Does a free Tracktion and Cakewalk threaten any DAWs?

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avasopht
Competition Winner
Posts: 3932
Joined: 16 Jan 2015

31 Oct 2018

A free Tracktion and particularly Cakewalk (Sonar Platinum minus Melodyne Essentials, Addictive Drums and a few others) seem like it could be a serious threat to any modest DAW competing on price, such as:

1. Reaper
2. Muzys
3. Ardour

But it's also a huge deterrent to competition from small fries who'd have to sink years of development before they ever had a chance of seeing a return through upsales to premium plugins and content packs.

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Loque
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Joined: 28 Dec 2015

31 Oct 2018

I opened Cakewalk while it was free, than closed it. Does not threaten anything except me. I was more interested in the plugins, but they do not seem to work outside of Cakewalk or i did something entirely wrong.

Did not tried Tracktion yet...Tbh, i am more interested in the fx than the DAW.
Reason12, Win10

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QVprod
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31 Oct 2018

Reaper's been "free" for years. Still not the most popular DAW despite being a fairly equal contender to all the big players. I perceive Cakewalk to have the same non-threatening presence. I suggested it to someone the other week because they were looking to buy their first DAW and couldn't afford the full version of FL Studio. His response to me was ; 'Is it easy?" That aside, there a psychology about perceived value. We naturally tend to ascribe higher value to things we pay for, especially if it isn't "cheap".

As far as the smaller ones, Cakewalk might just be a direct competitor to Reaper though. Ardour's not worth the 1 dollar I payed to download it.

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miscend
Posts: 1955
Joined: 09 Feb 2015

31 Oct 2018

There are lots of free DAWs like Garageband on Mac. And several lite versions that you get free when you buy a midi device or audio interface. So I don't think these new free DAWs change anything as the psychology of DAWs is such that people prefer paid for DAWs as they believe that will lead to higher quality music. But honestly there is no reason why you couldn't make high quality music with free software as that is already way more powerful than anything the Beatles or Elvis were using.

prophecy
Posts: 57
Joined: 18 Oct 2018
Location: Liverpool

05 Nov 2018

I tried both Tracktion 7 and Cakewalk/Sonar/Bandlab or whatever it's called. I could not work them out and T7 froze my computer every time. I did not rate Cakewalk at all, and I'm brand new to DAWs.

So far Reason L10 has been much easier to figure my way around and use in anger.
Reason 10 Lite | Surface Pro 3 i5 | Akai MPK Mini II | Yamaha Clavinova CVP5 | Fingers | Ears |

VariableX
Posts: 564
Joined: 02 Apr 2018

05 Nov 2018

Tracktion worked for me back in the day.
I found it really easy to use and intuitive. But then it was sold to Mackie (now back with original developers) and stopped being developed.
They would have lost loads of users in the years it was with Mackie.
All the old VSTs I owned back then are gone ( I have forgot what I owned, never updated them, some disappeared before I could get my hands on 64bit (think Camel))
I still have Tracktion 7 and a few of their VSts, BioTek is cool.

kitekrazy
Posts: 1036
Joined: 19 Jan 2015

13 Nov 2018

I've used Cakewalk since the turn of the century and eventually as I got more interested in dance genres I moved away from it. I got into FL Studio then Live, I eventually got Reason 4 because it was so different than anything else. I have about 12 DAWs I think. I'm glad I don't have a Mac becuase Logic would be added to that collection.

Free DAWs are nothing new. There was Pro Tools Free in the 90s. Sony had a free version of Acid and you downloaded 8 packs from Acid Planet. The first version of Tracktion under Behringer was free, CM had a free DAW.

As for a free DAW Cakewalk by Bandlab is hard to beat. It's basically Sonar XL. There's not limitations. Even though I stopped using Sonar I was saddened when they ceased development because competition is good. Now it back and free from a company that had an online app.

Free has very little impact even in VSTs. If you offer something for free it better be quality otherwise no one will buy your stuff. There was a developer who made a thread about free refills hurting the industry. Not sure how other than I wont support a whining developer.

Free might appeal to the casual user who doesn't want to spend money. When it gets more serious that's when people buy. Every developer has loyalists that keeps them afloat. It's not always about what is better but what is familiar. We've taken our software too seriously. A perfect example is Music Radar's Best DAW poll.

kitekrazy
Posts: 1036
Joined: 19 Jan 2015

13 Nov 2018

fretshot7 wrote:
05 Nov 2018
Tracktion worked for me back in the day.
I found it really easy to use and intuitive. But then it was sold to Mackie (now back with original developers) and stopped being developed.
They would have lost loads of users in the years it was with Mackie.
All the old VSTs I owned back then are gone ( I have forgot what I owned, never updated them, some disappeared before I could get my hands on 64bit (think Camel))
I still have Tracktion 7 and a few of their VSts, BioTek is cool.
They did. The developers learned a lesson about having someone bigger take over. At least it wasn't Gibson.

electricthing
Posts: 68
Joined: 08 May 2018

13 Nov 2018

I installed the free Cakewalk when it came out.
Opened it, opened RP Blue 2, crash
Uninstalled.
(Never had a RP Blue crash with any other DAW)

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