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It's all in the timing. VocalSync is the capable new vocal alignment technology included in Sonar Platinum VocalSync For the uninitiated, Sonar is Cakewalk's Windows-only DAW comprising everything required to create, record, mix and master tracks, from conception to completion. It's been around in various forms for a decade and a half, but with the latest version, great changes are afoot, particularly in the way the software will henceforth be sold, upgraded and supported.
Here's the deal: You can still pay for Sonar upfront, but you can now alternatively sign up to a monthly Membership subscription plan. So long as you keep payments up for a full year, you can then keep the software without making any further payment. 'These are well thought-out and carefully implemented changes that make life with Sonar a lot easier' Subscribed monthly members get ongoing monthly updates to the software, tutorials, extra content and tech support. Paying for the whole thing upfront includes 12 months' membership too, meaning the software and any updates and add-ons released over the next year are yours to keep. Cakewalk says that it's monitoring customer feedback, which will play a role in upcoming updates, alongside its own in-house roadmap.
On the pay-monthly scheme, 12 months of payments amount to $599 for Sonar Platinum (the top-of-the-range edition that we're focusing one here), compared to $499 for the upfront price, so the latter represents a saving for those who can stump up the cash upfront. Once your year is up, however, you can renew a Platinum Membership for a reduced price of $199 upfront or $20 monthly, and Artist and Professional Memberships for $49/$5 and $99/$10, respectively. This strikes us as fair and in line with what we'd expect to pay for upgrades, were Sonar still being presented in the traditional manner. You may have also noticed that Sonar no longer carries a version number. With it now being a continuously ongoing development, to which anyone can subscribe at any point, such nomenclature is no longer relevant.
Taking command Along with the new payment and distribution model comes Cakewalk Command Center, a standalone application for managing your account, and downloading or directly installing your software. It proves to be very easy to use, considerably expediting the installation of the 20GB+ Sonar Platinum package. And to be clear, Command Center doesn't have to be running for Sonar to work - you only use it when you need it. Cakewalk is making such a big deal about its new payment/distribution model that it's easy to forget there's actually a new version of Sonar arriving with it. Three new versions, in fact: the lowest tier Sonar Artist (formerly Sonar X3), the mid-range Sonar Professional (replaces Sonar X3 Studio) and the full-spec Sonar Platinum (supplanting X3 Producer). As mentioned, we're reviewing Platinum here, but many new features are common to all three.
Raising the bar Sonar Platinum looks much as it ever has, but some new additions are apparent right from the start. For example, the Control Bar can now be scrolled from side to side to reveal more of the functions you've opted to display; the Gobbler module/feature has been ditched entirely; the modules in the Control Bar can be resized manually or automatically; and a collapsed module can be viewed in full simply by mousing over it. The entire Control Bar itself can also be collapsed. These are well thought-out and carefully implemented changes that make life with Sonar a lot easier. 'Sonar remains a winner, very much in the top tier of Windows-compatible DAWs' Also new to the Control Bar is the Mix Recall module, which controls Sonar's newfound ability to save and recall entire mix setups at a click. You have some control over exactly what sort of information is saved, with a checklist that includes Track controls, automation, effects and more. Easy and effective, and useful for A/B-ing multiple mixes (albeit with not-quite- instaneous switching).
One of the highlights of the new Sonar is VocalSync (Platinum-only), which analyses your vocal (or any) tracks and instantly aligns them with any other track of your choice - if you're familiar with VocALign from Synchro Arts, it's basically like that, but for Sonar. The VocalSync Editor couldn't be simpler, comprising a single knob for controlling the strength of alignment, a render button and a menu from which to select your target track. We're pleased to report that it works very well indeed. It's the little things There are a number of other nifty new enhancements that we don't have room to cover in detail but that deserve a mention. For starters, you can now import and export audio in the high-res DSD format, while the mixer gets dynamically expandable, scrollable sends and effects stacking in the effects rack. The Piano Roll has improved velocity and MIDI CC handling, and a new Pattern Tool.
The latter enables you to 'paint' MIDI patterns in both the Piano Roll and inline MIDI tracks, rolling out repeated duplicates of the pattern stored in the clipboard, which can be loaded from any MIDI file you like. It's very slick. Finally, new bundled instruments and effects amount to XLN Audio's Addictive Drums 2 Producer Bundle and a new ProChannel reverb, and the Cakewalk website promises Platinum users a drum replacer plugin in the near future.
Sonar remains a winner, very much in the top tier of Windows-compatible DAWs. Despite a few unreproducible crashes during our tests, the new version is solid, powerful and reasonably easy to use. Some of the included instruments are looking a bit long in the tooth these days, but they get the job done, and some (Dimension Pro, primarily) still sound top-notch. Sonar offers an astonishing amount of power for the money, only now you have another option for handing it over. It remains a great buy, no matter how you slice it up.
