Hi, I'm glad to see Cakewalk has been saved. You sound like you have a big creative vision, and the resources to see it through. You could really revolutionize how millions make music, and become a fixture like Soundcloud, and Youtube.
I'd like to tell you the direction I hope Cakewalk will go. I hope you will go on two different tracks. The free Sonar for anyone is a great idea for millions of users, and will greatly expand the number of Bandlab users and Cakewalk users. You could include Home Studio or even the $100. Sonar. I know that there must be millions of musicians who would like to be in a band, or collaborate with others. Many would just like the idea of collaborating with many people, and some might be isolated from working with other musicians. Others might have little time to be in a band because of their work. This could greatly expand Cakewalk and Bandlab. Even music schools could use it, if it could be used offline. But eventually, just having a free version of Sonar will eventually kill Sonar with Pro and Semi Pro users, as it will limit the amount of development of Sonar. A state of the art program today, will be an obsolete program tomorrow, if constant development (with an eye on what other state of the art programs are adding) isn't forthcoming. That happened to Cakewalk back in the days of Pro Audio 8. Having high end users use Sonar, is good for any version of Sonar's survival. People like to use software that Rock stars, Film composers and Video Game composers use. It's great for advertising and has a trickle down effect. Beginners would want it. Also, it has a trickle down effect on versions of the program itself. Eventually, features of Sonar found their way into Home Studio. You should still have a Producer track of Sonar that keeps up with Logic, Cubase, Pro Tools, and Performer (and others like samplitude, Fruity Loops, etc), and a free version that remains incredibly powerful, for a larger market. Keeping a high end Sonar is important for the prestige of you product, and it's health.
I'm doing things in Sonar at the pro level. I've barely even started using the new high end virtual instruments I have. I've barely been recording in the last 30 years. I have vast amounts of virtual instruments. I have many of the programs listed in my YouTube Virtual Instruments Playlist... . In my comments to that playlist, you can read what are my favorites.
By the way, I like that Sonar Producer looks better than any of the other DAWs. This was something I had suggested to a Vice President at Cakewalk many years ago, and they listened. My YouTube videos have an advantage, in that I can do screen captures of Sonar as my songs play, and it looks impressive and high end. YouTube videos with screen captures of Pro Tools, Cubase, and Logic don't look as good. It might seem superficial, but it isn't... having great looking screen captures of my Youtube videos is an advantage professionally. Putting out a professional image, it good for business.
I would like for the option have having larger instrument Icons. I use them extensively, sometimes even taking pictures of my own instruments and turning the photos into icons. But they are tiny, on a 27 in monitor at high resolutions. They are hard for me to see with my old eyes... and hard for viewers of my YouTube videos to see them I'd like to be able to make them 2, 3 even 4 times larger. Even better, to be able to make them as large as I want (within reason). I've seen one other program that has the option to make Instrument Icons huge. My videos would look even better if I had larger instrument icons. I'd also love for there to be more icons to choose from, and even Icons with picture large text naming common real and software instruments, for software instrument tracks. I have to use the generic DXI icon. I'd like large enough to read icons for most software instruments... an Icon for Vienna Instruments, and Icon for Native Instruments, and icon for Spectrasonics and even more specific ones like Spectrasonics Trilogy, or Keyscape.
I'd even like for Sonar to be able to do video screen captures within the program. I have to use Corel Screen Capture, and it is backward. It only supports WMA, and I need Mp4 for YouTube. It also doesn't support ASIO drivers. It doesn't work right with the other drivers offered in Cakewalk, so I can't make live comments with my video screen captures for YouTube. I have to load the captured .wmv's of video without audio into Corel Video Studio, and then import audio I've exported from Sonar into it. Then I output it to mp4. If you added it, I could do videos with me making live comments, and changing from one song or version, to another. I could also show me cutting in and out different effects, and different tracks. That would be a major upgrade for everyone. Video is the way to go for everyone.
