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Sonar is dead, long live Cakewalk by Bandlab! We run through some of its top features. Now that the equivalent of Sonar Platinum (minus the third-party add-ons) is available as a free download from bandlab.com, in the form of Cakewalk by BandLab, it’s not surprising that a lot of people are. Mar 21, 2018 Hello from BandLab Updated 21/3/2018 Hello everyone:-) I hope you don't mind me jumping in and writing a note to everyone here. The positive messages (with many questions of course!) have been really kind and I believe I speak for everyone on the BandLab team in saying thank you. This community is really incredible and we're honoured to be here and to be part of building the future of.
The trials and tribulations at the house of Gibson led to the US company having to let go of Cakewalk recently, leaving Sonar owners in the dark over the future of the DAW.
Things looked rather bleak until Singpore-based BandLab stepped into the fold to save the day and save it they have, or at least it looks that way.
In a stunning move, Sonar has been rebranded as Cakewalk by BandLab and better still, has made the DAW free. Most features are retained, such as the Skylight user interface, flexible ProChannel modules, and 64-bit mix engine.
However, there is one slight drawback; the DAW loses its clutch of bundled third-party content. All is not lost, as the upside is that any bundled or independently purchased plugins or add-ons that worked with Sonar will integrate with Cakewalk by BandLab.
![Cakewalk By Bandlab Forum Cakewalk By Bandlab Forum](http://static.cakewalk.com/documentation/SONAR/EN/images/NewFeatures.003.1.png)
CEO of BandLab Technologies, Meng Ru Kuok said, “We are excited to be able to continue development of Sonar in its new guise as Cakewalk by BandLab and have an aggressive feature development roadmap ahead. We are making the software completely free to use to ensure that anyone, regardless of their resources, technology or stage in their career, can have access to the highest level of professional music production tools. This is part of our ongoing effort to empower musicians to make and share their music around the world.
“Professional products like Cakewalk are essential to those who make their living in music production and the natural next step for musicians who use platforms like BandLab to simplify their creative and collaborative process. We are very excited by the potential of Cakewalk by BandLab and think that many creators will benefit from access to a professional DAW with a long history of empowering music makers.”
The new version of the DAW will continue to run on Windows and it’s promised that it will support pen, touch and Surface Dial throughout the user interface.
There is no word on whether a Mac version will be made available in the future, but we suspect so.
Early access to Cakewalk for BandLab is available to download now, for free.
Minimum system requirements
- Windows 7 or higher (64-bit only)
- Multi-core Intel or AMD CPU
- 4GB RAM
- 3GB free disk space
- 1280x800 screen resolution
- ASIO compatible hardware is recommended
BandLab Technologies has launched early access to Cakewalk by BandLab – replacing SONAR, the DAW developed by Cakewalk Inc. This release follows BandLab Technologies' announcement last month that it had acquired all of Cakewalk's IP and certain assets from Gibson Brands.
The new successor to the DAW is available to download for free now at cakewalk.bandlab.com. The revived DAW includes all core premium features of SONAR Platinum such as the Skylight user interface, flexible ProChannel modules, and powerful end-to-end 64-bit mix engine.
Cakewalk by BandLab is a streamlined version of SONAR Platinum – and certain third party products and content bundles will no longer be included. Existing users who have already purchased bundles or individual third party products and plug-ins can still use those products with Cakewalk by BandLab:
- The new installation of Cakewalk by BandLab via BandLab Assistant will not affect previous installations of SONAR.
- All users can download Cakewalk by BandLab and access the full feature set for free, without access limitations.
- Any bundled or independently purchased plug-ins or add-ons that worked with SONAR will integrate with Cakewalk by BandLab.
CEO of BandLab Technologies, Meng Ru Kuok said, 'We are excited to be able to continue development of SONAR in its new guise as Cakewalk by BandLab and have an aggressive feature development roadmap ahead. We are making the software completely free to use to ensure that anyone, regardless of their resources, technology or stage in their career, can have access to the highest level of professional music production tools. This is part of our ongoing effort to empower musicians to make and share their music around the world. Professional products like Cakewalk are essential to those who make their living in music production and the natural next step for musicians who use platforms like BandLab to simplify their creative and collaborative process. We are very excited by the potential of Cakewalk by BandLab and think that many creators will benefit from access to a professional DAW with a long history of empowering music makers.'
Cakewalk by BandLab will continue SONAR's track record of innovation for creatives using Microsoft Windows. Pete Brown, from Microsoft's Windows and Devices Group, said 'We're thrilled that Cakewalk has found a new home with a company that understands the musician community, and that cares sincerely about digital audio production. Cakewalk has been a great partner, working to make their DAW better for their customers by quickly adopting new Windows features like pen, Bluetooth MIDI, multi-touch, Dial, and more. We look forward to working closely with BandLab to continue this innovation.' Cakewalk by BandLab will support pen, touch and Surface Dial throughout the user interface.
The Windows version of Cakewalk by BandLab is available to download now. For more information visit cakewalk.bandlab.com.