Cakewalk Sonar Free Tier Does not Let You Backup/Restore Settings

[MozartMan]

I decided to try new Cakewalk Sonar Free Tier and installed it today.  Apparently new Cakewalk Sonar has new feature - Backup/Restore Settings. Cakewalk by BandLab and my old Sonar X1 Studio, that I also have installed on my PC , don't have that.

BUT.  Cakewalk Sonar Free Tier does not let me to use Backup/Restore Settings feature. It pops this screen wanting me to buy membership.

Also, reading that sentence below the header it looks like Cakewalk Sonar Free Tier will not be getting any upgrades.

Good job (Cakewalk) guys.

 

 

[Bass Guitar]

FYI You’re in the wrong sub forum. This is the now abandoned Cakewalk sub forum. There’s a new sub forum for Sonar. 

To me it seems they quickly offered the free version to help people transition  to a paid membership. They no sooner put it out and then announced the end of life for Cakewalk. 

People all act like this was a big surprise but they had said that this day would come over 2 years ago. Sure not everyone reads this forum so I guess they were unaware. 
The free version we were told may or may not be a permanent option as well. 

The free version is definitely not suitable for everyone especially if you’re relying on a Daw for semi professional work or using it live. 
 

You have choices- 

1- Pay for Membership 

2- Switch Daws

3- Use Sonar Platinum ( my personal choice) 
 

 

Edited October 5 by Bass Guitar

[MozartMan]

6 minutes ago, Bass Guitar said:

FYI You’re in the wrong sub forum. This is the now abandoned Cakewalk sub forum. There’s a new sub forum for Sonar. 

You have choices- 

1- Pay for Membership 

2- Switch Daws

3- Use Sonar Platinum ( my personal choice) 

"Wrong sub forum" - Yes, I know. But I thought it would be heads up for people who are going to switch to free Sonar. 

For me is not a big deal because I have a way to backup and restore settings of ALL of my programs installed on my PC.

And when they decide to kill both, CbB and free Sonar, I have a choice #4:

4 - Go back to Cakewalk Sonar X1 Studio.

I don't make a living of writing MIDI files or recording mixed content, so Sonar X1 Studio does everything that I need.

[mettelus]

@Bass Guitar that video above is nicely done, as is the follow up to it.

[msmcleod]

@MozartMan - Sonar Free Tier will receive updates at the same frequency as the Premium version - it's exactly the same application.

New features may not be available in the Free version, but all of the bug fixes will. 

That's not to say that the free version won't receive new features - just not all of them.

[MozartMan]

Just now, msmcleod said:

@MozartMan - Sonar Free Tier will receive updates at the same frequency as the Premium version - it's exactly the same application.

New features may not be available in the Free version, but all of the bug fixes will. 

That's not to say that the free version won't receive new features - just not all of them.

But this new feature in Cakewalk Sonar Free Tier - Backup/Restore Settings - it's a basic human right.

Just kidding.🙂

[MozartMan]

Just opened free Sonar again and got greeted with pop-up like in the image in my original post. And had to wait 10 seconds until I was able to click on "Use Free Tier" button.

Very nice free feature.

[Bass Guitar]

11 hours ago, MozartMan said:

And when they decide to kill both, CbB and free Sonar, I have a choice #4:

I think that Cakewalk is now officially dead. A few people have mentioned that it is still working but the deadline was Sept 30. 
 

# 4 The X series is the ultimate backup plan for me because as I said in the video Bandlab still has the option to shut down access to the Cakewalk Command Centre.

I own a license to X 3 and that was the last version that doesn’t require any on line activation. I have it installed right now and I don’t think I would use it for anything other than accessing old projects. It’s not really useful as a modern daw to me compared to the others I own.  Way too outdated. X1 was absolutely the worst version of Cakewalk ever  , but I actually think the new Sonar is a close second!! ( Just kidding) 
 

So if I ever do rebuild a new computer down the road I might not have access to Platinum. But I am always optimistic that by then they will give up on the membership only plan and I’ll be able to purchase Sonar in a normal way. 

Edited October 6 by Bass Guitar

[Bristol_Jonesey]

11 hours ago, MozartMan said:

But this new feature in Cakewalk Sonar Free Tier - Backup/Restore Settings - it's a basic human right.

Just kidding.🙂

Just to be clear, the only backup option currently offered is probably not what you think it is.

It's simply a backup of your configuration, files. It's not a backup for your projects, at least as far as I can tell.

[MozartMan]

3 hours ago, Bristol_Jonesey said:

Just to be clear, the only backup option currently offered is probably not what you think it is.

It's simply a backup of your configuration, files. It's not a backup for your projects, at least as far as I can tell.

I know.

That's why I made a joke about basic human rights.

[MozartMan]

Double good news this morning.

1. My CbB is still working as of Monday morning, October 6.

2. I got rid of that pop-up screen that was coming up at the start up and was holding me hostage for 10 seconds before I could click on Free Tier button.  Now I just get Quick Start pop-up window.

 

I can live, for now, with this yellow bar in the Quick Start window

and this grey bar below the menu bar

 

Edited October 6 by MozartMan

[MozartMan]

Update.

I spoke too soon because after several start ups of new Sonar Free Tier that nagging marketing pop-up box came back.

Anyway, I restored image of my PC. So, no new Sonar Free Tier for me, yet, because my CbB still activates as of October 9, and  my Cakewalk Sonar X1 Studio still works.

[Starship Krupa]

On 10/5/2025 at 8:36 AM, Bass Guitar said:

The free version is definitely not suitable for everyone especially if you’re relying on a Daw for semi professional work or using it live.

