Hmmm... it says membership renewal after 12 months is $199 or $19.99 per month. I also notice that this version doesn't seem to be called Sonar X4, but as far as I could tell... Sonar 2015. I'm I to believe that Sonar will no longer have version upgrades, but just be constantly upgrading on the same platform or perhaps a yearly overhaul? Does that also mean that Sonar will basically be $200/year to continue using from here on out?

As an X3 Pro user, can I start on the monthly plan to convert to the yearly after the first month, or would I be stuck with the monthly model?  Also, is the new model because you are now using the Agile programing methodology?

So Andrew,
 
I upgrade my Sonar X3 Producer to Platinum via the $149 one off payment. I get 1 year membership for the following 12 months. My choices then are:
 
1. Stop subscribing,own the Platinum outright with updates ONLY up to that point
2. Continue subscription via another yearly sub of $149 or greater ( after intro offer ) in perpetuity 
3. Continue subscription via monthly sub of $14.99.
 
If one chooses option 3 could one dip in and out and get updates at that time and up to that time? Say, decide to just pay sub every two months or every 3 months skipping the months in between? So only sub for months where an update is seen as useful. 
 
Game dev software UNREAL ENGINE works this way - dip in / out

I'm ready! Take my money! Looks like a well thought out and sensible upgrade!

Overall mixed feelings, same as when adobe moved (forced) completely to CC (Im still on cs6)

1 - Didn't see anything about MELODYNE (ctrl+m) (i have the full version which works fine in x3e), will it still be available in platinum?

2 - still no overhaul on selected/active track highlighted, its still hard to see what track is active
3 - pattern tool, what is this? Clone stamp ala photoshop? name one occation where its useful :) whos idea/request was that?

Well looky dat... you guys revamped Audiosnap and a couple other things I had been whining about. Haven't taken a super close look at everything yet (that's a LOT of stuff) but at first glance it looks like the general housekeeping and mainstay feature advancement many people have been asking for. Excellent. Not sure how but I guess I'll have to scrape up the $150 from somewhere.
 
One question... I notice an entry in regards to notation stuff. Is this a rework of the Tab, Notation view or is it the same?
 
Looks good guys, nice jerb. ;-)

This stinks. I shall be voting with my wallet, hello steinberg.

I like it!

Greeny
This stinks. I shall be voting with my wallet, hello steinberg.

I sense a recurring theme starting here. Any chance you can share what aspect you're not a fan of? Maybe we can help to clarify? If not, the feedback would be helpful for us either way.

orhanproject
Overall mixed feelings, same as when adobe moved (forced) completely to CC (Im still on cs6) Didn't see anything about MELODYNE (ctrl+m) (i have the full version which works fine in x3e), will it still be available in platinum?

Yes, Melodyne will remain. But remember, the big advantage compared to Adobe is you get to keep stuff. If you want to upgrade, you upgrade. If you don't, you don't but you still get to keep what you paid for. Another big advantage AFAIC is you get new features when they're ready, not in accordance to an upgrade schedule.
 
But another advantage that hasn't really been emphasized is that rolling out and QAing one or two new program features at a time is much more straightforward than QAing 40 changes in a huge rollout. Also if there's an issue, it can be fixed more quickly.
 
I think this is pretty darn cool. Frankly, I think it's going to shake up the industry. The bar has now been set for a customer-centric ownership model instead of a company-centric rental ("subscription") model.