RIP Cakewalk

[burningbusch]

Gibson Brands announced today that it is ceasing active development and production of Cakewalk branded products. The decision was made to better align with the companys acquisition strategy that is heavily focused on growth in the global consumer electronics audio business under the Philips brand.

 

http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2017/11/21/gibson-ceases-development-of-cakewalk-products/

 

Busch.

 

 

[RABid]

AAAARRRRrrrrrrgggggggggg!!!!!

 

I expected the worst when Gibson bought them, but I did not expect this. I've used them since Cakewalk vs. 1.

[Doerfler]

This is what Gibson has done best for the last 25 years. Acquire something, then muck it all up.

[Geoff Grace]

My condolences to our Cakewalk users from this former Opcode user. Studio Vision was only one among several DAWs I used at the time, and I had only put a handful of years into getting comfortable with it before Gibson pulled the plug; but many of you have decades invested in Cakewalk's offerings. I hope your transition to another platform will be as smooth and painless as possible.

 

I had thought that things might turn out differently this time, as Craig Anderton is a longtime Cakewalk user/advocate and now works for Gibson. In fact, this affects one of Craig's gigswriting a monthly Sonar column for Sound On Sound. Someone has started a thread about this in his SSS forum at Harmony Central (which Gibson also owns now). I'll be interested in his reply.

 

Best,

 

Geoff

[mate stubb]

Not good. My buddy uses Sonar as the heart of his studio.

[The Real MC]

Used Cakewalk from the beginning, last upgrade was Cakewalk Pro Audio 3.5.

 

(Yes I know - it's been running problem free on my WFW311 machine since 1993, I don't use samples or plugins, and I'm not a subscriber of the upgrade treadmill)

 

Too bad Gibson had to ruin yet ANOTHER well built product into the ground. CEO Henry Juszkiewicz has proven sorely inept at nurturing high technology IP and has a history of forcing key players and employees out of his acquired companies. There's a reason why Juszkiewicz is greeted with laughter and derision from technology companies when he proposes any joint effort involving advanced music technology.

[The Real MC]

Harmony Central (which Gibson also owns now).

 

Good grief that place is peppered with Gibson/Epiphone banner ads. I don't expect HC to last long under Gibson.

[RABid]

I will never buy another Gibson product.

[EscapeRocks]

ugh!!! Cakewalk 8 bit on an Apple 2E was my very first introduction to computer/music with my then new Prophet 600.

 

It's how I learned all about MIDI.

[BbAltered]

Cakewalk user since the MIDI-only days.

 

So does Gibson's decision mean the end of Cakewalk/Sonar? Or does CW continue without Gibson?

[johnchop]

And now I fear what happens to the DRM baked into z3ta 2 and Rapture Pro. Not sure how I'll authorize them on new devices... the software equivalent of "parts no longer available".

 

Although... Rapture Pro is money out the window for me. I don't reach for it at all, and last I tried it, it's still sort of a hot mess.

 

z3ta+2 has legs, though.

[Joe Muscara]

"The decision was made to better align with the companys acquisition strategy that is heavily focused on growth in the global consumer electronics audio business"

 

And now I fear what happens to the DRM baked into z3ta 2 and Rapture Pro. Not sure how I'll authorize them on new devices... the software equivalent of "parts no longer available"..

"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." FWIW.

[Sam Mullins]

Well, this was inevitable since I bought the "lifetime subscription" to Sonar updates last year.

 

Unfortunately, I just upgraded my music laptop. If I knew that this was imminent, I might have just bought a MacBook and changed to Logic. Oh well...

 

[Husker]

Craig Anderton was let go by Cakewalk a few weeks ago. The writing was on the wall then.

 

I am, as well, a Sonar user. I purchased Sonar with lifetime updates as my first DAW a year or so ago. I'm pretty much devastated by this, as all my learning has gone out the window.

 

My guess is that I'll move to Studio One or Reaper now. Hopefully I can pick it up as well.

 

A crappy day for me indeed.

[Josh Paxton]

My last session was done on a 20-year-old Windows machine running some ancient version of Cakewalk. Sounded great. RIP.

[Geoff Grace]

Craig Anderton was let go by Cakewalk a few weeks ago. The writing was on the wall then.

Wow! Poor Craig. I'm sure he'll land on his feet, but still...

 

Best,

 

Geoff

[Bill W]

For some reason, this doesn't surprise me at all. I abandoned Cakewalk products and moved to Logic a long time ago.

[Geoff Grace]

The silver lining is that the timing of this announcement coincides with Black Friday software sales. For instance, Presonus is selling all versions of Studio One at 50% off.

 

Best,

 

Geoff

[Husker]

Any Studio One users here?

[Mighty Ferguson]

That really blows. I was a long time Cakewalk user before I switched to a Mac and Logic a couple of years ago, but the switch was to get away from Windows, not Cakewalk. For those above who are lamenting having learned Cakewalk products and now have to switch, I say this as someone who's still learning how to make good recordings so take it for what it's worth: I'm finding that the audio production skills I'm slowly gaining are far more important than how to work the software. Yeah, it's a drag to create a new workflow and learn the ins an outs of another tool, but if you have good ears and know how to use audio production techniques, you've got skills that are far more valuable and harder to learn than a particular DAW. Just my $.02.