I'm curious as to which feature(s) SoFT lacks vs. SoPre that you think render it not suitable for live use or "semi professional" work.

Plug-in oversampling, one more choice of dithering algorithms, one more choice of stretch algorithms, Workspaces, Overloud TH-U, and the BandLab loop collection? The only one of those that I'd noticeably miss would be Workspaces, but I'd probably work something out with Screensets to replace what I do with Workspaces.

If I were worried about being able to apply DAW-based oversampling, running at 88 or 96 takes care of that during mixing, and exporting at 88 or 96 takes care of it at render time. The tests I ran on POW-R dithering and Elastique Pro stretching suggest that at least to the extent that I take advantage of them, they make no difference compared to the other algorithms that SoFT comes with.

I've yet to use more than one Arranger track in a project, so that wouldn't feel limiting.

The loop library is nice, but I already have access to all the loops I want via other means. TH-U is a good amp simulation plug-in, but there are numerous free alternatives.

I wouldn't wish to see the membership ads. Everything else has simple workarounds.

There's one big feature missing from Sonar that was in CbB, and that's user control of UI element colors. I reeeeeeeeeaaaaaaalllly hope that the promised remediation of that isn't going to be paywalled.

[Jeremy Oakes]

4 hours ago, MozartMan said:

Update.

I spoke too soon because after several start ups of new Sonar Free Tier that nagging marketing pop-up box came back.

Anyway, I restored image of my PC. So, no new Sonar Free Tier for me, yet, because my CbB still activates as of October 9, and  my Cakewalk Sonar X1 Studio still works.

It may work now, but when your CbB is at the end of its 30 day cycle, it will no longer activate.

J

[Bass Guitar]

5 hours ago, Starship Krupa said:

I'm curious as to which feature(s) SoFT lacks vs. SoPre that you think render it not suitable for live use or "semi professional" work.

Nothing to do with features. I am speaking about the topic we cannot discuss. A professional cannot show up with a paying client sitting there while they attempt to open the software. It won’t open because of a glitch in the authorization process.
 

This is not me but there has been quite a few posts about this.
I have also seen this complaint in another Daw forum that has a subscription option. It is why one very popular Daw dropped the subscription only option. 
The other situation is with live shows where there’s no internet and your Daw decides that it is time to re authorize. 
Sure it’s up to the user to prepare ahead of time to avoid this issue but it’s a situation that won’t happen if you use software that you own. 
 

[Starship Krupa]

6 hours ago, Bass Guitar said:

I am speaking about the topic we cannot discuss.

Ah, yes. I was confused because you said "the free version." Does Premium have a different authorization frequency or something? I was under the possibly false impression that the authorization was similar, but with SoFT, it turns off the aforementioned features.

With CbB, once authorized/validated it would run for 6 months without needing a re-up. I imagine that with Sonar the interval between last phone home and demo mode is shorter, but is it different for the two tiers?

[Bass Guitar]

Im just seeing threads started that the poster is complaining that out of the blue Sonar asked them to sign in. At very inconvenient times. 
 

In theory you should never have to do anything until your membership expires but seems not to be the case for everyone. 
 

Staff mentioned that they are working on a solution. 

[Glenn Stanton]

sadly, twice a month or so when MS updates Edge with their latest spyware/adware AI enchancements, many of my logins get reset and i have to re-authenticate. apps using webview and other dependent on the other DLL connectors are sometimes problematic (like Sketchup will crash, and i have to reopen it to find the "please login" screen... ergh) but most seem to handle it ok. most times Sonar spins for a second or two and then says i'm authenticated. probably not the same for all users, and if you're using another browser as your primary, likely they handle things different with their updates to their spyware/adware AI enhancements.

Edited Friday at 08:53 PM by Glenn Stanton

[Bass Guitar]

Yes @Glenn Stanton  I’ve noticed that too but with Google Chrome. So the activation issue might not be something that Cakewalk can avoid. So that brings us back to why we need a licensing option for those who depend on their software to earn an income. 
 

This same issue has also happened with S1. They have an optional subscription plan and some of those people are having trouble. I bought a full license so not a problem for me. 

[Glenn Stanton]

yeah, although a number of recent posts for S1. a number of people were complaining the license check was causing their system to register as "demo" vs the "perpetual" they had. so my guess is that even with a "perpetual" license, if the access control is still internet based vs say a dongle approach e.g. an iLok (i love my iLok) you're still susceptible to internet outages, caching resets, and product services outages  for pretty much any license requiring a "call home" check. quick note - always check / refresh your activation status BEFORE leaving home for the gig. most use some limited duration caching between the calls - typ 7-10 days but you don't want to be on the last day when you fire it up at the gig. 

worse is the type that binds to your system so completely that upgrades invoke a new license purchase if you forgot to deactivate your device properly. i saw a post yesterday somehow Presonus lost a bunch of folks licenses during the Fender cutover, so even customer service had no record... one good reason to print your license and activation codes to paper and/or PDF (stored on multiple cloud storage as well as local). i see a lot of people in the PT forum run into the problem of lost codes and customer support struggling to match things up esp when people re-sell their PT license...

anyways, for me, if doing live gigs - it's appliance-like devices not a DAW. might be old school but burnt twice-now-not-shy (not mentioning Cubase Live or FL culprits) - and keep a CD backup of recorded tracks to perform with. worst case you cannot do long improvisational soloing w/o hitting the rewind button LOL.

Edited Friday at 10:37 PM by Glenn Stanton