So what's the consensus now?
 
Stick with Sonar/Bandlab, or jump ship and go with Pro Studio, Cubase, or something else?
 
Or are we all still sitting on the fence, trying to get a firm sense of whether Bandlab will have the inspiration and resources to truly revitalise Sonar?  Or will investing time (and possibly money) in Bandlab be yet another case of throwing good money after bad?
 
 

Be honest with yourself, what kind of answer are you expecting to get here? It's a bit like going to the Manchester United headquarters and asking who's the best, Man United or Liverpool
 
Go on your own experiences and thoughts, and needs, track record is what it's all about. I made my decision nearly 3 years ago and I have yet to see anything that would entice me back in the slightest, but that's me, and you are you. Best of luck.

Cakewalk is still king! :)

RexRed
Cakewalk is still king! :)

I thought you were King?
 
Or are you dead!
 

After some stability issues with CbB and with is still uncertain future due to the not transparent politics of Bandlab I will stick with REAPER for now. When I know if I can rely in this program at long term I will give it a try again. Don't get me wrong I really like Cakewalk.

Cakewalk by BandLab.
If people don't like it or use it - then wtf are they doing here?
(I don't hang around in the Mac forums and say that I prefer Windows.)

I was more and more positive about CbB and BandLab in the last time. But the NEW crash with the stereo/mono switch that I reported yesterday made me switch back to another DAW. If even a simple thing like recording a guitar with TH3 in a new project with only 2 tracks does not run, that is no good sign and it is annoying!
 
To GjB: I think you see it a little bit too one-sided. There are many people like me who really like the design of Sonar/CbB and who hope that it will succeed, but they are waiting for evident reasons. And that is why I track and comment what is here in this forum.
 
regards
Marc

GjB
Cakewalk by BandLab.
If people don't like it or use it - then wtf are they doing here?
(I don't hang around in the Mac forums and say that I prefer Windows.)

It's all in the signature
 
"It's the entertainment value, the comic relief . . . plus the Software and Deals Forum"
 
Plus as a /cough Lifetime Updates /cough member, I like to keep an eye on things, my personal opinion, and going on track record, is that CbB will fail within 2 years. It seems to be no secret that Cakewalk/SONAR has been hemorrhaging money for a long time, since the Roland years and before, it has also had a fairly large hemorrhage of users since November last year, many long time users have left, and if you believe what they say in other forums, they have no desire to return after experiencing 'life on the outside' YES, there will be those who'll say that they seen the grass on the other side and will return, but let me suggest they may be in the minority, just have a look around the forums and compare the activity to before last November, and look at all the well know names that you just don't see anymore. Also, I think that BandLab not having the new forums up and running and concurrently not allowing new users to sign up and therefore seek help here might be a mistake, they should open the new forums ASAP and shut these ones down in my opinion.
 
It's not as easy as some seem to think, some say it's free so the users will flock to it, I don't think so, there is more at play than just price, Cakewalk/SONAR has, and have had a huge image problem outside these forums, this insular bubble, a huge reputation problem, that is going to be tough to overcome, and you can argue for or against whether or not that image/reputation problem is deserved, it doesn't matter, because it is a fact, pure and simple, it has this problem. SONAR has had a reputation outside this insular bubble of being flaky, buggy, clunky, old and tired for a long time. An example, you see posts/threads her on and off all the time with people complaining about how SONAR wasn't respected, wasn't list by 3rd party vendors as supported etc, you threads like "I'm tired of having to make excuses for using SONAR" (search it) people always saying they don't personally know anyone else who uses SONAR, people giving them strange looks when they tell them they are a SONAR user, people not even knowing what SONAR is, all these type of things get brought up for a reason, and the reason is that is what it's like outside this little insular bubble, Cakewalk/SONAR (and now CbB) aren't that popular, aren't that well known and respected, that's just how it is, like it or not, argue all you like, but the many posts and threads by users on these forums about these 'issues' proves it's a fact.
 
 

The consensus is there is obviously no consensus.

GjB
Cakewalk by BandLab.
If people don't like it or use it - then wtf are they doing here?
(I don't hang around in the Mac forums and say that I prefer Windows.)

Because they like taking a dump in front of people who still use Cakewalk and are having no problems with it. Have you ever watched someone play with a really ugly scab? It's like that, just worse.
I really hope the new forum is only for current active users of Cakewalk only.