Cakewalk Core Plugins Feedback

[Noel Borthwick]

We're pleased to introduce early access to Cakewalk Core Plugins, a powerful suite of nine essential track effects designed for high quality and low CPU consumption.

Please use this topic to post feedback specific to the Cakewalk Core Plugins version 1.0.0.111 release. Release-specific feedback is valuable to us, and consolidating it in a single topic is extremely helpful.

We request that discussion in this thread be restricted to issues directly concerning this release, to make it easier for us to assist users. For other topics, kindly use the feature request section or create new posts.  Off topic messages will be deleted.

Thanks in advance!

[Colin Nicholls]

Congratulations, Cakewalk -BandlabTeam!

 

[Jorge Tata Arias]

Hi, thanks for the update, it's great! There's a small bug in the Core Reverb plugin: the Decay time is expressed in milliseconds, but the value is in seconds... It doesn't affect performance, but it's confusing. Thanks.

[Jonathan Sasor]

32 minutes ago, Jorge Tata Arias said:

Hi, thanks for the update, it's great! There's a small bug in the Core Reverb plugin: the Decay time is expressed in milliseconds, but the value is in seconds... It doesn't affect performance, but it's confusing. Thanks.

Logged, we'll fix this for the next update. Thanks!

[Lance Jones]

SOLVED:

In SONAR, I clicked Help-check for updates and found the Core pugins update there! I installed them and scanned VST's etc.. and they are there. It also replaced the Sonitus plugins in my current project successfully!

 

This is the INITIAL POST:

I installed the SONAR update (I have membership) and scanned VST's just in case. I also have replace if poissible if possible on Project load eelectd int he VST3 migration options (I have had this selected always). I am not seeing the new Core plugins in my plugins list. Is it a separate install from simply updating SONAR? The sonitus DX stuff is still in my plugins list.

Thanks,

Lance

Edited Thursday at 10:02 PM by Lance Jones
SOLVED

[Noel Borthwick]

1 hour ago, Lance Jones said:

SOLVED:

In SONAR, I clicked Help-check for updates and found the Core pugins update there! I installed them and scanned VST's etc.. and they are there. It also replaced the Sonitus plugins in my current project successfully!

 

This is the INITIAL POST:

I installed the SONAR update (I have membership) and scanned VST's just in case. I also have replace if poissible if possible on Project load eelectd int he VST3 migration options (I have had this selected always). I am not seeing the new Core plugins in my plugins list. Is it a separate install from simply updating SONAR? The sonitus DX stuff is still in my plugins list.

Thanks,

Lance

From the release notes
 

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.

PS: Only users with an active BandLab membership will see this add on since its exclusively a premium feature. 

[noynekker]

Great update to those old and still useful DX plugs ! Much appreciation bakers !!

I found the install of these very unfriendly, tried to follow all the steps, and read the criterion . . . but should it take 45 minutes to get them working ?

Once working (I haven't spent any time actually using them yet) . . . I immediately noticed only a few of these new VST3 plugins are resizable by dragging out from the bottom corners ? The compressor and gate ones do this, but not the rest of them . . . just wondering if there is a reason why not ?

[Lance Jones]

4 hours ago, Noel Borthwick said:

Yes... I was hasty, assuming SONAR update would install them haha! I used to Beta test for you back in the day when Cakewalk was in Boston and also bought a Cakewalk logo mug and T-shirt as a donation when the transition first began with Bandlab. Nice to hear from you Noel!

Lance

4 hours ago, Noel Borthwick said:

 

From the release notes
 

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.

PS: Only users with an active BandLab membership will see this add on since its exclusively a premium feature. 

 

[IRON RAIN]

Just trying these out. So far they sound and perform great!

Nice work!

[Richter Grimbeek]

Thanks!

[Salvatore Sorice]

10 hours ago, noynekker said:

Great update to those old and still useful DX plugs ! Much appreciation bakers !!

I found the install of these very unfriendly, tried to follow all the steps, and read the criterion . . . but should it take 45 minutes to get them working ?

Once working (I haven't spent any time actually using them yet) . . . I immediately noticed only a few of these new VST3 plugins are resizable by dragging out from the bottom corners ? The compressor and gate ones do this, but not the rest of them . . . just wondering if there is a reason why not ?

For me, these are fully resizable: Compressor, Gate, Phase. The others are not - hope that's on the list for a future update. But regardless - thanks Bakers!!!

[Jesse Jost]

46 minutes ago, Salvatore Sorice said:

For me, these are fully resizable: Compressor, Gate, Phase. The others are not - hope that's on the list for a future update. But regardless - thanks Bakers!!!

Thanks for the feedback. While the plugins are designed for resizability, we're currently limiting which plugins can resize, until we have implemented optimal constraints for various sizes.

[Bristol_Jonesey]

Good work on these new plugins, they look and sound great.

Even better that they automatically replace the comparable Sonitus version

[Noel Borthwick]

13 hours ago, noynekker said:

Great update to those old and still useful DX plugs ! Much appreciation bakers !!

I found the install of these very unfriendly, tried to follow all the steps, and read the criterion . . . but should it take 45 minutes to get them working ?

