@ pwalpwal
Some people seen it as an underhanded way to keep bilking money from well meaning Cakers, some seen it as more of a subscription, some seen it as incremental ownership, some felt that paying monthly entitled them to expensive goodies every month, some were happy with just a solid update. It wasn't a huge hit among those who liked the old system. A few liked the idea of paying for the software monthly. 
 
Of course, soon after the introduction of the monthly payment plan the bottom dropped out. The rest is history. Several DAW makers and plugin makers are adopting similar plans. My YouTube keeps getting ads for splice rent to own. They know I buy software and plugins.
 
Where I personally draw the line is when a company says to me that if I don't pay I loose use of the software. Never mind obsolescence. That part is understandably an accepted computer/software fact. It's ok for them to tell me my version is ok until it becomes obsolete. I still have Platinum on my computer and it still works just fine a year out, though I don't often use it since I have CbB.
 
Haven't read the fine print on any company doing the monthly obligation thing. Waves came close to loosing my business. They didn't because there is value in updating and I'm willing to pay for that with respect to their products. They also made sure that V9 owners could stay in the game. Sooner or later things advance and you either move along with it or get left behind. Concerning CbB. It's the game in town now. It's being updated. No reason for me to look up old ideas and plans.

a13xhp
I understand all of the pessimistic comments regarding Cakewalk. One year passed from the Gibson debacle and the SONAR community is still with a "in the air" feeling and to worry them even more Noel&Meng are disappeared lately and we don't know what happened with the November update.
All in all, I am optimistic and I think that the absence of this monthly update may mean that they are preparing something bigger.

 I don't use Cakewalk that much anymore but had licenses from Sonar 2 to present.  When that news came out it hit us hard.  As competitive as the DAW world is most developers hate when something like this happens. There were some sympathetic vibes from other developers offering bargains on their DAW. 
 
 I doubt there is anything close to the free Cakewalk other than Reaper with it's nag screen.  If someone has a band and wants to record this would be the DAW.  The popular DAWs appeal to the EDM crowd.
 
 If I become totally broke I'm "stuck" with FL and Cakewalk.

Simple put, for people who are serious about their audio work, whether they are devoted hobbyists or professionals, the price of the DAW is a relatively small investment compared to the investment required to learn how to use the DAW and the investment of working on projects that are locked up into that DAW's proprietary format. 
 
Whether it is accurate or not, there is a perception that a company that has been around for a couple of decades and has a well-known hardware business is going to be more likely to be able to continue operation as they are today versus a company that is only a few years old and has a relatively unclear business model. It isn't exactly unusual for startups to come along and offer all kinds of free stuff and then suddenly disappear one day. If Bandlab's auth servers go away, then you can't use their free Cakewalk anymore and you are going to have to learn how to use some other DAW and recreate all your projects from memory. 
 

Dave76
If Bandlab's auth servers go away, then you can't use their free Cakewalk anymore and you are going to have to learn how to use some other DAW and recreate all your projects from memory. 

To be fair, that's true of any DAW. That's why I don't consider a project as finished until all tracks have been rendered as WAV files that can load into anything. I still have some rendered tracks from Ensoniq PARIS sitting around in case I ever need to remix those projects.
 

I am one of the lucky people who own Sonar Platinum, by CAKEWALK! And it continues to work perfectly for me. I do not like the idea's of extra eyes being added for money by Cakewalk By Bandlab. That is why I will continue to use Sonar Platinum By Cakewalk. I have image backups if an issue were to happen and will take my PC offline if needed to prevent any problems in the future. 
 
It really is a good thing that they are offering the freebie version. But I feel it's an invasion with the software you have to install to begin with to get it. That being said. 
 
I do not care for the free former Krystal : "AHEM" Studio One software, because while things might not be like they are now, a friend of mine purchased that software and said that you had to be online to use it in his case. Not sure about how much truth there is to that. Maybe you have to have an ILOK device or what? 
 
Either way, I thought this was a SONAR forums, not STUDIO ONE...  And since Cakewalk By Bandlab is back why am I reading this? 
 
For me it's like buying a hardware multitrack recorder, this one is working great for me, SONAR PLATINUM by the people who MADE IT GREAT to begin with, I do not feel a need to change at this point in time and never will honestly because if it ain't broke, don't try and fix it!
 
Just my opinions here folks. Glad Bandlab is keeping the old activation for the Cakewalk software still working, but there will come a day when they wont do that, because everybody get's tired of paying a bill they don't have to pay. 
 
Image backup your stuff! On multiple devices if possible is my advice... JMO...... 
 
 

I must confess.... I took Splice up on the offer. I felt like Cakewalk was somehow in my rear view mirror for a bit until I got heavily into a song in Studio One.
 
It recorded really nicely. It took me about an hour and I had tracks laid in Studio One.
 
