chris.r

emwhy
Every time the discussion comes up to make Cakewalk MAC compatible I think back to when Adobe did it with the versions after 3.01. They did get it up and running but in doing so had to remove a lot features for both PC and MAC, some of them never really came back. While it would be nice to see Cakewalk take advantage of another OS, I would hope that it doesn't come at the expense of program features that would neuter it for PC users.

 
Do you mean DX plugins for example...? Anything else?

well sonar uses .net extensively, not to mention 3rd party libs such as the codejockeys interface stuff which i assume they use for "skylight" - it is super baked-into the windows ecosystem... to properly build a mac version would takes years

Adobe audition pretty much became a different product in order to become cross platform. They started with the very consumer level soundbooth and then slowly rebuilt audition based on that. It’s much better as a post production sound tool for video. No matter how you slice it, Cakewalk is not in position to do what Adobe did. The demand from Mac users was there on a large scale. Most logic users I know are unaware cakewalk even exists.

dubdisciple
Adobe audition pretty much became a different product in order to become cross platform. They started with the very consumer level soundbooth and then slowly rebuilt audition based on that. It’s much better as a post production sound tool for video. No matter how you slice it, Cakewalk is not in position to do what Adobe did. The demand from Mac users was there on a large scale. Most logic users I know are unaware cakewalk even exists.

and that took, what, 10 years or so?

Pretty much and I suspect it would have flopped had it not been tethered to cloud package.

urock
I hear you all when you say it is a complicated programming effort.  And there is the big question of is it worth it to the company. But this is not Hendershott-Cakewalk, Roland-Cakewalk, or Gibson-Cakewalk.  Bandlab-Cakewalk has a whole different approach.  The value equation might be different for them.

You're right, Bandlab does indeed have a whole different approach as compared to all the previous owners. All the previous owners charged money for it, Bandlab is giving it away for free. Hard to imagine that giving it away for free is somehow going to generate more cash to fund cross platform development but who knows?

Which kind of brings up a thought I had when I first heard about the Bandlab deal. They wanted a full function DAW to give away in order to help growth of their social media/music collaboration platform. Now I don't know if kids and new music producers would be considered the target audience for such an endeavor but I would expect that demographic to much more represented on such a platform than old guys like me. 


So I've always thought it was an odd choice to offer a free PC based DAW to an audience that tends to mostly use ipads, tablets and macbooks. But those who have met him and worked with him say that Meng's a genius so obviously he's seeing something I don't in all this. Or at least I hope he is. 

Truth be told, the youth targeting aspect seems like the most sound reason to make a Mac push, but still sounds like long shot.

Ewww, just think of the hipster influx here if that would happen.

JohanSebatianGremlin
So I've always thought it was an odd choice to offer a free PC based DAW to an audience that tends to mostly use ipads, tablets and macbooks. But those who have met him and worked with him say that Meng's a genius so obviously he's seeing something I don't in all this. Or at least I hope he is. 

Thing is there’s already a free DAW that works on iPads, Macs and even the phones.

It’s made by Apple and is called Garageband.

Now, while Garageband probably isn’t what anyone here would consider a “proper DAW” it provides a (free) easy to use introduction to the concept of “DAWs” and what they do. It’s also a useful loss-leader for Apple because when the Garageband user realises they need something bigger and better the obvious choice is Logic.

I can’t think of a similar Windows application, free for the “basic” but still fairly capable version with a not too expensive “grown up” DAW ready for when users feel the need for something more powerful. Maybe CbBL with a free “entry” then paid-for add-ons will be it. It will be interesting to see.

pwalpwal
well sonar uses .net extensively, not to mention 3rd party libs such as the codejockeys interface stuff which i assume they use for "skylight" - it is super baked-into the windows ecosystem... to properly build a mac version would takes years

Sonar being so intergrated with the Wintel system and working so well with Windows is what got me to keep a PC pretty much for nothing else (and running a game or two) despite our other household computers being Mac and Linux. Then Win10 came along and the PC got tempremental, and I’d had to learn Logic anyway so..... but that's another story.

I’d also anticipate building a Mac version of Sonar to be quite a complex task needing an awful lot of person-hours thrown at it. Especially as a Mac version would have to work properly and be “right” at launch. A port full of bugs and not-working-yet features would be a marketing disaster.