Musec03 - Thanks for that story. While I dislike change as much as the next guy, I'm actually having good feelings about Cakewalk. They were hiring people this past year, they're posting for more s/w engineers currently, they seem to truly be making an effort to listen to their user-base, working to stream-line the everyday type of business tasks that are so time consuming but don't actually add to the actual product leaving more time for development and support.
And if, like me, you usually stay current with the latest product then nothing has really changed. If you liked to skip a release and then pay more later to get current then nothing has really changed. Time will tell but I really don't see anything to freak-out about at this point. We'll see....
 
Edit: by the way, I bet everyone here pays more for their cell data plan and has more problems with that than they do with their daw.

Just to put in my 2 cents worth:
I upgraded to Adobe Cloud because it was a no-brainer. They offered an introductory price of 19.99/month for existing owners of CS6 versions that did not include Premiere, After Effects and a few others.
The 19.99 got you pretty much EVERYTHING they sell, with upgrades, plus some content etc. I had been wanting After Effects for a long time, and now *BAM* for 19.99/month??? I'm IN! Have never regretted it. It's going up to 49.99/month and still worth it.
 
My thought is that Cakewalk does not come close to the arsenal of products under the Adobe moniker. For new customers to sign up for Platinum at 50/month, is a bit of a stretch, IMHO. I hope they've done their research (Gibson, the new owners) because I use Sonar Producer about every day for business and I'd hate to have to learn something else if they went out of business/lost market share.
I will upgrade, however. Get the discount.
 
Best of luck Cakewalk!
Wally
 
P.S. Make sure the code you buy is not protected under some international "wood" treaty. If so, don't let the FBI in without a warrant. DOH! (Just kidding.)

Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! And Yes!
 
New features. Returning features. Upgraded feathers!
 
Lots of included user ideas.
 
This is the Glory of Gibson.
 
And an excellent approach to the subscription model:
Pay as you go
Consistently improving value for current and new users
Buy anytime and get the latest stuff: great for all users
install for one month on a location machine
Less pressure on all for updates
 
We get our Kate and Edith too!
 
Happy I have lived long enough to see CW (and Sonar) be all it can be.
 
(This is obviously my Happy-Feet message)

 

drewfx1
 
I'm still not quite clear on what happens a year from now though (assuming I did the yearly upgrade now). What would I be paying for at that point?

 

Andrew Rossa [Cakewalk]
You'd be paying for more features, updates, contents for the next year. You will have a year to decide if that is of value to you.

Maybe I'm missing something here, but what I'm seeing here a year from now is a substantial price hike over the existing upgrade cost  (which was already substantially increased last year) for an upgrade that you can't possibly know if you think is good value ot not or not because you won't know what it is gonna be and if after a year you don't think it was worth it  - tough luck 'cos you've already paid for it ?
 
You might well produce upgrades that you (CW) see as being good value for this fee, but to give one example from the current upgrade package all the AD2 stuff is totally useless to me as it can't be installed on an offline pc, so to me has no value at all. Problem is that in future I will have already paid for it.
 
 
 
 

Seth Kellogg [Cakewalk]

TabSel
...X3e came more than 12 months after x3, as far as I remember, ...

X3E came out in March 2014, X3a launched in September 2013

I was wrong.
That answer did not clarify cakewalks responsibility to fix bugs as they are legally obliged to for free, and held responsible for. How is that handled?

Leonard
This new model gets folks like me who skip releases into your annual revenue stream. I really like Sonar. Count me in.

Questions.

My daw will now need to phone home to run Sonar Platinum? My Sonar X3 Pro rig is an offline machine. Do I now need antivirus software if it must be plugged into the web exclusively for this purpose? Which AV program do you recommend? A trip to windows 7 update is now necessary to plug up security holes.

and everything was working so well.

