been away from the forums, consequently you have missed all the other work that has been done to the program. Perhaps, before being critical of the lack of theme editor, you should educate yourself on all of the functional and performance updates that have been done. Like better, more appropriate, use of E & P cores, an ARM64 version of Sonar for RISK CPU's.

The person, yes single person,  responsible for the GUI has indicated that when time permits there will be a theme editor. Until then there is more pressing work to be done on the GUI. 

[Valentin Genov]

On 6/21/2025 at 3:40 PM, aidan o driscoll said:

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  

I was wondering what the differences between Cakewalk by Bandlab and the free Sonar are? Apart from the updates, are they the same or is Sonar better now? 
Cheers!

[P-Rizzy]

Is there a free version of Next too or just Sonar? 

[Starship Krupa]

21 hours ago, Wookiee said:

there is more pressing work to be done on the GUI

Indeed.

Restoring the text and button image sizes to at least what they were in CbB would be at the top of my list of pressing concerns.

Returning a small bit of functionality to the color chooser would be second. Specifically being allowed to adjust the color of my Track View/Clip Pane beat and measure grid lines would help so much. Despite the fun I had with Theme Editor, I could live without one if I were allowed to choose a few important colors.

I like the new look overall, but once CbB finally validates no more, my screens are going to start getting nose prints from my comping sessions!😆

[Wookiee]

2 minutes ago, Starship Krupa said:

Despite the fun I had with Theme Editor, I could live without one if I were allowed to choose a few important colors.

I like the new look overall, but once CbB finally validates no more, my screens are going to start getting nose prints from my comping sessions!😆

When SONAR was introduced in 2000 there was no theme editor, likewise for 2,3,4,5,6,7,8 & 8.5. Then the X series arrived, X1, X1.5, X2, didn't either, I don't believe X3 did. If the furry brain remembers correctly they did have a light and dark colour schemes. It was only with the last iteration of the SONAR family,  Platinum, Professional & Studio did we see the theme editor arrive.

[CMB]

It's not free at all: it's a 30 days trial. Just look in "about..." : it shows the precise date your "evaluation" ends !

[T Boog]

1 hour ago, CMB said:

It's not free at all: it's a 30 days trial. Just look in "about..." : it shows the precise date your "evaluation" ends !

OMG, that's freaking hilarious! It's like an endless guessing game here 😆

It makes sense though since it is titled as an "evaluation" 😂

Edited 22 hours ago by T Boog

[GroverKen]

Decided to bite the bullet and get the $49 deal - the bakers will need funds to keep developing this product. Maybe by this time next year they will have a perpetual license available for SONAR only. That would be the way forward for me as I don't need NEXT. I'm just wondering where my subscription details are held as I can't seem to find them anywhere.

[GroverKen]

Duplicate

Edited 22 hours ago by GroverKen

[Promidi]

1 hour ago, CMB said:

It's not free at all: it's a 30 days trial. Just look in "about..." : it shows the precise date your "evaluation" ends !

Then the activation renews for another 30 days.

[T Boog]

1 minute ago, Promidi said:

Then the activation renews for another 30 days

Promidi, is this an assumption or do u know this for sure? 

[Promidi]

4 minutes ago, T Boog said:

Promidi, is this an assumption or do u know this for sure? 

This is a direct quote from Noel Borthwick on a Facebook group.

"Activation automatically renews at the end of the actual month"

[Kamikaze]

On 6/22/2025 at 6:52 PM, 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.

  

23 hours ago, Jonathan Sasor said:

Evaluation is the free tier, that does not expire.

https://discuss.cakewalk.com/topic/85358-what-features-does-the-old-cakewalk-have-that-the-free-tier-of-sonar-doesnt-have/?do=findComment&comment=599239