John T
I don't remember this Jack guy at all.

But I remember you.
I guess Alzheimer's gets us all at some point. I'll give you that I haven't been around in quite a while since I dropped Sonar but hey - I was around this before it ever was a forum and was just a usenet newsgroup (remember that?).

rickssonar
Hi
I think its a shame that we have to pay for lifetime updates ,,those of  us who have been with platinum since the start. when those just buying platinum for the first time will set for life ,,no renewal cost like i have and you to have paid since platinum started ..besides companies like fractal audio do this kind of thing all the time for FREE. give me  a break

What you're paying for lifetime updates is much less than what someone pays who's just getting into SONAR. What you paid in the past was what allowed you to use Platinum in the past. 

Since I've received this lifetime offer in my inbox I've been reading and reading for the past 6 hours. I started with the boxed set of Sonar Producer 8 during a "Buy now get the next version free when it is available!" offer. Wanted it anyway so that wasn't a problem, just a sweet extra personal "justification" as to why it was now that I had to finally get it. Got the 8.5 upgrade free then upgraded to X1 and then the Expanded upgrade for it. Then for health reasons, I gave up anything that had to do with music; no listening, no playing, no singing, nada. I had lost the passion for the love of my life but lately the fire has ben burning inside again and then I get this promo offer...
 
Now, I haven't used it in years. back then before the subscription model came out I could just install it on a couple different computers at the same time. Being as I was the only one that used it, there was no way my licenses could be used on more than one PC at the same time  (I'm a tinkerer spend more time building and rebuilding my computers than actually using them)
 
So here's my dilemma or questions: With this online/offline activation thing now it seems that it's no longer as easy as before: enter the serial and registration number. If I jump (eh... screw the if, I'm going to jump, probably even before I get a response, like right after I click the submit post button) the gun and dish out my Canadian $$$$ (Why are deals never when the bloody dollars are at par?) and go for this lifetime update offer will I have to reinstall every version one after the other to make sure everything I had is there before installing the CCC and downloading? And will I get everything that has come out since X1 expanded or will I be missing something between x1 and now and will I be able to install/reinstall it on more than one PC at the same time... or will it be a problem?
 
TIA if anyone can make this easier for me to understand :)
 
EDIT: Jumped and ordered. Now to figure out how to download everything to have local copy...

@GaryQ
There is no requirement to install a previous version
 
There are plug-ins and content unique to most versions of SONAR. Here is a break down by version from 8 through X3 http://forum.cakewalk.com/FindPost/3217211. Plug-ins from older versions may be installed by using the advanced install option of the older version. The exception is V-Vocal. This plug-in requires a minimal install of the SONAR version including the plug-in.
 
It is still permitted to install and activate SONAR on more than one machine. The installation and activation processes are described here http://www.cakewalk.com/D...p=Introduction.29.html. After reading the book see the movies:
1) Installing and activating SONAR on a PC using the internet and the Command Center https://youtu.be/oG62qz0_q88
2) Installing and activating SONAR on a PC not connected to the internet https://youtu.be/roIgly_GjoI

jackn2mpu

John T
I don't remember this Jack guy at all.

But I remember you.
I guess Alzheimer's gets us all at some point. I'll give you that I haven't been around in quite a while since I dropped Sonar but hey - I was around this before it ever was a forum and was just a usenet newsgroup (remember that?).

I don't, no. I think you have me confused with someone else.

Hi Guys,
 
I have just read ten pages of Confusion. I think I have worked it out.
 
I purchased Platinum at the end of March, It replaced Professional that I purchased some six months earlier. By September I will be six months through my second CW subscription (but my first Platinum one). To Upgrade to Lifetime I will have to Pay £158 (Roughly $199 (thanks for the UK reduction from £174 overnight CW)).
 
So, people who are on their second cycle of get to buy at $99. Fair enough- and from this I can surmise that I am not the target audience for this promotion. OK!
 
So it seems CW would like an injection of capital and aiming at the second cycle renewal customers. CW must know how many second cycle subscribers it has and what it thinks its likely take up will be. Hopefully this will achieve its capital injection retirement by the end of August.
 
