I returned to this thread this morning and I was relieved to see that some have understood that it is not my intention to pee on everyone's birthday cake.  I went back and looked at the X3 pages with the intention that I would discover some phrase or fine print to indicate that the Blue Tube Plugs and also the Lounge Lizard were "X3 only" versions.  I didn't see any.  I guess that when it was confirmed by staff (IIRC) that Addictive Drums and Melodyne Essential was not locked down, I projected subconsciously that all the plugs were free ranging.  My error in thinking - I should have known better.  I made my buying decision based on my perception that the extra plugins would be a hedge against a $149 dollar purchase that I might not feel measured up to my expectations compared to my current software software collection.
Forgive me if I repeat myself, I already own Melodyne Editor.  I didn't even bother to download Addictive drums - I don't need another drum product to distract me with endless auditions (I have every Toontrack product available to me.)  But this isn't anything that is pertaining only to me, there are several people here with a similar situation.
 
My disappointments come in other areas and maybe I shouldn't have contaminated my original post with an expression of that and there is no benefit to muddying up the thread with expressing those since they are contained in other posts.

To those who have X3, have fun with it.  It's a heck of a lot better than X2 or X1.

stevee9c6

mixmkr
And you guys don't see the reasoning behind this... an enticement to buy their software?  Why would Cake want to offer plugs and then be thrilled you used them in another DAW?  Don't you think Cake believes for the most part their software is all you need?  Otherwise why would they offer everything from mastering EQs to vocal correction to soft synths....?

uhhm, no. Not for one moment do I think that the baker dudes consider Sonar to be the only software anyone would ever need for music production.  Do you have customers? The only reason I have multiple DAWs  and tons of plug ins, is for that simple fact. I absolutely prefer to work in Sonar, but I got to tell you... when you have paying clients you use what they request.  I love sonar work flow but I can not think of a single project that I used just their bundled plug ins.  Real world  folks...

Obviously, we want you to use SONAR and we make these available to work in SONAR. Working outside of our DAW is not just our decision. Some vendors are ok with that and others are not. All we can guarantee is that it will work in SONAR X3 (and it does). I mean the upgrade price for X3 Producer is less than the cost of those bundles stand-alone...so keep that in mind.

djwayne
Wow, $399 worth of plug-ins included in the $149 upgrade price... what a deal !!! I think they sound and work pretty good too !!

They're only worth that if you can use them in other programs.
 
I suspect this is why they can be offered at such a "low" (essentially FREE) price, since Sonar would be the same price with or without them.
If you want them to be useable as "global" plugins, you would expect to pay a lot more for Sonar, no?
 
However, I would like to see them useable throughout the Sonar range rather than just the latest version.
 
Steve

djwayne
Wow, $399 worth of plug-ins included in the $149 upgrade price... what a deal !!! I think they sound and work pretty good too !!

No, there are only about 20 Nomad Factory effects included.  The cited $399 figure, I believe, was for the Nomad Factory Integral Bundle, i.e., the whole ball-o-wax.
 
There was a special sale a couple of years ago in which any owner of any Nomad Factory gear could pick up the Integral Bundle for $99.  This was one of the great deals of a lifetime, IMO.  If it's ever repeated, jump on it.  Also, there probably will be some kind of upgrade option (wait for a sale!) that SONAR X3 owners may find attractive.  So, even if the bundled Nomad Factory effects are restricted to X3, there may be a not-too-expensive way to get more effects that work everywhere.
 
The Blue Tubes Bundle is more or less what's in the SONAR upgrade, not the Integral Bundle.  IMO, there's some very nice stuff in that package alone.  Some folks are dismissive of Nomad Factory software, but I don't see why that's justified.  Their offerings are a bit of a mixed bag ... some not so great, but many are first rate (plus, they have some of the coolest user interfaces going, not that's significant in terms of sound quality).

Mid/side processing is what the Quadcurve needs now. It looks really nice!