 
I use Windows Defender in Windows 8. (Microsoft Internet Security in Windows 7 I believe).
Work perfectly and it have very low impact on CPU. Can of course turn it of if you want to. Its also free which is good:)

1) Was asked before but just double checking. I have AD1 with X3. Will the existing packs get upgraded to AD2 free? (Then afterwards we get the additional packs we paid for with Sonar)

2) What is the the approx timespan of the introductory pricing?

3) Are drum maps fixed?

4) Anything new with Sonitus? 64 bit vst 3 perhaps ;)

5) Will you be separating stability updates and enhancement updates?

6) Where's my hover car? If I just subscribe for a month and I have parked it near the rings of Saturn, when you reprocess it will there be a towing fee?

Great news...

Thanks.

Anyone complaining about spending $149 for this version is just plain stupid.
 
That you can opt to pay monthly is an amazing offer.
 
$149 does not reflect inflation for the past 10 years. Neither did $179, and $189, and $199.
 
Sonar has been underpriced almost from the git.
 
If this software was being imported my China it would qualify as "Dumping." And sanctions and tariffs would be applied.
 
A Hundred and fifty bucs for a year of goodness and you guys are publically spewing dumbness before you use your frontal lobes for a minute of thought?
 
I say, "Go buy a different product and complain in the appropriate forums."

dubdisciple

jimtzu
after reading the 17 pages so far my remaining question was asked in the middle but never answered.  it has to do with integration of already upgraded to full versions of software (melodyne, etc) with the new versions of Sonar;  will the lite versions overide the paid for full versions and will there be a way to turn off the lite versions for installation?  
 

Someone can correct me if mistaken, but I can't  think of a reason Sonar would chane the status quo where that is concerned. If you currently own Melodyne Editor, it simply defaults to that instead of lite.

I believe you will just skip the Melodyne install. I found the Melodyne installation instructions here http://www.cakewalk.com/S...tallation-Instructions

TabSel
149 seems to be quite steep considering the few new/bettered things already there in new sonar/announced to come within the first membership period, imho.

 

• VocALine Project, which is the same type of pro feature as VocalSync, costs almost twice as much as the update.
• Mix Recall, which is a direct result of listening to multiple requests for this type of feature in the forums, is fantastic.
• MIDI drag and stretch is a huge time-saver
• MIDI paint is a great alternative to cut and paste
• MIDI PRV and editing enhancements
• The dynamic Control Bar overhaul is amazing and can now accommodate custom functions - another big forum request.
• VST3 now supports multiple note outputs - another forum request.
• AudioSnap has better performance - another common request.
• You can now stack as many FX and sends as your monitor can handle - again, much requested.
• DSD compatibility - haven't any requests for it, but SONAR is now a complete solution for hi-res audio projects, whether PCM or DSD. If either takes off, you'll already be there.
• Modern, more efficient convolution reverb - much better than Perfect Space
• Some pretty killer new amp sims (at least I think so )
• Custom effects
• Window pinning/recycling
• Bug fixes, some of them fairly long-standing because the big ones have been squashed so CW is drilling down further.

 
Basically you're paying $10 for each of the listed features. Even if you never use half of them, that's only $20 per new feature. And if you use vocal alignment, you've saved $140 by upgrading.
 

Renewing is 199 a year. Up to now it was about 149 every two years or so for the next version, am I wrong? So that's quite a huge raise?

 
It was $149 pretty much every year, not every two years.

Is it even legal to charge for bug fixes?

 
Of course it is! The cost of fixing bugs is factored into product costs.
 

Isn't a company obliged to offer what they sell as documented?

 
Depends if there are factors beyond their control and whether there's intent to deceive. If a function works for 99% of users but some people use an XYZ computer with outdated drivers for an ABC interface and it crashes, that's not the company's responsibility.
 

So when there are reproducible bugs and I opted out of membership, these bugs won't get fixed? Will I get a refund for having to stay with a faulty product? How is bug fixing handled? (X3e came more than 12 months after x3, as far as I remember

 
No, X3 was released at the end of September, X3e in the first half of March, and there were four updates prior to that...almost one a month. Look at my previous post for an explanation of how bug-fixing works.