I've read all 5 pages and have a two questions.
 
1. Are you sure that buy upgrading from X3e to SONAR, I'll receive 3 adpaks, midi paks and 3 kit pieces? Even if I already own AD2? (If true this would pay for the Sonar upgrade alone.)
2. No Mid/Side for quadcurve?
 
Everything else looks pretty good to me.

SimpleManZ
Easy to see I can only use Sonar on "1" computer from now on end. Then the occasional rebuilding of the said "1" computer will need to hassle of reclaiming whatever token I have 'dongled-Sonar' to the internet. 

We haven't claimed that. I currently have SONAR installed on multiple PC's with the same serial number and the same Cakewalk SSO account. It's practically the same model we've always had. 

If your system is offline, all you need to do is get a challenge file from SONAR. Send it to us with an online PC, and you'll get back your response file to import into SONAR on your offline PC.  

clintmartin
I've read all 5 pages and have a two questions.
 
1. Are you sure that buy upgrading from X3e to SONAR, I'll receive 3 adpaks, midi paks and 3 kit pieces? Even if I already own AD2? (If true this would pay for the Sonar upgrade alone.)
 
2. No Mid/Side for quadcurve?
 
 
Everything else looks pretty good to me.

I've read all 5 pages and have a two questions.
 
1. Are you sure that buy upgrading from X3e to SONAR, I'll receive 3 adpaks, midi paks and 3 kit pieces? Even if I already own AD2? (If true this would pay for the Sonar upgrade alone.)
 
Yes, I am positive. You get three more packs to choose from. Brand new code will be delivered.


2. No Mid/Side for quadcurve?
 
I don't believe there were updates to the QuadCurve but I can check.
 
Everything else looks pretty good to me.

Andrew Rossa [Cakewalk]

tclark101
Not intending to sound impolite, but I keep hearing "next year $199" -- I know you don't want to commit the company to $199 forever, but is it envisioned that it will go much beyond $199 per year to maintain a Platinum Membership? 
 
That is, i can see it going to $219 or $229 in a couple years, but are you planning to eventually have long-term future maintenance be on the level of $499 per year?

I don't think that's the plan. We want to keep this simple. So moving forward there is only one renewal price, not the multiple upgrade paths we have now. We thought at least for the beginning it would be nice to give X3 customers a little break on the price. We also think $199 or $19.99 is a nice price point. I know I spend more than $20/month on worse things than DAW software :)

Sounds great. Thanks for the clarifications. I'm on board. I've been keeping Producer up every year and it seems like this is only an incremental increase for people who keep up the upgrades like I have (with no whopper on its way). Thanks!

Andrew Rossa [Cakewalk]

GeorgeZ
Quick question, if I reg X3 Producer now, is there a grace period for a "automatic" update (the outright buy version I guess) to the latest version (which is what... Platinum)? I'm totally confused :P

There is no grace period. We've been discounting SONAR for the past few months. New customers for example are only paying $329 right now. If you add in the price of the upgrade to Platinum, it's actually slightly cheaper than the street price of $499 for Platinum.

Ok, so if I reg X3 Prod after the new Sonar release, I have / get X3? Just asking as it's obviously not in the store anymore? Sorry for being stupid... really not getting this.

What if you're like me and got Addictive Drums 1 when it was offered with Sonar? Would I get Addictive Drums 2 this time?

SimpleManZ
Easy to see I can only use Sonar on "1" computer from now on end. Then the occasional rebuilding of the said "1" computer will need to hassle of reclaiming whatever token I have 'dongled-Sonar' to the internet. 

Just for clarity, I believe there is no dongle (can I get a hallelujah).
 
If you never let your DAW on the internet, there is a way to validate the software so you can use it (by downloading a file and using sneaker-net to move the file to your DAW).
 
You can use that same file to authenticate 10 offline computers that you own if you wish, as long as you continue to only use them one at a time (which most of us are forced to do anyway due to only having one good interface). I'm really not sure how Sonar would protect themselves if you have 10 DAWs in your studio that are NEVER online. I'm guessing it would come down to the honor system at that point.
 
For most of us, this translates to the fact that you can install on your DAW and your Laptop if you want. You can use your laptop in the field as long as no one is concurrently bouncing tracks in your studio on your DAW.

Andrew Rossa [Cakewalk]
 
Let's see if I can clarify this based on the scenario you described. If you went up to 18 months and then decided to opt out, you'd keep month 18. Now say you came back at month 24, then the software would obviously update to the current version (month 24). Now say you decide after one month you want to cancel, the software would de-authorize and you would have to download month 18 (the last version you paid for). If you continued on from month 24 to month 36, at the end you'd own month 36. Make sense? 

OK. Getting there :D

Thats why I mentioned was there a minimum monthly sub of some sort.
 
 
I have paid the initial $149 that gives me 12 months. After that I pay monthly up to month 18 then drop out. Now I own up to month 18. I come back at month 24 and sub again but for a month only, opt out again. I have technically paid for that? But you say I now drop back to the version at month 18. 
 
Is their a minimum monthly continuous sub before you get to keep full updated versions? In our example - you come back at month 24 and stay for another 4 months at $19.99 a month and drop again. You still back to redownload month 18. Say you stay for another 7 months at $19.99 a month and drop again. Still back to month 18 version ..
 
Thanks for your patience :D
 
 

Interesting! I have a couple of questions.
 
1. Does this mean there will no longer be free demos? I'm having some problems with X3e and it look like the only way I could find out if the new version resolves any of them would be to pay for a month's subscription. Is that correct?
 
2. Will a list of bug fixes be posted publicly and regularly? Say there's something preventing a user from opting in.  Will there be a way for them to know if it's been addressed, or would they have to pay for a month to find out?
 
Thanks-
 
-Susan

I deleted the first part as I see it was answered while I was typing---
 
I'm not into having my DAW on line either.  I'd rather a USB licenser but it would be nice if they all shared the same device.  One will run out of ports! 
And to the dude who is off to buy Cubase, good luck with that. I got it for Christmas and have been using it for a over a week now, You want me to write out the list of missing features that it doesn't have compared to Sonar? It's like using Sonar 6. No, it's even missing stuff Sonar 6 had.  Sonar is without a doubt the DAW we should support. I'm not 100% happy with the latest version, but after suffering Cubase for a week it all of a sudden seems like the perfect DAW! 
 
I can't believe you are all being so patient with the one guy who's off his meds today.
 
Cubase uses a USB licencer and I like it because it's hassle free once set up.
You can install the software on a second computer off line. Cakewalk needs to do something about the Piracy and this new model is what that is all about, my guess. 
 
This is good marketing because I'm happy enough with X3 and was not planing on a upgrade for a few versions. You might have baited the hook :) 
Now I'll go read the versions and see if I can afford to upgrade to the flagship from Studio.