Two Cents Worth (maybe not even?)

I'm as frustrated and confused, and even disappointed as probably most folks here. The end of Cakewalk Sonar was a bitter pill to swallow. The BandLab rescue is appealing. But it is also a disruption - or an attempt at a disruption. Not unlike the subscription (hate that word) model that Cakewalk tried.
 
We aren't going to know how this will turn out until it does. And that is maddening. Do I stick with a tool I've been using for almost 20 years (how is that possible)? Do I assume the worst and move on? And where would I go?
 
This may sound odd, but if Gibson had not been in such dire financial straits I still believe that Cakewalk's subscription/monthly update model would have done really well in the marketplace. It was already gaining interest.
 
We know how that story ended.
 
We don't know if Bandlab will be able to build a successful model around a free, high end DAW. I wouldn't count them out. They have at least some of the original development team, and those folks are good. I hope they were able to hang onto some of the product team as well.
And I wish they'd give us a peek at what they are planning. This is a pretty loyal group, and I think we could "handle the truth".

For now I continue to work, almost exclusively, with the final version of Sonar Platinum. I will, at the first convenient time, install Cakewalk by Bandlab. But I am also using  Studio One - which I was playing around with anyway, and I'm considering adding DP to the system. I've always liked DP on the Mac, and in spite of some spectacular stumbles when released for Windows I have high hopes.
 
Maybe all of this will even turn out to be a good thing for me?
 
I think I'd have been just as happy to continue on my path with Sonar<G>!

∞

There are some software programs that were done many years ago that are still very relevant. Cakewalk is one of them. Yes, it has bugs and not perfect. On the other hand, this is all small stuff. It is a tool for the purpose. We use it because we like certain aspects of it/ workflow. As someone mentioned here "Adapt as things occur" Good point, but most users here are 40+. Can you teach old dog new tricks..? Maybe... But the question is why? I do not want to sit and re-learn new things that I have no use for.  Usually bad things happen when somebody with excessive testosterone levels arrives and proclaim "I can make it better!".  I believe that if Meng maintains the flow of the program unchanged and future program architecture that allows to go back to previous "feel". He should not have a problem with asking  a reasonable yearly fee for bug fixes and updates + sell VST / FX components + dedicated hardware... you name it :) 
I believe the main philosophy of Meng is to unite people of analog (us, old farts) and digital world kids. Main beef that bleeds through the lines of this forum is that older gen folks are worried about the privacy and so that Cakewalk does not become another Frootloop program. I think Meng gets this part very well. It would be great if he would express it more clear....
That he is not going to steal a bone from loyal dogs :)
woof.
 

∞

wst3 Do I stick with a tool I've been using for almost 20 years (how is that possible)? Do I assume the worst and move on? And where would I go?

I think this bit right here touches on why I've been so frustrated during this whole process. I think I'm not alone in this respect. Like many, I've been a loyal user of the Cakewalk/Sonar platform for more than 20 years. And it turns out, that was a mistake.

Not a mistake in the sense that I should have used something instead of Sonar. But a mistake in that I should have been using something else in addition to Sonar all along.

Cakewalk was the first software sequencer I learned. I liked it capabilities and how it functioned so I stuck with it. I saw no reason to use anything else. I learned and worked with Protools and few others while working in friends studios. But I never felt the need to install any of them on my computer or integrate any of them into my work flow. That was a mistake.
 
Anyone familiar with Steve Albini knows he uses analog tape almost exclusively. Not so much because of how it sounds, but in his words, because its the only medium he knows of that he can guarantee will still be accessible and workable 100 years from now.
 
Analog tape is not proprietary. Anyone can build a tape machine that will work with it. You can't say that about any native DAW format. All of them store their information in proprietary formats using code that they exclusively own and control. So if a DAW manufacturer closes up shop, your ability to access any work you did in that DAW will eventually go away. That's the deal with devil we all make when we decide to work in digital formats.

And there's another deal we make with the devil. Analog tape and the machines that work with it are, relatively speaking, dirt simple to use. And they all work more or less the same. So if you understand how to use one of them, you can easily use any of them. That is not the case with DAWs. Any given function on one of them can have a completely different name, workflow, and implementation on another. So moving from one to another is almost like starting from scratch again and it could take months or even years before one is able to complete projects in a new DAW without any time spent googling how to do something they've never done before or only done once a few months ago.

So what this whole Gibson/Sonar/Bandlab cluster eff has taught me is that anyone who decides to work with a DAW should in fact work with at least two DAW's and possibly three. Perhaps write/develop ideas in one, record them in another, edit/master in a third.
 
Because sooner or later, one of them is going to go away. You'll want to be well versed in working with something else when that happens. And you'll also want to be well versed in methods of exporting/importing projects between their proprietary formats when that happens. Working with several constantly is the only effective way to do that.

The real killer is: So lets say CWbyBL doesn't fly, for whatever reason. will "someone" honor the activation algo we were promised? I highly doubt it and that, imho stinks. 
I understand that if this were offered now many of us might say, the hell with BL versions, I have my daw now, bugs and all. So that makes sense for it NOT to happened now.
 
But what if? Hopefully all will go well with CwbyBL and we all at least with Plat and \or plat lifetime will get nice discounts on what they charge for updated Plat versions. I would not expect to get the "extras" for free, I am talking about the core program. It also has been floated that it will be free for the chosen many.
 
Yes I really would love that algo........................I guess only time will tell where we go and how we get there.
I am with Bitflipper on this...Sonar for me period...one way or another. I licensed Reaper 2 years ago I think. Good thru 5.xx. Good to have and fun learning how to customize....for me, Reaper UI "definitely needs customization......

I think mister happy is right.
 
Not sure why the fear of losing what you create is so great really. If you are done with something, just put in in audio,save it somewhere and write out the score for it and you can recreate it easily if you for some reason need to.
It can't be that many of us that have 100's of things still in progress at any given moment, and even then the demise of the software will not be instant. It would start by not being supported etc  giving us lots of time to secure whatever is there. 
 
Its like a writer having his typewriter/wordprocessor going out of style and all of a sudden all his work is gone and he can't possible access it or continue working?   
 
You don't remember what you write? If so maybe write it down. Would make you sleep better. 
 

JohanSebatianGremlin
 
Analog tape is not proprietary. Anyone can build a tape machine that will work with it. You can't say that about any native DAW format. All of them store their information in proprietary formats using code that they exclusively own and control. So if a DAW manufacturer closes up shop, your ability to access any work you did in that DAW will eventually go away. That's the deal with devil we all make when we decide to work in digital formats.

You really need to look into azslow3's .cwp file converter for Reaper.  That looks like an excellent plan B. 
 
I do agree that proprietary file formats are a concern.  I am glad that Microsoft finally gave way with support for the Open Document Format. 
 

With ODF the way you store documents does not determine the software you work with. Files in the OpenDocument Format (ODF) are platform independent and do not rely on any specific piece of software whatsoever

 
https://support.office.co...4D8F-AE74-EA06B7DF3B0E
 
http://opendocumentformat.org/
 
I use LibreOffice for my office productivity needs now.