RIP Cakewalk

[meloco_go]

http://blog.cakewalk.com/cakewalk-announcement/

so why did they have to buy Cakewalk in the first place?
Eh...

I used SONAR only briefly before moving to REAPER, but it was nice and functional DAW.
This will not affect me, but I do feel for SONAR users.

[nobby]

http://blog.cakewalk.com/cakewalk-announcement/

so why did they have to buy Cakewalk in the first place?
Eh...

I used SONAR only briefly before moving to REAPER, but it was nice and functional DAW.

I can't say I'm totally shocked -- I've been wondering for years how they managed to hang on. It was only a matter of time until the grim REAPER came knocking.

They tried the usual hail Mary passes: Selling hardware and subscriptions, but both are a tough sell in this day and age.

This will not affect me, but I do feel for SONAR users.

Not necessarily. I don't have a subscription and haven't updated since X3 Producer. I have about a dozen unfinished projects on Sonar.

I'd switch to REAPER after that if need be.

So what does this mean for you, our loyal customers who've been with us all these years? Cakewalk's servers will continue to operate, you will still have access to all of your online assets, and your software will continue to work normally. A dedicated team has been established during this transition period to continue to serve the Cakewalk community. Monthly updates to SONAR from Cakewalk will however cease during this time. We will continue to post notifications to keep you informed with any relevant developments. A sincere thank you to everyone in the Cakewalk community.

[upstairs]

So we're all REAPER fanboys here? That's what I usually use in digital land. I even bought a license!

[nobby]

I've never used, and am unfamiliar with, REAPER.

Some people who are familiar with both say REAPER is a bit crude compared to SONAR, but I have no idea. That would make sense since REAPER is basically free.

I paid like $500 for SONAR so I fuckin' hope so

But I don't know. There were things SONAR could do with audio that REAPER couldn't a while ago, but I don't know what upgrades have happened since.

Does REAPER score music? Do video? Not that I've ever done either, myself... yet.

[upstairs]

I don't think that REAPER scores music. I prefer scoring music by hand anyway

It does do video. I recall testing it out but I haven't used it for a project.

The functionality is fine, but the interface is too "do it all" for my liking. I basically think it needs to be customized the shit out of to work the way you want it to. Even if you like the way it works out of the box, there's a lot of clutter. It is, however, extremely customizable. It took me a few days to get it where I wanted, but after that it was golden. I keep backups-of-backups of my theme files.

If you want something more hard-coded I really like Harrison Mixbus. I've used a demo of it and it's great. Ardour, which Mixbus is based on, is free and also great. On Windows it's a bit buggy though (for me it crashes if I click exit, so I have to kill it in command prompt after saving the session )

I use DAWs like tape and console, so my take might not be worth much if you're into intense editing. REAPER does do way more than I can comprehend, however.

[nobby]

I'm sure it would be fine for everything I've done so far. I also don't do a ton of editing. And I have trouble comprehending their auto cross fade instructions enough to make it twerk properly

Sonar was a steep and unending learning curve for me. I had to learn basic stuff like making sure to scan the right folder for plugins, that sort of thing. Then having to rescan because it didn't take the first time. Video cache problem causing it to crash or whatever. Before that I used a Yamaha AW4416. Ask your father

If I'm to guess from Pro Tools tutorial videos that I've watched, DAWs probably aren't that radically different from one another once you get the hang of it.

[Toonman]

Ouch! So, Cakewalk got acquired by Gibson at some point? I missed that one. Sorry to hear. Given how things have been going for Gibson lately, I can't say it surprises me. Makes the nostalgic part of me be a bit sad. It was one of the first DAWs I considered when I decided to jump on the "make music on computers" thing. Ah, well. Progress...

[meloco_go]

I don't think that REAPER scores music. I prefer scoring music by hand anyway

It has score editor and it converts score to midi and back. At least it should... Never used this.

[Bob Olhsson]

I suspect that Cakewalk was ready to go under when Gibson acquired them.

[Toonman]

I suspect that Cakewalk was ready to go under when Gibson acquired them.

It seems they got acquired in 2013. Given what I had seen from Gibson in the past few years, it seems to be that wanted to heavily cater to the hobbyist market (sell the kids a cheap guitar and then the software needed to record their songs at home). Looks like that wasn't such a great idea. Fender was kinda going for the same, but it seems they were somehow more successful.

Was it a case of a sinking ship being rescued by a sinking ship?

P.S. As a funny trivia fact piece, my guitar tech would rather rip his nails off using his teeth that have another Gibson delivered for setup and repairs to his shop. That's how bad he thinks they are (at least, the new stuff). And even more curiously, he was blown away with how good the Kiesel's are! Awesome build and setup, he said. Go figure.

[upstairs]

Given what I had seen from Gibson in the past few years, it seems to be that wanted to heavily cater to the hobbyist market (sell the kids a cheap guitar and then the software needed to record their songs at home). Looks like that wasn't such a great idea.

Well you have to give them some credit.

[Toonman]

OMG... they truly completely lost it...

[nobby]

I suspect that Cakewalk was ready to go under when Gibson acquired them.

That's very likely. I would wonder which company will be the next to acquire Gibson but I stopped caring a long time ago.

[Bob Olhsson]

They never were more than physically assembled according to everyone I've known. Boutique stores were also notorious for swapping their lemons and some cash with banjo bazaar for their best ones.

[nobby]

They stopped being consistent after the company sold out at the end of '68.

[Don Hills]

Hopefully it won't affect blind musicians too much. For example:

[Bob Olhsson]

Gibson owns Tascam too.

[John Eppstein]

I suspect that Cakewalk was ready to go under when Gibson acquired them.

It seems they got acquired in 2013. Given what I had seen from Gibson in the past few years, it seems to be that wanted to heavily cater to the hobbyist market (sell the kids a cheap guitar and then the software needed to record their songs at home). Looks like that wasn't such a great idea. Fender was kinda going for the same, but it seems they were somehow more successful.

Was it a case of a sinking ship being rescued by a sinking ship?
Henry J. ruins everything he touches.

He should sell the guitar company back to the folks at Heritage in Kalamazoo and just keep the consumer electronic junk stuff and screw that up to his heart's content.