You may install any time. The activation process has not changed. The servers are still up.
Here is Noel's post

Noel Borthwick [Cakewalk]
...Activation is handled both by the application and the Cakewalk webside back end.
BandLab have acquired all assets and that includes the website and back end. So nothing is going to happen to existing activation's during or after the transition to BandLab. If you choose the reinstall the software the same activation process with apply as before.
If we choose to change how this is done in the future of course we're going to make sure that existing customers are not affected so there is no need for needless worry.

Yes people, please read the official statements before you fly off the handle with speculations. As far as I can tell they have addressed each and every one of the concerns we all had about using Sonar and all Cakewalk DAW's in the future. They will now work until unforeseen issues with a future OS cause an issue. 
 
I'm speculating ( I said I wouldn't ) that all our versions of Sonar as they stand right now will no longer see upgrades but we will have 100% ownership and activation into the future. They owe us nothing but Bandlab seems to be leaning towards being supper nice to us.. 
 
The company Bandlab will be producing a new DAW and whether that new DAW is called Sonar or Bandlab or ? it will be a new DAW owned by a new company and won't just be a continuation of the products we now own. This really was the end of Cakewalk.  At best I would hope that it will open CWP files. The new Bandlab DAW will have it's own Command Center etc. 
 
We will be offered a discounted deal ( free??) to purchase  this new DAW and carry on or we can choose to opt out and continue to use what we have and live with the bugs etc. Only time will reveal if the new DAW resembles Sonar. 
.  

Kamikaze
5. happened because the licensed expired.
 
So easy, then name 20. Even then would it be the reason that Sonar was unstable. Are you supporting Cactus's claim that this is the reason that Sonar is unstable? 

I have this sneaking suspicion that the ARA integration introduced a lot of weird problems. I remember Noel saying that at least some of the "plugins losing their settings" problems were related to ARA, and as most are probably aware (from my incessant but justified whining about it), I've had problems with Sonar hosing plugin settings to the point where the program became an unusable turkey for my purposes. I have also seen a lot of crashes related to Melodyne clips being in projects. And I still have a huge problem in large projects whereby moving the playback head a long distance in the project and hitting play causes Sonar to either crash or hang for a couple of minutes. All of these things are in some way linked to the project timeline, which of course now has a relationship with ARA. Just a thought. I've seen plugin settings like EQ bands change by doing things as simple as hitting play or moving the cursor, without any automation envelope in existence linked to the parameter. 
 
I've also seen EQ settings change by simply turning the ProChannel in which the EQ is hosted on or off, so perhaps the introduction of the ProChannel brought some problems with it too. If Sonar is to lose its reputation as being buggy and unstable, all of these issues are going to have to be addressed once and for all. 
 
 

I agree that Melodyn was almost always used to convert audio to midi in all these projects that crash on me. I never use it for anything else but I've converted all my old Audio bass tracks to midi using ARA. 
But then here's the mystery- I also use Home Studio to do this. Even though it's not supposed to have this feature As long as I have Splat installed on the same machine, HS will convert audio to midi with ARA. 
 
Something that is missing in HS must cause the upper versions to become unstable. Pick your poison. 
 
I would love to get my hands on Artist right now to test my theory.
Anyone want to trade a copy or 2016 Professional for Artist? Just kidding, that's probably not legally allowed, right ;) 

I think it's time for some streamlining, a stripdown of sorts. Sonar does not need to be the do all end all DAW, there are so many options out there already that are far more stable.

By the "Bolt on" approach taking us to the point where platinum has ended a lot of the bugs being mentioned(real or unreal) crept into the Software and into the minds of User's and the market in a noticeable way. Do you as a User really need some of the junk that is messing up some the works? I could live with a stable, minumal menu pared down program that in some repects resembles Sonar but is far most effecient with a little less of the Bloat that may be causing issues, real or perceived .

I know I'll be torn to piece's by some of the "Old Guard" but it's my opinion cause I really want whatever comes of this to succeed.

Here's hoping.

 I could live with a stable, minumal menu pared down program that in some repects resembles Sonar but is far most effecient with a little less of the Bloat that may be causing issues, real or perceived .
 
You should really try Home Studio then.  It was free for the taking, might still be. 
 
you copy paste this: 
 
3327-46FD-8F9A-BBC7
 
Here     http://www.cakewalk.com/Redeem?kl=16&promo=CM25

Cactus Music
 I could live with a stable, minumal menu pared down program that in some repects resembles Sonar but is far most effecient with a little less of the Bloat that may be causing issues, real or perceived .
 
You should really try Home Studio then.  It was free for the taking, might still be. 
 
you copy paste this: 
 
3327-46FD-8F9A-BBC7
 
Here     http://www.cakewalk.com/Redeem?kl=16&promo=CM25

That link still appears to be active today... 
 
Home Studio 4Life!

scook

Kamikaze
This is a dishonest conversation based on a different agenda than the post I made above. Probably because you weren't happy about my posts this morning.

Nope, just trying to dispel the myth that Cakewalk did not implement user requests. Done that...moving on.

Nope, you built a strawman and burnt it down. You jumped int a point I was making, made it for me, then dispelled it. But yu didn't address the pint I actually made.
 
Feature Requests were not the main cause of instability. I asked you direct and you carried n with your strawman.
 
But while you are at it. Yes the feature request section of the forum was a joke and the bakery was too. Nearly three years and a handful were ever implemented. But along the way the bakers gave us a lot of great things, a lot.
 

 

sharke

Kamikaze
 
So easy, then name 20. Even then would it be the reason that Sonar was unstable. Are you supporting Cactus's claim that this is the reason that Sonar is unstable? 

I have this sneaking suspicion that the ARA integration introduced a lot of weird problems.

I don't know. I've never had a powerful system, so I put ARA crashes down to asking too much with region FX. I've never viced concerns with instability, because I suspect my machine first. The biggest stabilty change was dumping my Firewire 1814 from M-Audio. 3 Laptops with TEXAS chipset an just pain, then I gt a USB Quad Capture. but that's abut a decade ago.
 
ARA is fantastic though and made StudioOne the plan B for me. Hearing that a new ARA is in the pipeline, whilst Sonar looked dead was so disappointing. Maybe if ARA is still having issues, that version will tighten it up.

Cactus Music
I agree that Melodyn was almost always used to convert audio to midi in all these projects that crash on me. I never use it for anything else but I've converted all my old Audio bass tracks to midi using ARA. 
 

The extract tempo map is a great feature you can use without leaving Sonar too.
 
I was learning a James Jamerson bass line, I had the full song and the track. I used the whole song to pull the tempo, and when it did I was amazed. Then created a simple beat that was synced to the song, layered his bass track ver the beat really helped me fucus on timing issues.
 
I repeated the process after stretching the audio, so I could do it slower.
 
It's so cool
 
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
Arthur C Clarke