Im not sure why it took 45 mins to get working. If you are running Sonar with BandLab membership installing the addon takes seconds. Then once it scans the plugins are available. Opening a plugin automatically activates it.  I've tested this on a clean system and the whole process took less than a minute.
Can you provide more detail into what was unfriendly?

[Gary Bradley]

Just upgraded. Haven't used the Sonitus plugins for years but great work!

Started using the MB comp, looks great and it works fine!

Great work guys! Tx

[Ruslan_H]

The plugins look updated and stylish, but there is no button to change the plugin size. For all new plugins, this is already the norm. And in general, it would be great to add scaling for any plugin. Often, I have to work with both old and new plugins, and on 4K monitors, it is either small or very large, and in Sonar, there is no way to adjust this, except for DPI

 

[Shaan]

These Core plugins looks good, clean and crisp and also love all the colors that are added and how they make the visual experience much better.  Superb color selection, subtle and to the point to give enough contrast. A Modern take for the beloved Sonitus Plugins looks and sounds great !! 

I played with them last night for nearly 2 hours well passed into midnight, I guess a new toy syndrome. 

The quality of these plugins are great. And these plugins adds nothing noticeable to the CPU or processing power, is just unbelievable. They are very efficient.

Thank you Bakers for the wonderful job! 

few things...

Clicking (single or double-click) on the band numbers on the graph doesn't turn the band on and off like QuadCurve EQ flyout.  Not sure if it is a bug or may be the original Sonitus EQ didn't have that feature. 
But it is inconvenient as most EQs works that way.

And also, a Spectrum Analyzer added to this Core EQ would make it a complete package 😁 🤞.

 

 

Give a little more space between the knobs and the green value indicator on the outer ring to improve the visibility a little more. They are too close and when a person sitting 3 feet away from the monitor, it is hard to see.

Just to show a comparison:

   vs  

    easy to see as enough space between the knob and the colored outer ring indicator

The other highlighted areas indicated in the above picture can be improved as well for clarity,  a little more lighter grey will improve the visibility more.  This applies to all other Core plugins which has similar things on the UI.

Another vote for making these plugins re-sizeable. 👍
When scaling these plugins make all component of the UI increases proportionally, all the knobs, texts, meters and graphs. 
 

[noynekker]

9 hours ago, Noel Borthwick said:

Im not sure why it took 45 mins to get working. If you are running Sonar with BandLab membership installing the addon takes seconds. Then once it scans the plugins are available. Opening a plugin automatically activates it.  I've tested this on a clean system and the whole process took less than a minute.
Can you provide more detail into what was unfriendly?

@Noel Borthwick . . . Hi Noel . . . I am running Sonar with BandLab membership.

Here's what I did:

Opened Sonar, noticed the update, installed it . . . went to Cakewalk Product Center, it made me run an update . . . installed the new plugins . . . did a sandbox VST scan . . . the new plugs did not show up in Cakewalk Plugin-manager . . . the directory in your install instructions (C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\Cakewalk\Core\) does not exist on my computer, and is therefore not in my VST scan path . . . created that folder . . . added it to my VST scan path . . . went to my downloads folder and ran the latest Sonar update installer again, after that, noticed the new plugins needed to be installed again from Cakewalk Product Center, installed again, did another sandbox VST scan, still no plugins in Cakewalk Plugin-manager . . . noticed your instruction said you needed to login to your BandLab account from within Sonar . . . tried that, still no joy . . . . did a complete VST scan (this took the longest), restarted the computer, opened Sonar, and they finally appeared, and are installed to the directory C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3\Cakewalk\Core\

If you can do this "addon takes seconds" in seconds . . . my hat is off to you:)

Edited 52 minutes ago by noynekker
add Noel link

[Starship Krupa]

4 hours ago, Shaan said:

Another vote for making these plugins re-sizeable. 👍
When scaling these plugins make all component of the UI increases proportionally, all the knobs, texts, meters and graphs.

Yes, especially the knobs and text. Those are the elements I most want to have larger when I scale a plugin UI.

The issue with the hard to see colored rings around the knobs could be solved by making the rings wider, too.

Also, I'd really like for the unfortunately named Surround plug-in to be included in the new suite. For anyone who's thinking "nah, I don't do 5.1 mixing," that's not what Surround is for. What it actually is is a spatial effect to add depth and width to stereo material. Among other tricks, it can do the doppler effect when panning. Of course the Haas effect too.

If you've never tried it, open the Sonitus fx version and check the help file, try a few presets. You can set up modulation paths to have your source pan back and forth and in and out automatically. At extreme settings, it can even do scratch effects.

So it's got nothing to do with surround buses or any of that, what it is is a creative sound design tool. I so SO regret not checking it out before now due to its name. I suggest adding it to the Core suite and calling it Core Spatial.

If you're doing game audio or sound effects for film/TV, or you just (like me) like to put spatial ear candy FX in your music, check it out, and if you'd like to have it in the Core suite, post in this topic.

(Also mention if you never tried it because you thought it was for 5.1 mixing😆)

Edited 33 minutes ago by Starship Krupa

[Noel Borthwick]

There is something messed up in your installation if you don't have common files/vst3 in your default vst scan path unless you manually removed it. 

Every clean installation of sonar includes that path because it is the standard vst3 location across it should never be removed. This is why it didn't work for you. All that is required is to install the latest version of sonar and then the core plugins add on without running through all the hoops you did