After a long time I came back to sonar and have a question.

[reza sadeghi]

Hi all my dear old friends,

After a couple of years (maybe more), I’ve returned to Sonar to work on some of my old projects. It’s been a while since I moved to Logic Pro and haven’t used Sonar in quite some time.

I first started using Cakewalk around 25 years ago, back when they released their early versions. I've always been a loyal customer and purchased every major release — from versions 8, X1, X2, X3, and eventually Sonar Platinum. If I’m not mistaken, Platinum was my last paid version before all the name changes and the transition to Cakewalk by BandLab.

After BandLab took over, I started using Cakewalk by BandLab to stay up-to-date with the latest versions. However, after several years away, tonight I decided to revisit my older projects and needed to refresh my license. I first tried using BandLab Assistant, but soon realized it no longer works the same way. After a bit of searching, I found out I needed to install Cakewalk Command Center instead.

Now that I have access again, I noticed the website mentions this is the final update of the BandLab version, so I decided to install the new Cakewalk Sonar. It’s installed successfully, but on the right side, I see something about “membership,” and I’m a bit confused.

My question is:
As someone who purchased Sonar Platinum in the past, do I need to subscribe to use this new version of Sonar? Or do I qualify for free access based on my previous purchases?

I’d really appreciate any help in understanding this. I simply want to continue working on my old projects, export the wave files, and see what restrictions (if any) apply.

Thanks in advance!

[Michael Vogel]

Your purchase of SONAR Platinum was from Gibson who owned Cakewalk at the time.

When Gibson dropped SONAR, Bandlab purchased the IP (intellectual Property) and for the last 5 or more years have provide Cakewalk by Bandlab free.

Late last  year they moved to a subscription model of Sonar which is purchased by an annual membership to Bandlab. This also gives you access to their more ‘modern streamlined’ DAW, NEXT.

There is also a Sonar free tier which as the name suggests is free to use. It has numerous restriction however versus the Sonar paid version.

There is no entitlement based on your previous purchase of products from Gibson.

Do a few searches on the forum and you’ll find tons of arguments on the topic of entitlement etc.

Hope that helps.

Edited yesterday at 09:05 AM by Michael Vogel

[Wookiee]

@reza sadeghi regarding your question, you need to talk to the owners of the software products you purchased Gibson Inc.

Bandlab Technologies did not purchase any of the products Gibson sold, nor Cakewalk Inc, only intellectual property rights of the code.

Consequently the answer to your question is, if you wish to use the full versions of Bandlab Technologies products then, yes you do have to subscribe, they are different products provided by a very different company. 

[Bass Guitar]

Yes things changed and other than Facebook and here it’s not being published much. 
 

You showed up just in time for the end of life for the free version of Cakewalk. 
 

You will want to install Sonar Platinum anyway to get access to all the plugins you bought with it.
 

Your purchase of Platinum is still honoured by the Bandlab company even though it has nothing to do with them. I still use it myself. You still own it. Cakewalk  support will even help you with recovery of your legacy user account. 

Install the Cakewalk Command Centre  following the instructions in this video. 
https://youtu.be/BVP4MOqwbgk?si=_Y4beemxQGjbff4e

 

After you get Platinum and all your additional content installed then you can install the new Cakewalk Product Manager. Note this is a completely different app than the old Command Centre.
 

From there you can try the Free version of the new Sonar. It’s actually got very little missing but the Nag screen is pretty annoying. 

The membership goes on sale for half price or sometimes less so I recommend you hold off until you get a better offer. 

 

Edited 18 hours ago by Bass Guitar

[Sailor55]

1 hour ago, Bass Guitar said:

The membership goes on sale for half price or sometimes less so I recommend you hold off until you get a better offer. 

True, but I think those special price offers are available to new users only. I'm now in my second year of subscription. I paid full freight for both years (149.00 $US) and was never able to take advantage of any price break.  I'm not complaining though.  Just clarifying.  Also, it is patently unwise to try turning oneself into a "new" user by cancelling and resubscribing. I think they're on to that. And regardless, its dishonorable.   

[Bass Guitar]

Dishonourable? You don’t realize how funny that choice of words is to anyone who actually has read the information about this company. 

 I have been a loyal supporter of Cakewalk since Sonar 6. Up until June of 2023 I provided widespread support in the form of tutorials and pretty much daily help here on this forum. 
 

When Sonar was first released in February 2024 I immediately started paying $21 Can for a membership. That July it went on sale for about $100 Can for the year.
This we were told was not available to us loyal customers. A lot of people were asking and staff responded and said they would look into this. 

Now I don’t expect anything for free. But to be locked out of the discount because I’m  a loyal supporter is not how other companies operate. 

I managed to get the discount by simply using a different email address. Last thing on my mind was that I didn’t deserve the discount!!. 

A year goes by quickly and because they would not honour the discount once again I simply let it run out. Not my problem anymore. 
 

I say exactly the same thing regarding all software. Wait till it goes on sale. 

 

 

[Sailor55]

Well okay, the "dishonorable" comment was a bit tongue-in-cheek on my part.

I've been a user as long as you have (maybe longer) and laid out plenty of cash over that time for every flavor of Cakewalk/SONAR that's come along. Not to mention Dimension Pro (which I almost never use anymore). I think I even paid for Concrete Limiter which is now included (and it originally had a bug that I helped track down).  I was always grateful (or at least happy) that BandLab kept Cakewalk supported for free all those years.  I never wanted to go to a subscription model for the new SONAR but I just had to bite the bullet and do it. I actually want the stuff that's included in the paid version.  And at my age, I'm not learning a new DAW. No chance.

I really appreciate this forum and folks such as yourself who give your time to guide others, even the newest of the newbies. I'm just saying that I simply can't be bothered trying to hack a discount that, yes, really should be made available to long-time users, but, for obscure administrative reasons, it just isn't.  It's fine to suggest waiting for a discount to someone who is not already a paid user. But for someone like me (and probably you) there aren't likely any price breaks coming from Bandlab in the near future.  They seem more interested in expansion rather than retention.  And yeah, that seems a bit dishonorable too.

[Bristol_Jonesey]

6 hours ago, Sailor55 said:

a discount that, yes, really should be made available to long-time users, but, for obscure administrative reasons, it just isn't. 

Certainly in the UK, it's exactly the same with utility companies, phone companies, Internet Service Providers etc.

They always offer deals for new customers but the existing ones are left paying full price.

[mettelus]

23 hours ago, reza sadeghi said:

I’d really appreciate any help in understanding this. I simply want to continue working on my old projects, export the wave files, and see what restrictions (if any) apply.

As @Bass Guitar mentioned above, reloading SONAR Platinum (or just focusing there if already installed) may be your quickest choice (and remove any confusion from GUI/workspace updates that have occurred since you last used CbB). That will give you full access to what you remember having and allow any exporting you need.

There is also a free tier of the new Sonar if you want to try that out (the subscription version has more features enabled). But again, if you want to jump back into things quickly, SPlat would fall into the realm of "what you already know well" (and CbB is going offline in roughly 2 weeks, so no point in focusing there).