The Grim
yes but is that honesty or just blowing smoke for effect? no offense intended, but it would be hard to see a person in your position, vice pres (or whatever) of the company that owns cakewalk, promoting the new better daw you found, wouldn't you be compromised by your position, you have a vested interest in cakewalk/sonar, i just can't see it. for my way of thinking, anything coming from an employee or spokesperson for a company must be viewed through that companies rose colored glasses so to speak, and anything along the lines of what you spoke of above, treated with a healthy dose of skepticism.

 
I said "years ago." I've been using SONAR since 2000. Gibson bought Cakewalk in 2013. You can do the math of how long I've used SONAR with zero constraints, real or imagined. I said the line about switching in a heartbeat not just once, but several times before 2013. I'd like to think it kept them on their toes
 
And note that several times, in this very forum, I have stated that I use Ableton Live for live performance and Studio One Pro for album assembly and DDP export. I've advised people to use Reason as an extended synth rack for SONAR. No one has been upset with me "promoting" them. I've also mentioned doing classical sessions in Pro Tools (although to be fair, I always took the wav files out and edited them in SONAR because PT was just too slow).
 
My loyalties lie with the people who ultimately have paid my bills for decades...the people (that's you) who support what I do. Yes, I lost consulting gigs because I was not afraid to give a negative review for a product made by that company, or a positive review to a competitor. But in return, that kind of behavior got me more firmly entrenched with some companies because they realized that if I said I thought something was good, I really believed it was good and didn't say so to curry favor.
 
You have to have your priorities straight. Gibson didn't hire me for my striking good looks LOL, but because Henry Juszkiewicz, the CEO, knew I didn't need the job and would always tell it like it is, without any concern about recriminations because they wouldn't matter. That has made me far more valuable to Gibson than if I just said "oh yes, of course" to everything. (And Cakewalk could tell you about times I've been pretty, uh, adamant about certain things.) 
 
In my own studio, I can use whatever I want. No one from the Gibson Police comes by and checks for "ideological purity." But if they did, they'd find me using a TASCAM interface, Les Paul monitors, KRK headphones, Gibson/Epiphone guitars (and a James Tyler Variax), and Neat microphones (unless I need a dynamic mic...they don't make any). This isn't because I have to. It's because they're really effing awesome. I don't mention that here because it isn't really appropriate, but now you know.
 
Life is too short to use gear that inhibits my creativity, so I use what works best. I didn't like Gibson products because I joined Gibson. I joined Gibson because I like Gibson products. I often joke with people that one of the best things about joining Gibson is I didn't have to sell my Strats. Then again...I didn't/don't have any Strats 
 
Also to be fair, the odds of abandoning SONAR now are extremely remote because there are several elements in the program to which I contributed, no one else has, and are features I need. At this point SONAR is so far ahead of the pack in terms of doing what I need, it would take something truly extraordinary to convince me to switch.

yes i understand all that about your mentioning using other daws etc and that you may own and use other things than gibson brands, but mentioning and promoting are different things. like in the hypothetical world would you feel free to promote the new number 1 daw in your life as you have and do sonar, or would you be/feel restricted, compromised?

If cakewalk makes the distinction of labelling some users as loyal users I guess it's up to them to define it.

I've owned every version of Sonars top release at any given time.
I reckon that makes me more loyal than someone who used Sonar 2, 6 and now Splat.

BTW I own Samplitude x2, SO3, Mixbus, PTHD12, and a range of semi Daws come audio/video editors

Anderton
 
Also to be fair, the odds of abandoning SONAR now are extremely remote because there are several elements in the program to which I contributed, no one else has, and are features I need.

 
after noting that you may already be predisposed to the idea it is unlikely you would ever leave sonar due to various other reasons, do you think that if another daw actually did come along which you honestly thought was superior to sonar, that you would stay with sonar anyway, perhaps rationalizing it in some way in your mind due to your position within gibson and relationship with cakewalk?

For me, I don't believe that loyalty is relevant, it's a matter of respect for a company and a product!
 
Not many products have the access ability that Cakewalk offers and because of that ability to speak freely about the products good or bad they at least hear and care about their creation with honor and pride!
 
And for me after a week dealing with horrible Dell sales and tech support, disgusting Customer service with a Bank and a nightmare with a well known social media site stealing from thousands of consumers and other unbelievable crap! I had a bad week! lol
 
CAKEWALK IS ON THE HIGH ROAD!!!
 
Thank you CW!

stevec

paulo

pwalpwal

BobF
Great series, IMO.

best thing on telly since i can't remember

Yup.
 
More twisty and turny than an enormous twisty turny thing.
 
I wish I could forget it all so that I could watch it all again. 

