Cakewalk By Bandlab

[Creativemind]

Hi All!

Just downloading this. It is free.

Anyone else using this software?

Can Reason be rewired into it?

If you do use it, what are it's pro's and cons?

Thanks!

[boingy]

I've used Cakewalk since the days of MSDOS and I still use it for probably 25% of my music time, Reason being the other 75%. I also dabble with Reaper, Bitwig and Ableton but I always come back to Cakewalk when I need to get stuff done.

Yes, it Rewires just fine, but Reason has to be the Rewire slave and you can't use VSTs in Reason when Rewired (PH - why not?????)

Cakewalk is much, much better than Reason for MIDI sequencing and has better VST support. Reason does not do MIDI VSTs or VST3.
Cakewalk has a half decent music staff view which helps if you need to collaborate with a "real musician". If you are a geek, Cakewalk still supports the CAL macro language which is a very fast way to adjust/filter notes, velocities, whatever. Other stuff I use a lot: diatonic transposition, midi event view, controller data thinning, midi loop recording.

Those are the reasons I use it rather than Reason. The cons are that the supplied instruments are pretty MEH and the workflow can be a little clunky.

I quite often start a project in Cakewalk to get the basic arrangement and chord progression sorted then import it all into Reason to mess with it some more and to add any vocals or live instruments. The audio comp in Reason is awesome.

I've been using Reason since V,1 when it was very much just an add-on synth rack and I'm very comfortable in the Reason environment but it just doesn't do everything I need.

At a price of free, Cakewalk is a no brainer. Like everything it takes a bit of effort to get going but I promise you it is worth it. At present Bandlab are actively supporting and updating it so I am optimistic for the future.

[Soft Enerji]

I've been using Sonar since v7 and for me it really came of age a few years back when they released Sonar Platinum. At that point it became my main DAW. I still used Reason to flesh out ideas but inevitably would finish off in SPlat. That is effectively what you get with CbB, perhaps minus a few bells and whistles that the Platinum version had.

When Gibson closed down Cakewalk I was extremely disappointed and pretty much stopped using it. Even after the Bandlab takeover was announced I couldn't bring myself to use it for some reason. But I gradually got over that and now I'm back on board. If anything Bandlab have slightly improved the product and promise to continue developing. Like boingy said above, I am also optimistic. It is too good a DAW to have been allowed to just die.

I'd recommend anyone grab it while it's free because I doubt it will stay that way forever.

[sleep1979]

Its got to be the best free daw hasnt it its up there with the top ones , i think they will eventually do a fortnite give the software away for free and charge you for new add on parts of it and instruments etc

[avasopht]

I installed it several months ago ... don't think I was too impressed ...

Here's a brief review of 10 free DAWs

[Soft Enerji]

I'll just correct myself on my last post. What you get with CbB is the basic version of Sonar (all the bells and whistles are still there for me from my SPlat version) which is still a great DAW for anyone looking to branch out.

I'll also say that after all the cash (and it would be well over 2K Australian) I spent with Cakewalk, for the initial outlay then upgrades and add ons, before they got shafted....errr I mean shut down, I have no regrets. I have an amazing fully functioning DAW that will still work for the foreseeable future even if Bandlab hadn't taken it over.

[Soeno]

great Daw, on par with Studio One imo

[Deerstetmusic]

I used Sonar Platinum long time and have been happy with it. Many inbuilt FX, like e.g. midi arpeggiator with tons of templates ready to use you will hardly find in other DAW's. Cakewalk by Bandlab was the answer by Singaporean founder of Bandlab Kuok Meng Ru after Gibson ( the former owner of Cakewalk ) pulled the plug . Bandlab is basically a Community of musicians seeking for collaborations, which is possible through their app . Sonar Platinum and Cakewalk by Bandlab is pretty much the same, EXCEPT from certain addons, which have been dismissed due to license issues. Sonar Platinum is dead ,because there is no support anymore unlike Cakewalk by Bandlab. Some developers from Cakewalk changed to Bandlab and continue development and also give support and regularly deliver updates . As it seems, CbB will stay freeware, since it now became a kind of leader, why people register at Bandlab . For me, you cant compare CbB with Reason, it depends on the project . Whenever it comes to sample based productions, i only would recommend Reason. which offers much more options for manipulations than CbB . All other productions are IMO a matter of taste . CbB is a " you got nothing to loose" worth a trial if you feel like and got enough space on your HDD . I for one love Reason and produce with this brilliant piece of Software whenever i can . Admittedly, when it comes to mastering or mixing bigger projects, where midi and live recordings are involved, i tend to use Sequoia or CbB .