I wouldn't be developing any Pro Channel Modules if I were a 3rd party vendor. That's for sure.

How about a tool that can turn ProChannel stuff into normal VSTs?

Any color you want.

 Though I am sorry to see Seth go and I wish him the best. I think I am a little more optimistic about the future outcomes of Cakewalk.

 Did you see the stock gojng back up in Bitflippers graphic? It took a little jouncing right after Christmas as  most of these kinds of items do but I expect it to come into a rebound. EVERYONES stock pretty much took a hit. Cakewalk isn't some kind of unusual occurence in that regard.

  I don't believe  Roland has a history of selling off the companies it aquires. To the contrary Roland seems intent to invest in development even if it means a temporary payout.

 If I were looking at a DAW today I would still consider Sonar. Their interface lineup isn't bad either.....it almost seems like some of you really want to see Cakewalk fall and frankly I grow tired of the same old lines. If you really dislike the software that much please pick something you can live with and then remember that you are under no obligation to come here and run what you disliked down. 

 Some of you have chosen studio 1...more power to you. Some of you went to a cheaper and less capable DAW like Reaper...more power to you...do you get your rocks off  seeing a company fold? Reminds me of the guys who light fires and then enjoy watching the building burn.

 I certainly hope you are wrong about Cakewalk. I do feel bad for Seth. I hope Cakewalk can make the kinds of decisions that will make for prosperity and REMEMBER that people are who make that happen. Let go of the wrong people and you literally cut your own throat. 

   If you look in my studio you will see a fair amount of Roland gear. I'm not a fanboy, I buy things I think I will use, keyboards, guitar pedals,recording gear,guitars....like the rest of us do and the fact that I have quite a bit of Roland gear is IMO a clear indicator that they make good stuff because I do my homework when I buy something.

 You could do a lot lot worse than Sonar in any flavor and I think any intelligent PC user can see it too.

@Starise:

I can honestly say, I don't think I've ever got the impression from anyone here in this thread that they want Cakewalk to fail.

I certainly don't want Cake to fail... I did have to get some stress out of the way, some cynical fear. After showering off and thinking it over I would be really surprised if this and other decisions didn't have a direct relationship to government mandates and regulations (healthcare law) and taxes.
I don't know how many employees Cakewalk has but it would not surprise me at all to find that they are keeping it under 50... but that is totally a WAG.

I know and you know however that the more government regulates the market, the more the market responds with the "law of unintended consequenses". I do believe that is at work here... though I have no proof other than it seems to be happening everywhere. He is lucky to have worked for a company big enough to afford to do a layoff rather than cut his hours back to 10 a week until he quit... it could also be Mass. laws at work too.

All we can do is speculate from our perspective and hpe for the best for both Cakewalk and for Seth... I am sure he will land on his feet.

J

There are times that it really seems like the goal is often no longer to make quality products that last, not to mention that people really want, and for senior management to simply use companies as personal toys to line their pockets.
 
Regarding Roland:

Back in the early days I bought Roland gear: a couple keyboards, sound modules, small Boss mixer, and what have you, but in recent years, other than getting a couple of the Cakewalk MIDI interfaces - something I actually needed, Roland no longer makes much of anything I have a use for.  At some point an audio interface upgrade would be helpful, but the Roland offerings do not mesh at all with what I would need.

Markets evolve: for example, 20+ years ago the Roland sampled stuff was at the top end of the market.  It was not unknown for top composers to have many S760 sample playback units for orchestral emulation.  Their hold on that market (along with Akai) has vanished and has been eclipsed by far superior software offerings from VSL, EW, and the like.

 Bub..I probably got the wrong impression. Sorry for blowing off...or whatever you call that.

Reaper is a rock solid, well coded, fully featured daw that does not have any audio dropouts.


The consumer price of Reaper is a famous $60, while the business license is actually upward of $240.


Thinking Reaper is, "a cheap 60 dollar software," completely misses the realities of the software industry right now.  The truth is other softwares may be overpriced, or at the very least, "more expensive because of their marketing budget, or sheer amount of tools they are bundled with," not their core functionality.

Where Reaper fails is in its workflow.  Reaper gives me a headache, and I find it a pita to use.

But a lot of folks, are a bit more techy then I, and they are using Reaper with great success, and its definitely a full featured, rock solid daw.

IIRC Brandon hinted that he would still be working in the interest of Cakewalk/Sonar software. 

Also, it seems a coincidence that all these changes since the Roland take-over followed by Brandon's move to Roland (probably to lead the development team) around the same time Windows 8 is released....   

That said, I have a gut feeling we may see 'totally' new developments by Roland that will see DAW workflow more reliant on GUI gestures (Windows 8 GUI). With this in mind, an affordable touch-pad surface controller specifically designed to work with DAW software in Windows 8....  

Also, Roland will likely develop hardware range of affordable 'Touch-Screen Surface Controllers' with wireless Surface-Pen (Smart-Tools) for finer edits.   Other features such as; on-screen Trigger-pads (drums) and a Piano Keyboard (these features already available in iPad) --  Other features such as; optional wireless remote transport controller and foot controllers (for hands-free transport control, perfect for solo-recordists).   So I guess these features are coming in the near future for SONAR running on Windows 8.  

Of course all this is just my own opinion based on events that have occurred over the past several years, so we'll have to wait and see what 'really' happens in the future.  

Meanwhile, there are competitors and there is the DP version for Windows. Now that MS has moved to a new form (GUI) Windows 8, I bet a lot of software developers are having to consider their directives more carefully if they want to stay competitive in future. 

In that sense, it's like a whole dang can of worms has opened since the release of Windows 8.   

Seth and possibly others (more) could be laid-off since Cakewalk 'development' has shifted moreso to work in a far more intergated way with Roland.  Though it now 'feels like' Cakewalk has become a ghost 'parent (partner)' company. 

As for Apple, its seem to be more focused on minature (wearable) and portable devices (iPad) with rumors that's it's developing a wrist-watch version of the iPad and iPhone. No doubt their direction is focused on not just portable but 'wearable' technology.  Sure these minature portable devices have recording apps but in the professional sense they simply do not stand on their own compared to DAW's such as SONAR 'in regards to handling very large complex projects', that said; the point is; these Apple minature devices are better suited to 'compliment' for example; to assist as sketch-pad to get ideas down fast, and in other areas such as; remote mixer controller. 

Linear Phase


Reaper is a rock solid, well coded, fully featured daw that does not have any audio dropouts.


The consumer price of Reaper is a famous $60, while the business license is actually upward of $240.


Thinking Reaper is, "a cheap 60 dollar software," completely misses the realities of the software industry right now.  The truth is other softwares may be overpriced, or at the very least, "more expensive because of their marketing budget, or sheer amount of tools they are bundled with," not their core functionality.

Where Reaper fails is in its workflow.  Reaper gives me a headache, and I find it a pita to use.

But a lot of folks, are a bit more techy then I, and they are using Reaper with great success, and its definitely a full featured, rock solid daw.

Agree! I don't like the workflow. 


If anything, Studio One 2 Professional has crossed my mind, but it does have a few concerns in the midi department. SONAR and Cubase has always led in that field. 

No DAW is perfect.  So, I'm a gonna hav ta sit on the side-lines with me ole faithful SONAR and a bucket of popcorn and see how events play out over the next 12 months before I make any sudden, serious moves for a home run!