It gives the impression that CW is living a little "hand to mouth", but there again aren't we all...
 
Then there is Gibson, a company not known for innovation. Will they continue to support CW if it does not meet its financial objectives (regardless of how old it is) 
 
But I made the purchase and I own this software as it stands! What I have to decide is do I continue to purchase the same software every 12 months for the same price or do I blow out now and purchase updates for infinity. As there is no such thing as a free lunch, Universal lifetime upgrades are unsustainable. I just barely make a living from Music, so do I feed my kids or do I give CW a cash injection - Or do I miss the boat.
 
As of today I can see that boat moving away from the quay without me...
 
Oh, and to all you fanboys out there. Macs are not all they are hyped up to be, and some of us know this. It is a crowded DAW market in MAC land and CW may not be able to make headway.
 
Hopefully this helps and everyone can stop complaining. You don't have to part with your hard earned cash you know...
 
All the best
 
Marko
Entertaining the few since 1962
 
 
 
 

My belief is that Sonar will work on the Core of Platinum, but will also be working on separate content that will work outside of Sonar. Maybe the content will work better with Sonar than some other DAWs. I think the model will be to create some super add on plugins that everyone will want and therefore these will be sold as non-core items. This will solve the problem of every time Cakewalk wanted to sell something outside of Sonar, there was complaining about why aren't we all getting this as part of the updates with our subscription.

Beware: Long post is a comin'...it's not a bunch of negative complaining though, so if you have a few minutes of reading time, I'd appreciate your ear/eyes and input.
 
I am one of the folks who got sidetracked away from my music hobby.  I've been so busy running my business, working IN that business, working ON that business, learning new things about writing/creating websites and the like, and just having too little time left to dedicate to music that I've forgotten a lot of what I knew, from how to use Sonar to its fullest potential (or even creating videos teaching others how to use it) to how to play my instruments as well as I could, which aside from drums was already a challenge for me to get through.
 
I stopped at X3, but realistically, I got through 8.5, knowing it really well, got on the X1 bandwagon and didn't use it a lot, skipped X2 for many of the reasons above but also because it just didn't seem that the X generation of the application was fully baked and still stammering, then went to X3 with the intention of getting "back into it", which I basically have not.
 
When the rolling updates of Platinum and monthly or yearly subscription fees came along, I didn't nay-say like many - at least not completely.  I was watching with interest as new stuff got added, developments came out, many good, some sort of "what the heck is that and why would I care" (especially with the modules Anderton released, where maybe I'm just missing the bus, but seemed like "well we have to add SOMETHING this month...").  I also saw some of the items getting added that I think would not qualify as Core updates, like the bass loops that got added early on, described as "get these now or if you sign up later, they won't be added in the package".  These are the sorts of things that I don't really care anything about and the kind of things that I was concerned would make up a lot of the rolling updates plan.  I think I was wrong here.
 
So now I look through what all has changed with the Core of the program on the rolling updates page, plus the things that got added that I think would fall into that description in the Updates for Life plan even if they aren't actually Core like Notepad is Core to Windows.
 
So now I'm presented with a great deal: $199 for forever updates.  In the "old" non-subscription model, I'd have paid $179 in any given year to get to the new version.  I think there was one $99 time and one or two $199 times, but the jist of it is that for the most part, the $199 I'd pay now to upgrade for Lifetime updates is not that dissimilar to what I used to pay for a year.
 
If I were to go with monthly payments (like I considered when the subscriptions started), I'd have paid $180/year at $15/month.  I wouldn't have to go much past a year at the new model to make it worthwhile.  Likewise, if I had paid the $99 upfront for a year of updates, I'd only have to have done that for the two years since I stopped updating to have spent the $199. 
 
Now I can spend that same $199 and get it for good.  Granted, I didn't get any use of any of those updates for the past two+ years, but it still seems like a pretty good deal to me.
 
But only if I use it.
 
