Hey my friends...
I'm humbled but also,
honored by your comments. When we meet in forum-land you are all my peers, and we're all in this together. Recognition from one's peers means a lot.
Given that most forum posts about something in the eZine always seemed to be followed by "What eZine?" "Where do I find this so-called eZine?," and Cakewalk not wanting to make it downloadable with SONAR, I figured it just wasn't that important and since it was essentially a one-man show, it became increasingly difficult to justify the time. However, I would like to give props to Morten Saether, who always found the time to proof it before publication; Noel Borthwick for his contributions and for explaining to me how things worked so I could explain them to you; and Jimmy Landry for his excellent "Anatomy of a SONAR Project" contributions.
This does underscore something I've been saying that I think a lot of people didn't really believe - I am
not a Cakewalk employee, and Cakewalk has its own goals. I did the eZine because I believe in the products and the company, and I did almost all of it on my own time - not Gibson's. I knew the monthly updates were disruptive, but I thought it was a brilliant idea, and wanted to find a way to make the updates easier to assimilate. Having a background that also includes publishing, I thought the answer was a monthly magazine. (For those who aren't aware of this part of my history,
Electronic Musician magazine was my idea and I edited it for its first five years; and I've published enough books I've lost count but it's over 25...I also consider content like patches and expansion packs as publishing, and have done that for over a dozen companies...so along with music, publishing is my world.)
I had hoped to take the eZine further - I had big plans
- but the reality is that Cakewalk is not a publishing house, and it's as foreign to them as coding SONAR would be to me.
The other reality is that Harmony Central, which I ran for its five most successful years, was acquired by Gibson two and a half years ago. Frankly, it went into a freefall after the acquisition because people assumed we were going to do nothing but write puff pieces about Les Pauls. But that was not why Gibson bought HC. Gibson's CEO, Henry Juszkiewicz, believed the world really needed a neutral, public-facing, internationally oriented web site that would get people excited about music and making music. He gave us
complete and total editorial control to a degree that is unprecedented for almost any magazine or web site, and which I have never seen in all my years of doing the web and magazines. He re-hired the entire editorial team Guitar Center had fired (GC owned the site after they purchased Musician's Friend), and gave us the opportunity and encouragement to do the site
right. The past four months, something happened and HC has been growing in every single metric, every month. Our newsletter has hit 30,000 subscribers, we're getting 3 to 4 million unique visitors a month, and even our YouTube channel is growing at a phenomenal clip. At Gibson, I essentially work as an in-house consultant so I go where I'm wanted/needed. HC needs my attention right now, and one of the projects we're doing is Harmony Central Publishing. We expect to have four books out in April (an aggressive schedule, but we're fanatics). Ironically, "The Big Book of SONAR Tips" proved that a book directed to a niche audience with virtually no promotion could sell copies, and HC can concentrate on publishing the same way that...well, Cakewalk concentrates on software.
Furthermore, Cerwin Vega introduced some new PA systems at NAMM that were extremely well-received so I've been helping with that, and Gibson Acoustic and Gibson Memphis are at the top of their game, so both want more of my time. I've also been working a lot with Gibson USA, where I did much of the circuit design for the Les Paul Standard HP model, and have assigned two patents to Gibson Innovations, one of which involves telecommunications and might (fingers crossed) be a very big deal.
So...my reality is that I love working at Gibson and the opportunities it presents. When the company has needs, I do everything I can to help. I believe Cakewalk will continue to want me involved on some level, but regardless, I am a hardcore SONAR user and was one
long before Gibson acquired the company. I depend on it in so many ways. You'll keep seeing the "Friday's Tip of the Week," I'll stay involved in the forums, continue to give workshops and seminars on it, and look for ways that SONAR can get the recognition it rightfully deserves (as well as nudge the developers to improve it).
This post is probably a case of TMI, so I want to loop back to the beginning (I'm into looping!) and say once again that it is an
honor to receive these kind words from people that I respect and with whom I feel not only a kinship, but a shared mission. Thank you very, very much. You have no idea how much it means to me.