However, we have to highlight the fact that, at this point, Cakewalk's promises of monthly additions are just that: promises. The success of their new model will very much depend on its ability to keep those promises over the long haul.
Cakewalk by Bandlab is almost identical to the flagship SONAR Platinum digital audio workstation, except for not including any third-party add-0ns. It is, essentially, SONAR Platinum without bundled plugins and add-on tools such as the Rapture synthesizer, Melodyne pitch-correction software, and others. All the core features of SONAR Platinum are included, from its analog console-like mixer to the powerful ProChannel effect modules and advanced functionality like multi-touch support, Bluetooth MIDI, etc.
In addition, all previously purchased plugins or add-ons that worked with SONAR will work with the new freeware version. See also: So, what you’re getting for free here is a flagship digital audio workstation which used to cost $499 (with lifetime updates), minus the bundled loops and add-ons. Sounds too good to be true?
Well, there’s a catch, kind of, but it’s not a deal breaker. Since Cakewalk was acquired by BandLab, you will need to install the BandLab Assistant software first in order to download the free version of Cakewalk. You will also need to sign up for a free BandLab user account. The Assistant won’t nag you to purchase or install anything else, but it will showcase some of the online services offered by BandLab. No big deal really, not by a long shot, especially considering that you’re getting such an amazing audio tool completely free of charge. Cakewalk requires Windows 7 or higher (64-bit only) to work. It’s recommended to use a machine with at least 4 GB of RAM for smooth performance.
To download your free copy of Cakewalk by BandLab, click the “Get Early Access Now” button on the product page linked below. This will download the BandLab Assistant app which will guide you through the installation process.
Interestingly enough, Windows 10 wouldn’t run the BandLab Assistant installer on my laptop because it’s an “unrecognized app” but I chose the “Run Anyway” option and proceeded to install the software without any further issues. Until this point, was the best free audio digital workstation you could download, followed by Podium Free. Following the release of Cakewalk by Bandlab, it’s hard to decide which freeware DAW is better – Tracktion or Cakewalk. What do you think? We’d love to hear your thoughts on this in the comments section below!
Cakewalk by BandLab is available for free download via (66.9 MB download size, EXE installer, 64-bit standalone software for Windows 7 or higher). About Tracktion vs.
Sonar, I actually have lots of experience with both. Sonar was my first, and now am a HUGE tracktion fan. The latest sonar probably doesn’t have the track/clip manipulation that tracktion has, (does free T6 still give you the Melodyne essentials?) I’ve moved up to tracktion Waveform now. Anyway, tracktion workflow is faster but different. Sonar is traditional and slower workflow. It feels restricting and finicky.
So, maybe you can make suggestions to beginners based on some of this? Hi All, I’m a long time Tracktion (version 3 up to 7 std) and Sonar (Cakewalk 2003 up to Platinum lifetime).
I tried T-9 waveform on demo in case Sonar went bye/bye. Tracktion is much simpler to use, especially if your new to the world of the ‘DAW’ recording studio. On the other hand Sonar has a more polished look and feel of a real studio, a steeper learning curve and is able to do more especially when compared to T-6. T-7 waveform & T-9 waveform (64 bit plugins only no bridge) are much more comparable but cost $60.00, personally I buy Reaper for $60.00 as I considered it the best replacement for Sonar, and it was able to use many of Sonars included plugins.
Sonars ease of editing off the staff view, Dockable/undockable view screens, & flexibility, I’m a technician ( since mid 80’s) and producer and have had many of my musician friends tell me Sonar was too complex, but to me it is the complexity that drew me to Sonar Producer and upgrading to Platinum. I rarely use my T-7 anymore, I only bought it to be able to open my old T-3 files so I could export them to Sonar. Quality wise Tracktion freezes much easier when you are recording multiple tracks (more than 10) at once and for periods of over 5 minutes. T-6 uses much less CPU power if you have limited RAM. The Tracktion products still need an official presence in the recording world and are trying with T-9 waveform, T-6 is 45 years older (lite years in the computer world) and is starting to show its age with NO updates only pay for upgrades.
Sonar has been given a new life and is fully up-to-date with Windows 10 & touch screen monitors. Sonar is compatible with some very large studios and mix down houses, now that it’s free I suspect it will become the largest recording DAW around. Overall Sonar is a more professional product and hopefully will have a new long life. Let’s keep the apples even – Sonar Platinum is a far superior product compared to Tracktion 6.
