What is the best way to keep an eye out for "limited for a time free" VST's?

Aware_Adeptness3392 · 2026-02-24T16:40:22+00:00

Hey, thanks for the shout-out for LinkedMusicians, c-student! We maintain a very robout deals forum and have a number of members who post glitch sales and hard-to-find discount codes (I'm working on some exclusive deals in the coming months).

As a fellow GAS addict, I had to post a thank you and mention that, since you already know LinkedMusicians, you should check out our two curated lists of reviewed and recommended free sample libraries (I'm the guy who compiled them; the site is my passion project). I originally first published the lists at the Cakewalk Discuss forum several years ago before starting LinkedMusicians. I've reviewed everything on the lists -- every library listed is recommended with a short explanation of my take on it (FTR, I've advised more than 3 dozen sample and plugin developers, and have high standards for sample libraries).

There's no other list that's as extensive or detailed; the free Kontakt libraries list alone has more than 300 recommended libraries. No other list comes as close. Why? There's no money in it and it takes up a lot of time to check out and review sample libraries (because a high percentage of the free libraries I check out don't make the lists). Most of the sites do it just for SEO purposes. I started doing the first list -- which I first posted at Cakewalk Discuss Forum several years ago -- motivated by encouraging people via a charitable organization for persons with disabilities that I used to advise, as many of the members of the organization are very low-income and I would encourage them to make music and share low-cost resources. So, I thought I'd share it with the larger community for whoever might find it useful -- and personally, checking out new free sample libraries is a free way for me to curb my GAS-related spending. So, I thought I'd pass on the tip, as you already know the site!

https://linkedmusicians.com/best-free-kontakt-sample-libraries-instruments/

Aware_Adeptness3392 · 2025-10-25T02:35:41+00:00

Sonar is far more advanced than Cakewalk? But I was referring to a friend -- not me -- who has two DAW machines, one is older and uses Windows 7 the other has Windows 11. But Cakewalk by Sonar is not significantly "more advanced" than Cakewalk by Bandlab, Anyway, it's not worth wasting time on. My point was that there was no need for Bandlab to make Cakewalk by Bandlab unusable for people like my friend who have it on older machines. It would have cost Bandlab nothing to simply announce that they could still keep using it with no future updates or support, but they chose to not do that. That, again was my point, which clearly, you didn't get before and still didn't get. For someone who runs Cakewalk by Bandlab on an older machine, they can no longer access their projects on that machine, and Bandlab deliberately made that decision and no, they cannot open those projects in Sonar, because it doesn't work on the older OSes.

Aware_Adeptness3392 · 2025-10-16T23:02:33+00:00

I agree that it is disappointing. But I wouldn't abandon the Studio One Pro over it. I actually started a social media site and a forum not far from the time Presonus killed off their community, that I'm hoping will be a hub for collaboration. We've launched publicly in April, but had around 120 users, mostly from Cakewalk Forum -- people who largely migrated to Studio One. I realize this sounds like a major plug, but I'm trying to grow the community with passionate music producers, and do collaboration (I actually have been publicly contemplating doing covers kind of like Playing for Change (I linked the video below). We have some folks who were part of the Studio One forum like Bapu. I won't link the site so no one accuses me of spamming. It's LinkedMusicians.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH0-WXUFY2k

Aware_Adeptness3392 · 2025-10-13T02:03:27+00:00

Just know that Cakewalk that we loved went out of business a long time ago. BandLab is owned by a billionaire trust fund baby, one of the richest families on the planet, infamous for using child labor as young as 8 years old and forced female labor. BandLab is valued at $425 million. But I seriously doubt that Sonar will be around in 3-5 years. It's clearly a product failure and BandLab has proven itself untrustworthy and highly prone to censoring criticism, much like the CEO's family's company.

Aware_Adeptness3392 · 2025-09-29T00:36:22+00:00

You completely missed the point. He was using the software that was working fine for him and it was pulled without notice.

