mettelus
One thing that has bothered me with this new structure is that X3 was pulled from the online store at the same time as the new announcement. This actually bothers me even more when I think on it again, but upgrades from 3rd parties still exist for X3 (although a cursory Google search shows some already pulling

It's interesting to see 18 copies of Sonar X3 Producer on amazon.com for 329$ sold by someone by the name of Cakewalk.
 
There is also 1 copy left of the X3 Produce upgrade from X2 also by the same seller.  There were 2 just a couple of hours ago.  Full price at 150$ so whether it's worth it or not would depend on personal preferences I guess.
 

CakeAlexS
400 dollars will hire a developer for two days if you are VERY lucky... Not sure if that model is sustainable.

 

Earwax
Humble reason would dictate that he was probably referring to the $150-$200 upgrade cost with regard to the Sonar product he owns now to a newer version, versus fixing the version he owns now. The snide remark was NOT helpful.

 
Not a snide remark and you speculated what you didn't read:
 

jsaras
I'd gladly pay $400 to have all bugs in 8.53 fixed.  I have no need for newly added half-baked features that need even more fixes.  I got off the Sonar submarine when Cakewalk laid the X1 egg.  My co-writer friend has the current Sonar X release and he has all sorts of oddball issues.

I've kept 8.53 for legacy projects but most of my new projects are Reaper based.  It's been unbelievably rock-solid and they focus their time on fixing the issues on their software rather than cramming it with new bloatware to find a reason to sell the product once again.  

 
Seems pretty clear.

CakeAlexS
400 dollars will hire a developer for two days if you are VERY lucky... Not sure if that model is sustainable.

For that short a time frame you'd be looking at a contractor and for $400 would be lucky to get 4 hours :)

SilkTone

jsaras
I'd gladly pay $400 to have all bugs in 8.53 fixed.  I have no need for newly added half-baked features that need even more fixes.  I got off the Sonar submarine when Cakewalk laid the X1 egg.  My co-writer friend has the current Sonar X release and he has all sorts of oddball issues.

 
I don't know, it seems to me we would be more likely to get fixes for long-standing issues with the new model than previously. Previously there was always a hard deadline established long in advance, meaning the not-so-critical bugs got triaged into oblivion over and over again upfront.
 
With the new model, there are no hard deadlines, so bugs might not be triaged upfront to the let's-fix-it-next-time bin.
 
I might be wrong though. I'm just basing this off of how my own company does software releases. We follow strict deadlines established well in advance, and I see the same bugs pushed out to the next release over and over again. That is what the yearly release model requires.
 
Hopefully someone from CW chimes in and lets us know if that might be the case, which would be great for getting older bugs fixed.

You are 100% correct. In the past we would make fixes and improvements for 6-8 months or so then shift over to a new version. Now we'll be regularly making improvements but also adding new features. And as a bonus, working on less features at a time will help improve the quality of an already great product. A lot of people also have mentioned that releasing products sooner somehow implies they are not ready or are in beta. That couldn't be further from the truth. The big difference now is once they are ready and tested, we can release them immediately. No holding back. 

mettelus

SGodfrey

FastBikerBoy

SGodfrey
This looks like very bad news for me.  The only way I've been able to afford Sonar upgrades is to wait roughly a year until they're about to release a new version and then take advantage of the final discount price.
 
Now I'm stuck on X2 Producer with no way to upgrade since I can't justify the non-discounted price and it looks like X3 is no longer available now.  Feeling pretty deflated right now!

Is a monthly payment not an option for you?

Thanks for the thought Karl, but no, it's still full price in the end.  I'm just a hobbyist, with more enthusiasm than talent, not much time to play and shallow pockets!

One thing that has bothered me with this new structure is that X3 was pulled from the online store at the same time as the new announcement. This actually bothers me even more when I think on it again, but upgrades from 3rd parties still exist for X3 (although a cursory Google search shows some already pulling stock).
 
I think the "hobbyist" perspective creates the most poignant point... Adobe's CC got kicked to the curb as soon as I sat back and pondered "I do this for fun, and own CS5.5, so without making a revenue stream (from Adobe products) to feed $600/yr to Adobe, what is the 'value?'" I am now reliving history, and my concerns are for the hobbyists and new users, both of whom will be pressured by this new structure.

When a new version comes out, we pull the old. This way customers get the latest version. And from now on, when any customer purchases, they will always get the latest version. That includes retail as well. So gone are the days where you buy an old version mistakenly only to come home and see there's something new out there. Or buying a product and then seeing a new version come out the next week. You are always up to date in our model.