 
Ah, if only...   

oh i remembered, "black mirror" competes for best telly evar, do check it out if you don' know it already

pwalpwal
i see references to "loyal users" come up quite regularly, like today, and it's got me wondering: what's the difference between a "regular"/non-specific user (someone who uses the software) and a "loyal" user? what is it that makes a user "loyal"?

Assuming that there is an answer to this question beyond the purely subjective,  what possible difference could it make to you or anyone else? Just curios:)
 

pwalpwal

stevec

paulo

pwalpwal

BobF
Great series, IMO.

best thing on telly since i can't remember

Yup.
 
More twisty and turny than an enormous twisty turny thing.
 
I wish I could forget it all so that I could watch it all again. 

 
Ah, if only...   

oh i remembered, "black mirror" competes for best telly evar, do check it out if you don' know it already

Yeah, seen all of those....mostly pretty good, but a couple that were a bit meh really IMO.
 

The Grim

Anderton
 
Also to be fair, the odds of abandoning SONAR now are extremely remote because there are several elements in the program to which I contributed, no one else has, and are features I need.

 
after noting that you may already be predisposed to the idea it is unlikely you would ever leave sonar due to various other reasons, do you think that if another daw actually did come along which you honestly thought was superior to sonar, that you would stay with sonar anyway, perhaps rationalizing it in some way in your mind due to your position within gibson and relationship with cakewalk?

If a DAW came along that I honestly felt was better than SONAR, I'd just help put together a deal for Gibson to buy the company. Problem solved.
 
That is not a flippant answer, Gibson already bought the company that makes the best DAW so there's a precedent.

What is it that makes a user loyal ?
Commitment to oneself first . Then having a reasonable expectation of what they can and plan on accomplishing with the chosen tool / DAW they are using ...
With out that all bets are off ...
Why ?
There happens to be a tremendous amount of personal energy and time that has to be invested in the first place .
The Honeymoon phase of looking at the GUI while dreaming about all the nice Musical Places were gonna go to using  this DAW is pretty short lived when you consider that sooner or later your gonna have to either take the red pill or the blue pill to be able to leave the comfort of the Matrix to see things for what they actually are
It can be a very shocking personal revelation to find out that on a core level "as much as one thinks they know" ...
"they don't really know $hit " ..
This is a Crossroads with many possible out comes ....
Depending on the individuals capacity to be truthful to themselves they may only encounter only 2 " real categories " to confront ... 
One can accept that the DAW itself is not only a tool that not only does music , but it is also a Hidden Kingdom or Realm where the user can explore the vastness of ones own limitless creativity within the confines of working within the DAW ...
What I find most interesting about this concept is , in truth the DAW as a tool  itself is indeed also limitless  ..
The key to unlocking the full potential of the DAW does not lie within the DAW only .
The Key to unlocking the DAW  lie's within the users ability to see and fully understand that what they are doing while using  the DAW is only a reflection of the skills they may or may not posses in the first place ...
 
Speaking from personal experience , the truth of "that little nugget" can be somewhat of a shocking thing to become aware of in oneself ...
If things "ain't happening" I can rent a canoe and go to Da Nile or I can look at the reflection in the mirror  ...
 
 
If I happen to be the "main person in charge " in my own private Kingdom of The DAW ...and if it turns out  I'm not getting the results I had hoped for ...
 
Then Who do I blame ? myself or the DAW ?
 
IMHO , this is the stepping off point for many people ( myself included at times ) ...
 
Without getting into a whole deep psychological mental rubiks cube of defining the whole who , what,  when , and why of it all ...I will keep it simple ...
 
The temptation to jump to a different DAW  may indeed have an allure to it that may seen irresistible to a person who wants to keep it light and easy on themselves ....
There are people out there that have no desire to swim the deep in of the pool  ...
I'm willing to bet that most of us here want to swim the deep end of the pool or else we wouldn't be here ..right ?
 
So what would be a good answer on a personal level for me to define the whole
What is it that makes a user loyal ?
in a nut shell ,
Having the Absolute Freedom to go out and find out for myself what's out there in a DAW  regardless of what I or another person thinks about what ever personal choices  on a DAW I may or may not happen to  make  ...
I firmly believe that no matter what DAW I use ....I'm still gonna hit the same old sticking point ..MYSELF ...
FWIW , I happen to feel that awareness is actually a very good thing    
 
As far as all this chit chat goes I've already been down this Road w Samplitude , Logic , Cubase , Reaper , Acid Pro , and a half a dozen others ...
I keep using SONAR the most , not because I'm Loyal ..
I just happen to feel that SONAR has always been a very good place for me to Learn & Grow
 
all the best,
 
Kenny