Cakewalk^® Announces First Truly Native 64-bit Host DAW Application

—Free SONAR x64 Technology Preview Edition Now Available—

WINTER NAMM (Booth 6800), Anaheim, CA, (January 20, 2005)—Cakewalk, developer of the leading music and sound software for Windows, today announces the availability of a fully native 64-bit version of SONAR 4 Producer Edition, the definitive audio production environment on the Windows platform. The x64 Technology Preview version of SONAR 4 includes the entire application, along with a collection of additional DirectX effects, synths, and samplers to spotlight the advantages of music production in a 64-bit processing environment.

The SONAR x64 Technology Preview is now available for free download from the Cakewalk web site at www.cakewalk.com/x64. A free pre-release beta version Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional x64 Edition is available for download at www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/64bit.

With this native 64-bit application, Cakewalk is continuing its leadership role in ushering in the future of audio recording, editing and mixing on the PC. Cakewalk has a long history of providing cutting edge technology, with nearly two decades of product design and innovations, providing millions of users at all levels of expertise with PC music creation software.

Cakewalk's implementation extends the amount of RAM available for music production on the PC to 1 terabyte (1024 GB), well beyond the current 2 GB limit offered by today's 32-bit applications. This provides users with nearly unlimited potential for working with RAM intensive projects that make extensive use of samplers and numerous audio loops and tracks. SONAR x64 Technology Preview provides users with the ability to load entire, large sample banks, libraries, and audio clips into RAM, thereby eliminating the latency introduced by disk streaming. Additionally, future versions of SONAR will offer the highest resolution mix engine with a fidelity exceeding that of the most expensive professional audio tools available in the market today.

"We are very excited to be on the forefront of delivering x64 technology to the music production world, and have found Intel® processor-based Hewlett Packard platforms are ideal for delivering outstanding performance benefits to empower musicians." commented Ron Kuper, Vice President of Engineering for Cakewalk. "In our testing not only are we seeing SONAR make more effective use of RAM, but as an added bonus we are also seeing reduced CPU overhead, which we believe to be the result of the increased number of internal registers within x64 processors," added Kuper.

"64-bit Intel® Xeon™ processor-based workstations are optimal for the most demanding Pro Audio applications. Cakewalk's SONAR 4 Producer Edition takes advantage of the capabilities of the 64-bit Intel Xeon processor to help meet the exacting needs of today's audio professionals," said Phil Brace, marketing director for Intel's Enterprise Platforms Group.

AMD customers will also experience comparable performance gains using the SONAR x64 Technology Preview. A wealth of information and resources are available in the SONAR x64 Technology Preview FAQ found at www.cakewalk.com/x64/faq.

Availability

The free SONAR x64 Technology Preview is now available for download at www.cakewalk.com/x64. SONAR 4 Producer Edition has a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $959 U.S. (MSRP); SONAR 4 Studio Edition is $479 U.S. (MSRP). For more information, visit Cakewalk at WINTER NAMM Booth 6800; Cakewalk on the web at www.cakewalk.com; or call 888-CAKEWALK (617-423-9004 outside U.S.).

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Cakewalk is a registered trademark and SONAR, and the Cakewalk logo are trademarks of Twelve Tone Systems, Inc. Other trademarks mentioned are held by their respective owners.