How does one administration differ over another when it comes to Law? True 'the chosen one" could do no wrong!
A class action is a class action no matter who gets in it is the same Public Service. 

BJN
How does one administration differ over another when it comes to Law? True 'the chosen one" could do no wrong!
A class action is a class action no matter who gets in it is the same Public Service. 

Just this week, Trump signed a law that makes it almost impossible to make class action suits against banks.

Request to Gibson: Make a sincere and concerted effort to find a new owner.
 
Like everyone else, I read the Gibson/Sonar announcement with great sadness and consternation. I have been a Cakewalk owner since the 90's. I consider it to be the penultimate recording software - tons of features, steady enhancements, and easy to use. Gibson hopefully realizes that Cakewalk / Sonar is more than a product. It's a platform upon which a huge number of musicians create their craft. That's a skill that takes practice and nurturing, and isn't easily interchanged.
 
So, Gibson, what you have in your hands is more than a 'product'. I can't speak for the profitability of the product line, and I can't criticize Gibson for making a business decision. I will note that the 'lifetime' offer of enhancements was way too short. In return, then, for the loyalty and enthusiasm of your customer base and their paid-in dollars, please make a sincere and concerted effort to find a new owner for Cakewalk who can continue to move it forward.
 
Finally, hats off to all the Cakewalk engineers. Creating something out of thin air is hard work. Kudos for all your efforts. 
 
Randy B, St. Paul, MN

jaxman12
I felt like this would happen a while back when Roland sold to Gibson and the warning went out from a lot of users that Gibson had a reputation for buying companies that had good products and killing them off.  When the "Free Updates for Life" came out, it raised an eyebrow.  How can a company continue to exist on a product that has been purchased and won't need to be replaced or updated for a decade?  Where is the revenue going to come to keep the company afloat?  ...
 

Exactly my thoughts at that time, yet the demise of CW never entered my mind. I figured it as a money grab but that Sonar would be replaced by another product and so the "lifetime" would be limited to Sonar's lifetime, so they could say, "Sonar is dead, so no more lifetime updates.
 
But now, my thoughts are that there was a plan A and a plan B. Plan A: replace Sonar, as above. Plan B: we're in it.
 
SO... Gibson had this in plan from back when the lifetime updates were offered. Look at the profit report, it lines up.
 
Sonar is not dead, but frozen in time. if you have your operating system on a storage device as well as the Sonar install files you can simply consider it as you do your hardware- static and operational as it is today. Re-install as needed.
 
I am confident a registration file is on it's way to lifetime users and if not, there are options out there to make it work.

This is such sad news. It came across a news release from Sweetwater today and I was definitely shocked to see it. I echo the feelings of everyone on this forum - for the sake of the great folks at Cakewalk and with sheer bewilderment at Gibson.
 
Granted, the entire industry is changing, but Sonar really was a great and thriving product with a passionate and devoted user-base. It's funny what large corporations call "alignment" these days. I can agree that the decision to shutter Sonar is in alignment - with every other decision recently made by Gibson - decisions to drive the ship full speed into the rocks.
 
This forum is populated by some fabulous folks. Hopefully we can stay together online somewhere/ somehow. It is encouraging to see the grass-roots interests already forming. Seeing Anderton's continuing input here is a real spark of inspiration. Maybe with the right recipe and backing this community could rally around a resurrected platform. 
 
FWIW I've been a faithful Cakewalk user since PA9. My first CW product was a freebie MIDI sequencer that came with a MIDI cable as a bonus. That cable plugged into the Joystick Port on a SoundBlaster! About 20 years before that, I was building and modding audio circuits from Craig Anderton's famous DIY books.
 
It looks like SONAR will continue to run for the immediate future, so I will probably finish projects there rather than migrate them midway. After that, barring any SONAR resurrections, it looks like it will be time to dry the tears, pull up the tent pegs, and migrate to another platform.
 
Regarding potential migrations, it might be nice for some of us to post the pros/cons/similarities/differences of other platforms. One feature that I can say is a must-have for me is Melodyne, and along with it, the ARA integration. Those of you interested in this should make sure that your DAW/platform of interest actually supports it. From Celemony's website:

On the DAW side, ARA is currently supported by Presonus Studio One, Cakewalk Sonar, Magix Samplitude Pro, Acoustica Mixcraft and Tracktion Waveform. Another plug-in that employs ARA is Vocalign from Synchro Arts.