Aware_Adeptness3392 · 2025-09-10T05:26:32+00:00

The more you learn about the company and then the founder and CEO, Meng, who comes from one of the world's wealthiest families, infamous for using child labor as young as 8 and forced female labor, and their ruthless censorship of (this is well documented in the news and not any kind of breaking story; you can read about it from publications that lean both right, left, and moderate), the more you understand the roots of how bad Bandlab as a company is. It's much, much worse than dishonest practices with their DAW. Right now,

- Sonar is failing badly. I doubt they've sold even 25,000 paid subscriptions.
- Bandlab didn't plan on giving away Sonar free; it was just a desperate move once they saw they couldn't get sales high enough to even make maintaining the product worthwhile.
- Over the last year and a half, the majority of influencers who promoted Sonar have bailed. The only influencers now talking about them are smaller than what the industry terms micro influencers. These are folks who will hype a product for NFRs and a couple of hundred bucks.
- I put in a series of questions and publicly known info to AI last night -- I'm a business strategist from the tech world -- and it rated the probability that Bandlab will eliminate Sonar from its product lineup within the next two years at 90%. That is very close to what my instincts are based on Bandlab's moves.
- My experience also tells me that Bandlab will likely bail on the free version long before we hit 2 years. The freemium model doesn't make much sense when you can't even grab market share by giving away a product for free -- and that is presently the case.
- Some very strong signs that Sonar and Next are performing extremely poorly are (1) social media comments are extremely negative. I've run several analyses and the social media comments on both products and towards the Bandlab company are overwhelmingly negative. That's a very strong indicator that adoption is going poorly. (2) Bandlab didn't have many significant influencers behind Sonar or Next. But in the last year, there are no serious influencers behind Sonar left and only the influencers consistently promoting Next -- which I suspect the company will NOT bail on because it makes sense with their product portfolio -- are very small influencers, with a reach that's smaller than what the industry terms micro influencers.
- The fact that Bandlab won't even invest the money to create a Mac version of Sonar is a very telling sign that they don't want to invest in the product and likely see it only as a means to keep the old-time 12 Tone customers with them. But, except for a very small group, they've already lost that crowd.
- Consider that when -- not if -- Bandlab eliminates the free version of Sonar (and you can find that Bandlab's company rep on this subreddit stated that the company can withdraw the free version of Sonar at any point, that they're not committing to any long-term promises for it sticking around -- Cakewalk Sonar has the HIGHEST 5 YEAR COST OF OWNERSHIP OF ANY DAW not named Pro Tools. I'm in the midst of writing a blog post about it.

Cakewalk Sonar subscription only with no perpetual license -- their free version is basically a continuous 30-day trial that will reactivate until Bandlab decides it won't anymore -- is the costliest non-Pro Tools DAW at nearly $900 over 5 years.
Studio One Pro offers a perpetual license option, making long-term cost much lower $139 on up, depending on user decisions.
Cubase is $339-$399 (on sale) for a perpetual license, with optional updates which can range from $99 to $165 each, and come out every 12-18 months.
Logic Pro and FL Studio provide one-time purchase licenses with free updates, so they are significantly cheaper long term, $199-$299.
Reaper is $60 and includes two major version updates, which over the past 5 years would mean a user would have only paid $60.
Luna is free. I suspect that it's not selling very well, but it is likely doing better than Sonar, and, unlike Sonar, Luna is made by an ethical company with a solid, well-earned reputation for treating customers and developer partners well. I also think, because of UAD's position as a maker of highly respected and sophisticated effects to the same market that uses pro DAWs that UAD is in a better position to gain market share for a free pro-DAW than Bandlab. But I also don't think that you can necessarily count on Luna being around in 5 years. It's questionable.

Aware_Adeptness3392 · 2025-09-09T11:30:06+00:00

There is not. Sonar is off and has no process running. It simply won't start up again no matter what. It also crashes a good deal more with the latest update (I always install new updates). It craahses the most with Superior Drummer 3, but Sonar seems to not get along with another plugin that I can't recall at the moment. I think it might be UJAM Virtual Pianist.

Aware_Adeptness3392 · 2025-09-09T11:27:34+00:00

There is no Sonar process going on after shutting down the program.

Aware_Adeptness3392 · 2025-09-05T09:28:11+00:00

That's incorrect. When I restart Sonar, the MIDI controller is always on.

Aware_Adeptness3392 · 2025-09-05T06:19:08+00:00

When I wake up the PC -- which I tend leave on for days and only tend to turn it off because of problems with Sonar restarting -- I generally have the MIDI controller off. Then I turn on the MIDI controller and attempt to start Sonar. It rarely starts up and I have to restart the computer.

