@ Cakewalk: Sonar >2015 Demo Mode / Subscription End Question

What EXACTLY does happen when my "license to use the software" ends?

A) Sonar reverts to Demo Mode, preventing project save and exports, but still loads and plays back? Or
B) Sonar won't launch at all

In case A: when in Demo mode, does C3

1) indicate updates, installs them for me to try still without the possibility to save/export? Or
2) doesn't install any updates at all?

I) What happens when
a) I completed a 12 months successive payment and am entitled to use Sonar as is, then
b) I opt out and do NOT pay for some 3 months, for example, and get to know about a new update that interests me. Which options do I have? Is it
c) let the C3 install the update without further payment, with Sonar immediately returning to demo mode? Or
d) let C3 install, pay a one months fee, with full save/export, with Sonar returning to Demo mode after this one month?

- Assuming no further payments, with Sonar in Demo mode, I can roll back to a previous version where I had full save/export functionally
- Assuming I had saved a project used a new feature during my one month usage license, can this very project be loaded with my save/export enabled rolled back version? If yes, what happens further? Does Sonar revert to Demo Mode for this very project only as I used features on save I no more own a license to use? Or is data lost? Or is a duplicate being created with data lost, the original project remaining in case I buy another license further down the road? But the I'd lose work done in the duplicate, right?

So please clarify the exact process of toggling between non-licensed and licensed mode.

Thank you

Officials are present currently, hope it gets answered here for us all. Will do if not.

I'm not sure you'll get a personal answer as this very question has been asked numerous times and answered here in the forums by Cakewalk staff and in the FAQ. I hope for your sake that you get your answer but I'd go look for it.

Thank you Noel!
 
May I follow up on this, as some details are still vague, at least to me?
 

Noel Borthwick [Cakewalk]
If your payment has lapsed beyond the grace period then C3 won't deliver any newer updates

Wouldn't it be "good way" to let the C3 indicate that eventually there ARE updates? How should I know otherwise, and get motivated to check whats new, without constantly checking the web page. I mean, I use the DAW and so I do use the C3 on each launch, so this would automatically indicate that there's something new? I could then chose to try the update with sonar instantly reverting to demo mode, and, after my trial, either rollback when I decide to not use the update, or pay for further use.
 
 

Noel Borthwick [Cakewalk]
Yes you can use ...a project... in a prior version as normal. If the saved version used new features obviously they wouldnt be available.

Obviously. When a "new feature" is introduced, that "adds data to the project file" (like MixRecall does) and I pay a one month only fee and try and save a project using this new feature (with my project file containing the new features data), and after this month, when sonar reverts to demo mode, I roll back to a prior save enabled sonar, I obviously can not USE the new feature any more, but my project file contains data of that new feature. I then keep on working on this very same project with my save enabled sonar and save the project, and two month later I buy another one month license fee and load this very project, is the "new features project data" retained/kept upon saves of different versions of sonar, or does data get lost?
 
 

Just pay off your damn SONAR payments and you'll have a fully functional SONAR tho you won't get future improvements after the 12 month period.  Exactly like buying SONAR X3 in the box and putting it on a computer with free updates.  If you take up Cake's payment plan and don't make the final payment(s) you get demo mode.  Just like a car or anything else you buy on credit, you have to pay it off.
 
If you are planning to the nth degree about what might happen, may I suggest worrying that global warming will bring back the dinosaurs and how large of a gun you need in your bunker.   A better use of everyone's time. 
 
As Curly of the 3 stooges said, "Is everyone around here dumb but me?"
 
@

AT
Just pay off your damn SONAR payments and you'll have a fully functional SONAR tho you won't get future improvements after the 12 month period.  Exactly like buying SONAR X3 in the box and putting it on a computer with free updates.  If you take up Cake's payment plan and don't make the final payment(s) you get demo mode.  Just like a car or anything else you buy on credit, you have to pay it off.

 
Most people who buy a car or a house do so using a loan with the purchased object serving as collateral against payment of the loan. Failure to make a payment typically triggers a seizure of the object, but not a loss of all equity in it. A sheriff's sale of a house seized for mortgage default often nets more than the remaining loan principle, and after deducting principle, seizure and sale expenses and contractual penalties, the amount left is returned to the borrower.
 
In this case, your Sonar license has no re-sale value, so to that extent, the comparison effectively still applies. One clear difference is that you are not able to reclaim use of your seized collateral property by the expedient of making a new single monthly payment. It would appear that in the case of Sonar membership lapsing, you can start your membership anew, and open your existing projects in a new version without having to pay Cakewalk any back payments or fees.
 
