Brian Walton

HARDDRlVER
I need to clarify a phrase I mentioned earlier. I said 'it is the lifetime updaters who have carried cakewalk'...what I meant by that was that it's been the people who have been paying for updates their whole lives...they are truly the 'lifetime' updaters. And it's not so much bragging rights for buying lifetime updates as it is...I almost feel guilty..walking in on the show, and learning what's taken place for so long. Especially hearing current upgrade pricing is half the full price of a new product. That means you're paying the full price every two years, unless I'm missing something

Most customers didn't upgrade every single year, those people are in the minority.  Also virtually every year they offered sizable discounts to upgrade.  
 
 

And why some of us did not upgrade - the bugs we reported were not fixed!!!!
Why pay and still have the same problems in there?
 
I stayed on Sonar 4 until 8.5(wanted x64) because of that - quite a bit of money lost compared to if I upgraded.
That is 4-5 upgrade money lost. And on X-series it wasn't until X3 was release I felt Cake meant business.
 
Overall Cake seems to have better ideas than userbase - so they also leave feature request unnoticed.
 
I think Sonar is such a nice daw it deserves better management, I dare say. Withholding info about Mac version for so long make me speculate Cake is about to sold off - again....I mean simple info does not need deadlines, but signing deals do.

My most recent one year subscription ended with 16.07. I have seen nothing in the updates since then to make me desperate to jump back in. I'm waiting for them to sort out the mess that is Theme Editor. The fact that as soon as you touch Theme Editor, track strip colours are removed makes it completely unusable. They have shown absolutely no inclination to even acknowledge the issue, despite many comments. And like I say, I have seen nothing in the monthly updates since then that make me think I'm missing out on something. They're going to have to make things a hell of a lot more compelling at this new disgraceful upgrade price.

zoffmeister
My most recent one year subscription ended with 16.07. I have seen nothing in the updates since then to make me desperate to jump back in. I'm waiting for them to sort out the mess that is Theme Editor. The fact that as soon as you touch Theme Editor, track strip colours are removed makes it completely unusable. They have shown absolutely no inclination to even acknowledge the issue, despite many comments. And like I say, I have seen nothing in the monthly updates since then that make me think I'm missing out on something. They're going to have to make things a hell of a lot more compelling at this new disgraceful upgrade price.

I agree it's up to us to deliver a compelling value for you to renew. 
 
As far as "this new disgraceful upgrade price", for you, this would be a change from $199 to $249, about a 25% increase. I guess disgraceful is a relative term, but we'll just have to agree to disagree.
 
I've also promised we'd run promotions from time to time. Heck, we're running one now even to give you an additional 10% off any edition of SONAR.
 
Fact is, we're not delivering the features you're personally interested in, so the price discussion is moot.

Good to see you can be polite while telling a customer to hit the road. 

ampfixer
Good to see you can be polite while telling a customer to hit the road. 

Sorry if I came across that way. I was just trying to validate that the customer doesn't see the value in what we've been doing - he's making a fair point.  I don't want him to "hit the road" at all - I hope someday soon we're able to deliver something that he values; if he doesn't, then he still has a great product to use as long as he wants.

Alex Westner [Cakewalk]

ampfixer
Good to see you can be polite while telling a customer to hit the road. 

Sorry if I came across that way. I was just trying to validate that the customer doesn't see the value in what we've been doing

You are doing great, aren't you?
The once excellent Cakewalk phone support seems to be a thing of the past, according to people on this forum,  and now a 25% increase in price to stay current for a year.
Way to go!

coolbass

Alex Westner [Cakewalk]

ampfixer
Good to see you can be polite while telling a customer to hit the road. 

Sorry if I came across that way. I was just trying to validate that the customer doesn't see the value in what we've been doing

You are doing great, aren't you?
The once excellent Cakewalk phone support seems to be a thing of the past, according to people on this forum,  and now a 25% increase in price to stay current for a year.
Way to go!

Sarcasm is neither productive nor appreciated. I'm happy to talk with you offline if you like - feel free to message me.

I think this whole thing is a mistake.
It seems to me this way staying current with Sonar for a year will cost  more than with Cubase Pro, Pro Tools vanilla, Reaper, Logic.....
Why?

Hmm... Well... I never got any mails from Cakewalk containing that information, although I have several times clicked on that "mail me please" button. Sigh...
 
That way I missed the first opportunity to get the life-time subscription. I was a bit disappointed, but hey.. It happens. Time goes on, and still got not mails from Cakewalk, so I did not knew the offer was prolonged (I do not visit this site very often any more), and yep you guessed.. again too late.
 
Now - I have taken a monthly subscription on Platinum after a few years not using sonar (I have started with Sonar 6 and ended with X1). That was on my birthday in April 2015, and I cancelled my subscription just at the end of April this year, thinking I could renew it at any time if I want.
 
You guessed it - I also got no mail about this new renewal scheme, so I did not know I could not "jump back in" again for a modest monthly fee. I just visited this forum since a long time and noticed this subject.
 
Well - I have Platinum 2017 April, and I guess that's what it will be forever. I simply cannot afford to "buy in" again, and I have missed the opportunity to take that "life time" offer. That's life...
 
No bad feelings, but I guess I will now concentrate more on my other DAW's (Cubase, Ableton Live). It will be strange to leave the "Cakewalk family" after so many years, but I wish them all the best.

JClosed
Hmm... Well... I never got any mails from Cakewalk containing that information, although I have several times clicked on that "mail me please" button. Sigh...
 
That way I missed the first opportunity to get the life-time subscription. I was a bit disappointed, but hey.. It happens. Time goes on, and still got not mails from Cakewalk, so I did not knew the offer was prolonged (I do not visit this site very often any more), and yep you guessed.. again too late.
 
Now - I have taken a monthly subscription on Platinum after a few years not using sonar (I have started with Sonar 6 and ended with X1). That was on my birthday in April 2015, and I cancelled my subscription just at the end of April this year, thinking I could renew it at any time if I want.
 
You guessed it - I also got no mail about this new renewal scheme, so I did not know I could not "jump back in" again for a modest monthly fee. I just visited this forum since a long time and noticed this subject.
 
Well - I have Platinum 2017 April, and I guess that's what it will be forever. I simply cannot afford to "buy in" again, and I have missed the opportunity to take that "life time" offer. That's life...
 
No bad feelings, but I guess I will now concentrate more on my other DAW's (Cubase, Ableton Live). It will be strange to leave the "Cakewalk family" after so many years, but I wish them all the best.

I'm sorry you were having problems receiving emails from us. I'm going to look into this, as we've heard this from a few other customers as well. I'll reach out to you offline as well.