I'd also like Sonar to allow me to take a Video, import it into Sonar, add, change or enhance audio, and still be able to export it as a high definition video in mp4.
I'll try to explain why I originally bought Cakewalk over Cubase, how my feelings about copy protection have changed over the years, and why I didn't upgrade to Sonar Platinum from Producer X3 (It's probably the reason Cakewalk died). In the days of Windows 98, I also had a software sampler instrument called Gigastudio. It was state of the art at the time, and most film composers used it. It didn't have copy protection on the 160 version... they added it later. I didn't upgrade to version with it, even though I could have... it was a free upgrade. I was against copy protection. (I can still use Gigastudio in Windows 98 if I want to, 14 years after they went out of business.) After having Gigastudio for a few years, I noticed that most of the best instruments (Vienna Instruments was the main Giga friendly company) were not coming to Gigastudio, but were coming to rival platforms with copy protection, like Kontact. Even Vienna stopped adding new instruments to the Giga platform. Third party developers wanted their work protected. Gigastudio was dying. I got in touch with the owner, and warned him that he had to add protection, and recommended the USB dongle. He listened and came out with Gigastudio 4 with a USB dongle. It was too late. They went out of business. They needed to realize that the old way is harmful to that companies survival. I've lost several programs because they lost too much money from pirates.
I don't like the online challenge / response protection. I didn't upgrade to Producer Platinum because of it. I think many other Cakewalk users agreed. I have it on Komplete 10, and many third party libraries with that system, but I bought many many more instruments because they use USB keys from Ilok, or in the case of my Vienna libraries, the syncrosoft USB key. I hate the Native Instruments system. I prefer Ilok protected programs, and I've voted with my wallet. With those, If I want to install my software on 5 computers, or reformat my hard drive and reinstall my software, I can do it, without any internet connection. I only have to have the USB key on the computer I'm using. I don't need permission to install Instruments I bought. It doesn't matter if the companies go out of business... I can still use them. I don't have to worry that the company might think I've authorized it too many times and won't let me. I also like the Garritan copy protection. For my Garritan CFX piano, they sent me a photo id card (a picture file) with my name and serial number on it. When installing CFX, you drag the photo file onto the program, and you're done. No internet needed, and I can do it as often as I like offline. I have some plugins from Waves and Overloud that use a third system. You can save an authorization to any USB stick. (Be careful and use a high quality one... I've had several name brand USB sticks fail). I wish all could be on one Iloc, or all provided the Garritan system of a photo ID.
The reason I didn't upgrade to Sonar Platinum is their choice of copy protection. It requires an internet connection every time you install it... even the one you've purchased. When you install a new hard drive, or new computer, it must be online. When I buy software, I want to own it, and be able to install it and reinstall it without permission once I have done one online authorization. This was a big thing to Cakewalk's user base. It's what killed Cakewalk. If they had gone to Ilok (which doesn't require buying a USB dongle... it can also authorize a computer directly.) I also want the online authorization to allow it to be offline... using a different online computer, than transferring the ok file to the offline computer. I have 4 dongles now. I don't want a 5th one. Use Ilok, Syncrosoft or a photo ID like Garritan. A huge number of Sonar users preferred the old copy protection serial number and didn't upgrade. Moving Sonar online only will kill Sonar as a pro level program. I'm poor now, and might not always have high speed internet.
