wst3 Do I stick with a tool I've been using for almost 20 years (how is that possible)? Do I assume the worst and move on? And where would I go?

I think this bit right here touches on why I've been so frustrated during this whole process. I think I'm not alone in this respect. Like many, I've been a loyal user of the Cakewalk/Sonar platform for more than 20 years. And it turns out, that was a mistake.

Not a mistake in the sense that I should have used something instead of Sonar. But a mistake in that I should have been using something else in addition to Sonar all along.

Cakewalk was the first software sequencer I learned. I liked it capabilities and how it functioned so I stuck with it. I saw no reason to use anything else. I learned and worked with Protools and few others while working in friends studios. But I never felt the need to install any of them on my computer or integrate any of them into my work flow. That was a mistake.
 
Anyone familiar with Steve Albini knows he uses analog tape almost exclusively. Not so much because of how it sounds, but in his words, because its the only medium he knows of that he can guarantee will still be accessible and workable 100 years from now.
 
Analog tape is not proprietary. Anyone can build a tape machine that will work with it. You can't say that about any native DAW format. All of them store their information in proprietary formats using code that they exclusively own and control. So if a DAW manufacturer closes up shop, your ability to access any work you did in that DAW will eventually go away. That's the deal with devil we all make when we decide to work in digital formats.

And there's another deal we make with the devil. Analog tape and the machines that work with it are, relatively speaking, dirt simple to use. And they all work more or less the same. So if you understand how to use one of them, you can easily use any of them. That is not the case with DAWs. Any given function on one of them can have a completely different name, workflow, and implementation on another. So moving from one to another is almost like starting from scratch again and it could take months or even years before one is able to complete projects in a new DAW without any time spent googling how to do something they've never done before or only done once a few months ago.

So what this whole Gibson/Sonar/Bandlab cluster eff has taught me is that anyone who decides to work with a DAW should in fact work with at least two DAW's and possibly three. Perhaps write/develop ideas in one, record them in another, edit/master in a third.
 
Because sooner or later, one of them is going to go away. You'll want to be well versed in working with something else when that happens. And you'll also want to be well versed in methods of exporting/importing projects between their proprietary formats when that happens. Working with several constantly is the only effective way to do that.

JohanSebatianGremlin
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Because sooner or later, one of them is going to go away. You'll want to be well versed in working with something else when that happens. And you'll also want to be well versed in methods of exporting/importing projects between their proprietary formats when that happens. Working with several constantly is the only effective way to do that.

You know, that's it exactly! We are at a point where putting all our eggs into a single (proprietary) basket is a real risk. That wasn't the case 20 years ago, when the idea of a project file was still a ways off, and everything was stored as a MIDI file, or later on as MIDI and audio files.

Excellent post!

The real killer is: So lets say CWbyBL doesn't fly, for whatever reason. will "someone" honor the activation algo we were promised? I highly doubt it and that, imho stinks. 
I understand that if this were offered now many of us might say, the hell with BL versions, I have my daw now, bugs and all. So that makes sense for it NOT to happened now.
 
But what if? Hopefully all will go well with CwbyBL and we all at least with Plat and \or plat lifetime will get nice discounts on what they charge for updated Plat versions. I would not expect to get the "extras" for free, I am talking about the core program. It also has been floated that it will be free for the chosen many.
 
Yes I really would love that algo........................I guess only time will tell where we go and how we get there.
I am with Bitflipper on this...Sonar for me period...one way or another. I licensed Reaper 2 years ago I think. Good thru 5.xx. Good to have and fun learning how to customize....for me, Reaper UI "definitely needs customization......

∞

I think mister happy is right.
 
Not sure why the fear of losing what you create is so great really. If you are done with something, just put in in audio,save it somewhere and write out the score for it and you can recreate it easily if you for some reason need to.
It can't be that many of us that have 100's of things still in progress at any given moment, and even then the demise of the software will not be instant. It would start by not being supported etc  giving us lots of time to secure whatever is there. 
 
Its like a writer having his typewriter/wordprocessor going out of style and all of a sudden all his work is gone and he can't possible access it or continue working?   
 
You don't remember what you write? If so maybe write it down. Would make you sleep better. 
 

I must say I am happy with CWbyBL.
At first launch, I was shocked to see there were no VST plugins, neither instruments nor FX, but on the second launch almost all of them were there - including third party plugins like Aria Player for Garritan, or Pianoteq. Onyl one smaller plugin suddenly was soundless (although appearing in the session), but I suddenly had the same issue with "old" Sonar Professional - I contacted the creator of that plugin. (It might evebn be possible there is some bug that popped up after the last Windows 10 spring update.) All other works fine.
Might I quote about that future fear I read in this thread more than once, the great saying of John Cage, "I welcome whatever happens next." 
Of course, if you have many projects in status "work in progress", it might be wise to have a "plan B", like, knowing how to export that project, so other DAWs can "read" the format of that export file without problems.
Just in case the worst scenario takes place and CWbyBL would be discontinued all of a sudden.
But let's be optimistic, the adventure just has begun.

JohanSebatianGremlin
 
Analog tape is not proprietary. Anyone can build a tape machine that will work with it. You can't say that about any native DAW format. All of them store their information in proprietary formats using code that they exclusively own and control. So if a DAW manufacturer closes up shop, your ability to access any work you did in that DAW will eventually go away. That's the deal with devil we all make when we decide to work in digital formats.

You really need to look into azslow3's .cwp file converter for Reaper.  That looks like an excellent plan B. 
 
I do agree that proprietary file formats are a concern.  I am glad that Microsoft finally gave way with support for the Open Document Format. 
 

With ODF the way you store documents does not determine the software you work with. Files in the OpenDocument Format (ODF) are platform independent and do not rely on any specific piece of software whatsoever

 
https://support.office.co...4D8F-AE74-EA06B7DF3B0E
 
http://opendocumentformat.org/
 
I use LibreOffice for my office productivity needs now. 

Any high school teachers out there-even college. You can now install a relatively very good DAW for free. Good for your budget. Perhaps just perhaps with a good Score addendum on one end, then ease of making beats the other and Cakewalking by BandLab can be a maker.