Please read before you purchase SONAR

Hi-
 
SONAR will be going on sale later this month and wanted to just share some tips to make sure your upgrade experience is awesome.
 
1) If you haven't signed up for an Single Sign On Account (SSO), please do so before you buy. You can go to:
 
https://www.cakewalk.com/my-account
 
You will be asked to create an account if you haven't done that yet. Please use the same email that was used to purchase your product at the Cakewalk Store or that was used to register your product. Once you have created an account, you should see all your purchases listed under the "Products" tab.
 
2) The first time you visit the Cakewalk Store (shop.cakewalk.com), you will see the price listed as MSRP. That means it's the full price. Don't be scared. Click "Buy Now" and you will be asked to login. Once you do this, you will automatically see your upgrade price reflected in the cart. This is one of the cool new features of the store. No more searching for the right upgrade path, we give it you automatically. And once you are logged in, you'll always see the lowest price for all products (like an upgrade to Z3TA+ 2 for SONAR Platinum customers). You can see if you are logged in at the top right of your browser window on the Store (right below the search button and language selector).
 
3) Once you complete the purchase of SONAR, you will see a link to download Command Center (https://www.cakewalk.com/Command-Center). Once you download Command Center, you will be asked to login. After you login, you'll magically see all your products in your account. You can start installing your products. Download times are quick and no need to enter serial numbers. This is also another cool feature that will make the process painless for customers. 
 
I'll leave this thread open for any questions or concerns. 
 
Thanks!
 
 
 
 

ramscapri
 
Andrew,
 
I hope that clicking Launch from inside the command center will not be the only way to start Sonar and that it could be started with a shortcut or from the start menu as usual. Just confirming...

It is not. You can still launch externally. The benefit to using Command Center is that it will notify you if there are any updates however.

Why on earth can't existing customers pre-order online? Can we order straight away @ $14.99 a month? Great move Cakewalk on offering a subscription. Now I can persuade all my friends to make the jump. I've been a cakewalk user since 1995 and a mostly happy one at that.

We've had pre-sale information posted here if you're looking for it: http://www.cakewalk.com/Products/SONAR/Coming-Soon
 
We'll keep updating that page as more information is available.

ramscapri
 
Andrew,
 
I hope that clicking Launch from inside the command center will not be the only way to start Sonar and that it could be started with a shortcut or from the start menu as usual. Just confirming...

It's not. You don't need to be running Command Center to launch the program. In fact, you don't need to use Command Center to install, but it's highly recommended.

Another thread suggested we buy at a retailer vs the cake store. I'm guessing it doesn't matter unless you want a boxed version?

Two questions:
 
1) If your 12 months starts when you buy it, you will lose a half of a month, the special upgrade pricing for Producer to Platinum is good until... ? Seems one should wait a little to maximize my 12 months.
2) Not on topic but, does AD2 have a base set of kits? I haven't installed AD2 and am wondering if it makes a difference to install now or just wait.  
 
Tks.
 

Andrew Rossa [Cakewalk]
 
It's not. You don't need to be running Command Center to launch the program. In fact, you don't need to use Command Center to install, but it's highly recommended.

I would recommend it as well. It's pretty transparent, and keeps track of things so you don't have to.

Someone asked a good question a little while back, what happens to all of our already existing products with the old Cake store? It's not uncommon on a DAW rebuild to need to re-download tons of stuff.

Sweet, thanks!

How soon do you see pre-orders from Sweetwater? Do they come in as they're ordered or are they batched up?
I ordered my copy last night so I was just curious if it's already on your system.

TomHelvey
How soon do you see pre-orders from Sweetwater? Do they come in as they're ordered or are they batched up?
I ordered my copy last night so I was just curious if it's already on your system.

I suspect that at release we'll get emails from Sweetwater containing a serial number that will give us access to our download at Cakewalk through the Cakewalk Command Centre (CCC). That would be similar to how I've always recieved downloads from a 3rd party retailer.

sven450
Quick heads up for anyone buying the Pre-sale version:  I got an email, went to buy at upgrade price.  Following the advice at the top of this thread, I hit "OK" despite it saying it was going to charge me the full amount instead of the $149 upgrade price.  Unfortunately, it DID in fact charge the full price and the advice about the price "switching" did not work.  Already talked to someone on phone and it is being sorted out, but you may want to change that bit at the top about the price changing if you proceed.  Did not work.  Kinda freaked me out to see a bill for $525!

Blimey, that's scary.

When it's officially released.