[roygBiv]

Any Studio One users here?

 

Not sure, but I know several people (including myself) are Reaper users.

 

Give it a shot, full functioning download is free to use for 30 days, and then only converts to a nag screen. At $60, it is a bargain many times over.

 

Also has a very supportive forum of users. Kinda like here.

 

https://www.reaper.fm/

 

https://forum.cockos.com/forumdisplay.php?f=20

 

[Geoff Grace]

I've seen both Craig Anderton and steadyb demo Studio One at NAMM; but unfortunately, neither of them are posting here anymore.

 

Best,

 

Geoff

[zephonic]

If I were to start afresh, I would definitely go with Studio One. I ran the trial earlier this year and really liked it. Very intuitive.

 

It still misses one or two features that are essential to my workflow, but I can see myself jumping ship in the not too distant future.

[Mighty Motif Max]

Oh crap... and I was just thinking about buying Sonar as a Christmas gift for myself.

[Mark Schmieder]

I love Z3ta+ as the synth bass patches are warm and can cut through a mix without dominating it the way Moog patches sometimes do (not always what I want).

 

Rapture Pro has been problematic for me now and then in terms of updates and authorization, but has some good features and patches too.

 

Way back when I made my decision on which OS to go with, I was torn between Cakewalk (which was just then morphing into Sonar) and Digital Performer, as both seemed the closest to a traditional tape-based workflow (ProTools is too, but didn't at the time have MIDI, and I already knew I'd often need several dozen tracks per composition so couldn't afford its a la carte approach).

 

One of my co-workers at the time, who is quite well-known as he was also an editor of Electronic Musician (along with his brother), was the one who broke the tie and convinced me to go to the trouble of learning macOS from scratch (I had experience only with Windows and Linux).

 

Then a year later, I joined a band where everyone else used Sonar, and almost felt compelled to switch, but at the time the two neighbouring Cambridge MA based companies were each single-platform only and thus completely incompatible with each other.

 

Over time, Sonar began to falter while DP kept getting better and better and more stable. So I had no regrets. And everyone I know who used Sonar (even after it became dual-platform just as DP did) moved on to StudioOne, Cubase, or DP.

 

I own several DAW's and use them each for different stuff, but DP is my daily tool, for too many reasons to list here. I think it still would be the easiest switch from Sonar for most, as the philosophies are more similar than different overall -- not surprising considering the shared geographical origin.

 

I feel especially bad for those who bought into the subscription model within the past two years. It's one of the many things that scares me about subscriptions, and one of the first things that comes to mind when I see a company going that route is that perhaps they are struggling financially -- although marketing/sales people in general prefer "guaranteed income" to the unpredictability of who will buy an update and how often.

[Justin Havu]

I've been a Cakewalk guy since Pro Audio 9. This totally sucks.

[mcgoo]

Well sh*t!!! I make a living using Sonar everyday. Being able to reload an old project is an absolute must... meaning as OS's update & the software doesn't I'll have to always maintain some type of machine that can restore a project and then transfer to whatever else I ultimately have to switch to. Damnit. I've used Cakewalk since DOS days. This old dog isn't happy about being forced into learning new tricks...

 

Not even sure what to start looking at (I likely won't switch until I have to). Mac is not an option. I just spent a small fortune on a new mega screaming machine, so I gotta stay PC. Ugghh...

[Mark Schmieder]

Well, for those of you worrying about losing years of expertise and starting over, for us Mac users we got hit with a similar surprise a few years ago when BIAS went out of business and Peak Pro mastering software never for a 64-but plug-in support update and became ever more problematic to get to authorize itself after re-installations, upgrades to system hard drives, or new computers.

 

In fact, I still don't have a proper replacement that meets my needs, is reliable, has the functionality I want, and feels permanent (I haven't bought WaveLab but that's the only one that doesn't seem ultimately doomed to death).

 

I always save every track as Broadcast Wave format, but switching DAW's is about more than re-importing MIDI and audio.

 

Perhaps Vienna Ensemble could be used to help transfer project settings of VST's and effects plug-ins, to minimize the pain of actual from-scratch project recreation in a different DAW?

 

For legacy projects that have shipped CD's or other forms of final masters, maybe many people wouldn't care as much, but for active projects, for almost anybody this would be a big interruption in workflow.

 

Hopefully people's Sonar apps will continue to launch and recognize themselves as authorized, for some time to come, and won't get broken by Windows and macOS updates.

 

Do we know for sure that Gibson won't sell or offer the assets, or allow any of the visionaries behind the products to make another try on their own or elsewhere?

 

For instance, though BIAS Peak Pro is kaput, their SoundSoap software came back independently and then got absorbed into Antares.

[OB Dave]

This is sad news. I used Cakewalk for several years and then upgraded to Sonar Producer Pack 3. I switched to Mac about ten years ago, but kept an old PC alive for years, solely for the purpose of running Sonar. I finally bit the bullet a few years back and switched over to Logic Pro X. Which is great and unbeatable for its price, but there are still some things about the Sonar workflow that I miss a lot.

 

It would be great if Gibson could sell it off or open-source it, but I can't picture Henry doing either of those things.

[BuckW]

Studio One is recommended by Sweetwater.