Jonathan Sasor Posted Wednesday at 08:40 PM Share Posted Wednesday at 08:40 PM We're pleased to introduce early access of the Cakewalk Core plugins, a powerful suite of nine essential track effects designed for high quality and low CPU consumption. Post feedback on these plugins here. This Core suite is compatible with both Next and Sonar and includes the following plugins: Please note that the Cakewalk Core Plugins are only available to users with active BandLab Membership. Core Compressor – a variable-knee compressor with peak limiting for controlling audio dynamics Core Delay – a stereo delay with tempo synchronization and reverb-like features like crossfeed and diffusion Core EQ – a six-band parametric equalizer offering various filter types and manipulation for precise frequency shaping Core Gate – a dynamic gate with side-chain filtering, lookahead, and punch mode to eliminate unwanted noise and enhance transients Core Modulator – combines six time-varying modulation effects like Flanger, Ensemble, and Phaser into one versatile plugin Core Multiband –a 5-band variable-knee compressor with normal and vintage modes, an output limiter, and Transient Controlled Release for smooth compression Core Phase – a phase shifter that applies a constant phase shift for widening the stereo image Core Reverb – a high-quality reverb plugin that emulates sound reflections in a virtual room Core AutoFilter – a versatile filter, dynamically sweeping a resonant bandpass filter based on manual input, tempo synchronization, or an adjustable envelope follower Availability The Core suite (VST3 macOS/Windows) is currently available as add-ons, which you can access from the Updates page of the Start Screen, or via Cakewalk Product Center. These plugins are exclusive to BandLab Membership and can be activated within Next and Sonar, or self-authenticate for use in other DAWs. As this is an early access release, we're eager for your feedback. We have plans for continued development and adding more plugins to the suite, so stay tuned for updates! Important Prerequisite - If you are using Sonar the installer for these plugins require Sonar 2025.08 build 31.08.0.031 or higher. It will not install with earlier builds of Sonar since they do not have full integration capabilities for them. Installed Locations VST3 plugins will be installed in the directory: C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\Cakewalk\Core\ macOS VST3 Core plugin directory: /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/VST3/Cakewalk/Core/ Following installation, it may be necessary to rescan plugin directories. Automatic Migration from Sonitus plugins in Sonar The Cakewalk Core suite can automatically migrate all legacy Sonitus plugin when you load your projects. You can enable this in Preferences > VST Settings > VST3 Migration and check "Replace if Possible on Project Load" Important: The Cakewalk Core Plugins suite seamlessly migrates the old legacy Sonitus plugins at project load time. All settings and automation will be transferred automatically. This migration is one-way, meaning you cannot revert from Core plugins back to Sonitus. Although migration is fully compatible with the old DX plugins, it's highly recommended that you save a backup copy of your project files prior to migrating to the new Core plugins. A toast notification will be displayed after loading projects, to show which plugins were replaced with newer compatible VST3 versions. Clicking the Show button in the notification will show the details for the replaced plugins. Activation Cakewalk Core Plugins require an active BandLab Membership in order to activate successfully. When using the Core Plugins in Cakewalk Sonar or Next, plugin activation is seamlessly performed via single sign on host authentication. i.e. no extra steps are required other than signing in to your BandLab account from within the DAW. If you are using another DAW, you will need to sign-in to your BandLab account from within the plugin editor UI to authenticate the plugin. These plugins support Single-Sign-On (SSO) authorization, i.e signing in to one of the plugins that are part of the suite will automatically activate the other plugins in the suite. Unactivated plugins will load but will stream silence until you have signed in to your BandLab account from within the DAW or from the plugin itself. The plugins can be used offline once they are activated successfully. As long as you stay signed in to the DAW or plugin, the normal periodic reactivation will be automatically performed in the background. Offline activation is currently not available for the Core Plugins. i.e. You will need to be online for a short period to allow the plugins to activate initially. Once activated the plugins will stay activated for the normal activation lease period. Offline activation capabilities may be added in a future update. Activation banner When running in a non-Cakewalk host a sign-in banner will allow you to sign in and activate the plugin. This workflow is the same as how it works in Cakewalk DAW's When not activated a sign-in banner will be displayed inside the plugin UI and the plugin will stream silence Clicking the banner toggles between expanded and collapsed sizes 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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