jpetersen
 
Makes you wonder what motivates guys like Bitwig to enter an already crowded market.

I expect that they love doing what they do, and aim to do it for as long as they can sustain doing so.

Noel Borthwick [Cakewalk]

jbow
I hate a thief. I wish there were a way to put a self destruct code in Sonar that would wipe out a whole drive unless the software is determined to be pirated. I know it isn't something that can happen since now in many places software can be sold as used. I know it isn't realistic but I wish it was.
 

Lol if we had that we would surely wipe out your drive on next launch :-P
 
I was at NAMM this year but the sole purpose was to meet up with our other Gibson brands and some of our partners, including the big guys like Microsoft and Intel. NAMM is a convenient place to meet other industry people under one roof. I was so busy in meetings that I barely had time to even see stuff at the show. I was at our booth probably only a few hours. I did salivate over some of the new Gibson 2016 guitars though :)
 
Its never been a show for end users - in fact you cannot buy tickets for NAMM. Its only open to exhibitors or people who get NAMM passes. Companies get a limited amount of NAMM passes that we give out to our artists and partners. See this:
https://www.namm.org/faqs/how-do-i-attend-namms-trade-shows-and-show-open
 
Given this, its curious why so much fuss was made over our low attendance there. As Andrew and Craig mentioned many software companies have chosen NOT to participate anymore due to the high cost of running a booth there and low return. 
 

LOL.. I only said I was a knife, I never said I was a sharp knife! You know what I meant though. People pirating software are stealing your time, your life. It is a terrible thing to do.
 
Pease don't wipe my computer, lol.
 
J

Noel Borthwick [Cakewalk]
That's exactly the one I liked. I'm getting one:)
Plays and sounds great I only played it acoustically though.

I saw a u tube video you did w your wife and a full Jazz Band ....
Yes,  Noel you are an excellent guitar player   I hope you do get it ...
 
Kenny

John T

jpetersen
 
Makes you wonder what motivates guys like Bitwig to enter an already crowded market.

I expect that they love doing what they do, and aim to do it for as long as they can sustain doing so.

You have just defined the people who work at every single company in this business that makes music software.

A couple of points: most pirates would never buy the product anyways. That makes it really hard to quantify lost sales I imagine. I bow to Mr. Anderton's access to sales data on the rest.
Secondly, I wonder how long employees of any company can work the really long and stressful hours described without burning out and making a lot of mistakes. The concerns me when Cakewalk puts the added pressure of monthly releases. I am troubled by other aspects of this model too. Where does the long term planning fit into is model? Eventually  nasty deep coded rewites  have to be done.
A former boss of mine stated " if you plan depends on execution by extraordinary people , you need a new plan"

scottfa
A former boss of mine stated " if you plan depends on execution by extraordinary people , you need a new plan"

I think you need the extraordinary people to see what needs doing, then the ordinary people to get it done.
 

I think the extraordinary need to make the plans, but how many companies have folded  or slipped significantly when the " guru" leaves for one reason  or another? Hard to keep finding and keeping gurus I imagine😊
I think great sports teams are not led by one guru on the field. Takes a lot of motivated non-gurus to win. My only sports analogy for sure!

scottfa
A couple of points: most pirates would never buy the product anyways.

 
But they're willing to buy the interface so they can run it. Fair's fair.
 

Secondly, I wonder how long employees of any company can work the really long and stressful hours described without burning out and making a lot of mistakes.

 
Because they love what they do. White water rafting is a lot more stressful than sitting by a hotel pool, but some people would rather shoot the rapids. It's how they're wired.
 

The concerns me when Cakewalk puts the added pressure of monthly releases.

 
We've been through this time and time (and time) again but here's reality: Development on a program occurs over the course of a year. Everybody doesn't show up the month before a big yearly update. You can either sit on what you develop, or you can release it as you develop it. The monthly model actually is a lot more efficient because you don't end up with a huge pile of bugs at the end of the year, but a manageable number of bugs in a month that get fixed by the next month.
 

I am troubled by other aspects of this model too. Where does the long term planning fit into is model?

 
Much of what you've seen released was planned at the very least months, and sometimes years, in advance; there's a roadmap. However, the big advantage of the current model is the flexibility. Had people not said they really wanted what patch points ended up offering, that feature would have been introduced much later. I'm going up to Boston on February 8th because I've been asked to be involved in planning that covers the present, 3 years from now, and 7 years from now. 
 

Eventually  nasty deep coded rewites have to be done.

 
Not when you're cleaning up as you go along every month. Rewrites are being done all the time, and they're not "nasty"...they're optimizations that just make SONAR better. I think most everyone would agree that SONAR has never been faster or more stable. Let's hear it for "nasty" rewrites 
 

A former boss of mine stated "if you plan depends on execution by extraordinary people, you need a new plan"

 
I'm glad he wasn't my boss. I prefer those who want to inspire the people with whom they work to be extraordinary. 
 

I have read your response, Craig, and I am just blowed away!  I run my own business with my wife- we have ran an insurance agency for 27 years working 6 foot from each other.  It's intense, demanding, risky and just tough.  I look at Cakewalk and what I see is pretty wonderful.  Everything has it's time like is said in Ecclesiastes but this is a great company, albeit small in a tough world.  When I have had questions (this is my third to 4th time in the rodeo since 8.5) I reach out and am amazed at the mature, responsible and caring responses I get.  I so appreciate good people- I know, being in the business world, that everyone has some positive light in them but a lot of the souls in this world really weigh on people.  What I have received from Cakewalk and the people lightens my load and gives the boy who watched the neighbor girl play guitar in 1967 a good feeling that I too can finish music I have been working on for a lifetime.  That day in 1967 I remember I told myself 'that's what I want to do'.  Thanks for helping me do that all these years later. 

Anderton
...there are a lot of people stealing software via torrents.
 
 

When I worked in Music Retail this is what I found too. 
I sold a hell of a lot of interfaces (A few each week for 8 years) but only sold DAW software maybe 3-4 times.
 
Admittedly a lot of the interfaces were small and came with bundled 'LE' versions of DAWs which may have been sufficient for many people.