Reprise

Bail out

LLyons
Re-branding doesn't seem like a necessary idea.

Judging from the avatar Meng is using, it seems that Bandlab intends to keep the Cakewalk brand.  SONAR is more of a question mark.  Of course SONAR's loyal users think is is a positive name.  But I would suggest outside of this rather small bubble, the SONAR name is either irrelevant or damaged goods.  Go talk to the manager of your favorite music store and ask them what comes to mind when you say SONAR.  It may be neutral.  It will not be positive.
 
Add to that the possibility that Bandlab wants to integrate the desktop DAW into the whole universe of (mostly cloud-based) tools Bandlab offers, and that makes a strong argument for re-branding.
 
Say "Cakewalk" to any musician over 40 (especially keyboard players), and they are likely to have a smile, followed by "I remember ..."  The Cakewalk name is still a positive because it was such an important player as we began the move to modern (i.e. MIDI-based) instruments and music-making.  Mention Charles Babbage to anybody who has worked professionally in the computer business and you get that same kind of reaction.  Or mention Les Paul to a guitar player, and so on.  Very positive vibes even though most people haven't done business with Cakewalk any time lately.  Not such strong vibes about SONAR.
 
It seems to me they are keeping "Cakewalk" as a connection with the long industry tradition, but rebranding the tool itself.  This is obviously my own opinion and I don't have any more knowledge about the actual plans than anybody else.  But I have worked with brand management a lot over by career and this scenario makes good sense to me.

I think they name is critical. Many folks here use sonar in a professional setting. Telling clients “we use cool awesome music creator” won’t cut it. It needs to sound legit and professional