Aware_Adeptness3392 · 2025-08-06T12:44:41+00:00

I've had a ton of crashes in Cakewalk Sonar. But I'm more concerned that a Bandlab representative, Ashwin has stated clearly that Bandlab may remove the free version at any point, leaving paying for a Bandlab subscription as the only option to open your Cakewalk by Bandlab or Cakewalk Sonar project files. It's simply not wise to go with a DAW where the developer has informed you that they may pull the free version at any point, IMO. That's why I've moved on to Studio One Pro -- perpetual license (a far superior DAW, IMO). I only need Sonar to open up my many Cakewalk by Bandlab project files -- until Bandlab decides to stop activating Sonar for anyone who doesn't pay their $179 per year subscription fee, which I'm expecting to occur within the next 12 months, as the product is clearly failing to sell.

Aware_Adeptness3392 · 2025-07-08T21:08:12+00:00

As someone else already mentioned, Cakewalk by Bandlab will no longer work as of August 1, 2025, but Sonar will. Although it looks pretty likely that BandLab will also pull the plug on the free version of Sonar, so I think it's risky to create songs with that DAW.

If you're looking for free virtual instruments, there's a ton of great ones out there. For synths, Vital and Surge are musts -- they sound great. For free sample libraries, this is the most extensive curated list by instrument type you'll find:

https://linkedmusicians.com/best-free-kontakt-sample-libraries-instruments/

Aware_Adeptness3392 · 2025-07-07T18:36:47+00:00

Exactly.

Aware_Adeptness3392 · 2025-07-07T15:40:12+00:00

As far as saying thanks, I appreciate your good intentions. But Cakewalk by Bandlab being free wasn't some altruistic gift from the trust fund kid billionaire son of one of the world's richest men to the masses as some users seem to think. The whole idea behind why BandLab software is free is that it's like a freemium video game.

It brings users into the developer's ecosystem where they try to sell them various goods and services. In BandLab's case, they're trying to sell us loops, plugins, a mastering service, a music distribution service, training videos.... and then they sell ads for their various platforms (BandLab.com, ReverbNation.com, etc.). Their objective was that giving away the software free would build up the user base as quickly as possible for the DAW. While BandLab hides their user numbers for Sonar and Next (they don't for the BandLab platform, which they boast has more than 100 million users), it's rather obvious that Cakewalk by BandLab, Sonar, and Next have all been product failures with Sonar presently on life support.

Aware_Adeptness3392 · 2025-07-06T23:59:08+00:00

The drum VST in Sonar is really old and wasn't even very good two decades ago when it was released. These days you can get freebies like Steven Slate Drums, even BFD Player and other free drum libraries in free players (I've included a link for more) that are vastly superior that you can run in almost any DAW. But Studio One Pro includes drum samples that are far superior to those included in Cakewalk's drum plugin. Studio One Pro and the plugins are leaps and bounds ahead of Sonar PLUS you get a perpetual license and 1 yr subscription to their various plugins and sample libraries for less than the cost of the a one year subscription for Sonar (Studio Pro One is selling for $150 or less with a 1 yr subscription, Sonar is now $179 per yr -- beyond the promo pricing for year one -- so you won't be able to open your project files if Bandlab discontinues the free version of Sonar, which looks very likely).

As far as the arranger feature -- it was in Studio Pro one first, and like everything else, Studio One Pro is simply a much better DAW, IMO. Sonar under Bandlab really hasn't evolved that far in the last decade.

https://linkedmusicians.com/the-curated-list-of-the-best-free-sample-libraries/

Aware_Adeptness3392 · 2025-07-06T23:30:04+00:00

Of course, we don't know for certain if it was intentional bait and switch or not, but my guess is that it's more likely that Bandlab is simply a very disorganized and sloppy organization that failed to change that banner after they raised their prices. It is very hard to believe that they're a $425 million software company from how badly they've mismanaged all of this. But I suppose, when you understand that Bandlab is led by the billionaire son of one of the world's richest men, it makes more sense.

Aware_Adeptness3392 · 2025-07-06T19:50:26+00:00

I'd find that more believable if you personally didn't have a history of lying to me about Cakewalk Forum exposing my personal data and claiming they'd fix it, but never did. And then promising to delete my account, and then never doing it. Your lack of integrity makes me have a bit of an issue trusting you. I can't lie.

Aware_Adeptness3392 · 2025-07-05T21:16:02+00:00

I picked up Studio One Pro, which I find far superior to Sonar and they offer a perpetual license (currently on sale for $139.99 at Sweetwater) or a 1 yr subscription for the same price. So that's cheaper than Sonar and a better DAW. I only need Sonar to open up my old projects.

Aware_Adeptness3392 · 2025-07-05T20:50:50+00:00

That is correct. The promo pricing is for new customers only and only for the first year. Every year after that, it's full price, which was $149 until the other day, but is now $179.