I loved the way the program found my audio interface (after I initially selected it) and it even selected my input one in mono automatically.
 
It also automatically set up echo so I could hear my input. 
 
From that point on the program was a real headache...
 
The envelopes are each in a separate track. This was horrible and I was constantly disoriented as to which track I as working with.
 
Unlike Cakewalk, where I can right click on a track and select envelopes from an easy to navigate dropdown the envelopes were a mess in Studio One.
 
My Cakewalk Breverb did not work in Studio One and Studio One's reverb sounded noisy as does the reverb in Izotope.
 
Prochannel was gone and I cannot work without that.
 
The layout of Studio One's Console view is confusing and I am not sure if Studio One even has a matrix view I could not get that far and tutorials are scarce.
 
I could not get a single side chain to work in Studio One and could not find a tutorial that explained it.
 
I exported my tracks as stems from Studio One (which worked nicely) and loaded them up in Cakewalk and within a couple hours had a song finished in Cakewalk that I could not mix and master in Studio One. The vocals nestled right into the music which I could not accomplish in days in Studio One.
 
Setting up Midi Instruments was a convoluted process in Studio One that I still could not figure out how to get envelopes to work right in. 
 
To be fair I have been using Cakewalk since DOS and I only had a few days working with Studio One. 
 
But, I had to cancel my subscription to Studio One and I am back with Cakewalk by Bandlab.
 
I did like recording in Studio One (a lot) but when it came to mixing and mastering I found that process near to impossible. It is not worth it to use Studio One for recording only to move the tracks to Cakewalk for mixing and mastering so I will simply use Cakewalk for the entire process.
 
And.. I had Studio One lock up on me about 15 times... It was not well suited for use with Nectar 2 and kept crashing. And when studio One crashes I have to restart the PC to get it to shut down unlike Cakewalk which will shut down by simply unplugging and replugging in my audio interface a couple times.
 
Cakewalk crashes too but it releases itself from Windows for the most part without a restart of my machine.
 
I am often rendering videos in the background and a restart is not possible.
 
I may one day revisit Studio One but for now I am back to what works and works exceptionally well!
 
What took me days in Studio One, to no avail for my mix to come into focus, I was able to accomplish within hours in Cakewalk.
 
I thought Studio One would be the DAW to end all DAWS and it is not. I am not here to insult this product, I am just being frank. Cakewalk has been slighted by the industry for years but us Cakewalk users know it is the very best DAW that, consequently, no money is needed to buy...
 
Cakewalk was the best when it was a paid product and it still is the best as a free product...
 
People from other DAWS can toss around their words like, "industry standard" but it does not make it so.

I admit I am a bit confused how you went from this in the OP...
 

RexRed
I am sure Studio One is a great DAW but I plan to stay right where I am.
 

to this above...
 

RexRed
I thought Studio One would be the DAW to end all DAWS and it is not.
 

 
in a single tacking session (since you said you did nothing else). It sort of undermines your...
 

RexRed
I am not here to insult this product
 

 
since that seems to be your only intent. Again, since this forum is locked to new (read "CbB only") users, it is unclear if you are seeking affirmation for your own choices, or to disparage something you admit you haven't used. Since participation here has dropped to an all-time low, you may want to try a FB campaign (if it is the former), or posting on the PreSonus forums (if it is the latter). In either case, your affirmation/disparagement will yield better feedback than it will here.

I'm a bit confused by your confusion.

RexRed
I must confess.... I took Splice up on the offer. I felt like Cakewalk was somehow in my rear view mirror for a bit until I got heavily into a song in Studio One.
 <snip>
To be fair I have been using Cakewalk since DOS and I only had a few days working with Studio One. 
 

I really don't see the point of this thread, but agree it would be hilarious to see this posted over at the PreSonus forum!
 
And it seems no attempt at fairness was even attempted.
 
I have been using Cakewalk for 20 years, but bought the Studio One crossgrade when Gibson gave us the heave last year.  Also upgraded an old version of Ableton Live to the most recent one.
 
I don't think a few days use with any DAW is enough to give one a fair view of the pros and cons, but each DAW is never going to be "the one" for everyone.  That's why there are so many tools available.
 
I have not abandoned Cakewalk, and appreciate the efforts that Meng and Noel, and the team, have made with bringing Cakewalk back from the ashes.  But I also enjoy learning other tools and workflows.  Maybe that's just me, but I can see the strengths and weaknesses in many products, and I try to learn which has the best tool for what I want to accomplish. 
 
I bought Cakewalk upgrades for years, including most versions of Sonar, and would state that Cakewalk is definitely the best free DAW available, and likely as good or better than some paid ones.  But to unfairly bash another very popular leading DAW just because you didn't understand it, or because it didn't work exactly like Cakewalk, does not help anyone reading the thread.
 
A "few days".  Ha! 

Just to be clear, Cubase 10 looks to be the new DAW to end all DAWs!