dubdisciple
 Included instruments are just not going to cut it. Still optimistic though.

I feel you, hopefully that's there are future plans to remedy that. But on the flip side the $300 bucks you save could go towards something like Komplete or Total Studio or Absolute Collection which are way more thane enough to feed the need. Besides the amount of free and cheap high quality FX and instruments out there today is staggering. But again initial wow factor can really sway people. So I do get where you guys are coming from. I just really want this new situation to work.
 

I think with the new model being free you could swing for something like this:
http://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/irigkeysio/index.php?pp=irig-keys-io-info
Even the 25 key version comes with the full version of Sampletank 3 that has

Over 33 GB of samples

Over 4,000 new instruments with 21 instrument categories

Over 2,500 drum, percussion and full construction-kit loops

Over 2,000 MIDI files 
Plus other goodies too. I have Sampletank 3 and it is a quality product. The 25 key version is under $200
I have the 49 key version on my Birthday list :)

InstrEd
I think with the new model being free you could swing for something like this:
http://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/irigkeysio/index.php?pp=irig-keys-io-info
Even the 25 key version comes with the full version of Sampletank 3 that has
 

• Over 33 GB of samples
• Over 4,000 new instruments with 21 instrument categories
• Over 2,500 drum, percussion and full construction-kit loops
• Over 2,000 MIDI files 
  Plus other goodies too. I have Sampletank 3 and it is a quality product. The 25 key version is under $200
  I have the 49 key version on my Birthday list :)
  
  

That's exactly the sort of thing I'm talking about. A high quality inst/FX bundle is super easy to come by. Especially if you just saved $300 bucks on your DAW right? 

fresh101

dubdisciple
Included instruments are just not going to cut it. Still optimistic though.

I feel you, hopefully that's there are future plans to remedy that. But on the flip side the $300 bucks you save could go towards something like Komplete or Total Studio or Absolute Collection which are way more thane enough to feed the need. Besides the amount of free and cheap high quality FX and instruments out there today is staggering. But again initial wow factor can really sway people. So I do get where you guys are coming from. I just really want this new situation to work.
 

I agree, the saved money could get all you need.  I make that push, but still would be nice to have a decent wow factor .  For my geekier friends, the pro channel stuff gives a little of that.  Hopefully new releases add a little more.  With most DAWs third party software comes into play , but I figured it wouldn't hurt to give away some of the stuff that wouldn't sell at this point anyway. Including zeta+ might wet appetite for zeta+2 which still has commercial value.

I grabbed a whole bunch of freebies to bolster up my bare bones CbB install. 
 
Example of excellent quality free 
Ample P bass lite  
Combo V and Combo F organs.
Ambient Reverb 4    http://www.vst4free.com/index.php?plug-ins=Reverb
 
It's a sort of project I'm going to indulge in. Free DAW- Free Plug ins.. how far can you go? 
 
 

I've been trying to do my bit via my website which is my hobby.
I also posted about it in the general chat section of the only other forum I belong to nowadays, which is a web design forum.

I have to get past my laziness and start making tutorials to address the roadblocks newbies and encounter. I notice with the kids I work with, one of the things that makes them lean towards fl, pro tools and ableton is the massive amounts of tutorials catering towards music that is relevant to them. This was severely lacking even for platinum.

dubdisciple
I have to get past my laziness and start making tutorials to address the roadblocks newbies and encounter. I notice with the kids I work with, one of the things that makes them lean towards fl, pro tools and ableton is the massive amounts of tutorials catering towards music that is relevant to them. This was severely lacking even for platinum.

I know. We kinda treated Sonar like our personal secret weapon. Which I think hurt us in the long run. Youtube is littered with FL, Live, Protools etc. tutorials. Which really help lure in the newbies who need a hand getting started. I'm hoping going forward we can be part of the bigger conversation. Cakewalk has always had good critical acclaim just no enough good word of mouth i think.

The new update definitely increases wow factor

Pragi

danbottomburp
I wouldn’t recommend Sonar/cakewalk to any friend,it’s just not stable enough,when I heard it was ceasing to exist I moved over to Reaper,unbelievable difference in stability .not 1 single crash so far and its so light on resources ,does everything sonar does and more it doesn’t .

That´s the matter why I would never recommend Reaper to a friend ,
Reaper is  instable ,looks crazy and has a  strange workflow.
Even to announce that CbB is free in the Reaper forum motivates the mods
there to delete such threads/posts.
Who is afraid of CbB ?
 
 
 

From what I could manage to decipher from this broken English you wrote,I can answer with this , reaper is more stable than sonar ever has been.
The thread mentioning that cakewalk is free is alive and well over on the reaper forums ,the mods certainly haven’t deleted anything .
Unlike you clearly ,when making music I could care less about how something looks ,it’s how functional and stable the program is that counts ,of course it’s nice if something looks good as well .
But to even suggest for a second they Reaper is not stable is laughable ,it’s a massively more stable program than Sonar ,which in fairness isn’t that hard.