Noel - will the next release - hopefully with custom installation options - still be free?

They have repeatedly said "yes" to this question.
 
But I'm equally sure there will be paid add-ons in the not too distant future

Thanks. I think I have lost the plot with all the different threads :-)

paulo
You'll have to trust me that I'm typing this with a smile on my face and with no malice intended, but on the one hand you're saying it's "next generation" on the other "identical to platinum" with a few things missing which is what I said it and hence couldn't understand the first impressions logic.
 
I fully understand re the licensing issue and that whatever I had before I still have, but there is no longer a 32 bit option, hence why I referred to it as the same thing with less options. Purely from my perspective that omission presents me with some issues and is the reason I have not installed the "next generation" version onto my DAW pc and will not until there is a compelling reason to do so. I wish you and all who are associated with the product well and sincerely hope that I will one day feel that what I will gain use of from having it will outweigh what I will lose the use of by having it.

To clarify we started with last version of platinum that we had before Cakewalk,Inc closed - the November release which never shipped. So it actually was a regular monthly update to the October version. However we made several other changes and enhancements to the code since. I called it the next generation because its a new app that will be modified and enhanced compared to the SONAR product line which is now dead. I would argue that there is no good reason for a SONAR user to not install this unless you aren't interested in bug fixes or features any more. Even in the short time we've been making changes it already works better for some.

Hey Noel, Any chance you could give us an idea of the size of the team you have working on Cakewalk now? There's some confusion floating around that it's just one or two developers and maybe one or two support guys. Is that about right?

Noel Borthwick [Cakewalk]
I would argue that there is no good reason for a SONAR user to not install this unless you aren't interested in bug fixes or features any more. Even in the short time we've been making changes it already works better for some.

I agree. If you had Platinum all the add-ons show up, and the CbB version is more up to date.
 
Some people might think a good reason not to install CbB is if there was some issue that made people stick with an older version of Sonar, and the issue remains in CbB. However since you can still run the old version of Sonar, you can follow a parallel path with CbB and take advantage of what it does and if you really need to use the old version, you still can. I just don't see any significant reason not to move forward. 

ionecake
Hey Noel, Any chance you could give us an idea of the size of the team you have working on Cakewalk now? There's some confusion floating around that it's just one or two developers and maybe one or two support guys. Is that about right?

I'm not sure why you included the additional query of who wears boxers and who wears briefs.
 
What earthly good is there in knowing how many developers there are.
 
I've worked in all manner of team sizes and in my almost 40 years of programming experience I have found that (team) size does not matter. It's the deliverables that matter. How many people it took to do it is nearly irrelevant, IMO.

Anderton
I just don't see any significant reason not to move forward. 

Some people (believe it or not) are still on a 32bit OS.
 
There is one very significant reason that one (i.e. Paulo) *cannot* yet move forward.

Noel Borthwick [Cakewalk]
 I would argue that there is no good reason for a SONAR user to not install this.....

 
Well, I guess that you don't consider 32 bit Vst's that I use often that either have restricted functionality (unable to write automation) or for some reason are not even recognised by the 64 bit version of Platinum (Miroslav Philharmonik and Sampletank) to be a good reason, but they are good enough reasons for me to just stick with Platinum for now. I understand that times change and technology moves forward etc, but there's nothing in the first release from bandlab to justify ditching those vst's IMO. (not to mention having to pay for 64 bit replacements)
 
As I said, hopefully in the future the advantages of using the 64 bit only bandlab version will outweigh the negatives for me, but right now that isn't the case.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Good point, I'd forgotten about 32-bit operation. To be fair it's a pretty small percentage these days...I remember going through analytics when writing one of the Top 10 Sonar charts for the monthly release, and I was surprised at how many Sonar users were full-on 64-bit.
 
As to paying for 64-bit replacements, IIRC around the time the transition was happening you could often update to a 64-bit version as long as it wasn't a next-gen paid upgrade. Don't know how generous companies are feeling these days, though.