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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 10,810
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OP
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Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 10,810 |
I just made the switch from cakewalk by band lab to the "free" cakewalk Sonar.
After hearing from a few people that the old CWBL registration was not going to renew on August 1, 2025, I figured I had to do something.
I contacted a friend from way back in the old cakewalk from Boston days and discussed this topic. His advice, make the change.
So yesterday evening, I downloaded the software and installed it.
Different look, but everything I needed seems to be there and while I didn't do a lot of digging other than a quick check to see if it would work well, but everything seems to be functional and there including the project history.
I will have to go into the vst scan manager and disable the vsts I don't want to use.
So far, so good. If you use cakewalk, make sure you have the new version.
There's a free version and a subscription version. In the subscription version you do get a fairly extensive loop sample library and time stretching capability. There's a chart on the website to show you the "advantages" to paying for the subscription.
Since I don't use loops very much or do time stretching, I've got the free Sonar. One can always subscribe if necessary.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 3,585
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Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 3,585 |
This is helpful, Herb. I use Cakewalk for accessing a rather large archive of older recordings, so have been keeping up with whatever the latest free version is. Well, Sonar it is then. Back to the future. Again...
DC Ron
BiaB Audiophile
Presonus Studio One
ASUS I9-12900K DAW, 32 GB RAM
Presonus Faderport 16
Too many guitars (is that a thing?)
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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 10,810
Veteran
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|
OP
Veteran
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 10,810 |
This is helpful, Herb. I use Cakewalk for accessing a rather large archive of older recordings, so have been keeping up with whatever the latest free version is. Well, Sonar it is then. Back to the future. Again... From what I understand about the CWBL version is that on August 1, it will no longer function as a recorder or export files but continues to work as a player.... essentially useless to most folks. I will be removing it from my computer completely in the near future and reclaiming that hard drive space.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Recording, Mixing, Performance and Production
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Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 11,015
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Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 11,015 |
Both Cakewalk Sonar and Cakewalk Next have free tiers. Most of the DAW threads in the Cakewalk forum concern Sonar which is understandable since it is the DAW with the 30+ years development legacy. However Next is very interesting because it is new and has no legacy.
Next is a 48 megabyte download. It is pretty intuitive and simple to use to me. So far Next can do everything I typically ask a DAW to do.
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