1. I'm on the payment plan. If I stop after 2 months why should I be entitled to a full program. On the other hand if I want to get around that just pay annual instead of monthly.

2. There are already notification of several upcoming features but I'll let you search for them. There are 2 already defined and a 3rd listed as a surprise

3. Melodyne Essentials is a basic taster. You want more feature,go upgrade. Celemony offered Sonar users a 50% discount on updating to editor.

4. Put in a Feature requests. Maybe we could have a section on the forum where Cal could be discussed. I think you may find a bit of support for it. I would.

Put your wishes into feature requests. Writing it here will only prompt discussion by forum members not Cakewalk. For that, put in featur requests.

Hope all that helps.

YouDontHasToCallMeJohnson
To those of you pissed off cuz you buy at the last minute at a steep discount::::
...
But now, you get to pay like the rest of us.

Do you understand that you continuously distract people from new SONAR, trigger up to 50% of emotional statements in this thread and do that without any arguments === Troll.
 

azslow3

YouDontHasToCallMeJohnson
To those of you pissed off cuz you buy at the last minute at a steep discount::::
...
But now, you get to pay like the rest of us.

Do you understand that you continuously distract people from new SONAR, trigger up to 50% of emotional statements in this thread and do that without any arguments === Troll.
 

I think you are the one who misunderstands.
he has been supportive all along and you've taken two statements out of their context which is a bit rude.

Well, may be I misunderstand...
 
But I was very emotional myself right at the beginning, reading his early posts. I have cooled down after reading FAQ, other posts, etc. so I could understand real situation better.
 
In case I am alone with that, I am ready to apologize.
 
EDIT. After reading his later posts, no, I am not going to apologize. I do not like trolls.

That's OK Alexzy. It's been very frustrating with so much negative emotion being dropped here when it appears that Cakewalk have really been trying to do their best. And as far as I'm concerned they have succeeded.

There have been quite a few people who seem to have been hell bent on spreading disinformation about all that's happening. I hope it starts to quieter down and people focus more on the software again. All the best

@mudgel
 
When I first saw this thread, it was the next morning after the announcement. There was already like 7-8 pages of posts. I realized something was going on so I followed the link Andrew provided with the intention of informing myself before I made a decision about this "New Version."
 
I then read all the info, watched most of videos, found all the answers to the questions I had except one. So I came back to this thread and started reading hoping to find someone asking the same question I had (off line registration). After about five pages of mostly misunderstanding of people who obviously didn't read all the info, I found my answer. The question was asked on the first or second page, but an answer wasn't found till the fifth page.
 
So Mike, I (like you) think CW provided enough info to answer most all questions had most people read all the info. I think they did a great job and their presence and continuous participation in this thread shows that they had a plan all along. They didn't just make it up the day before the announcement! Did they make some mistakes? Maybe a few, but nothing to really complain about!
 
I won't have the chance to use Sonar Platinum when it comes out. But I did get it. And my next days off will be centered around getting the new version installed and working.

cparmerlee
 
...but considering the magnitude of this policy change, it would be nice if the company would have clearer answers.

My "outside looking in" guess; they want to first see how the initial "lottery" folks make out before releasing to the general public.  As mentioned above there are reports of issues with Kontakt and Melodyne, neither of which I've encountered so far myself, so that may be why the release date is a bit nebulous.  Perhaps they are putting the new system to the test right out of the gate. 
 

I ran Platnum all weekend with out as much as a glitch....I'm very impressed. Great work, Cakewalk.

YouDontHasToCallMeJohnson
Almost 10 years ago I sent a message to the CW managers that I wanted them to charge me $50 per quarter for continuous support.
 
They were not ready to do so.
 
I have been complaining for years that Sonar was way too inexpensive.
 
Finally we get a great offer that covers all the bits needed to provide us with a great program for essentially no cost.
 
Most users will spend more on soda and coffee in a month than they will on the yearly Sonar upgrade. And they derive far more happiness from Sonar.
 
Many of the same users will use Sonar for more hours in a week than they use their car. And they will spend far more on the car in a month than the yearly price of Sonar.
 
I bet it is mostly these same people that find spending LESS THAN 67 CENTS PER DAY FOR THE NEW PROGRAM AND A YEAR's WORTH OF EXTRAS is somehow objectionable.
 
And we do not know yet all of the wonderful changes that await us.
 
Can I get an "AMEN!"
 
 

AMEN 

What will be pricing to switch between versions? What will I have to pay if I get Professional now and decide to switch to Platinum later? Or in the other direction, will it be possible to switch from Platinum to Professional later?

I own X3 Producer, but for what I'm doing as a hobbyist it's a bit oversized. When going with Professional, I could keep all the Producer instruments and effects, I just would not get the new Platinum things like VocalSync and DrumReplacer, which for sure I don't need. I will loose only Pow-R dithering and QuadEQ fly-out, not sure if this is really worth $100 a year on the long term.

While I'm here, my opinion about the new membership system is rather neutral, after all it's not that a big change as it may seem. Upgrading from X3 to the new Sonar is pretty much the same as upgrading before, just with some unknown upcoming extras. But keeping membership after 12 months is different. It will be paying for something that is at least partly unknown, upcoming features will not be announced too long ahead. This requires more trust in the company from the customer than providing upgrades with known new features.

While this may be no big issue for professionals and enthusiasts, hobbyists like me probably may rather tend to give membership a break and only catch up with new features from time to time as they see fit. But then, this is not that much different than before again, where some people were upgrading immediately for each new release, and others were waiting for sales or skipping a few versions to save money. Customers still have the choice to pay full and have the most actual version, or to pay less and get new features later, maybe missing some extra content.

Overall, this is much better than a subscription system, but still a bit risky considering that customers will have to pay up front to renew membership with having only vague information about what they will get for their money. Except if they wait and only get a new membership when the already released new features are convincing enough.

Finally, I wonder what will be the higher discounts: the discount to keep customers staying a member, or those to convince them to return being a member? I guess both will happen. And will it be possible to renew or rather extend membership before it is expired when there is a special discount?