Noel Borthwick [Cakewalk]
Thanks for the support. I think many don't realize how fragile an ecosystem music software is/has become for many if not most companies in our space.
I share the enthusiasm for this news expressed by so many SONAR users. I had already taken on StudioOne a year ago because of a collaboration project. And then when Cakewalk was shut down, I adopted Cubase because I did not want to create any more projects in SONAR because of uncertain support. In this time, I have found both StudioOne and Cubase to have plenty to like. But I still find it easier to do many things in SONAR. I have not returned to using SONAR, but I am glad to hear that I will be able to do so without concerns about its future.
I also feel that all DAWs are approaching the point where they really don't need additional core features. There are, IMHO, massive opportunities to make the human interface more productive and I hope that will be the priority as the product progresses under Bandlab. I believe I understand the "fragile ecosystem" to some degree. And much of that fragility stems form 20 products all trying to do exactly the same thing in more or less the same way. All DAWs I have seen are still stuck in the mold of trying to emulate the traditional hardware studio. That made sense 10 years ago when people were not very comfortable doing everything "in the box". In today's world, I just don't think it is as important to model the software as a replica of the old hardware. Software allows us to work in fundamentally different ways. And if done well, this can EXPAND the ecosystem, rather than fight for a small slice of a fixed ecosystem.
I look forward to seeing innovations that aren't exactly the same as every other DAW, which allow me to get better results faster. That's how the product will thrive, in my view.