Originally, I chose all software I bought because it didn't have any copy protection (except entering serial numbers) The first midi sequencer program I bought went out of business, and so I switched to Cakewalk Pro Audio 7. I wanted Cubase, but it had a dongle. (I like dongles now as a necessary evil.) At Pro Audio 9, I began to see that Mac programs like Vision and Logic had more features that I needed, and were adding them more quickly. I contacted Microsoft and somehow reached vice president Mike Maple's office (I've always been lucky that way). I didn't speak to him but I convinced them that I was an expert on music production and they connected me to their tech wiz Alex St. John, and around 1999?, they set up a conference call with me in Atlanta and with the Microsoft music team and Alex (he was the father of direct x, the X box, and bringing high end mac programs in graphics, 3d and music to Windows.). In Seattle. Bill Gates was probably listening in... he wanted Windows to break into high end music and film production and digital graphics. It irked him that the Mac had a strangle hold on the market. I told them that on Windows, the music and graphics programs weren't as professional as on the Mac, and gave them suggestions as to what was needed and even suggested that they buy some companies like Cakewalk and 3d programs like Softimage (they did). I told them about Logic, Pro Tools, and Avid not being available on Windows, and that killed Windows chance of success in that arena. I even pointed out that movies were exclusively using Silicon Graphics computers or the Mac, including the film Terminator 2. I pointed out how nice it would be if Terminater 3 (no such thing at the time) was done with Windows computers. Soon they bought into Softimage, and got Digidesign and Avid to come to Windows (I think by buying into them). They bought Band In A Box, instead of Cakewalk, but as Windows started getting up to Mac quality, they didn't need it anymore. They bought Caligari Truespace and killed it after taking it's technology.
Eventually, Cakewalk listened as I continued up to Sonar Producer 2, but for 4 or 5 years previous to Sonar 2, I had been in contact with a person very high up at Cakewalk requesting a software metronome. I used virtual instruments, and they were still using hardware synths. I started with Native Instruments B4 and Pro4. Cakewalk didn't see a need to accommodate virtual instrument owners. This was very backward. I had to record without a metronome for 4 years after requesting a software metronome. I was furious. Here's a piece I wrote without a metronome around that time ... I had gotten so frustrated that I told them that Sonar 2 would be the last version of Cakewalk I'd buy. It was.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNHtQynh0iM I eventually did upgrade to Producer X3, more than 10 years later. I was shocked at how advanced it had become. Songs I had recorded in Sonar 2, now sounded drastically better when I loaded them in X3. Old songs that had sounded dull and lifeless in Sonar 2, now sounded like I had recorded them with state of the art recording quality. Now Cakewalk was now a leader in music software, and often had features before anyone else. Cakewalk went to 64 bit before Pro Tools, Logic and Cubase! They still have the best looking interface.
Anyway, I hope to listen to my suggestions... (1) Keep Sonar Producer / Platinum as high end state of the art program, that keeps up with Logic, Cubase and Pro Tools. (2) Don't make it require online use. Don't make it include Band lab. I don't need to collaborate with strangers. (That's a wonderful feature for millions, but not for me.) I play all the instruments, and know many pro musicians I want to work with locally. I do know talented musicians that would love to be able to collaborate with others on the internet. (3) Use one of the copy protection schemes I recommended. Software can't survive if people can pirate it. (4) Make the $100. version of Sonar free to anyone... you can integrate it with Band Lab (fully integrated with direct links), so users will know about the advantages of Band Lab, and many will join. Keep it nearly state of the art with excellent features that rival programs like Reaper, Samplitude, Fruity Loops, etc. (5) Make track icons expandable to any reasonable size you want. (6) Add a video screen capture ability right within Sonar. This would make users videos look better when they post on YouTube or Facebook. When their videos look better, it will make users of other programs consider migrating. (7) Increase Sonars ability to import videos, work with the audio, and export into high definition mp4.
My Sonar Producer X3 is state of the art. I'd like the ability to jog audio with a jog wheel, and have other refinements added to Platinum, but I don't have to. I have the full version of Melodyne, and besides Breverb, I have East West Spaces as a state of the art convolution reverb. I have Waves, Overloud, Native Instruments and Softube FX and Line 6 Helix native and Native Instruments Guitar Rig 5. I have 5 fancy software pianos, and Keyscape. I hope you listen, and implement the suggestions I've given you. I'd love to upgrade to Platinum someday.
Thanks for listening. I hope that Cakewalk keeps going on at the front of technology for many many more years.
P.S. I think it would improve Cakewalk for everyone if you included a much better acoustic piano. I don't need it (a Garritan CFX lite can be had for $60.), but it would be a great incentive for people to buy it.