I think the problem with New Sonar Subscription is that “upgrade” version does not offer any significant improvements and relies on users trust. They promise improvements and useful content but we all had disappointing experience in the past. I remember free content samples bank they offered- that bank sounded like leftover samples that did not make in to any paid library. FX1 and FX2- remember those? Cakewalk was already trying to offer monthly content to registered users- they hardly offered anything that we cared to install. How do we know- this will miraculously change?
 
                 Think about it as a stock market: if you were offered to buy shares, would you buy them, knowing that the company did not release any new product in last 2 years? The software syths they trying to sale hardly go for $50 on sale, because everybody already has them. What improvements will realistically be released in the near future? “New Sonar” has virtually no new features compared to X3 that we already paid for, so what would convince us to subscribe and be hopeful regarding new features if it did not happen so far?
 
                I remember Cakewalk looking for new Software engineers. Did they hire anybody promising? Why not have “Creative Staff” page with pictures, biographies, resumes, and work experience of the programmers? Any music software company has the pictures of their “creative force” members. How do we know- Cakewalk even has anybody to make those promised improvements? Have them step forward, tell about their work, experience, ideas, and projects- make it interesting. I collect software synths. I have very good idea who makes those synths. If Cakewalk has personalities worth of investment- we should know about them. This way we would know what to expect in the future. Empty promises are not inspiring.

vladasyn
 This way we would know what to expect in the future.

ROFL!
 
No matter how much information anyone has there is no way to know what to expect in the future. That's why it's called the future.

Not everyone likes being in the limelight, but the marketing group did a "Meet The Bakers" thing a few months back where they introduced some of the folks here at the company.
 
http://blog.cakewalk.com/category/news-2/inside-the-bakery/
 
 

I disagree that there are no real improvements in this version, but I agree that this new policy would be well served by a coding team keeping a high profile. I can't say I've been disappointed with the five patches to X3, to be honest, nor with their presence on the forum. Personally I care much less about in-house created plugs or synths (since I'll go third party 90 percent of the time anyway) and way more about workflow and core DAW functionality. Comping and ARA were huge for me in X3 for example.

I think this guy was hired on as a developer

Vlad.  you seem like a cool person, but I think your expectations are a little off on this.  i suspect that people who do have the current Adobe option have a clearer picture of how it works on the product side of thing even though payment model is completely different.  Much of the talk seems to assume Cakewalk is shipping an incomplete product with promises of adding to it.  What is shipping could easily be released as "X4" and the usual praise would be heaped by those inclined to do so and it is equally true there would be a fair share of "i don't need this feature", "what about notation", "i still want patches for X3", etc would occur too.  Patches would be released  several times throughout the year and then there would be speculation on X5. Will the new release have bugs? Of course it will.  All software does.  The difference now on the product end is they can respond to smaller fixes quicker without waiting months to release a big letter labeled update. If there was some feature that was not quite ready for launch, that feature can be introduced without waiting for "X5". Will there be hiccups along the way? It would be foolish for Cakewalk to guarantee it will all transition perfectly with even the best intentions. the bottom line is the biggest change in what you receive in this upgrade vs the past is how updates and fixes are applied.

dubdisciple
Vlad.  you seem like a cool person, but I think your expectations are a little off on this.  i suspect that people who do have the current Adobe option have a clearer picture of how it works on the product side of thing even though payment model is completely different.  Much of the talk seems to assume Cakewalk is shipping an incomplete product with promises of adding to it.  What is shipping could easily be released as "X4" and the usual praise would be heaped by those inclined to do so and it is equally true there would be a fair share of "i don't need this feature", "what about notation", "i still want patches for X3", etc would occur too.  Patches would be released  several times throughout the year and then there would be speculation on X5. Will the new release have bugs? Of course it will.  All software does.  The difference now on the product end is they can respond to smaller fixes quicker without waiting months to release a big letter labeled update. If there was some feature that was not quite ready for launch, that feature can be introduced without waiting for "X5". Will there be hiccups along the way? It would be foolish for Cakewalk to guarantee it will all transition perfectly with even the best intentions. the bottom line is the biggest change in what you receive in this upgrade vs the past is how updates and fixes are applied.

This

"Think about it as a stock market: if you were offered to buy shares, would you buy them, knowing that the company did not release any new product in last 2 years?"

The stock market is based on euphoria, lies and trends. Think Las Vegas. Hmmm not sure I want cakewalk to take up that philosophy.

Hmm maybe cakewalk should release a daily horoscope and advertise staff in the personal ads ;)

I dont think patches and fixes should be paid. Fix implies that something did not work as planned, caused conflict or crash and developers fixed it. That should be free. This is about the same as new car warranty. If I buy Toyota new car, I expect it to have no issues. If there are issues, Toyota will have to fix it. Now I am not starting discussion about car manufacturer's integrity. But the idea is that company can not sale software that works half way. Anybody who used Sonar for more than 2 years, knows how unstable it used to be. And every time new update, we had to spend money, saying, "Yey finally it will not crash!" and another $150 later- guess what- it still crashes. They were releasing new updates every year asking for more money for the same product that they supposedly fixed. So- now- we will not have to wait for them to fix and test everything- they just going to release it with more problems and then follow up with fixes sooner. And if we don't pay- they will bot fix what they already sold.
 

Personally I care much less about in-house created plugs or synths (since I'll go third party 90 percent of the time anyway)

 
That is exactly my point. Cakewalk could make money, but they let money flow in hands of 3rd party developers.
 
I do not own Abeltom Live, or Bitwig, so I can not give specific examples of what "other" DAW offers. But I know that it offers cool things that Sonar does not have. Why not research what it is that attracts users to other DAW and make the same or better options? I recently bought Nora arpeggiator. It is a nice tool. In their manual, they had step by step for Logic and Abelton. When I contacted them and asked if it would work on Sonar- they had no idea and said- nobody uses Sonar. Sonar is good to capture live musicians playing, like guitarists, vocalists and drummers. It is not good in making music out of nothing. Taking noise and converting it in to music, such as desktop electronica, dubstep, trance, progressive and so on Sonar is no good. How would I attract new kids to buy Sonar? I would offer functionality young generation needs. Music production technique changes, and Sonar is behind.

CakeAlexS
"Think about it as a stock market: if you were offered to buy shares, would you buy them, knowing that the company did not release any new product in last 2 years?"

The stock market is based on euphoria, lies and trends. Think Las Vegas. Hmmm not sure I want cakewalk to take up that philosophy.

Hmm maybe cakewalk should release a daily horoscope and advertise staff in the personal ads ;)

And wear funny hats with stars on them.