bapu
The only consensus I have is that CbB is as good if not a little better than SONAR Platinum.
 
I own other DAWs that do somethings more brilliantly than CbB but may be lacking in other areas. Such is life.
 

Agreed!  +1 

40% better!

And LJB says it all in one sentence!  Bingo!

pwalpwal

Anderton
Some people here don't understand that business isn't just "sell widget = receive money" any more, especially if a business is a division of a much larger company. That even applies to those who think data is a widget...it may or may not be.

yeah, back in the day business was a lot more transparent... there have been several posts asking how bandlab will make money if sonar is free, but no answer has been forthcoming, no wonder people are paranoid

I wouldn't expect a company to lay out out a business and marketing plan in a peer-to-peer forum. I do think my comments on why giving away Sonar for free would be worth it to BandLab and its parent company are pretty plausible.

abacab

bapu
The only consensus I have is that CbB is as good if not a little better than SONAR Platinum.
 
I own other DAWs that do somethings more brilliantly than CbB but may be lacking in other areas. Such is life.
 

Agreed!  +1 

+1

Anderton

noynekker
 . . . could we just rename this thread "The Conspiracy Theories Thread" ?

 
Some people here don't understand that business isn't just "sell widget = receive money" any more, especially if a business is a division of a much larger company. That even applies to those who think data is a widget...it may or may not be.
 

It's free because the hard part is already done and programmed. It's free because there are too many DAWs that do the same thing in different ways. It's free because the company that bought it can afford it to be free. It's free for the same reason that Windows 10 and MAC 10 are free. It's free because it eliminates the need to even bother to compete in the DAW wars . . . a nice war, where no one dies. It's free because it helps marketing gurus to connect with the masses, in order to sell you other related products in the future. It's free because the game of chess has been played the same old way for far too long.

Absolutely, to which I would add...
 

• BandLab probably got more press for reviving Sonar in one month than Cakewalk got for the monthly updates in a year.
• Maybe BandLab will finally implement add-ons which you can choose to buy or not.
• They got a ton of good code to use in other products.
• They can keep people in the BandLab ecosystem who grow beyond the basics. Customer retention is very expensive, and CbB provides an inexpensive customer retention mechanism.
• More people will try it and put videos and such out on the web...promotion that costs BandLab nothing.
• People who drifted away from Cakewalk over the years can try the program, be pleasantly surprised at what they missed, and get sucked back in...and maybe buy some of the add-ons one day :)

 
As I've said before, you can look at CbB (in its current form) as a lousy profit center, or as a brilliantly efficient, and low cost (over the long haul) marketing expense. I have no idea how BandLab looks at it, but that's what I see.
 

yes

So, is CbB available only as 64-bit, or is a 32-bit version also available?  Reason why I ask is because there are a couple of DXi's that are bundled with it that I could use outside of Cakewalk. And I can't figure out how to get Cakewalk Command Center to let me d/l a 32-bit version of SPlat. Probably doesn't even exist over there anymore, I'm thinking.
 

CbB is 64-bit only, but you can install 32 or 64 Platinum from CCC.

I've been using Cakewalk products since the DOS days in 1992. They were the first ones to incorporate midi and audio together. I have between 4,000 and 5,000 songs that I've done and occasionally I need to revisit on old song to make some changes. 
 
In the Fall when Cakewalk was dropped, I decided I'll continue t use it until I had a reason not to. So when Bandlab took over Cakewalk I was very pleased and especially since I found out they hired some former Cakewalk people like Noel Borthwick, who's been with them well over 20 years, maybe longer and is absolutely brilliant.
 
When I first installed CbB I was pleased at how easy it was, only requiring some minor tweaking. I was even more pleased when I found it was far more stable for me than Splat. I still have 64 bit and 32 bit Splat installed, in case I need to use them for some reason. So anyone who's on the fense has nothing to lose by installing CbB, since it has no effect on Splat. In fact you can open them both at the saem time.
 
It took me a long time to transition from 32 bit to 64 bit, but I did about 2 years ago, so when I need to revisit an old 32 bit project I just use my 32 bit Splat and it works perfectly for that. Anyone who's still 32 bit really should use this as a time to go to 64 bit for new projects.
 
The consensus for me it's I'm very pleased that Bandlab has resurrected Cakewalk and I'm sure they'll get things organized with the new forum, tech support, etc. At least we have hope now this will continue. I feel much better that Bandlab has Cakewalk as opposed to Gibson or Roland. I think they'll do just fine. Let's all be patient.

mwmcbroom
So, is CbB available only as 64-bit, or is a 32-bit version also available?  Reason why I ask is because there are a couple of DXi's that are bundled with it that I could use outside of Cakewalk. And I can't figure out how to get Cakewalk Command Center to let me d/l a 32-bit version of SPlat. Probably doesn't even exist over there anymore, I'm thinking.
 

1. You have to tell CCC to use Verbose installation then it will give an option for 32 or 64 bit install.

2. If that doesn’t work go to the CCC download folder (location to be found in CCC Paths) and double click the Sonar installer and it will run in Verbose mode as described above in 1.