hydez3ro Posted Saturday at 10:43 PM Share Posted Saturday at 10:43 PM With the recent announcement of Sonar's free tier, I am curious about any removed features before transitioning over to Sonar. What items will I not have access to after transitioning to the free Sonar tier? In other words, what does the old Cakewalk app have that the free version of Sonar doesn't have? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Promidi Posted Saturday at 10:51 PM Share Posted Saturday at 10:51 PM 7 minutes ago, hydez3ro said: With the recent announcement of Sonar's free tier, I am curious about any removed features before transitioning over to Sonar. What items will I not have access to after transitioning to the free Sonar tier? In other words, what does the old Cakewalk app have that the free version of Sonar doesn't have? Please define "old Cakewalk app" exactly. Exact Name and version as appears in its Help - About. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hydez3ro Posted Saturday at 11:00 PM Author Share Posted Saturday at 11:00 PM I mean the Legacy Cakewalk. Specifically, version 2024.12 (Build 125, 64 bit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Vere Posted Saturday at 11:10 PM Share Posted Saturday at 11:10 PM Im just working this out. So far all I found missing was the Drum Replacer and the concrete limiter. Im sure this is what is the main difference. It seems it’s really Sonar with a bunch of plug ins missing. Plug ins are not an issue really because there’s enough free stuff out there to make anyone happy. The software is a huge improvement and has many features that Cakewalk doesn’t have. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Nicholls Posted Saturday at 11:54 PM Share Posted Saturday at 11:54 PM 1 hour ago, hydez3ro said: What items will I not have access to after transitioning to the free Sonar tier Themes, obviously 😉 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjoens Posted Sunday at 12:28 AM Share Posted Sunday at 12:28 AM (edited) Most obviously definitely Them Themes . . . "Old Cakewalk" = Cakewalk by BandLab or CbB Sonar Free Tier vs CbB: 1 Arranger track vs many Arranger tracks No Plugin Oversampling vs Yes No Elastique Pro vs Yes No POWR Dithering vs Yes Edited Sunday at 12:31 AM by sjoens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry T. Posted Sunday at 03:23 AM Share Posted Sunday at 03:23 AM (edited) Important to a lot of us question: Will the new free tier Sonar run ok on Windows 10 with 8GB of RAM? It's what I'm now using until I can get a new Windows 11 pc with at least 64GB of RAM. TIA. Edited Sunday at 03:24 AM by Larry T. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T Boog Posted Sunday at 04:04 AM Share Posted Sunday at 04:04 AM 4 hours ago, John Vere said: Im just working this out Hi John. Sorry if I'm getting ahead of u but do u know if free Sonar still has the SI instruments and Pro Channel plugins? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Vere Posted Sunday at 03:17 PM Share Posted Sunday at 03:17 PM (edited) Pretty sure this is included and if you already have them they most certainly are available in the Free version. If you install the Cakewalk Product Centre you will see the installers for all the add on s including SI packs. Items with Crowns are available only with membership. pro Channel has a crown. But then as example Drum Replacer doesn’t have a crown so I downloaded it. When I tried to install it a box told me that it couldn’t proceed because it couldn’t find a legitimate version of Sonar. Hmm? Because I installed Platinum and all my Legacy stuff using CCC I have SI instruments. I don’t have Cakewalk and I don’t want it on my new build. But if someone who has Cakewalk could install Free Sonar and post back that Drum Replacer, SI Instruments and all the pro channel stuff are available in Sonar then that’s good news for Cakewalk users. So far I only see a few things missing that are totally not important to me. Im not sure why Drum Replacer is missing but if it was included as an option from CCC I might not have installed it because I don’t use it. It never works properly for me. Today I will start a test project and see what happens. At this point Im finding zero difference between my paid version I used up until this March, and the free version other than the Nag screen. Oh and I noticed that the Concrete Limiter was missing but that’s because it is in the add on pack and Splat doesn’t have it. I redid my W11 OS so Im starting fresh. Edited Sunday at 03:29 PM by John Vere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gustabo Posted Sunday at 03:38 PM Share Posted Sunday at 03:38 PM 16 hours ago, John Vere said: Im just working this out. So far all I found missing was the Drum Replacer and the concrete limiter. Im sure this is what is the main difference. It seems it’s really Sonar with a bunch of plug ins missing. Plug ins are not an issue really because there’s enough free stuff out there to make anyone happy. The software is a huge improvement and has many features that Cakewalk doesn’t have. Concrete Limiter was a paid add-on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr No Name Posted Sunday at 03:44 PM Share Posted Sunday at 03:44 PM If you want all the features you have to buy the full version, all the money people spend on VST's and software synths, you're DAW is the most important thing. you can't have your cake and eat it too. stop being such tightwads. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Vere Posted Sunday at 05:18 PM Share Posted Sunday at 05:18 PM (edited) It's not the money, it's the insecurity of using software you don't own. I happily forked over $300 for S1. I own that version with one year of updates until my OS changes things. I bought Cubase Elements, same deal, I bought 3 other inexpensive Daw's that I also own for the life of the supported OS. Because of the lack of any information and no signs of marketing from this company it looked to me like it was going under. I'm not alone. Just visit other Daw forums. If anybody knows the numbers they do because they track the users with the stupid sign in BS. This move shows a sign of hope it will re build what it lost over the last 2 years. I see I can now purchase a new membership for only $49 for a year. But I'd rather just give them $300 and be done with it. Edited Sunday at 05:20 PM by John Vere 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsinger Posted Sunday at 05:41 PM Share Posted Sunday at 05:41 PM (edited) Here's the text on the pop-up of the free version telling us what we're missing - Unlock Sonar's complete toolset and future upgrades with Membership Unlimited royalty-free samples Unlock a library of over 250,000 high quality, royalty-free loops and samples in every genre. Pro guitar tools Access a suite of amps and effects to dial in epic guitar tones with Overloud TH-U. Elastique Pro Stretch audio like a pro - transparently change time and pitch without losing quality. Pro-quality export & processing Get cleaner mixes and masters with plugin oversampling, and export in high quality using POWR dithering. Early access to premium features Get early access to new features and updates to stay ahead of the curve. Join a 100M-strong community Create, share, and collaborate with over 100 million music lovers in the BandLab community. Edited Sunday at 05:43 PM by rsinger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Vere Posted Sunday at 05:51 PM Share Posted Sunday at 05:51 PM (edited) The first item is what seems vague. What tools? And what upgrades? So far the only "tool" i found missing is drum replacer. Everything else I am used to using works fine. And the Upgrade statement? This implies this release will be all you get forever? I sort of doubt that. It will be miles above what Cakewalk users have for sure. The rest is easily replaced by 3rd part software. I love the 100M strong community. Har Har. Edited Sunday at 11:57 PM by John Vere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Steinschneider Posted Monday at 01:29 AM Share Posted Monday at 01:29 AM I've been using CbB up until today. Just installed Cakewalk Sonar for the first time. This is a big upgrade for my setup. I have a 4k monitor - it looks much better which I think is important. I've mixed for an hour and added a few tracks. Nothing I use is missing. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bapu Posted Monday at 05:48 PM Share Posted Monday at 05:48 PM 16 hours ago, Doug Steinschneider said: Just installed Cakewalk Sonar for the first time. The free version? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Vere Posted Monday at 06:45 PM Share Posted Monday at 06:45 PM 49 minutes ago, Bapu said: The free version? Yep, I’ve run it through my normal workflow and I don’t see anything that I have always used is missing. It really is just missing some easily replaced plug ins and the few items @sjoens listed. A wonderful second Daw. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pathfinder Posted yesterday at 02:15 AM Share Posted yesterday at 02:15 AM (edited) OK I give up-Where is the the FREE SONAR? All I see is the $49 subscription offer? Edited yesterday at 02:16 AM by Pathfinder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T Boog Posted yesterday at 02:35 AM Share Posted yesterday at 02:35 AM 16 minutes ago, Pathfinder said: OK I give up-Where is the the FREE SONAR? All I see is the $49 subscription offer? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pathfinder Posted 18 hours ago Share Posted 18 hours ago OK installed it. For my work this makes no difference at all-I don't use CW plugins anymore. But I am guessing this move also means we will be forced to subscribe or move on when this "EVALUATION" is over and bye bye CbyBL! Says Evaluation which would imply it will be going bye bye real soon. No? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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