Sycraft
People should also take note that the best way to get bugs fixed is to have a reproduce-able method for causing them that you can thoroughly explain and that works all the time. QA for more places isn't lazy, stupid, or uncaring, it is just that issues are often not something they can reproduce. Someone says "My system does X," their system does NOT do X under the same circumstances, near as they can tell, so they don't know where to go from there.
 
Sometimes software bugs are an obvious thing, lots of users report a fault, developers look at the code, and it is a very simple mistake that they can fix no problem. However often the bug is subtle, relying on the interaction of a number of pieces of code, all of which function correctly in isolation. It can be hard to nail down, unless you know just what to do to cause it, and thus what to look for.
 
If a bug is something you really need fixed it can take some persistence on your part, not in convincing QA to fix it, but in really figuring out what the bug is.

From the beating a dead horse department, this is how you really do it!

Anderton
Every minute developers spend on the forums is a minute not spent fixing bugs or implementing requested features. Is that what you want?
 

No, sir, I don't. I was responding to the general idea of Cakewalk staff being represented on the forums. PreSonus has QA Specialists that participate in their forums, for example.

Anderton
I knew people would come in here and say "so why are my favorite bugs not fixed" or "why aren't they more transparent all the time" or whatever.

I thought it was a negativity challenge.

Anderton
Positive reinforcement makes progress happen much faster than negative reinforcement. You can choose to contribute to a positive feedback loop, or you can choose to contribute to a negative one. If the latter, expect it to affect the developers as well as other people in the forum.

Positive reinforcement works only to a degree. Give a kid a prize for just showing up at the soccer game or doing what is normally expected of him in school and see how that works. Wait...that is what we do now.

Anderton
I presented an example of "this is how you do it" that applies to the community and to Cakewalk. I don't see how anyone can deny that the way this bug was identified and fixed as a perfect example of the value of a forum. I'm more interested in identifying a model that creates future progress rather than complaining about why something has or has not been done in the past.

I know "how you do it". I have to do it every day. I hope Keith already knew it too. I am not saying your example is not "the way". It is great, you fixed a bug. I am saying you don't get a gold star for it.  Fix some more, there are plenty that are easily replicated and comparitively low hanging fruit.  It goes with the territory. Buy the ticket, take the ride.
 

John

BASSIC Productions
Positive spin done in a negative way kind of cancels out the effort.  We users could use more support and we are telling Cakewalk that by taking the time to comment on this forum.  It is good for all of us.  It can be difficult for a user to be positive when something isn't working correctly.  Mr. Anderton, when something isn't working and you offer a complicated work around, it has a very "... then let them eat cake" kind of feel to us users.  We aren't at blame for the problem; we are offering insight into a sophisticated DAW that many of us have chosen to use and support.
We are hoping that Gibson will make an investment in Cakewalk the same way that we users have done.

Hold on its kinda funny in a way when you think what this forum is. Its a PEER to PEER forum. CW people are not required to be here at all. The fact that they do show up from time to time is really a pure bonus. Yet the funny part is you are complaining on a forum that was never meant for CW to user interaction about the lack of CW to user interaction.  I find that hilarious.  

@John, I'm happy you are amused.   As I use Sonar as a professional DAW to earn money to live on, I am less than amused with our current level of support on many levels... but, hey, if you find my comments hilarious, please, by all means, enjoy!
 

Sheanes
Try bying a perfect car, or a perfect house...or build one yourself would be even better !
Haven't had any 'bug' that was a showstopper ever.
If ones not satisfied with Cakewalks customer focus/support they're gonna feel so a lot of times with other manufacturers imo.
 

Buying a car or a house isn't expecting perfect but if the tires are unbalanced or the roof leaks, anyone would expect to have the manufacturer remedy the issue and not blame the buyer for not understanding what tires or roofs are meant to do or to explain to the user how to change the defective tires or reshingle the roof. 
 

Microapp
 
I know "how you do it". I have to do it every day. I hope Keith already knew it too. I am not saying your example is not "the way". It is great, you fixed a bug. I am saying you don't get a gold star for it.  Fix some more, there are plenty that are easily replicated and comparitively low hanging fruit.  It goes with the territory. Buy the ticket, take the ride.

 
You are not only missing the point, I believe you are misrepresenting it. I never said I fixed a bug, and I never asked for a gold star. I never even gave any props to Cakewalk for fixing a bug, which is expected from developers. 
 
Please don't make things up. It would prefer to think it's beneath you. (And don't waste your time telling me to "fix more bugs." I can't write a line of code, except Kontakt scripting and SFZ files if you consider those "code.")
 
Re-read the original post. I pointed out that the person who started all this was THambrecht. The forum followed up on what he presented and came up with a recipe. My only involvement that I mentioned was coming up with some workarounds (which apparently is a callous and uncaring act...who knew!) to hold people over until if/when it got fixed.
 