Sonar Platinum should be compared to T-9 Waveform, and Sonar Platinum personally is still better and doesn’t cost U $60.00 USD. How the ‘DAW’ world has changed. I paid $149.00 for the lifetime upgrades when it was first offered a few years ago, never mind the $100+ a year to keep it up to date for over 10 years. I also paid $149.00 for T-3 Ultimate, many years ago only to have it go bye/bye which made me buy into Sonar. Now there FREE. Former Sonar and Tracktion (free) user here, currently using Cakewalk.
I do like Tracktion’s workflow and was considering purchasing Tracktion Waveform, but I guess I’ll just hold it off now that Cakewalk is free. I think Cakewalk is clearly superior to Tracktion 6 Free in terms of feature set (I mean, this used to be $400!), but at the end of the day how your DAW helps you work is what matters. So I don’t think one can be recommended over the other unequivocally. I actually do like using Sonar/Cakewalk and I find it very straightforward to use, so I think I’m staying in Camp Cakewalk.
But I wouldn’t say it’s switch-o-clock if you’re accustomed to Tracktion. Other points: – Tracktion is superior in terms of resource usage; it is so light and so well coded – I prefer MIDI in Cakewalk to Tracktion although I really like the features in Waveform – Cakewalk obviously has the upper hand in the effects department because of the inclusion of ProChannel modules including rather good analogue modelling plugs – Cakewalk has more by the way of bundled instruments, but since the best instruments of Sonar Platinum have been taken away and the bundled instruments aren’t so good, you’ll probably have to look for additional soundware either way.
(note that Cakewalk TTS-1 though is a copy of Roland’s Sound Canvas sound set and it’s pretty versatile but definitely has a 90s sound to it) – Cakewalk is more versatile, but Tracktion is, as the developers say, more ‘laser-focused’ on music production; whichever one is better for your use case is really up to you Since they’re both available for free, might as well try both! Also, there is a 32 bit bridge in Cakewalk:). Not only that. It also comes with quite an impressive set of plugins including a version of Overloud’s Breverb2 and a Cakewalk version of the TH3 guitar amp plugin, which while not the full version features 16 amplifier models as well as cabs, stomps and rack effects. Pretty impressive stuff. Post #177 on this page contains links to images of all included plugins after a fresh install: Speaking of plugins I noticed that the PX-64, TL-64 and VX-64 plugins didn’t show up after install. I had to go in to the program’s plugin manager to reveal them as they were showing as ‘Excluded’.
I just set them to be included and now they are in and working fine. It’s nice to see included bridging of 32bit plugins as well. As a Reaper user I had a bit of a look around the program last night and after about an hour I was feeling pretty at home, managing to set up instrument tracks and assigning plugins etc without having to resort to the manual. I do like the button in the top right for changing views depending on the task at hand (recording, mixing etc). Early days but it looks very good indeed.
I’ve used Tracktion alot, however prefer Reaper. I just started using Cakewalk and it’s next level! Who cares what I have to say, just try it, don’t hate it because its new and different than what you’re used to, figure out how to use it and you’ll probably agree that it easily surpasses any other free DAW. However, there is something I’d like to say about it. Anyone who’s spent years collecting freeware plugin’s knows, finding good sounding sampled/orchestral instruments is difficult and honestly I still haven’t found a good free orchestral vst that rivals Kontakt and such. I use Xpand (got it when it was free) and its pretty good, however guess what Cakewalk is bundled with the BEST sounding free strings ever! Bass, Cello, and Violin – it sounds amazing!
I’d say better than Xpand even! There’s also an ok sounding keyboard (I’m not really into the Rhodes sound) and a really good bass guitar (again possibly better than Xpand and and my other free bass vst (i’d have to test it side by side)).
I haven’t even tried the effects plugin’s yet. So yea, just thought I’d share because, like I said, anyone who spends their life stalking free vst sites knows some sounds don’t really exist at certain levels in the freeware world, and to those people, go try those strings and that bass. (And i just went to see whether it was an arpeggiator or sequencer i saw earlier, fyi its an arpeggiator, and while i was looking i noticed you can load Reaper on to a track in Cakewalk. Literally the program Reaper, showed up in one of the plugin sections the box to the right of instruments and MIDI i think and i loaded Reaper onto a track like a VST and it opened a window of Reaper just like a VST not sure what it means lol however I’m guessing mad amounts of versatility). Have to say I did not see this coming! Been a Sonar user since Sonar 2, went to 5, and stuck with 8.5 Producer. It did everything I needed.
I heard too many stories of flaky stuff with the X1,2,3 versions. And I did not buy into the”rent to use” plan. I was pleased it had been rescued by Bandlab. But expected there to be a cut down version at a lower price. Certainly not for free. I have d/loaded Cakewalk Bandlab. And new horizons await I feel.
