I don't think anyone here is arguing that Sonar is less capable.  The problem is that even when showing people what Sonar can do and impressing them, it was not enough to impress them to switch. I have absolutely wowed people with Sonar and it faded just that fast.  

guitz
But you are forgetting that MAYBE the far and away biggest purchasers of cakewalk aren't professionals, they are home users or musicians or semi-pro users, simply because 'we' outnumber an actual pro , probably 10,000 to 1, worldwide....So sales to professionals is very unlikely to be the culprit...
Indeed, what I liked most about SONAR, was all the very cool 'songwriting' aids (instruments, MIDI stuff, note input by piano roll or notation, etc,etc,etc ) it has or could've been developing...

Being a player in the professional market isn't about all the sales you get from the professionals. Its about all the sales you get because the professionals use your product.

 
Kenny

craigb
Craig's Business 101:
 
Give me your money and I will spend it for you. 

 
I know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

sharke

DrLumen
How many here think the name CakeWalk might have had a little something to do with their demise? That name always causes me to cringe a bit. If you had a mega studio trying to attract business would you want to be known for using software named after a child's game?

 
Personally I don't think there was anything wrong with their name and it probably had nothing to do with their demise. What about Fruity Loops - despite being named after a child's breakfast cereal, it's been one of the most popular DAW's of all time and is quite often seen in pro studios. 
 

I didn't even know what Fruity Loops was...because I wasn't remotely interested...because it was called Fruity Loops.   
 
I can't stand naming things like the McDonald's Marketing team.  These people will have you talking like an idiot into a drive thru speaker with McThis and McThat...that's how Fruity Loops sounds.  Like somebody took something cool and dumbed it down to cartoons and cereal. It made me think of fast food radio music, canned loops and beats, stuff to play with.  I have no idea if that even resembles Fruity Loops, ha ha.  
 
I never minded Cakewalk, although Twelve Tones sounds way cooler, for sure.   

Gibson is not alone. Corporate America runs on credit.

It's frightening how many multi-million dollar companies are in debt. Acquisitions are being made with borrowed money in the hopes of paying off down the road.

The U.S. economy runs on consumer spending and most consumers are already heavily in debt.

This whole system is ripe for an implosion.

fireberd
I don't think Sonar is/was as popular as we would like to believe.  As I talked to others in recording I was the only one using Sonar.  
 
The Gibson acquisition as it appears didn't do it any favors.  Face it, a company doesn't dump something if its profitable and maybe even marginally profitable.  Finally, Gibson appears to want to get on the consumer electronics bandwagon and I would be surprised if other brands they have go the way of Sonar or get sold off.

Agreed for the most part. I doubt that Sonar was that big, or that any DAW, for that matter, is really that big, and not just a lot of hot air by many magazines that are also owned by the same company to make their product look bigger and better. Specially in America, people think that the product is bigger and better if you see big adverts for it. Or better yet, put in a half nekkid something and everyone looks! 
 
The whole Gibson thing is a different issue altogether. Before the "corporatization" of America, almost all of the music business was "local" and had its roots on many individuals that did their work by themselves. When the big companies started buying things out (still happening), the idea is to take away the competition, so you knew right off that if Gibson bought Sonar or Pub.lic.something.or.other, that they would eventually would close down one of them to concentrate their efforts and save money on the number of employees. Sonar was/is expandable because there are so many other DAW's out there, and you can get some real cheap and even some that are free on the net ... thus, the ability of Sonar to stand up and be counted, gets dropped even further down the tub of gook'y green mush!
 
Which happened.
 
Why are we surprised?
 
We have voted to turn America all corporate, and made sure that one of the biggest guys in that corporate rip offs and manipulation of moneys, is in the big white house somewhere! And then we complaint about Sonar being gone ... heck, this all started way back when, but they tried to break AT&T and you know what they said? ... no worries ... we'll see you down the line again, and you won't stand a chance. And no one does. The company is "above the law" and no one can do anything about it, including Congress and the House ... 
 
The corporate model is a money drain for local businesses ... you pay for the goods and the profit goes out of town ... why are you supporting another town or company, and ignoring your locals friends and neighbors? Who are you selecting to represent you? Someone else to take your pee for you?