noynekker
A few months ago I purchased a higher end PC laptop, despite everyone I know saying no, no, get a MAC . . .
but I said no, no . . . my favourite DAW Cakewalk Sonar has never ever mentioned a MAC version was on their horizon. So yeah, a bit surprised by all this. Frankly, I was expecting the recent marketing hype to something more substantial, like better notation, or another joint venture with a major plugin maker, or another cutting edge DAW breakthrough that Cakewalk is famous for.
Only 1.5 years into the "new" membership plan, the rules change . . . lifetime updates, guess I should feel grateful, but instead I feel a bit confused. The money I've been spending helping and supporting Cakewalk every year, to further develop the software, well . . . now they're saying that's not so important. Seems it's now become more important to buy Cakewalk's other products / plugins / add-ons to offer my support.
Problem is, I've already bought most of the plugins / VSTi's that I need elsewhere, and it will probably be cheaper to update those instead of buying new Cakewalk plugs etc . . . now Cakewalk is finally catching up with their own offerings of mastering plugins, Quad curve EQ with Spectrum Analyzer, VST3 Synths, better Drum plugins . . . but sorry, I already bought that stuff somewhere else.
I remember Cakewalk saying (in 2015) it would probably cost $199 for the next years membership update, but somehow they gave us a deal of $99 in (in 2016) . . . now they want that $99 for "lifetime updates", guess I should feel grateful, but instead I feel confused.
Most of the recent Cakewalk Sonar new features, I have no use for . . . BUT, I do really appreciate many of the core improvements, making recording, mixing and creating, a much smoother process. For that reason I will spend the $99 to get my "lifetime updates" . . . but I worry Cakewalk will not get any more of my money in the future ? . . . how can that be a good business plan ? . . . just hope they know what they're doing.
This is a
limited time offer, only for those who have fully purchased two full years of membership for Sonar Platinum. There are a lot of folks who don't have Platinum that will either continue with the annual/monthly membership, or will pay to jump to Platinum from whatever version they are on. That's a huge pool of users, I would think.
New users will either have to fully buy in, at full price, for lifetime updates (assuming Cakewalk offers that after 8/31), and all others will continue the membership model.
I don't see Cakewalk losing out on that much revenue, and will likely make it up elsewhere, especially if the Mac version is even moderately successful. In short, I'm grateful, and not worried.
Regards,
Dan