Important Announcement For Cakewalk Users

[voclizr]

http://forum.cakewalk.com/Cakewalk-Anno ... 87511.aspx



Stands to reason they're owned by Gibson who's also in trouble.

[Jim_Fogle]

Lots of moaning and groaning going on in the Cakewalk forum. I can't say I blame the posters for expressing their feelings but all the poor, poor pitiful me posts aren't going to change anything.

Implementing the decision to shutter Cakewalk has not been handled very well. Several retail outlets indicated they learned of the decision from their customer base. The Cakewalk website store did not quit offering product until early this morning.

I've purchased Cakewalk's consumer product, Music Creator, several times and have always been pleased using the DAW. Their latest consumer product is called Home Studio. Home Studio received it's first annual update about two weeks ago. I always like to wait to purchase until after the first update as that is when the most glaring bugs get fixed and I consider the product stable. It looks like I waited a little too long this time.

[voclizr]

Lots of moaning and groaning going on in the Cakewalk forum. I can't say I blame the posters for expressing their feelings but all the poor, poor pitiful me posts aren't going to change anything.

See, the people over there always have to have the latest and greatest. If Sonar upgrades every year, they BUY every year. I KNEW there was a reason to just stick with X3 while they kept coming out with the Artist, Professional and Platinum garbage. And they were all hopping on the band wagon for the next big release. (Typical forum discussion: "Wow! Only two more months until Platinum is released!! I CAN'T WAIT!") I wasn't gonna be persuaded by that crap and just stayed with X3. Hell, it took me long enough to learn that! And after I got a grip on the learning curve it became more comfortable to use. Now all they have for all the money they threw away on the "latest and greatest Sonar Release" is worries about re authorizations if they ever need to re install. There's a whole board up getting petitions for the assurance of if the authorization servers go down they will still have access to their software. I don't need to worry about that because I stuck with my X3 which does not need to be authorized. I realize I might have to migrate to a new DAW if/when I have to replace my PC, in which case I think I'll try Reaper, but for now reinstalling and re authorizing are not issues for me because I didn't fork over $500.00 for their (empty) promises.

BTW-I HATE Gibson!!!!

This whole thing seems to be about the trend for Gibson Brands to move away from catering to the musician and instead catering to the listeners. They're more concerned about making speakers and CD players and to hell with guitars, amps and software development for the musicians. They recently closed their first and biggest guitar plant in Nashville to move to a smaller facility. So IMHO-they bite the big one. As one person I heard put it-Gibson has become a cancer in the musical instrument manufacturing community. Gibson is where software goes home to die.

[Jim_Fogle]

I'm not a very good guitar musician , or musician at all really so to me a guitar is a guitar. I have a 12 string acoustic that I dearly love because the neck matches my hand but I can say the same about my Line 6 Variax 300 and Peavy electric guitars.

A "secret": The 12 string was manufactured in Asia while I was stationed overseas. It is branded Gibson because I liked the look better than Martin, Epiphone, Fender or any of the other brand names I could have chosen!

[Omegaman]

I still have Sonar Producer 4, does what I need, although I need to learn more about virtual instruments, the TTS-1 has served me well. it's the same in the video world. I have a friend who was constantly upgrading his software, never used it to produce anything, but kept upgrading all the time. I only upgrade when what I am using no longer does what I need it to do for me.

I have toyed with Reaper but not really dug into it, because of time. Heck I haven't done anything midi in months. lol

[Jim_Fogle]

I love TTS-1. It really helps to have a multi-timbral, polyphonic tool when you're working with MIDI. People might use other patches for their finished project but TTS-1 is just so user friendly.

The original TTS-1 was 32 bit but Cakewalk modified it to create a 64 bit version. Command Center would automatically select the version that matched your operating system but you could over-ride and manually select the alternate. Since Home Studio included TTS-1 my plan was to download both versions. But, ... too late now.

Truthfully, even though Cakewalk is kaput I'd still buy Home Studio if given the opportunity. Since Cakewalk posted an update with bug fixes and new features less than a week before the doors closed it should be a pretty stable product and $49 was an excellent price.