I am still trying to wrap my head around all that will get updated compared to my X3 version, how many new features will pile onto an already somewhat unfamiliar feature-set (of X3 that I can use but not as fluently as I'd prefer), how many bugs will be fixed.  I also wonder if I'll even notice many of these things, like the subtle changes in the Prochannel, the workflow changes in things like comping that are coming (I was still an old "layers guy who never really adopted the full capabilities of comping"), the additions of Melodyne Editor when I don't really think I've used Essentials over the old V-Vocal, the addition of Addictive Drums 2 when I didn't use the AD except for fiddling around, etc. 
 
I see that a ton of bugs have been fixed, but are the ones that I have addressed?  It seems that each update I've seen since quite some time has carried forward all of the bugs that have bothered me with no response as to even acknowledge that they exist.
 
I still see that there are many things that hold onto the old interfaces, like the Drum Map Manager for example.  Hideous and still somewhat problematic in the display as far as the maps themselves (and you all know that I'm a huge Drum Map advocate).  It all sorks fine, just seems really disjointed from the rest of the interface that moved forward.  I see that there are issues with the Mackie Control that never got fixed after the X series was released.  They sent the dll out to the open source and except for AzSlow, nothing seems to have happened.
 
And they are making a Mac version.  Nice for them, but I would have preferred that they at least buttoned up some of the long term things as above, fixed some stuff that people have complained about incessantly like the staff view, and focused on the program from the perspective of the (I have to imagine) the great majority of folks who use Sonar because it's great but also because they have PCs and not Macs.  I don't envision that people have PCs FOR Cakewalk as much as this other way around.  I am sure there are cases of all examples, but my guess is that people use PCs for the most part because that's what they want to use. 
 
I also see things like the Contour Shuttle device that I bought from Cakewalk many years ago - abandoned. No more plugin past the version of Sonar that was available at that time.  I understand that it was a third party product, but it was purchased from Cakewalk with software that integrated it INTO Cakewalk and then they chose not to develop that same software into their new version and now the device is far less useful and has been waiting for a miracle as it sits unplugged longing to be used again.  I have a BCF2000, an Edirol PCR800, and a Frontier Design Tranzport, and none of them are as cool as the Contour Shuttle was when it was released for controlling all the transport functions.  Just the scrub wheel not being usable at the "beat" level and instead only at the "measure" level kind of killed the device for me - seems really trivial but it was a great time saver and just worked better than any of these other devices because of its variable speed, spring-loaded wheel.
 
I only bring up a few of these as the Devil's Advocate:  How long before "lifetime" is the "lifetime of Sonar Platinum".  How long before Melodyne gets dropped out of the integration because of Sonar updates? - just an example as a third party application integration.
 
How the heck am I going to even find the things that are new, let alone learn them?
 
This early-morning post has been coming for quite some time and I've just finally had a chance to sit down and write.  So I'm sure it is a lot of rambling on a lot of topics, but I feel like I must be thinking some of the same things as many who have been around these forums for a long time as I have.  I welcome any feedback anyone has about any of this.  I'm likely to take advantage of this lifetime opportunity, but I sure would enjoy the encouragement!

I remember when a lot of folks were saying the monthly subscription wouldn't work.
have to be honest, the monthly subscription has been one of the most welcoming features cakewalk has rolled out since the invention of the smart tool.
 
what used to be about every year I would wait for bug to be fixed, it is now often fixed within a month.
not to mention the new features that are included every month.
cakewalk has really stepped up their game on customer satisfaction in my opinion.
 
I am however curious as to the lifetime updates. why it is being done.
cakewalk is a business and I understand that. every business has its motives.
but that is a lot of revenue to be giving a way in one large chunk.
I think its okay to be curious of the future of cakewalk.
after all paying for a life time of updates without a clear representation of what that life time is can be confusing.
but such as life, we never know when our life cycle will end so every thing in life is a gamble.
 
looking at the big picture, I believe this is a gamble worth taking.
 

