Cakewalk Archives — AudioTechnology

With Gibson Struggling, Is Cakewalk Officially Dead?

Audio Technology — Sun, 25 Feb 2018 13:00:00 +0000

You may have heard Gibson is struggling a little. The Nashville Post first reported it last week. Bankruptcy rumours immediately went bananas as people couldn’t decide whether to offload or double down on Gibson stock. Until they realised guitars are, you know, not shares.

Amidst the ‘semi-quashed’ rumours of Gibson’s demise, there was one casualty. Cakewalk. Remember the company’s Sonar DAW? You might if you’re still one of the desperate few holdouts waiting for someone to take up development again. Well, guess what? The company just changed hands again. ‘To who?’ You might ask. BandLab. ‘Who?’ You might still ask. We’ll get to that.

See, Gibson has a lot more under its arm than a Les Paul. Over the years the company has acquired a number of subsidiaries like Epiphone, Kramer and Garrison Guitars. All good on the guitar front. It branched out and snagged Baldwin Piano Company. then there’s been Teac Corporation, Onkyo hi-fi, the HarmonyCentral website, and of course, Cakewalk.

The issue is, Gibson doesn’t always know what to do with these brands. Case in point, Cakewalk. Gibson purchased the music software company from Roland in 2013, which probably looked great on some 2020 head office plan, “we need to get into this computer game!” Unfortunately, it didn’t get much further than that. Nothing made this more clear than last November’s announcement that Gibson was “ceasing all active development and production of Cakewalk-branded products. The decision was made to better align with the company’s acquisition strategy that is heavily focused on growth in the global consumer electronics audio business under the Philips brand.” Harsh!

Gibson’s lack of vision invited a wave of loathsome response from the Cakewalk faithful and the headlines predicted an early death for the software company and its music production platform, Sonar. If only Gibson stuck to guitars! But there lies what is perhaps the root of the problem — it’d seem Gibson’s obsession with acquiring brands and diversifying its market is the result of not fully leveraging the iconic guitars in its own house. If Les Pauls and SGs were still selling like hotcakes, Gibson would hardly need to rethink how to grow its bottom line. Apparently (and unfortunately), that’s not the case. Gibson Brands Inc. CEO, Henry Juszkiewicz, says the problem is with the guitar retail industry. Blame shifting, anyone?

As it turns out, while some were lamenting Gibson’s incompetence and Cakewalk’s demise, others were strategising a solution. Enter BandLab.

Who? The Singaporean start-up kicked off in 2013 as a social music creation and sharing platform. Meng Ru Kuok, BandLab CEO and son of an Agribusiness tycoon, co-founded the website with the creator of JamHub, Steve Skillings, as a cloud-based sharing service for JamHub products. BandLab’s pitch was to democratise music production and give the music world a touchpoint of connection for collaboration and music production services. With over a million users worldwide, it’s a decent success story. So far, BandLab has feasted off the carcass of established brands. It bought a 49% share of the famous, now bankrupt music publication Rolling Stone in 2016. Now Kuok wants to buy the rest. What this company lacks in age, it makes up for in ambition.

First, BandLab purchased Composr — an iOS app for recording audio and making music on the go — which brought DAW-like music production capability to the online platform. Next was musical instrument accessory designer MONO. In 2016, BandLab won the Microsoft Start-Up Partner of the Year award.

On to 2018 and BandLab’s most recent acquisition is snatching Cakewalk out of Gibson’s ownership. To be more precise, BandLab now owns “certain assets and the complete intellectual property of Cakewalk Inc.”

Meng Ru Kuok says, “The teams at both Gibson and BandLab felt that Cakewalk’s products deserved a new home where development could continue.” Nice to know the feeling was mutual.

Kuok continues, “We are pleased to be supporting Cakewalk’s passionate community of creators to ensure they have access to the best possible features and music products under the BandLab Technologies banner.”

Why did BandLab have Cakewalk on its radar? Because unlike Gibson’s portfolio, it kind of fits with what BandLab is doing. Will it alleviate the concerns of rusted-on Cakewalk devotees? It’s anyone’s guess. No doubt BandLab has plans to integrate Cakewalk’s offerings into its own online platform in some way, shape or form. The Sonar wellspring of information could be the next step of what the Composr acquisition kickstarted in BandLab’s DAW realm. But for now, Cakewalk followers can be assured their beloved software is in good hands — at the very least, better hands than before.

CONTACT

cakewalk.bandlab.com

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CAKEWALK ANNOUNCES NEW SONAR FEATURES FOR SPRING 2016

Audio Technology — Wed, 20 Jan 2016 13:00:00 +0000

Cakewalk has announced major new features for its SONAR recording software that refine the first-time user experience and streamline workflow for existing owners. In addition, renewal pricing has been revamped to offer better value for existing SONAR Platinum users.

