⚡ Cakewalk Sonar Boxing Day Special $67 Promo Rate; $179 Renewals

[LinkedMusicians]

As the Bandlab folks recently kind of followed part of their own forum policies (well technically, they’re supposed to have a zero tolerance policy on members who engage in harassment, defamation, trolling, or cyberbullying) and took action with an individual engaged in trolling, cyberbullying, and defamatory attacks directed at one of our members (yours truly, to be specific), I thought I’d share that they’re having a flash sale on an annual subscription for Cakewalk Sonar for $67 (I think I’m late, it started Friday, but as the company clearly appears to be seeing very disappointing sales for Cakewalk Sonar since its release, I wouldn’t be surprised if they extended the sale price a little longer).

Before pressing the buy button, be aware that:

• The Cakewalk Sonar subscription renews at $179 per year, and if you’ve ever subscribed to anything from Bandlab before, you do not qualify for the $67 promo rate, and will be charged the $179 annual price. There are no discounts on renewals; it is a flat $179 per year.
• The company’s social media manager has stated on their subreddit that Bandlab may discontinue the free version at any point. That means that you would need to purchase a paid subscription to open the project files created with the free or paid version of Sonar.

If you prefer a perpetual license, a more modern and sophisticated DAW by every expert’s opinion that I’ve seen, and a significantly lower cost by the second year, the competitive crossgrade version of PreSonus Studio One Pro 7 is currently $94.50 with the code below and the non-crossgrade offer is $126:

$94.50 + DeluxeBucks + FREE Plugin with the code HAPPY2026

https://audiodeluxe.com/products/presonus-studio-one-pro-7-crossgrade?sca_ref=9905602.8KvuZSaQ9x

The full license without the crossgrade for PreSonus Studio One Pro 7 $126 (reg. $199) + DeluxeBucks + FREE Plugin with the code HAPPY2026:

https://audiodeluxe.com/products/presonus-studio-one-pro-7?sca_ref=9905602.8KvuZSaQ9x

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4

[thesteven]

Subscription is currently on sale for $70 then $99 after the first year.

The sale is meant for new subscribers.
Note – If you cancel your subscription before it expires – you still have total access till your sub ends and you qualify for new subscriber rates/sales.

On the fence about this

1. I’m not currently using Cakewalk for new projects.
2. The free version adequately handles all my existing Sonar/Cakewalk Projects.
   If they cancel the free version I might find myself in a pickle because I don’t have the free time at the moment to migrate my existing projects to a different platform.

I hate Bandlabs/Cakewalk’s current subscription model, that they have the free version makes it more tolerable.

 

1

[William Heins]

I have some old Sonar projects kicking around so I installed Sonar Platinum and then the free version of Bandlab’s Sonar. Most of my stuff was done in Platinum so no biggie but….I found I’m constantly writing new material in Nuendo that is superior to the older Platinum material…I haven’t brought many old projects forward…a lot I’m gonna let die 🙂

I suggest you look into Cubase or Studio One going forward, either program is a definite step up from Sonar and they sell permanent licenses…you don’t need to feed the meter to keep the program running 😉 I bought an update for Nuendo for half price during the holiday sale- 99.99…if I was continuing with Cubase it would have been more like 49.99 or so.

A lot of demo stuff here- https://www.reverbnation.com/daylight

2

[LinkedMusicians]

I checked the FAQs at the Bandlab website and it appears that the company has lowered its annual rate from $179 per year to $149.50. It’s unclear if that’s some temporary renewal offer or not. @thesteven Where did you see $99 for subsequent years or find that past subscribers can get promo rates?

Bandlab has removed the regular price of their annual subscription from most of their pages about Sonar, intentionally making it more difficult for potential customers to understand how Bandlab will be raising their subscription fees after their first year. The one place where I found the subscription rate at was their FAQ page (help.bandlab.com/hc/en-us/articles/20758981227033-BandLab-Membership-FAQ) where it states:

BandLab Membership costs USD $14.95 per month for the monthly plan and USD $99 for the first year on the annual plan and renews at $149.50 after the first year. Your subscription will automatically renew at your selected interval until you choose to cancel.