This thread was all about a forumite, the forum, how a really important fix was prioritized based on the data THambrecht and the forum provided so Cakewalk could act on it, and I thought all those people deserved props. I summarized by saying: "I think THambrecht, the forum, and Keith deserve some props for underscoring the tangible benefits to having a partnership between the users and the company."
 
And I started it off by my saying that this showed "why this forum can be very, very cool." But also as this thread shows, that's not always the case.
 

Many, but not all, of us on this forum are offering our ideas to Cakewalk developers, support and users.  We love to offer the best solutions to everyone.  WE ARE SONAR USERS AND PROFESSIONALS!!!  With some exceptions, most of us really hope to improve the Sonar experience.  Sometimes, this means helping a new user and other times, it means we need to comment on a problem.  WE WANT SONAR TO BE THE BEST IT CAN BE!
 
By all means, let the fanboys try to kick us or the company try to blame us.  I've been using Sonar since the Cakewalk 7.0 days so I know what it can do, has done and what other DAWs currently do.  Those of us that use Sonar in a professional utilization use ALL of it; the good, the bad and the ugly.  We know the limitations but hope Gibson will address our concerns; we have work arounds for things that may be easier in another DAW but fit a quicker workflow in Sonar with our expected results; we spend time on the forum to help others and offer ideas to a DAW we have invested a great amount of time into purchasing, learning, supporting and using.  WE ARE VESTED IN HELPING GIBSON MAKE A GREAT PRODUCT OF SONAR!
 
Never forget that we use it too!  If you think we post on this forum to criticize the product we use to earn money   than you must be a 100%, complete MORON!
 
 

Anderton
...and it also shows why this forum can be very, very cool.
 
On December 10, THambrecht posted a thread "Mysterious Behavior After Splitting Audioclips." Even though my initial response about Cakewalk being aware of it but not able to reproduce it got dismissed as a "canned response," several forumites realized what I was saying and participated in finding out how to isolate and quantify the issue. Ultimately THambrecht gave a really lucid explanation, I gave some possible workarounds, there was enough info to reproduce the bug, and Keith Albright came into the thread to say Cakewalk would work on a fix because clearly, it was a potentially significant issue that affected all users, and therefore needed to be prioritized.
 
Because I had been involved in the thread, Keith gave me a heads-up earlier today to say that the problem had been fixed, and the fix would be in the next update. I'm sure some people will be able to put some kind of negative spin on this - it's possible to put a negative spin on just about anything - but I think THambrecht, the forum, and Keith deserve some props for underscoring the tangible benefits to having a partnership between the users and the company. 

Mr. Anderton,  some of your rhetorical phrasing, such as "forumites," "a lucid explanation," "some kind of negative spin," "it's possible to put a negative spin on..." could be read, on a forum, as, at the least condescending and at the most dismissive.  Some commenters have said this is a peer-to-peer forum while you mentioned a partnership.  Most of us long time users hope for the latter but we see some comments that indicate that we should be lucky to have this forum.  You, yourself, have mentioned that you only have a 10-15% time utilization, mostly on nights and weekends, towards Sonar support.  Those of us that purchased Sonar and use it daily to earn a living might feel that this doesn't indicate a sincere commitment from Gibson in supporting Sonar professionally.
 
I hope I am clear that I am not putting any type of negative spin on the current state of Sonar... I am hopeful that Gibson might understand the magnitude of what we users doing by choosing Sonar as our professional, work DAW and that we are not always experiencing a professional software experience.  WE WANT TO HELP!!!
 

In particular, this example shows how important it is to analyze a problem thoroughly before issueing a bug report. If the user can't describe the problem in a way that is clearly reproducable, it is frustrating for the programmers, because they waste their time trying to figure out what the problem may be, and it is frustrating for the user, because it is likely that the programmers will not be able to fix the problem. (I'm saying this as a programmer, so I know how often problem reports may be rather mysterious.)

Also, and I hope it is not too negative to say, this is not the way most problems are handled. It is rare that Cakewalk programmers take part in forum discussions about problems. And I have problem reports dating back to X1, where I am pretty sure they are easy to reproduce (and even easy to fix). Sure, I understand that Cakewalk has to find a balance between developing new features to attract new customers and fixing bugs to keep existing customers, and that bugs are prioritized based on how severe they affect usability. And I am totally aware that the same holds for most software. But as a user, it is nonetheless annoying to face the same, often small inconveniences and to do the same workarounds over and over again (like using shift for plus sign in some cases, even when plus key doesn't use shift on German keyboards, which was my very first problem report).

Saying that, one even may interpret the forum title "*This* Is How You Do It..." as a reminder to the bakers to keep a bit closer eye on the forums. Or just having one person, who has an eye on the forums anyway, pointing the developers to forum threads that may need their attention, even if it is just a short "we are working on it" or "it will be fixed in the next monthly update".

YES @ralf