Now that more clarity could be expected on the new Sonar subscription/dynamic updates model, could someone please throw some light upon the following that I am trying to know about since this new purchase model came to being :
 
1. Is Sonar Platinum an update option to X3 Producer, meaning a small update download and install ? Or is it a completely new executable which will require me to download few GBs ? Is there a DVDs box option ?
 
2. In case its a new executable, can we assume this will be once and for all, meaning all feature additions and upgrades / updates in the future will be patches and small downloads ? OR will there continue to be full executable upgrades of 4 to 5 GB files to be downloaded again or boxes purchased (as it used to be previously with new version upgrades) ?
 
3. Will new feature updates be of modular type, that is, I could choose and download what I wish, which in turn means they will not be of cumulative nature ? Or will they be sequential and conditional, meaning, I get an update only if I have a previous one ?
 
4. I would assume bug fixes and basic enhancements to be cumulative though, as they used to be previously, that is, like X3e would include everything from X3a to X3d as well. True ?
 
5. How will the bug fix patch updates and builds be named and tracked (like previously they used to be X3a, X3b......X3e with a build number) ?
 
6. If I wait, skip, hop and jump for a while, lets say for another year or two and then go for an upgrade, I presume I will still get everything that would have cumulatively been packaged within Sonar at that time, its just that I get it later than others who would go for it say, right now or anytime before me. As an example, assuming I upgrade to this new purchase model only after two years, I would have every new feature that exists in the current new Sonar such as Rematrix solo, mix recall, vocal sync, etc. and those that would be developed in the next two years, such as drum replacer, quick fx, onscreen keyboard, etc., etc., etc.... Is my presumption correct ?
 
7. I presume that even if I don't upgrade right now, I of course won't get the new Sonar, but I will still continue getting updates to my Sonar X3e Producer and bug fixes and tech support. Am I presuming right ?
 
Any and all answers to above will be appreciated. Will be happy if Willy, Andrew, Noel could chip in.
 
Best Regards...
An ardent Sonar lover and user but still quite confused about this new purchase model... 

Have you seen the stickies at the top? It's a massive thread and a lot of this has already been discussed a lot of times now.
You will get many answers there...
 
Cheers

CakeAlexS
Have you seen the stickies at the top? It's a massive thread and a lot of this has already been discussed a lot of times now.
You will get many answers there...
 
Cheers

 
Alex,
 
I appreciate you directing me to the stickies and massive threads. I did go through a lot of them and even posted and got answers to some other questions. But with due respect to everyone who put in a lot into those threads, I just couldn't figure out specific answers to some of my questions. I just need specific feedback to my specific questions in my first post of this thread, that's all I am looking for at the moment. Some could possibly come from users but some possibly only from the cake bakers. Please chip in specifically to my above queries, they are important for me in my decision tree for prospective upgrade purchase...cheers....
 

Upgrade is semantics dependent on purchasing versus operational.
Sonar yearly new versions has always been a separate incarnation with its own executable. This concept can always throw people in a dizzy as many other software types would upgrade by updating the existing code executable.
For existing owners the story of upgrade was a pricing policy, thus the semantics.
Now it appears moving forward, 'the executable you purchase as of 2015 will become one ongoing update/upgrade incarnation'. Whenever someone buy new or upgrade, you will always be getting the latest version.
They have not spell out how 3rd party add-ons will be handled. Like; will AD2 from XLN be available always.............

ramscapri
 
Now that more clarity could be expected on the new Sonar subscription/dynamic updates model, could someone please throw some light upon the following that I am trying to know about since this new purchase model came to being :
 
1. Is Sonar Platinum an update option to X3 Producer, meaning a small update download and install ? Or is it a completely new executable which will require me to download few GBs ?

 
Yes. But the download process is very different with the Cakewalk Command Center as you can download bits and pieces at a time.
 

Is there a DVDs box option ?

 
Yes, for a nominal fee you can get physical media.

2. In case its a new executable, can we assume this will be once and for all, meaning all feature additions and upgrades / updates in the future will be patches and small downloads ?

 
I think that's the idea.

3. Will new feature updates be of modular type, that is, I could choose and download what I wish, which in turn means they will not be of cumulative nature ? Or will they be sequential and conditional, meaning, I get an update only if I have a previous one ?

4. I would assume bug fixes and basic enhancements to be cumulative though, as they used to be previously, that is, like X3e would include everything from X3a to X3d as well. True ?