As the flash sale has now expired, these are the current promotional rates for the first year (only) of a Sonar subscription. It automatically renews at $149.50 per year (although it’s unclear if that $149.50 renewal rate is only temporary and the non-promotional rate will eventually return to the $179 price). These are the current promotional rates — only for people who have never subscribed to Bandlab in the past. Statements from Bandlab’s social media manager and other staff on the Cakewalk subreddit make clear that the Sonar promotional rates are NOT available to any past customers, only those who have never subscribed to any Bandlab services in the past. From Bandlab’s website:

$70 first year only.
$14.95 per month

Renewal rate for subsequent years and annual subscriptions for those who have never subscribed to any Bandlab service in the past: $149.50 (again, this is usually $179, and may only be a temporary promotion).

[Let’s not do use live hyperlinks to Bandlab / Cakewalk. Google sees that as an endorsement of Bandlab from LinkedMusicians, and I certainly do not condone the practices of Bandlab or the company that Meng’s family operates which gave him his billions, which has long been found to ALLEGEDLY use child labor (as young as 8 years old) and slave labor for their palm oil business. Meng‘s family business, Wilmar Internationalhas long been reported to ALLEGEDLY routinely censor employees, former employees, journalists, and critics using litigation, so I certainly don’t want to be a target for that; Bandlab’s forum practices are very reflective of the company’s widely reported practices with its palm oil business. If anyone wants to link to a Bandlab / Cakewalk forum page, you can discuss the company and their products as you like and share your opinion, just don’t use live hyperlinks, which Google interprets as LM voting for their site having value in its category.]

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1

[thesteven]

On LinkedMusicians said

I checked the FAQs at the Bandlab website and it appears that the company has lowered its annual rate from $179 per year to $149.50. It’s unclear if that’s some temporary renewal offer or not. @thesteven Where did you see $99 for subsequent years or find that past subscribers can get promo rates?

 

I logged into Bandlab website and the 3rd link from the top right side is ‘GET W’ (W is the membership crown symbol). Clicking on that opens the offer.

I’m not on my home computer so I can’t post an image at the moment.

[LinkedMusicians]

On thesteven said

On LinkedMusicians said

I checked the FAQs at the Bandlab website and it appears that the company has lowered its annual rate from $179 per year to $149.50. It’s unclear if that’s some temporary renewal offer or not. @thesteven Where did you see $99 for subsequent years or find that past subscribers can get promo rates?

 

I logged into Bandlab website and the 3rd link from the top right side is ‘GET W’ (W is the membership crown symbol). Clicking on that opens the offer.

I’m not on my home computer so I can’t post an image at the moment.

Obviously, I trust you — no screenshot is necessary. I just couldn’t find it. Bandlab buries the regular price of the subscription (the renewal price) after the promo period (which I referred to in my earlier post), clearly trying to hide it from consumers.  I’m not a fan of that. A brand should be transparent with their pricing. I get that Bandlab realizes that the regular price will turn off a lot of consumers, but hiding it is little more than being deceptive. They know that they’ll get a higher conversion rate if consumers aren’t aware that the price more than doubles after the promo period ends.

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1

[LinkedMusicians]

@thesteven The one place where I see $99 mentioned is referencing the promo pricing (Bandlab has been very sloppy about updating the pricing at various pages of their website, and it is inconsistent with the current — and even the last — promotions.  Below is from the page that shows the current promotional pricing for the first year — that rate is only available to those who have never subscribed to anything from Bandlab before, according to Bandlab’s social media manager (on the Cakewalk subreddit). When you click the link for pricing and scroll to the bottom of the page, it tells you that the regular price for an annual subscription is currently $149.50, which is the price for anyone who has ever subscribed to anything from Bandlab in the past. It was, until recently, $179 per year, and it’s not clear if the $149.50 price will return to the $179 price point.

\

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1

[thesteven]

The image in the previous post is what I was referring to.

I have that offer and I previously subscribed. My sub ended mid-December (I actually terminated my subscription a couple of months prior and my ‘benifts’ lasted until the end of sub period).

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