Been here since Sonar 2, so the option to have lifetime updates was a no-brainer for me.

The first software I used was Guitar Tracks in 2000.  I've used Cakewalk ever since, and now with the lifetime updates for Platinum I don't see any reason to use anything else.
 

There is one point that caught my attention, and that is Sonar going MAC.
When that happens, does it mean that MAC users will get a better audio engine, since it is written from scratch, and us, on the PC side keep using the old audio engine, improved, but somehow, never brand new and redesigned from scratch.
dan

dan le
There is one point that caught my attention, and that is Sonar going MAC.
When that happens, does it mean that MAC users will get a better audio engine, since it is written from scratch, and us, on the PC side keep using the old audio engine, improved, but somehow, never brand new and redesigned from scratch.
dan

No. The engine will be the same. According to a post from one of the devs a couple of weeks ago, Sonar's internals will be the same on both PC and Mac. Video handling and the way Sonar interfaces to the hardware will be different. Plus, there will be AU support on Mac, of course.
 
Regards,
Dan

gswitz
...
I sometimes wonder when or if all this love will fade into a dream. When I will stop picking up my guitar or hefting my gear into bars for another mediocre gig. Someday, not today, it will surely happen. When that day comes, I can pick from many hundred recordings, rest in my easy chair, and turn it up louder than the grandchildren will like...

Very nice post!
 
Walt

I welcome all this news, but I must ask...are musicians still feeling that they must buy Macs?  I mean really, I have a what...6 year old old Asus with a passable 17" screen, 4TB of internal SSD and HDD storage.  It will be time soon for a new laptop, so I'm looking only at manufacturers who still make machines with big screens and also can be upgraded with massive stores of internal memory and disk storage.
 
But not Apple.  Lack of innovation from Apple has made me de-consider an MBP purchase.  It hurts to say it, but there it is.  My next machine will probably be a Windows machine.  Apple could surprise us all, but I think Apple is too busy with their new spaceship and "no hardware updates" announcements.  Will Cakewalk really see a vast influx of new Mac users?  I think most Mac (or maybe MBP) users by now have a more modern PC anyway.
 
Also, lifetime updates are good and my budget thanks you.  But I'm curious, is this really a sustainable business model?  I mean, we don't see Adobe and EastWest doing it.  Even Netflix, which Noel mentions, still charges a $ub fee.  Everybody seems to be attached to that monthly/annual $ub$cription model.

There are new next generation musicians coming to Mac all the time and increasingly they are supplementing with iPad.

Steinberg has Cubasis for iOS, Apple has GarageBand/iOS ...as part of this SONAR Mac engineering effort I hope the code is being architected to support a SONAR LE for iPad....

Thoughts Noel?

Positively Charged
I welcome all this news, but I must ask...are musicians still feeling that they must buy Macs?  I mean really, I have a what...6 year old old Asus with a passable 17" screen, 4TB of internal SSD and HDD storage.  It will be time soon for a new laptop, so I'm looking only at manufacturers who still make machines with big screens and also can be upgraded with massive stores of internal memory and disk storage.
 
But not Apple.  Lack of innovation from Apple has made me de-consider an MBP purchase.  It hurts to say it, but there it is.  My next machine will probably be a Windows machine.  Apple could surprise us all, but I think Apple is too busy with their new spaceship and "no hardware updates" announcements.  Will Cakewalk really see a vast influx of new Mac users?  I think most Mac (or maybe MBP) users by now have a more modern PC anyway.
 
Also, lifetime updates are good and my budget thanks you.  But I'm curious, is this really a sustainable business model?  I mean, we don't see Adobe and EastWest doing it.  Even Netflix, which Noel mentions, still charges a $ub fee.  Everybody seems to be attached to that monthly/annual $ub$cription model.

This is definitely in their best interest. Studio One comes to mind where you can use iPAD to control the DAW and also integrated with their 192 audio interface software. Presonus is kicking serious but.
 
I would not stop at iPAD but create a CAKEWALK SONAR APP for Android as well that can control SONAR. This
is a very attractive selling point and so useful in the studio and for mixing live!
 
I will not be moving to make. No way... but I liek that you are adding a MAC version of SONAR. Being in Los Angeles, most people use MAC and they love what I do, but as my genius musician friend Davy Brown said, now "all the Silverlake (L.A. California total hipster town) kids can rock SONAR too!" lol
 
I love what you guys are doing,t he frequent amazing updates and just a really well running program overall.
 
Make ANDROID and iPAD Apps! You won't regret it! It will definitely help sales alone in addition to how great of
a tool it will be for new and current SONAR users.
 
Cheers
 
 

Positively Charged
 
Also, lifetime updates are good and my budget thanks you.  But I'm curious, is this really a sustainable business model?  I mean, we don't see Adobe and EastWest doing it.  Even Netflix, which Noel mentions, still charges a $ub fee.  Everybody seems to be attached to that monthly/annual $ub$cription model.

Netflix and other subscription streaming service like them pays a commission to the filmmakers for every movie. They would have to charge thousands of dollars to cover these costs for a lifetime update.
Adobe still has their market cornered presently so it probably doesn't make business sense for them to change strategy. Eastwest too probably has license fees on all their tech.
 
Regarding IPad/Android integration, we have definitely considered it many times. While it makes sense for companies that have hardware controllers, the ROI on them is dismal for most companies. We've gotten our feet wet (scalded!) in that area so we know what it takes. Doesn't mean we won't do it but there are too many other things we need to do short term.

The guys running live sound are definitely working with gear that links to iPads and enables them to move around and mix. They do a really great job, and I can say I envy them a bit.
 
I sometimes imagine what gear I would get if I wanted to try to run live sound regularly.
 
I don't own speaker stacks or monitors (my back hurts thinking about it).
 
So, when I try to help someone, I'm helping them with their equipment. I don't really know what I'm doing. I make it up as I go... notching and hoping for the best. Sometimes it works out, sometimes not so well.
 
I can say my friends who I record often encourage me to get interested in it. They'd love it if I took it on.
 
So, if there were some way for me to take what I have learned using Sonar and convey it into the bar scene to be able to get a great live sound all the time, I would. It is true though, that when recording live, I mostly use RME DigiCheck. I rarely use Sonar. Sonar is nice because it shows me the wave forms over time, but this is really the only reason I can think of to use Sonar during a live - record-only session. Obviously, if you want to use the Sonar Synths, you have to run Sonar.