SONAR greatly expands ‘look and feel’ customisation possibilities with UI themes, new skins, and personalisation tools. Mastering is getting a facelift with refreshes to the LP64 linear phase Multiband Compressor and EQ interfaces, along with improved preset handling and real-time FFT analysis. Overloud’s TH3 Guitar Amp (Cakewalk Edition) and Melodyne 4 Essential (with ARA integration) update the amp simulation and vocal editing capabilities, and Cakewalk will continue tweaking the existing code base of the program for faster, smoother operation.

Finally, a new ‘Feedback Portal’ provides direct interaction between Cakewalk and SONAR users, who can share opinions about new and potential features, and vote ideas up or down. Additional value-packed monthly updates are expected to follow throughout the year.

A year ago, Cakewalk shook up the industry with the Rolling Upgrades program, updating SONAR every month with new features, enhancements, fixes, exclusive content, and speed optimisations. One year later, the results are over 350 fixes and enhancements, major speed optimisations, integrated features like vocal synchronisation and drum replacement, Universal Routing Technology including Patch Points, new plug-ins like the Rapture Session virtual instrument, and exclusive content from industry experts like Craig Anderton.

Cakewalk has announced new renewal pricing for the Rolling Updates Membership program. See the website for pricing details.

More info:
Cakewalk Sonar: www.cakewalk.com/products/sonar
Australian Distributor: www.gibsonami.com

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CAKEWALK ANNOUNCES NEW GIBSON ELECTRIC BASS EXPANSION PACK

Audio Technology — Tue, 19 Jan 2016 13:00:00 +0000

Cakewalk announces the new Gibson Bass Collection Expansion Pack at NAMM 2016. Designed for Cakewalk’s Rapture Pro and Rapture Session virtual instruments and sampled by sound engineer Craig Anderton, the collection combines the warm sound of three unique Gibson electric basses. The 28 programs also offer keyswitching to toggle between pick and finger attacks.

The Midtown Bass captures the distinctive clarity and depth of the semi-hollow body bass, which is made from routed solid woods rather than laminating woods around a solid centre block. Its bright, punchy sound is ideal for pop/rock. For warm, raw power, the Les Paul Standard Bass features the classic tonewood combination of a mahogany body for richness with a solid carved maple top for ‘snap,’ topped off by Thunderbird Bass pickups with ceramic magnets for ‘punch.’ Finally, Cakewalk’s Dimension Pro synth, the EB 5-String Bass 2.0, with its eight unique pickup combinations, now takes full advantage of Rapture Pro/Session’s advanced features.

More info:
Cakewalk: www.cakewalk.com
Australian Distributor: www.gibsonami.com

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CAKEWALK CATCHES RAPTURE

Audio Technology — Wed, 15 Apr 2015 14:00:00 +0000

Rapture Pro is Cakewalk’s all-new virtual instrument for Mac and Windows. Combining both algorithmic and sample-based synthesis, it comes with a 10GB+ sound library full of instruments, textures and soundscapes spanning a wide variety of genres. Based on Cakewalk’s Dimension Pro synth, Rapture Pro attempts to blur the line between oscillation synthesis and sampling so as to allow for vast sonic flexibility and tweakability. The user interface has a newly designed browser for easy previewing of presets created by top content designers from around the world. The UI also features a Perform mode, intended to connect the studio and stage with efficient controller mapping for real-time expression. Edit mode makes it easy to create signature sounds with extensive layering and mixing capabilities, and you have the ability to load your own samples. Rapture Pro will be available late April 2015.

More info: https://www.cakewalk.com/products/rapture/
Australian Distributor: http://www.gibsonami.com/

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GIBSON PLAYS HARD

Graeme Hague — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 14:00:00 +0000

From a Gibson press release, buried within a jumble of legal gobbledegook such as “pursuant to definitive acquisition agreements” is the news that Gibson is making a serious play to purchase Cakewalk, the developer of Sonar. The language is quite amiable and it seems to be just a matter of thrashing out the finer details, before Roland Corporation hands over Cakewalk, which will then come under the mantle of a newly-created company called Tascam Professional Software. Cakewalk will continue to operate out of its Boston headquarters as an independent division and apparently won’t lose any of its identity or branding. What will be very interesting to watch is how the Sonar/Roland partnership will morph across to a Sonar/Tascam relationship. And with a new Tascam DAW software division does this herald the end of Tascam’s Portastudio range of recorders? At the moment the Portastudio DP-24 is described by Tascam’s website as “the best and most affordable way to remove the mind-numbing glow of the computer screen from personal recording”. That should get a rewrite. But forget Gibson, this is all about big changes at Tascam. How far will it go?

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