The more apt analogy would be an eviction from an apartment for nonpayment of the rent. The difference is that, in the real world, it would be an unusual landlord who would let you move back in at the same rent if you had been evicted in the past.
 

I think he can only roll back to his last permanently activated version and have that work.
The January version was only activated for a one month period, now expired, so it would not work as a full version. He did not buy a permanently activated version with the then current feature set, he bought activation for full featured versions on a month to month basis from Jan-Aug. Now none of his previous versions will be able to work in anything but demo mode.
 
The newest demo mode might include features not available earlier, and may include the ability to open projects saved in the older versions, but it is still crippled by being unable to save projects. Whether the newest demo will include the newest features is a real question. It might be technically easier to do it that way than to serve up a separate version for download.  But, there might be licensing issues with third party developers who do not want their plugins included in a demo release. The demo versions released for the X series apparently did not include all the features in the full version.

Sanderxpander
I'm really confused on the demo thing. I get that Sonar would revert to demo mode if payments are stopped. But there is an issue with that - consider the following example;
 
User A has a valid Sonar license for, say January 2015. He makes some payments but stops them in August of the same year. He can roll back to January, or stay in demo mode indefinitely, correct?
User B is interested in Sonar. In October 2015, he installs a demo on his computer. This demo is now newer than, and different from User A's demo, correct?
 
It seems to me a demo should be up to date. Like TabSel said, how would User A know whether any significant upgrades are out beyond constantly checking the website? I think C3 should AT LEAST have some kind of notification thing in it. Even better, it should be possible to keep your "last valid" version and run a demo of the latest version next to it. The exact same way it has been up until now - run X2 and a demo of X3.

User A: His August build will drop into Demo mode. The user could go an install the latest demo at any point after that. 
 
User B: Yes, the demo newer, but see User A's case. 

The rollback function in C3 will handle the newer demo/earlier version use case on a particular system. 

HOW does user A install the latest demo?

Is this another build "outside" the C3? So C3 handles two builds, the latest save enabled, and the latest build reverted to demo mode, and there is a 3rd build, a up-to-date demo build, and another 4th demo build when an update gets rolled out?

As far as I understood Noel, the C3 does NOT indicates updates nor installs them when in Demo mode...?

Sanderxpander
Right, so User A can indeed get the "latest demo" at any point, that's good to know. However, is there also the option of running his "last valid" version alongside the newest demo, compared to someone running X2 and a demo of X3? Or is the upgrade/rollback process so simple and quick that it is trivial?

The rollback only takes a couple minutes, if that, so it's pretty quick and painless. 
 

TabSel
HOW does user A install the latest demo?

Is this another build "outside" the C3? So C3 handles two builds, the latest save enabled, and the latest build reverted to demo mode, and there is a 3rd build, a up-to-date demo build, and another 4th demo build when an update gets rolled out?

As far as I understood Noel, the C3 does NOT indicates updates nor installs them when in Demo mode...?

Well the DEMO isn't out yet. When it is, I expect there will be a selection in C3. We still have a few decisions to make on this.
 
If you right-click on SONAR in C3 you'll see a list of available builds. This is currently mostly empty for end-users, but eventually the list will be longer. 
 

Sanderxpander
By the way both Seth and Noel, thanks for being so patient and taking the time to explain all this. I actually already bought my upgrade and am not planning to move away from Sonar or anything. Just interested in what these changes mean.

You're welcome! I can completely understand since everything seems to be new. 

If I buy one month, will SONAR work.  If I don't pay the 2nd month, will it stop?  Or go into demo mode?  Or just open and work but not save.  Now, if I then pay the 3rd month will SONAR actually do all the work I could have done that month that I didn't pay?  Or just the stuff I tried to?  Or will my computer just crash.
 
Now, if I wait a year what happens?  I really really need to know.  As I understand it SONAR will open when I pay and have all the work I didn't do saved on Cakewalks servers.  Is this true?  If not, how do I recover the music I didn't do since I was trolling the internet.
 
Please, everybody wants to know.
 

Seth, I'm pretty sure AT's last reply might qualify as sarcasm - based on other posts he seems to understand the new system just fine. 

Seth Kellogg [Cakewalk]
 
That's likely not going to happen by the official launch on the 21st. 

Cat out of the bag or did I miss something in the long main thread? 
 
Cheers,
 
jayson

You won't be able to run a newer demo and your last version in parallel on the same pc.
You will have to use the rollback feature most likely in that case.
Also demos will typically not include plugins and 3rd party content. The demo will always be the most up to date version of the software.
We have some plans for notifications of newer versions in afuture update.