Well, it turns out there is a way to legally obtain Sonar Home Studio Not only can you get Home Studio you can also get Rapture Session (A non programmable soft synth with about 4 GB of built-in sounds) and about 5 GB of loop samples from Big Fish Audio.

Details are available in this post: viewtopic.php?p=211755#p211755

[greenA2]

I hope Gibson's problems don't affect Tascam. It's one of the few companies left doing hardware recorders, and maybe the only one doing 24 and 32 channel versions

[Jim_Fogle]

I'd hate to loose TASCAM too! My first recorder was a TEAC A-3340 4 channel 1/4" tape deck. I also had the Dolby B noise decoder and the remote transport controls. With two inputs per channel and simul-sync capability I thought I had the world by the tail. My younger brother is a huge fan. He had a TASCAM 2488 that he sold and then purchased the newer DP-24 with CD burner and a DP-006 pocket studio.

[Jim_Fogle]

Bandlab Technologies purchased Cakewalk"s intellectual property February 21, 2018. An announcement and additional links are here: http://www.cakewalk.com/

Bandlab Technologies is the private company that bought Cakewalk. It is run by Steve Skillings who invented an online music platform called jamhub and Meng Ru Kuok who provides the financial backing. Bandlab Technology owns a brick and mortar and online music store, Harmony Guitars and Rolling Stone Magazine.

http://forum.cakewalk.com/Hello-from-Ba ... 30905.aspx is a pretty interesting read.

[greenA2]

yep, interesting that they post on the user forum. The Rolling Stone magazine connection is interesting too, would you get the demo version free with the magazine ?

[voclizr]

I'm sure it's a relief to many over at the Cakewalk forum. It is good news. Looks like I can remove the RIP after Sonar in my sig.

[Jim_Fogle]

snip ... would you get the demo version free with the magazine ?

Yes, I got Sonar Home Studio, Rapture Session and 5 GB of Big Fish Audio loops courtesy of the Great Britain based magazine, Computer Music. However I wouldn't call it a demo version. Instead it is a standalone product.

Sonar Home Studio replaced Cakewalk's consumer / hobbyist product, Music Creator which in turn replaced another consumer / hobbyist product, Home Studio. Both older products were considered consumer / hobbyist grade because the product was sold through non music related retailers like BestBuy and Cakewalk did not offer direct support to the retailer. Cakewalk relied on e-mail and web based support for end users. Their professional grade products, Artist, Professional and Platinum were sold through music product wholesalers like Sweetwater and Cakewalk provided direct support to the wholesalers and telephone support to their end customers.

[Mugwump]

Funny but the first time I used Cakewalk was on Win 95 for the bargain basement low price of 295 dollars US! It actually had decent simple music notation capabilities and I notated many complex melodies and printed them with it. I even did all my studies for students on Cakewalk. The really interesting part is that I am a classical guitarist who hates midi files! But their software did a good job of notating music and for simple stuff it was adequate. Mind you I did not put in any extras into the scores like PIMA and string numbering. All I did was notate in the old traditional way and let the students learn to do their own fingering interpretation. HOW the mighty have fallen. Now without a stupid midi keyboard their software is essentially useless. All I had to learn was how to navigate and note enter with a computer keyboard back then, leave the quantize and auto fill functions turned off and bingo real music notation in a printer friendly form. The only thing I used midi for was to check my harmony for accuracy and this was with a cheapo 230 Canadian dollar soundblaster AWE 32 with a huge 16 meg ram chips added for loading the soundfont. I remember the extra ram only cost me a paltry $129.95 Canadian. The whole setup, the P1 computer with all the trimmings, Windows 95, the ISA based Soundblaster, Cakewalk, 128 meg of ram, a pci decent modem and 1 meg pci vid card came in at around $3500 bucks. What a bargain.....

And one wonders why I switched to Linux on the net almost exclusively by 1999! The old PI became a linux based router to firewall protect Windows 98 then 2000 by the time XP came along I just ignored upgrading, the ActiveX and .net nuttyness that was constantly getting Windows hosed by the web habits that my wife and daughter insisted upon with the software they added to the stupid Windows environment had driven me half mad . And certainly very peed off at Microsoft and the whole upgrade ripoff game they play with computer technology and software.