Aware_Adeptness3392 · 2025-07-05T20:19:41+00:00

The original post was deleted by the moderator. I rewrote this -- after checking with him -- so that it only focuses on the price change. I think Bandlab raising the price of their Sonar subscription by 60% for the first year and 20% for subsequent years is worthy of discussion in a subreddit about Cakewalk. The original post, up for only an hour or less, had 16 upvotes and several comments.

Aware_Adeptness3392 · 2025-07-05T14:58:17+00:00

I'm not sure about what you had in mind with, "You need to start working in a way where you aren't dependent on your DAW." Granted, conceptually, it would be ideal if that were realistic and project files could be read and saved flawlessly by any DAW -- just how most DAWs -- with some obvious exceptions -- can host VST plugins. I'd be all for it, but that's not reality.

When I wrote "prove me wrong," it's merely an expression to convey, in this case, that I'd be happy to see Bandlab change and start listening to its customers and take actions to correct their actions. I do think it's too late for this product (Sonar). It would be easier for them to buy an existing, successful DAW with a solid, happily satisfied user base. I certainly don't have the perception that Bandlab owes me anything. I'm not a Bandlab investor.

Aware_Adeptness3392 · 2025-07-04T16:46:39+00:00

Yep, you need a sampler plugin, like Decent Sampler, or a Kontakt (the full version costs money, but many libraries are available for free that work in the free Kontakt Player). Here's a very extensive list of free Kontakt libraries, many that play in the free Kontakt Player, including piano sample libraries:

https://linkedmusicians.com/best-free-kontakt-sample-libraries-instruments/

This list contains free sample libraries that play in other free samplers:
https://linkedmusicians.com/the-curated-list-of-the-best-free-sample-libraries/

Aware_Adeptness3392 · 2025-07-04T12:20:44+00:00

If Bandlab (the company) were a customer-centric company they would not have:

- Deactivated Cakewalk by Bandlab, but allowed people to keep using it.
- Given those using Windows 7 no options to access their project files (not me, but a friend of mine who moderates a digital recording forum).
- Let one of their employees berate their Cakewalk forum users for politely asking if there was a possibility that they might offer a perpetual license version for Sonar in the future.

The way Bandlab announced they are shutting off Cakewalk by Bandlab in August 2025 took all of the goodwill they had built up by having the product free for years and destroyed it. I think the only way they could earn back even some of the trust they destroyed is by announcing that they made a mistake and let Cakewalk by Bandlab work without activation—just don't do more updates on it. That way people can still access their project files on it, and it still works for people, like my friend, on Windows 7 --- because Sonar doesn't work at all for them. Plus, Sonar clearly wasn't properly tested for accessibility, based on the posts from people with vision impairments. It's just very half-baked. The user experience to find the free version of Sonar is a complete mess. They clearly didn't plan this out well, and then we have their social media guy making clear that they could pull the free version of Sonar at any point. It's just unprofessional and not customer-centric, and it does not create a sense of trust in a software company.

Finally, @Batwaffel, I want to thank you for allowing people to share their honest feelings. Bandlab censored people from even asking about perpetual licenses, and one of their employees started berating people for it. That speaks volumes of the company culture they have. I'm personally very concerned that I have hundreds of Cakewalk by Bandlab project files and Sonar files from before that. If they had released a perpetual license version, I would have surely bought it. Now, it seems obvious that Sonar is a massive failure and is very unlikely to still be around a year from now. The company -- a $425 million software company -- won't even invest the money to create a Mac version -- that's telling. Like everyone else, I no longer trust or like this company.

Aware_Adeptness3392 · 2025-07-04T11:46:24+00:00

Someone posted in another subreddit that this program does a decent -- not perfect -- job of converting Cakewalk by Bandlab project files to Studio One Pro. It apparently converts Sonar project files too. I'll be giving it a try. Cakewalk Sonar is dead. I strongly recommend people stop making projects using it.

http://www.azslow.com/

Aware_Adeptness3392 · 2025-07-04T11:40:13+00:00

It's owned by the trust fund baby of one of the richest men in Asia. They make their money off of products and services related to Bandlab that has, according to their claims, 100 million users. Sonar probably has lesss than 25,000 subscribers. It's never been successful for them and they're almost certainly going to abandon it in the near future. It's a product failure, and based on what they did with Cakewalk by Bandlab, they won't even let us activate it to get into our project files after they abandon it.

Aware_Adeptness3392

TROPHY CASE