 
The FAQ covers all of this.

5. How will the bug fix patch updates and builds be named and tracked (like previously they used to be X3a, X3b......X3e with a build number) ?

 
I don't know. Build number maybe?
 

6. If I wait, skip, hop and jump for a while, lets say for another year or two and then go for an upgrade, I presume I will still get everything that would have cumulatively been packaged within Sonar at that time, its just that I get it later than others who would go for it say, right now or anytime before me. As an example, assuming I upgrade to this new purchase model only after two years, I would have every new feature that exists in the current new Sonar such as Rematrix solo, mix recall, vocal sync, etc. and those that would be developed in the next two years, such as drum replacer, quick fx, onscreen keyboard, etc., etc., etc.... Is my presumption correct ?

 
I assume the price of upgrading would likely increase the longer you wait. For example with other software it typically costs more to upgrade from a V1.0 to a V9.0 than from a V8.0 to a V9.0. But the FAQ may help answer some related questions. You won't get content the members received, only program features.
 

7. I presume that even if I don't upgrade right now, I of course won't get the new Sonar, but I will still continue getting updates to my Sonar X3e Producer and bug fixes and tech support. Am I presuming right ?

 
I don't know about support, but bug fixes stop being made for products that are no longer being sold. For example there were no bug fixes to X1 after X2 appeared.
 

An ardent Sonar lover and user but still quite confused about this new purchase model... 

 

 
I suggest you start with the membership faq if you haven't already read it.
 
1. A lot of the size of a Sonar version is made up of content like loops and samples.  Most of these, if not all, don't change from one version to the next.  Do you don't have to download them again.
 
2. The actual executable is pretty small so I imagine that updates will just be several hundred mb's.
 
3. You can't pick and choose which options you want.
 
4. Probably.
 
5. Apparently a name and a build number but I'm not aware of the details.
 
6. There may be quite a few things you'd miss out on, like plugins and free content that are thrown in along the way.  You will get all the enhancements to the core of the program.
 
7. There will be no further updates to X3.  I don't know when tech support will run out for X3.
 

Paul P
3. You can't pick and choose which options you want.

This is true, but I think he may have meant whether he could skip over updates, install them later, postpone if he was working on a project, etc. That he can do.

Anderton
 
I assume the price of upgrading would likely increase the longer you wait. For example with other software it typically costs more to upgrade from a V1.0 to a V9.0 than from a V8.0 to a V9.0. But the FAQ may help answer some related questions. You won't get content the members received, only program features.
 

Paul P
 
6. There may be quite a few things you'd miss out on, like plugins and free content that are thrown in along the way.  You will get all the enhancements to the core of the program.
 
 

 
 
Thanks for your responses Craig and Paul. But I still cant understand the logic behind the Point no. 6.
Why would I miss out on anything ? Its just that I would get it much later if I upgrade later, right ?
I can understand for some plugins which are 3rd party, like say, R-Mix which was in X2 did not feature in X3, and then things like Melodyne and Addictive drums are 3rd party as well, so I can understand if I dont get new add-ons like these that come along the way, that too only if they get discontinued in Sonar. I guess logically I should get them if they continue to remain in Sonar, right ? And as far as new plugins and features built by Cakewalk themselves, I guess I should surely get them anyway, as they have to be built into the core program. I cant see why, for example, I wouldn't get drum replacer after two years, or vocal sync and others like that. Are we saying that after two years or even three, these wont be part of the core Sonar program. How could that work ? I just don't get it...

In three years time there maybe a single function that replaces both VocalSync and the drum replacer.  In which case you would get the new feature, but not VocalSync or Drum replacer.

Karyn
In three years time there maybe a single function that replaces both VocalSync and the drum replacer.  In which case you would get the new feature, but not VocalSync or Drum replacer.

 
I can understand that, but only if it really happens the way you describe in your example which is at the moment just a "maybe" example. So, effectively, taking the same example, could we conclude that I would not get vocal sync if I upgrade two years later only if it gets replaced by an enhanced or better plugin with some new name which then means that I do get a better one anyway, right ? But, if it has not been replaced, then I should still have it two years later, right ? For example, I see we have an enhanced audiosnap in the new Sonar. Now, unless there's an even better audiosnap developed, I should still get the same in two years time OR an even better one if it comes about, correct ? It cant be that Cakewalk totally removes audiosnap from the core program, correct ? If its removed, that would be disastrous. Now audiosnap is just an example here...