@vladasyn -- I agree that there will be a perception that *some* people will view "free" software as somehow inferior, and not worthy of paying for session time in a professional setting like a studio, of course. It's a fact of life. How *many* people that will affect for your specific case will be related to the kind of clients you have and how much they trust you. Some people really DO want to feel like they're paying for something that they can't get for free, whether or not the "free" software is professional. In this case, Cakewalk can absolutely produce professional results, of course. And yes, it's free. So you have a potential issue with *some* clients, and I get one of the points you're making. And I do think it's valid for *some* situations. HOWEVER, and this is a BIG however, there are plenty of things to think about in this situation:
1) As has been stated by several other people in this thread, just because Cakewalk is now free, it has NO impact on the kind of professional results you can get out of it.
2) Just because Cakewalk is now free doesn't mean that BandLab will now somehow focus development mainly on a bunch a new amateurs that will be coming onboard to Cakewalk. We really don't know yet, and we'll have to watch this carefully. But from what Meng and Noel have said, they will definitely be keeping professional features in the plans, so for now, let's take them for their word, and then hold them to that if they get distracted! So I think the current direction is very much a positive direction for professional users. There is NO evidence so far that Cakewalk will be dumbed down to a limited consumer product.
3) And also, BTW, no matter WHAT they do in the long run, this has a big business advantage to you because a whole new market of clients may open up to you to help them polish off their projects more professionally in your studio. You could corner a market in your area of users who use Cakewalk.
4) Any professional studio is made up of MANY MANY things other than its DAW software, as you know. The entire signal chain (from microphones to preamps to converters to plugins to the computers to the monitors to other tools and outboard gear to the physical space itself in the studio, etc.) all have MASSIVE impact on how professional a studio is. The price of a DAW is a TINY slice of the cost of a professional studio, vladasyn. So what if the core DAW software itself is free?
5) And let us not forget the MOST important part of a professional studio is the expertise and professionalism of the engineer/producer who operates the business and provides the whole professional experience for the client.
6) Additionally, to emphasize, just because Cakewalk itself is now free, doesn't mean you won't be investing tons of money in other software and plugins and tools that the client won't have access to normally.
But STILL, yes, I agree that there will be *some* clients who will NOT like you to be using "free" software like Cakewalk. They won't be common, but they will indeed have issues with you. So they are easy to deal with. :-) I have experienced this MANY times in a very similar situation regarding Pro Tools, for example. Some of my clients INSIST that I use Pro Tools, no matter what. They are totally ignorant about the issue, and just simply have it stuck in their brains that I have to use Pro Tools. Doesn't matter if I use ANY other DAW, for them, it HAS to say Pro Tools on it. Those people are rare, but it still happens to me. This is a similar situation to people who may INSIST that you do NOT use "free" software like Cakewalk.
So here's the solution I use for any client who doesn't understand that it doesn't matter WHAT DAW I use:
1) First, I try to educate them respectfully and carefully over time to help them understand what really matters and what doesn't matter. In most cases, over time and because of the professional results and treatment I give them, they then begin to trust me entirely and then all this is no longer an issue.
2) During the period where they still require Pro Tools, for example, I simply use Pro Tools for them! Simple as that! Or at least I use it in FRONT of them. Either way, they perceive that I'm using Pro Tools for them. But I do NOT like Pro Tools at all, and when they don't need to be in the studio, if possible (and of course depending on how the project is structured and what deliverables they need), I just simply use the DAW that I want! Problem solved. In many cases, they don't NEED to KNOW I didn't use Pro Tools, for example, and I will basically use the DAW I feel best suits the project.
Bottom line is that you don't have to sacrifice anything by using Cakewalk if you WANT to use Cakewalk. But you just have to educate your clients and/or create a workflow that works around their personal issues for them. It's not a big deal. You will have clients with all sorts of quirks, and as a professional you have to learn how to work with them or work around them and still be professional.
In the end, Cakewalk being free is a net positive for everyone in the DAW community IMO. And BTW, the new business model of Cakewalk has yet to be fully revealed over time. We really only have a few comments from Meng and Noel about it, some very good comments BTW, that present a very positive potential for Cakewalk. But it should come as NO surprise to you that the ENTIRE DAW market has been adapting to new business models over the last several years. DAWs becoming FREE, with paid modules/plugins/content, etc., is a *natural* progression of business models in the entire software industry. I think BandLab is in fact being very bold in trying this business model on DAWs, and maybe it will work, maybe it won't. We shall see. But the whole industry is watching, and for all we know, many other DAWs may follow this model in the years to come.
None of that changes the fact that *some* clients will ALWAYS want one particular DAW for one particular reason or another, or maybe they want one particular microphone, or preamp, or plugin, or lava lamp, or voodoo doll, and you have the opportunity to provide services to that market if you want to. In all cases, being a professional has almost NOTHING to do with the tools you use, but rather HOW you use them and the kind of relationship you build with a client.
Case in point, I still have some clients from 15-20 years ago who trust me implicitly because I earned their trust with my work and professional attitude over the many years. I could use an old version of the open-source Audacity on a 10-year old crappy laptop with them, and they would trust my work, not my tools. And in my years of experience, I've seen *miracles* come from musicians and producers and engineers using old, obsolete hardware or "cheap" or "free" software, and they create brilliant masterpieces because they are so good at what they use. Some people these days are spoiled by the incredible tools we have, and they think about image first, and quality and creativity later. But in the end, quality and creativity always win.
The truth is that Cakewalk (and most other top DAWs) have FAR exceeded in many cases the market's actual technical needs to create the art that they were built for. We are now in a very lucky golden age of equipment and software, totally democratizing creative fields, and the ONLY differentiating factor in a production is honestly the skill, talent, creativity, hard work, and professionalism of a producer/artist/engineer.