New FREE version/tier of the venerable Cakewalk Sonar

[Starship Krupa]

3 hours ago, Brian Walton said:

looks like it is now actually needed in this folder instead

Ah, that must have been where I copied them to before trying it.

[frankjcc]

for the record I just opened Sonar Platinum and it was not authorized, I had to open the " command center " for authorization.

[X-53mph]

10 hours ago, frankjcc said:

for the record I just opened Sonar Platinum and it was not authorized, I had to open the " command center " for authorization.

My Splat is still working fine. Indeed, it's start up time is faster than the new Sonar 😆

[P-Rizzy]

after bandlab raised the price for new sonar subscribers 40 percent, and the regular price of an annual subscription from $149 to $179, the cakewalk subreddit blew up. then a bandlab employee posted that they could pull the free version of sonar at any point, it's a free for all. 

i'm more interested in next, but i'm not certain anymore after all of the things bandlab has been doing lately. what do you long time customers think? i love that they're doing free versions. but i don't want to create a bunch of projects today that I can't open next year when they ditch the free versions. 

[RummieGit]

...has a longtime Cakewalk user ever tried to open Cakewalk By Bandlab projects with an old version of Cakewalk Sonar (e.g. Sonar X3 Studio or Sonar Home Studio)? And if so, what particular differences do the projects opened there show compared to the original?

[kitekrazy1]

42 minutes ago, RummieGit said:

...has a longtime Cakewalk user ever tried to open Cakewalk By Bandlab projects with an old version of Cakewalk Sonar (e.g. Sonar X3 Studio or Sonar Home Studio)? And if so, what particular differences do the projects opened there show compared to the original?

it depends  guess if  you did 32 bit plugins that are no longer installed

my .bun made with Sonar 2 open up in Cakewalk

[CSistine]

29 minutes ago, RummieGit said:

...has a longtime Cakewalk user ever tried to open Cakewalk By Bandlab projects with an old version of Cakewalk Sonar (e.g. Sonar X3 Studio or Sonar Home Studio)? And if so, what particular differences do the projects opened there show compared to the original?

I have reverted from CbB to Sonar Platinum a year ago. So far all my old projects did open without issues, as I had never used new features like the Arranger or Articulation Map (this was intuition!). I even opened some projects in X3  with success.

The only thing is a warning coming up when the project is loaded.

[ptheisen]

I have also recently reverted to Sonar Platinum for opening any existing .cwp files. I have not encountered any issues so far, other than the warning message mentioned by CSistine.

For what it's worth, I started using a completely different DAW for any new projects starting in November of 2023. Another member, azslow3, has made a utility program that can for the most part convert .cwp files and assets into files that open in the other DAW. I have used it a few times already and will be using it to convert any .cwp files as required in the future. It takes a bit of preparation  as far as copying the necessary files to an appropriate location, but I have made a .bat file to simplify that part a fair amount.

[ilunga]

On 6/21/2025 at 1:30 PM, Larry Shelby said:

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

"Download for Windows" now only Product Center
https://downloads.bandlab.com/cakewalk/CPC/Win/Cakewalk_Product_Center_Setup_1.0.0.093.exe

 

Edited 3 hours ago by ilunga

[aidan o driscoll]

2 hours ago, ilunga said:

"Download for Windows" now only Product Center
https://downloads.bandlab.com/cakewalk/CPC/Win/Cakewalk_Product_Center_Setup_1.0.0.093.exe

 

YES @ilunga But if you install the Product Center and load, it gives you options to install Cakewalk Sonar etc .. as per image below:

I have an old version of NEXT installed which i am about to uninstall, same goes for CbB ..