What does CbB Activations end 8/1/2025 mean for me?

[Roy Slough]

I am getting this message when I start Cakewalk by Bandlab. Will this stop me using CbB after this date?
I do not really understand what is meant by activations, it is already activated or does it require repeat activations after a period of time?

Also can someone confirm this is 1st August 2025 (in UK this date would be 8th January 2025)

Thanks 

[John Vere]

Once again. Especially anyone who visits this forum. We were told 2 years ago that Cakewalk would be discontinued. They originally said it would be sooner but they then decided to allow more time for people to transition to the new Sonar. 
There was plenty of warning including all the Cakewalk You Tube channels. 

So the day comes when they need to get Cakewalk out of their hair and being polite kind hearted folks and not wanting to diss loyal users they came up with a solution. 

You should be very grateful for the Free version. They didn’t have to do that. 

 

As far as transferring projects to other Daw’s it’s actually very simple. I made a few videos on how to do this. I have transferred a lot of my important work to other Daw’s I own and life is now better and simple. No more distractions. 
But I still have a lot of not important projects that I might need access to so I have Platinum and now the wonderful free version. Thanks to everyone who was involved in this great initiative. 


 

[User 905133]

17 minutes ago, Roy Slough said:

Also can someone confirm this is 1st August 2025 (in UK this date would be 8th January 2025)

January 8th, 2025, has already passed.  Based on that, I assume that it is reasonable to conclude 8/1/2025 refers to August 1, 2025. But that's just me.  My assumption could be wrong.  Still, based on countless other recent posts in the Forum, maybe a whole bunch of people  are also wrong if they assume that.

Edited July 3 by User 905133
fixed typo

[Roy Slough]

8 hours ago, User 905133 said:

January 8th, 2025, has already passed.  Based on that, I assume that it is reasonable to conclude 8/1/2025 refers to August 1, 2025. But that's just me.  My assumption could be wrong.  Still, based on countless other recent posts in the Forum, maybe a whole bunch of people  are also wrong if they assume that.

My Thoughts were much the same, however as CbB has never asked me to activate (or re-activate) since the initial setup it could have been, but I too doubt it and believe it to be 1st August.

[John Vere]

What it means for you is that yes you now have to make sure you are ready for the day your version of Cakewalk will cease saving and exporting your projects. 
 

You have 3 choices. 

1-Purchase a Bandlab Membership which might still be available for $49 via the Sonar nag screen. 

2- Switch to Sonar and use the free version. 
 

3- Switch Daw’s 

[Promidi]

It means that if a reactivation of CbB is required after August 1, 2025, it will fail the activation.  

You will not be able to save or export your project from CbB.

[Roy Slough]

15 hours ago, John Vere said:

What it means for you is that yes you now have to make sure you are ready for the day your version of Cakewalk will cease saving and exporting your projects. 
 

You have 3 choices. 

1-Purchase a Bandlab Membership which might still be available for $49 via the Sonar nag screen. 

2- Switch to Sonar and use the free version. 
 

3- Switch Daw’s 

 

2 hours ago, Promidi said:

It means that if a reactivation of CbB is required after August 1, 2025, it will fail the activation.  

You will not be able to save or export your project from CbB.

OK,  I have a number of CbB projects saved, is it known if any other DAW is able to import these projects or will I have to re-mix and re-work from scratch?

Also, the VST's I have, Some are new (Ample Guitars, SPAN etc.) others came with CbB - is it possible to know which DAWs will be able to utilise these?

These factors along with the price tag will determine my choices (CbB with no Save or export is useless to me)

[Mark Morgon-Shaw]

1 hour ago, Roy Slough said:

 

OK,  I have a number of CbB projects saved, is it known if any other DAW is able to import these projects

Cakewalk Sonar Free Tier will open them 

[pedwal wally wally wha]

17 hours ago, John Vere said:

What it means for you is that yes you now have to make sure you are ready for the day your version of Cakewalk will cease saving and exporting your projects. 
 

You have 3 choices. 

1-Purchase a Bandlab Membership which might still be available for $49 via the Sonar nag screen. 

2- Switch to Sonar and use the free version. 
 

3- Switch Daw’s 

4 - turn windows clock back 1 month? I don't believe this would work

[Jonathan Sasor]

39 minutes ago, pedwal wally wally wha said:

4 - turn windows clock back 1 month? I don't believe this would work

It won't.

[John Vere]

Once again. Especially anyone who visits this forum. We were told 2 years ago that Cakewalk would be discontinued. They originally said it would be sooner but they then decided to allow more time for people to transition to the new Sonar. 
There was plenty of warning including all the Cakewalk You Tube channels. 

So the day comes when they need to get Cakewalk out of their hair and being polite kind hearted folks and not wanting to diss loyal users they came up with a solution. 

You should be very grateful for the Free version. They didn’t have to do that. 

 

As far as transferring projects to other Daw’s it’s actually very simple. I made a few videos on how to do this. I have transferred a lot of my important work to other Daw’s I own and life is now better and simple. No more distractions. 
But I still have a lot of not important projects that I might need access to so I have Platinum and now the wonderful free version. Thanks to everyone who was involved in this great initiative. 


 

[Roy Slough]

On 7/4/2025 at 6:06 PM, John Vere said:

Once again. Especially anyone who visits this forum. We were told 2 years ago that Cakewalk would be discontinued. They originally said it would be sooner but they then decided to allow more time for people to transition to the new Sonar. 
There was plenty of warning including all the Cakewalk You Tube channels. 

So the day comes when they need to get Cakewalk out of their hair and being polite kind hearted folks and not wanting to diss loyal users they came up with a solution. 

You should be very grateful for the Free version. They didn’t have to do that. 