It has scanned all my vsts ( a couple of flaky sessions) but it has scanned all the original Sonar 8.5 vst instruments and effex. The only ones missing are my NI Komplete 10 (though oddly Kontakt shows up) so will dig deeper to see why not. With a little patience I’ve already been customising (like the ability to place vst effects into custom folders).
And as I have 2 x 22″ HD screens. To undock and move elements is very useful.
Regarding the BLab app. It’s a simple thing to block it a start up. This could be a real game changer for amateurs, semi-pros. And possible a few pros? And with the plethora of free vst’s about (my whole output for years was dependant on freebies).
There is no need to compromise now I feel. Although I appreciate that Sonar continues to live on, and the fact that I’m a big fan of free software, I cannot ignore the fact that I paid over 300€ last year for Sonar Professional – then all of this happened. By now I already switched to Studio One Pro, which is imo lightyears ahead of Sonar. Everything just works as expected, there is so much you can do that Sonar just couldn’t. I’m finishing Songs within hours instead of dealing with “DAW bugs” for weeks. Sonar was so dated, buggy, I had a ton of issues, strange dropouts on workstation hardware with low load and RME Audiointerface. The community was never “awesome” instead the long-established party worked hard in their forums to push everybody with other opinions than “Sonar is great”.
All voices that pointed towards the issues remained unheard, Software bugs remained unchecked and unfixed. In my eyes that was the true reason Cakewalk died. Tl;dr: For free it’s a great DAW, probably the greatest atm, cause S1 Prime lacks VST Support (which is the main selling point to upgrade). But I wouldn’t want to deal with it anymore. Very sad that the bundled stuff wasn’t released alongside with Sonar, especially for people that had paid very good money this is a hit in the face. I was wondering when someone like you was going to comment.
As a Studio One user and lover, I know there were a bunch of Sonar refugees who jumped ship to Studio One and after seeing this my first thought (after the inital “HOLY COW $500 SOFTWARE FOR FREE?”) was “man those Sonar refugees must be pissed”. Of course there’s no one you can really blame, except Gibson maybe. Bandlab is, I think, making a good move here.
Great way to get people into their ecosystem. And of course, I think this is without a doubt a game changer for the budget/freeware market of music making. Studio One prime seems like an even more useless product than it already was. Hello Philippe, perhaps you were not that lucky with Sonar, i have the opposite feeling about Sonar Platinum i use day after day. No i exactly had 2 little problems in 2 years, not bugs, rather missing functions in keyboard shortcuts preferences, and it was allways corrected on the following update. Sonar Platinum is very stable, i use it along with Ableton Live 10 and SSL Soundscape V7.2, the synchronization is flawless and if there is sometimes a problem, it allways turns out it was my fault, or a buggy VST. Most of the answers are in the Cakewalk support system, which i hope it will allways be active.
And the VST support is really flawless with the 32 / 64 bridge and the VST/ 2/ 3 support. Melodyne Studio 4 is perfectly integrated since i installed it. Best is like asking – which food is best – they serve different needs in the body. Some need Tracktion some need Cakewalk, both are good. Tracktion probably better suited to small projects.
Cakewalk takes more of the traditional console workflow/approach. More like Mixbus., and its good that it has so much built into each channel – trim/gain pots, eq, tape emulation, compressor, so much built into each channel. Cakewalk even without the in-built effects turn on is the most resource hungry DAW I have used in a while. Reminds me of Cubase SX 1.0 about 16 years ago – Heavyweight boxer/Sumo wrestler.
I’m a Reaper user. I would try this software but I downloaded the installer and was frustrated because extra steps were required.
When developers advertise “free” then they can create an offline installer and require nothing further from the user. If the user is using the software, they will join the forum for support anyway. It feels like this software will end up crippled or sold to a third party who will un-free it someday. Prove me wrong by making a fully offline installer from now on, and I will be glad to finish the installation process and marvel at the thing, but right now Reaper is mind blowing and gets the job done.
I noticed if you go to cakewalk.com and sign in with your bandlab account, but don’t click on the orange banner on top of the screen to be redirected to bandlab, Click on products and select platinum version of sonar, then click on try that will take you a place where you get Square I, Groovesynth, DropZone, and Session Drummer 3,It’s located under(Artist Instrument Collection). Also you get Cyclone, Pentagon, PSYN II, RXP, Z3TA+ Classic, TruePianos, Lounge Lizard SONAR, and Strum Acoustic SONAR, it’s under(Platinum Instrument Collection).
You get Boz Digital Labs ProChannel Collection, every plugin on that page. They will work with bandlab cakewalk without timeout or trial.