CakeAlexS

CakeAlexS
400 dollars will hire a developer for two days if you are VERY lucky... Not sure if that model is sustainable.

 

Earwax
Humble reason would dictate that he was probably referring to the $150-$200 upgrade cost with regard to the Sonar product he owns now to a newer version, versus fixing the version he owns now. The snide remark was NOT helpful.

 
Not a snide remark and you speculated what you didn't read:
 

jsaras
I'd gladly pay $400 to have all bugs in 8.53 fixed.  I have no need for newly added half-baked features that need even more fixes.  I got off the Sonar submarine when Cakewalk laid the X1 egg.  My co-writer friend has the current Sonar X release and he has all sorts of oddball issues.

I've kept 8.53 for legacy projects but most of my new projects are Reaper based.  It's been unbelievably rock-solid and they focus their time on fixing the issues on their software rather than cramming it with new bloatware to find a reason to sell the product once again.  

 
Seems pretty clear.

Yes. It's pretty clear he was referring to the issue of bug fixes, and, as a cost to a consumer for one sample of the product, how much he would pay as that individual customer to purchase a verson of the software with the bugs fixed. It's also pretty clear he was NOT referring to the prospect of hiring an individual contractor to fix the bugs in Sonar 8.5.3. To suggest that he was is just, well, silly.
 
C'mon Alex. I really don't understand why you are willing to participate in 36 pages of discussion about pricing and new features/content, but you're NOT willing to devote a few pages to core product fixes and improvements, particularly those improvements based on user requests. And no, I am not talking about adding new content or features. I'm talking about fixes and improvements to the core product. I understand your pricing structure, and why it makes sense. I'm not arguing that. I don't understand why you don't understand that knowing what fixes and improvements have been made to the core product would be important to users.
And yeah, I did read everything Jsaras typed.
 

Lot of drama loving whiny crybabys who can't figure out what a great deal this is. I bet if some of these people were asked to make change for a $20 and they only had to give me 2 $5 bills they would find a reason to complain about helping to change my $20 bill. Either that or they really do lack basic math skills to understand that this is a bargain this year because we get the upgrade we wanted for $149 plus they are throwing the next upgrade in for FREE. Hello do you guys not comprende what FREE means? Plus we get 3 ad packs. I need more drums to feed my software so for me that is a great offer and I am looking forward to using that new mixing feature. 
 
As far as content and features I would like to see worked on there needs to be more live usage features. If I can direct you to other software that has what I am needing I would mention Forte, Cantibile and even ReVavler has this feature to load up fx software and switch on the fly live from one chain of fx to another using simple midi switching hardware or controllers. I know we can go from one marker to the next in x3 and use controls to achieve this but that then takes you out of being able to record while playing live and I would love to do that everytime I play a live show and integrate the software to also playback recorded backing tracks as well in case I would ever wan't to fire the rest of the band and go solo. As a guitarist this is key so I can use the same sounds live that I am using in the studio and I think this live switching capability would be cool for keys as well and I play keys a lot as well. 
 
What would be even cooler is if the mix switching capability could be used live like this and then we could control mixes live without having to pay a sound man to mess up the sound. 

May i ask how will the versions incremented ....  
 
like "i got the plantnum "26 months version"  or it will be like Platnum 1 , 2 , 3 ect ....
 
And how to synchronise project with other people versions ...does y 26 months versions will work in my friend 13 months version ?  
 
 

Seth Kellogg [Cakewalk]
Users that only buy one month won't be able to use SONAR after 30 days.

 
It says here: https://www.cakewalk.com/Products/SONAR/Membership

If I choose Monthly Membership payments, can I cancel before 12 Months?

Yes, but 12 consecutive monthly payments are required to permanently activate SONAR and any updates you have received. If you cancel payment or don’t pay for at least 12 months, SONAR will revert to demo mode. This means you can’t save or export projects, however anything you saved up to that point will still open and play in the demo. Once you resume payments, you can make new edits and save them.
 
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This is really if great importance to me here as the new Sonar will undoubtedly require some adjustments to my control surface code just to keep pace.  I don't need it to save I just need it do what it does on my dev machine.
 
So which is it really? Will Sonar not even launch or go into demo mode and just not save?
 
:Ron
 

Zo
May i ask how will the versions incremented ....  
 
like "i got the plantnum "26 months version"  or it will be like Platnum 1 , 2 , 3 ect ....
 
And how to synchronise project with other people versions ...does y 26 months versions will work in my friend 13 months version ?  

There is still a version and build number in the About screen