As a direct result of the costs of securing and constantly upgrading Windows I completely dumped using a Windows environment for music creation of any kind PERIOD. My 3 year excursion with Windows and Cakewalk was a real education and moved me as far away from Windows Media network connected audio interfaces as I can get.

These are the real reasons why companies that produce software exclusively for Windows are at best a flash in the pan of the history of music making. I say good riddance let the good developers move to something that is actually productive musically like coding in St. Petersburg with the Russian hackers RFOL!!!

[Jim_Fogle]

Have you abandoned using a computer for music creation entirely since you now use a Linux operating system instead of Windows?

My main computer interest is centered around music creation and production. I installed Linux on an older machine to learn more about it. I quickly became frustrated with the technical aspects and lack of tools or support for music creation or music production. Software choices are limited, device drivers for outboard accessories like audio and midi interfaces are non existent. It is difficult to find information about what works with Linux. When you do it may not work with the version of Linux I installed.

Maybe the Linux universe has changed since 2007 - 2008 when I thought about switching and tried it. I love for you to describe your system and how your system supports your music creation goals.

[Mugwump]

Have you abandoned using a computer for music creation entirely since you now use a Linux operating system instead of Windows?

My main computer interest is centered around music creation and production. I installed Linux on an older machine to learn more about it. I quickly became frustrated with the technical aspects and lack of tools or support for music creation or music production. Software choices are limited, device drivers for outboard accessories like audio and midi interfaces are non existent. It is difficult to find information about what works with Linux. When you do it may not work with the version of Linux I installed.

Maybe the Linux universe has changed since 2007 - 2008 when I thought about switching and tried it. I love for you to describe your system and how your system supports your music creation goals.

Certainly, I use a Zoom H5 a few good mics and linux to do all my post production of audio. I notate melodic lines and print them from PDF format with Musescore which can do everything that I need. It is a learning curve to notate music on computer regardless of which OS or notation software you choose. I do not use midi for notation purposes because midi performance on a keyboard to create notation is a fools gambit. If you cannot read music then you certainly cannot write what you create, plain and simple. The process starts with hand written music scores that are then notated with Musescore so it will be legible in PDF format. I could score everything neatly by hand but that is a very tedious process and my musical calligraphy is not up to the standard of musicians like Augustine Barrioshttp://www.ortizrsamuel.com/la-catedral ... s-mangore/ or Stravinskyhttp://www.omifacsimiles.com/brochures/strav_rite.html who were human music typewriters as well as great composers and arrangers.

In short Windows has been terrible for setting up as a permanent music notation system and has cost me thousands of dollars I did not need to spend. In essence music notation production on Windows with interfaces like Cakewalk, Finale etc are more like a toy that breaks and goes for your wallet again after a year or two and not a real tool for music notation by any stretch of the imagination.

[Jim_Fogle]

Thank you for the response. I have many friends with both Mac and Windows computers that use Musescore however you are the first I've encountered that use the application on Linux. It's nice to know that option is available. Did you have trouble setting up or finding a printer that communicates properly with Linux?

I hope you will provide more detail about your audio post production work. What audio editor or DAW software do you use? Do you create any audio driven by midi; for example to drive virtual instruments? Do you equalize, mix or master in the box or is it all through the H5? What software tools do you use for these tasks? Is the H5 your audio interface?

As you can tell, I haven't looked at Linux in a long time so I apologize in advance if my questions seem uninformed or foolish.

[greenA2]

I do not use midi for notation purposes because midi performance on a keyboard to create notation is a fools gambit. If you cannot read music then you certainly cannot write what you create, plain and simple. The process starts with hand written music scores that are then notated with Musescore so it will be legible in PDF format.

Hi Mugwump.
That's not fair at all unless I misunderstand you. You can only use midi entry for notation if you know how to read and write music, otherwise the score produced will be meaningless and far from the intended music.