OK. What e-zine and what e-mail? I get nothing from cakewalk. The only way I ever even know there's an update is I see it being talked about on this forum. Communication is really NOT Cakewalk's strong suit.
 

Anderton
The past two issues have had product reviews of SONAR-friendly products - the Xkey 25 keyboard controller and MIDIMATE II USB MIDI interface. My intention was to give an extra goodie to members, as well as provide something in the eZine that would be useful to people who hadn't upgraded to SONAR 2015. 
 
I'd be interested in thoughts/suggestions about whether having reviews is helpful, and if so, the type of products you'd like to see covered. . . .
 
Thoughts?

Craig, here is my feedback:
1) Yes, they are very useful. Bloody useful!
2) I would like to be able to find them on an occasional basis; when the mood strikes or when I am looking into new equipment.  Please consider whether  ease of access for future reference be improved?
3) I like the fact that they are "to the point" and that there is not a lot of fluff (many professional reviewers seem to be frustrated novelists!)
4) I agree that SOS is a great place to go for sensible, useful reviews and great recording tips.
5) Positive vs Negative reviews;
 a) You are in a great position to give positive reviews on the items you truly find useful and IMHO this is a good thing. 
b) So many of the commercial publications find it necessary to put a put a positive spin on crap products in order to stay afloat. 
 c) Often I notice that the negative comments or reviews online are the result of someone not knowing how to use the product properly and almost everything I own has a negative review or comment online but that doesn't stop them from being useful to me.  That said, we would like to know if something is crap so feel free to let us know about those that you find a product useless or dodgy.
 
Thanks,
R

Maybe we need rating icons. I immediately thought or steaming piles of dog doo for the bad. Maybe cakes for the good stuff.
 
Cake or Death?

YouDontHasToCallMeJohnson
Stuff you have been asked to review is OK. But my preference is you describe things and programs and utilities that you actually use.

That's pretty much what I do, because then I don't have to spend time researching something - using it has provided the research. What "pulled the trigger" on covering the MIDIMATE was it handling polyphonic aftertouc so well. When I could thru it back into the keyboard and have it not miss a byte, I thought "people should know about this."
 
The Xkey goes with me on trips when I have sufficient suitcase space. If not, it's the Korg nanoKey 2.

jih64
 
[Edit] Appologies to the thread and creator . . . over and out

I see both of you as victims of "text-only is a crappy medium of communications." I think there was some intended humor that didn't work. Not that I've ever done anything like that...

Another takeaway is that this is a GREAT place to do market research 
 
Some of the comments make me think I should take this more seriously than I have been. My original motivation was pretty simple..."found a cool thing, should let SONAR users know about it." (WilliamCopper, no product placement...the manufacturers found out the review was being run only when I sent them a copy for fact-check.)
 
As to positive vs. negative, I've often been asked why my reviews are generally positive, with the implication there's some sort of conspiracy or bias or whatever. The reality is I find out about most products at trade shows. If I check something out and it looks like it has a lot of potential, I'll ask for a loaner. I have no interest in spending a month learning something that doesn't interest me or seems dodgy. I'd rather turn people on to cool stuff they might not find out about otherwise than slam something which is probably getting slammed all over the web anyway.
 
I have written a few extremely negative reviews when I thought something was cool and found out the opposite was true. In two cases, the reviews were of production prototypes just prior to launch, and the companies pulled the products after getting a copy of the review for fact-check. This rendered the reviews moot so they were never published. In another, the company went out of business before the review was scheduled for publication. But there have also been reviews where I found a serious flaw in the product (usually software), and the manufacturer would ask if I'd be willing to delay the review for a month while they fixed the issue. I would always say yes. If they fixed the problem, the review would turn from negative to positive. So sometimes there's more to the review process than meets the eye.
 
As to publishing them elsewhere, maybe they should go on the Cakewalk blog eventually or something. Frankly I never thought that far ahead, I just thought it would add value to the eZine for readers. It's kind of a diary of "what I checked out this month that was pretty cool." I'm glad that by and large people enjoy it. I plan on keeping the process relatively loose for the time being, but will be taking the helpful feedback received here into account.

rodreb
OK. What e-zine and what e-mail? I get nothing from cakewalk. The only way I ever even know there's an update is I see it being talked about on this forum. Communication is really NOT Cakewalk's strong suit.

 
I agree 100%. I've never seen this "e-zine" and I've been using/paying for Sonar since before it was called Sonar.
 

I always appreciate and enjoy reading good information but would prefer the monthly documentation be focused on the update and use of any new features. Maybe reviews would be better in a separate tips type of newsletter.

Thank you for the clarification.
 
As you can, without offending any of your "sponsers," please describe you current equipment and software.
 
A current snapshot of what is connected and how (I/O) will be a wonderful contribution to the Sonar community.
 
(You have already started this with your "show us your command bar" thread.)
 
An example: I use an excel spreadsheet to track I/O via patch panels.
http://lansing.com/audioTemp/patch_panel_routing_charts_1014_d.xls
I print these charts on 8x14 paper in color, for the two patch panels I am currently using, and for the virtual I/O.
The file does not have the updates for the Tascam us-16x08 which replaced the EMU 1820m, and the move to the new room. 
 
These charts are way easier to refer to/change/update/notate than the strips on the patch panels. Especially when behind the racks.
 
 
Other::: I do not care about negative reviews cuz I have limited time to care about what I should not care about.
 
 

PilotGav
I've never seen this "e-zine" and I've been using/paying for Sonar since before it was called Sonar.

Here are the URLs for the issues so far.
Foxboro
Everett
Dorchester
Cambridge
Braintree
 
The eZine was introduced with the membership program. The motivation was to do something cooler than the usual release notes that accompany a new software release. They're typically around 20 pages and are free to anyone who wants to download them.
 
Quite a big deal was made about the eZine initially, and it's always mentioned in the Cakewalk forum posts announcing a new release. If you go to the SONAR landing page, "back issues" are available for download under the "Rolling Updates" tab that describes what's in each release. They're usually mentioned in the newsletter (but I had to enter an exception in my spam filter to receive it).