As far as the business model, here is how I see it working.  Big cash infusion for this "one time" life time upgrade.  That cash will be invested to finish up the Mac version, which should bring in another lump some of cash from Macaholics sick of their DAW.  Meanwhile, new PC users pay for the core updates until the Mac sales stabilize, which leaves Cake with another stack of cash to invest.  Cake uses that slush fund:  buy or build a notation plug; build a better matrix plug; buy REmatrix; build an Alchemy-style synth; or a neve-style ProChannel VST or DSD recording/playback; buy Super Melodyne, whatever you please.  Stuff they used to add to entice us to upgrade to SONAR 11.
 
These plugs in are not part of the core lifetime upgrades.  You want, you buy.  You don't even need to be locked into Cakewalk to buy. In fact, other than bugs and ergonomics I don't see SONAR changing much - just smoothing.  We won't get Breverb light or Melodyne anymore on a yearly basis.  No more freebies - which weren't free but wrapped up as a selling point for yearly updating.  The $100-200 a year we spent for upping SONAR to the next version, Cake is hoping, you'll plug right back into a similar priced plug/additional function that you like and choose.
 
I don't care about notation so I don't buy it, but you do.  I do love the new synth and get it.  I have an analog neve so I'm not too interested in the PC version, but in 2018 go for the DSD function (and Tascam DSD recorder/playback hardware).  Just one big seller, on both Mac and PC, could open up all kinds of steady sales of their other properties, including SONAR.
 
So Cake continues to slick up the core functions and bug fixes in SONAR and ports them to both PC and Mac.  Come 2020, CAKE launches a new flagship DAW with their DSD built in, called ASDIC. Different core, so SONAR is no longer sold or supported past 2022, when MS introduces the XYZ OS.  But there is a special upgrade price for SONAR users ...
 
Distilling what Cake has said on the forums with common and business sense, this is what I see is happening.  Of course, I could be all wrong, but Craig won't say and tip off the competitors.
 
@
PS,  as I've said elsewhere, Cake should have made a sticky thread for all payment problems/questions - " I bought Artist on Tues so how much is it for my upgrade to splat lifetime next Wednesday."  There are so many individual choices one can ask about that no one else cares about - except the staff trying untangle a sale.
 
 
@

YouDontHasToCallMeJohnson
Especially when all of us have been willing to pay the $150 per year forever.

 
Well, the 'all' is definitely not accurate, because I'm not in that camp. Basically I have only been buying new versions every so many years (Cakewalk 3, Pro Audio 8, Sonar 2 XL, X1) and now have Platinum but again with the intention of only 'renewing' every so many years. I still know several folks that are on pre-Platinum. Just go look at the Sonar users Facebook group and you'll see that most posts are on older versions.
The current offer will definitely pull in a lot of folks who would otherwise have waited. True, that does mean a burst in revenue that they will never get back, but the risk is also relatively low due to the low pricepoint. In fact, non-Platinum owners can basically upgrade for Lifetime for the same price as what they used to have to pay for non-lifetime upgrade. So if Sonar is around for more than one year from now, you're already doing a good deal.
Even though I have no intent to move away from PC, the Mac announcement for me was good news, because it shows a longer term commitment. Also, I assume that that will also create a new revenue stream with new customers. Also note that the Lifetime Updates seems to be a temporary deal anyway, so those jumping on board for Mac will probably have to pay yearly still. In a sense they could also take a bigger risk by subscribing to lifetime today. Of course this would be a much bigger risk since a) it would cost them $499, and b) we have no date yet for the Mac release, so worst case they may have gotten nothing in the end if Cakewalk would go belly-up before that Mac release sees the daylight.
 
 
 

I'm not one to upgrade often. I started with PA5 then 8, 9, sonar3, X1, and finally X3plat. I was going to let my subscription run out in July, then wait for a feature to come out exciting enough to make my wallet jump out. But when I saw this today, I couldn't refuse. Bought the lifetime.
 
I think us smokers should get a discount, our lifetime runs out sooner.
 
THANKS ALL

Soon, perhaps as soon as this September, I'll be offered an effects vst package, a synthesizer vst package and mastering package on a month to month fee basis (perhaps with option to buy each). Maybe you're going to offer an audio-for-video editing package.
 
If you don't want it don't buy it

So many sad little people... glad I'm not one of them....