 

As far as transferring projects to other Daw’s it’s actually very simple. I made a few videos on how to do this. I have transferred a lot of my important work to other Daw’s I own and life is now better and simple. No more distractions. 
But I still have a lot of not important projects that I might need access to so I have Platinum and now the wonderful free version. Thanks to everyone who was involved in this great initiative. 


 

Thanks John, Where can I find these videos? 
It should help me plan my way forward.

[John Vere]

These are the best ones I did. 

My channel has lots of videos regarding the different daw’s I tested as well. 

[John King]

After 8/1 online activation will be discontinued , but for me, I'm already activated and signed out of Bandlab (to avoid the Sonar upgrade nagging).  I also have my activation exported for offline activation, in case I have to reinstall Cakewalk for some reason.  If I go to Help, About,  it shows it's activated and since I'm signed out it shouldn't be able to prevent me from using it.

Edited Tuesday at 07:32 AM by John King

[John Vere]

7 hours ago, John King said:

After 8/1 online activation will be discontinued , but for me, I'm already activated and signed out of Bandlab (to avoid the Sonar upgrade nagging).  I also have my activation exported for offline activation, in case I have to reinstall Cakewalk for some reason.  If I go to Help, About,  it shows it's activated and since I'm signed out it shouldn't be able to prevent me from using it.

If this actually works I would be amazed. If you can cheat the system come back in September and let us know. 
I think the activation timer count down aspect was added to the last version. the required version.  They knew what they were doing they are smart people. 
 

So being off line will make no difference. The timer is built into your copy  locally. 

@Noel Borthwick, @Jonathan Sasor  could you please confirm this so we can kill this misinformation posted by Mr King. Thank you. 

 

Edited Tuesday at 02:21 PM by John Vere

[Noel Borthwick]

It will expire independent of being signed in or offline for that matter. Sign in doesnt have anything to do with activation other than identifying the user to the server.

[Cint MMedia]

Of course, it was inevitable that a date would be set for the end of the free version of Cakewalk by BandLab. But didn’t everyone assume this would only concern the end of support? Just like Microsoft will soon end support for Windows 10, without making it unusable? Users may continue to work with Windows 10 at their own risk. For those who wish, the same model could apply to CbB — continuing to use Cakewalk by BandLab without updates or support. But no, BandLab decided otherwise.
This raises the question of what BandLab’s abrupt decision has triggered.
Individuals or companies — like ours — are constantly composing and producing music. It’s essential for generating revenue and profit. There’s little time for complications; interruptions in the production process are obviously very unwelcome. So, transitioning to the new Sonar should be a process that doesn't immediately disrupt productivity.
That could be achieved by following Microsoft’s approach, while continuing to encourage users to gradually move to the new Sonar. If it's about money, a one-time license fee of, say, $ 25,00 for CbB might be acceptable to our opinion. After all, everyone will eventually transition to the new Sonar because of the ongoing developments in music production - advanced features that Sonar will, of course, continue to evolve to support. Eventually, no one will want to miss out on those.
It’s especially bitter for individuals and companies like ours - long-time users since the early DOS versions - who purchased a lifetime license shortly before woodcarver Gibson put Cakewalk in a coffin. Naturally, we were grateful that BandLab picked it up - and we still are! But now, we’re left empty-handed; that lifetime license, with everything it included, is now totally worthless. For those users - ourselves included - the Microsoft approach would be an elegant solution. Even more so because, through such a gesture, BandLab would likely ensure long-term loyalty to Cakewalk/Sonar.
Strange thing anyway is the entry of Bandlab Technologies in Wikipedia [(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BandLab_Technologies; page last edited on 3 July 2025, at 05:47 (UTC)]: "BandLab Technologies does not charge for its software or digital musical content, but instead focuses on retail, manufacturing and media advertising sales."
Whatever the case, if Bandlab persists in forcing us to a fundamental transition to the new Sonar, we might consider to change to Motu's Digital Performer as we own and use quite a lot of Motu's supreme hardware.

[John King]

On 7/3/2025 at 5:35 AM, Roy Slough said:

I am getting this message when I start Cakewalk by Bandlab. Will this stop me using CbB after this date?
I do not really understand what is meant by activations, it is already activated or does it require repeat activations after a period of time?

Also can someone confirm this is 1st August 2025 (in UK this date would be 8th January 2025)

Thanks 

 

On 7/8/2025 at 10:18 AM, John Vere said:

If this actually works I would be amazed. If you can cheat the system come back in September and let us know. 
I think the activation timer count down aspect was added to the last version. the required version.  They knew what they were doing they are smart people. 
 

So being off line will make no difference. The timer is built into your copy  locally. 

@Noel Borthwick, @Jonathan Sasor  could you please confirm this so we can kill this misinformation posted by Mr King. Thank you. 

 

 

[John King]

I decided to set my date up a month to try it out and you're right,  I got a nag saying I have to activate.  Cakewalk still runs but saving a project is disabled.  I guess the only solution may be to install an older version.

[Cint MMedia]

It's becoming a problem because of the new Sonar and the end of CbB.
Since we have due dates to meet, we decided to temporarily switch back to good old Sonar Platinum (2017). It works fine - at least for our purposes.
We make extensive use of ProChannel, which has always worked well. But after installing the trial version of the new Sonar today, the ProChannel in Sonar Platinum suddenly stopped working the way it did just a few hours earlier: in all modules, the 'presets' button no longer work - and we have quite a lot custom presets stored in it.
We reinstalled the Platinum Core Plugins, but that didn’t solve anything. Even reinstalling Sonar Platinum itself didn’t help.
Is there anyone out there who knows how to fix this to the new Sonar related problem?
Thanks for your attention.