New FREE version/tier of the venerable Cakewalk Sonar

[Sidney Earl Goodroe]

I have Platinum and X3 still on my drive simply for the available plugins to use in CbB and now Sonar Free. I also kept all the add-on plugins!

I also have every version  of Cake products from Pro Audio 9 up until Gibson buried it! Along with the registration keys!

It is possible to reinstall those older versions with just the key codes, no hooking to the dead server to register.

I have all the add-on plugins as well!

When Gibson put us out to pasture, I immediately went to my account and backed up everything there! What was not there is maintained on the original disc!

I feel like a museum director!!

[Jan Deeben]

On 6/21/2025 at 2:40 PM, aidan o driscoll said:

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...

Just keep in mind that it's FREE and there's no obligation of any kind for BandLab to maintain this version.

Anyway, after August 1st you won't be able to update your activation for Cakewalk By BandLab, so that package will become useless shortly. I'd suggest first thing to do is to check if your existing projects & plugins work under the new free software.

Personally I'd probably run it for a while to finish existing projects and then move to a DAW with a perpetual license, as I definitely don't like the subscription model. But I won't complain, as I've been able to use CbB (a fantastic DAW) 6 years for free. And honestly, nothing in the world is free, now is it?

[Doug Steinschneider]

Been migrating over to Sonar.

Heads up tip - there is a "Sonar" folder inside the "Cakewalk Content" folder that has all the same folders as subfolder "Cakewalk Core". I copied the project templates I use to the "Project Templates" folder under folder "Sonar".

Edited yesterday at 03:10 PM by Doug Steinschneider

[CSistine]

13 hours ago, kitekrazy1 said:

Anyone thought of installing the last version of Sonar that was under Gibson?

Yes, when BandLab increased the re-authorization cycle to 4 weeks, I dropped CbB and now I use Platinum and Reaper. (I use 3 systems, 2 of them offline and the re-auth takes not some seconds as someone pretended above. For all 3 it takes minimum 1 hour and it is a hassle; one pc is in another building).

By the way I also installed Sonar X3 and I wondered that there is not a lot I am missing!

[kitekrazy1]

21 minutes ago, CSistine said:

Yes, when BandLab increased the re-authorization cycle to 4 weeks, I dropped CbB and now I use Platinum and Reaper. (I use 3 systems, 2 of them offline and the re-auth takes not some seconds as someone pretended above. For all 3 it takes minimum 1 hour and it is a hassle; one pc is in another building).

By the way I also installed Sonar X3 and I wondered that there is not a lot I am missing!

I've always archived my DAWs. I always thought Plat was X3.

I use to keep old versions installed since the exe was only 18mb.  

The danger is discontinue software is the spread of illegal versions and that come with other nasties.

[fjz]

22 minutes ago, CSistine said:

By the way I also installed Sonar X3 and I wondered that there is not a lot I am missing!

What version of Windows did you install X3 on? I'm just curious and wonder whether or not it installs and runs well on Windows 11.

fj

[CSistine]

7 minutes ago, fjz said:

What version of Windows did you install X3 on? I'm just curious and wonder whether or not it installs and runs well on Windows 11.

fj

I guess I have it not yet installed on my 3rd machine that is W11. But I am quite sure it runs without issues.

The other 2 pcs, where I have installed it, are W10.

[ZincT]

Annual sub offer has gone up to $79 now  It was $49 yesterday using Larry's link.

[Brian Walton]

On 7/3/2025 at 6:40 AM, Sidney Earl Goodroe said:

I have Platinum and X3 still on my drive simply for the available plugins to use in CbB and now Sonar Free. I also kept all the add-on plugins!

I also have every version  of Cake products from Pro Audio 9 up until Gibson buried it! Along with the registration keys!

It is possible to reinstall those older versions with just the key codes, no hooking to the dead server to register.

I have all the add-on plugins as well!

When Gibson put us out to pasture, I immediately went to my account and backed up everything there! What was not there is maintained on the original disc!

I feel like a museum director!!

I believe the off-line auth is possible for X3, but Platinum I thought I recall as needing to phone home (or use an offline computer plus a portal generated number - thus if they shut that down, future installs would go away).

My personal concern here is that X3 did not have the theme editor, so the look I'm missing isn't available for it.  So it seems X3 might be the only fall back option for those that need a real off-line - no dependency solution.  

 

Last version of X3 is in the ballpark of 10 years old now.

[aidan o driscoll]

Mike at CREATIVE SAUCE has answered some Questions re the new FREE tier Sonar:

Might be worth reading the comments under the video also. I am sure more observations there

Edited 5 hours ago by aidan o driscoll

[Sidney Earl Goodroe]

I do not mean to give the impression that the older versions designed for antique OSs would be useable in Windows 10 or 11.

I was simply referring to the really old versions could be activated without allowing the hookup for registration. You could simply cancel the connection and Sonar would activate from the key code.

Sorry, if I missed anyone!

[kitekrazy1]

If it were $49 or less for annual sub I would give it come thought