Based upon the above, and posts from others, I'm currently looking into Studio One Professional, hoping for a deal on a crossgrade. But I definitely welcome discussion on this topic!
 
Wishing the best of God's blessings for everyone on the receiving end of this news!!

So sorry about this I've dropped a lot of coin in the cakewalk pockets over the years all the way back to floppies and DOS. I was just about to upgrade again when I read the news. I hope all the talent at Boston is scooped up. These are very hard and ruthless times. 
 
Question will there be any way to acquire the final version of the software? (at a stable point)
 
All the best.
 
Joe

On a sad note I really feel for all the staff that are being dragged down by Gibson. I wish you all the luck in the world for your future - I've got everything crossed that somebody picks Sonar up and runs with it.
 
On a practical note, if all goes wrong and nobody takes Sonar up again can we at least have a small app released that can give us easy offline registration?
The fear of this is of course pirate software but if it has got to the point of nobody taking it over then the software would be dead very soon after anyway. I'm sure it would only take some of the programming genius' at Cakewalk an hour or two to design this  - they could even charge a small fee for it.
 
Any thoughts?

Nifty9993
On a sad note I really feel for all the staff that are being dragged down by Gibson. I wish you all the luck in the world for your future - I've got everything crossed that somebody picks Sonar up and runs with it.
 
On a practical note, if all goes wrong and nobody takes Sonar up again can we at least have a small app released that can give us easy offline registration?
The fear of this is of course pirate software but if it has got to the point of nobody taking it over then the software would be dead very soon after anyway. I'm sure it would only take some of the programming genius' at Cakewalk an hour or two to design this  - they could even charge a small fee for it.
 
Any thoughts?

No, Cakewalk can not charge for a patch that removes the online activation requirement. Anyone who purchased a "lifetime" license to Sonar, or who completed at least one full 12 month "Membership" cycle, owns that version of Sonar outright, and has a perpetual license to use Sonar until the day we die. 

So either Cakewalk/Gibson keeps the online activation servers up and running, forever, or a patch is released,  free of any charge, that removes the requirement for online activation.   

SandlinJohn

Nifty9993
The fear of this is of course pirate software but if it has got to the point of nobody taking it over then the software would be dead very soon after anyway. I'm sure it would only take some of the programming genius' at Cakewalk an hour or two to design this  - they could even charge a small fee for it.
 

The software meant to unlock our LifeTime Sonar Platinum and any other software that requires the Cakewalk Command Center to install, will be provided by the Official team remaining. It won't be a "Pirate Crack" of the software. The very beginning of this thread has been updated by Noel Borthwick.
 

Noel Borthwick
FAQ:
Q. What if the cakewalk site goes down - will we be able to reinstall and activate our software that is paid for and owned?
A. If and when Cakewalk's servers are taken down, we will issue a mechanism to activate software you own, without needing access to the internet. We're working on the mechanics of this and we'll provide more details as available. At present online activation is fully functional.

 Apologies, I didn't;t realise that Noel had updated his post. That's perfect - exactly what we will need if nobody takes them on. I have lifetime updates and will continue to use Sonar for ever! It runs perfectly for me on a windows 10 offline PC. I will not download any more windows 10 updates in case something messes up the Sonar install in the future. Thanks

arkhivania
Please make Adaptive Limiter enabled on other VST Hosts! Thanks :)

Just looked in Presonus STUDIO ONE DAW. If I drag it to the FX CHAIN Inserts IT DOES pop up with an error saying "ONLY AVAILBLE TO BE USED IN SONAR VERSION xxxx"
 
Click OK on that and then it seems to open. I havent checked if its working after that BUT by all means try it out yourself in the S1 14 day trial:
 
https://www.presonus.com/products/Studio-One/get-studio-one
 
Over right .. try the S1 pro demo ( not the PRIME )

dlesaux
It opens but doesn't work..

Yip .. thread started here about that with respect to other plus and EFX
 
http://forum.cakewalk.com/Request-for-Overloud-Sonar-version-products-to-be-made-VST-m3696066.aspx
 
I said there:

Same applies to EFX like NOMAD, RGC:AUDIO, PEAVEY and Cakewalks own EFX like Adaptive Limiter etc??
 
All popping up with Sonar only or throttled / bypassed if opened.
 

My post wasn't political but making a point that big business has sided with big business..Just wait for the demise of net neutrality in 2 weeks....