This whole thing is sad and has me gutted. I have been a user since Cakewalk Pro Audio 8. Cakewalk has been a way of life for me.
I am also a guitar player ... in fact, I was a guitar player way before I was a Sonar player. Gibson itself has already been through this. In the sixties the guitar maker was sold off to CMI, I think ... and then ultimately to Norlin. Why this seems significant, at least to me, is apparently nobody has learned anything. Back then it was thought that Gibson sales could be kicked up a few notches if some folks with real business savvy were to buy Gibson outright and then get out their slide rules and spread sheets and subject the company to their consulting voodoo. They reasoned that with "real businessmen" on board, as opposed to merely artisans, the company could be streamlined and profits maximized. Instead what happened was they made decisions that ultimately caused the company to fall out favor with their core purchasing demographic ... the actual musicians themselves. The working musicians hated the changes that were being made to their beloved instruments and began to distance themselves from Gibson. This opened the door for the boom of Japanese guitar makers from the famed lawsuit era to come in and capitalize on Gibson's new found shortcomings.
What ultimately saved Gibson was a very small group of dedicated employees ... employees that were actually guitarists themselves ... stepped in and bought the company back from Norlin and returned it's quality back to past standards.
Just checked, and I got about 18 dollars and change on me ... anybody else?
Seriously though, if I had known the degree of financial difficulty Sonar was in I would have become a monthly supporter. I didn't like the idea when it was first implemented, but seriously if I'd have known that just a short time later the company would cease development, I would have found a way to lend the financial support. It's THAT IMPORTANT.
I made the mistake of just assuming that I could switch over to a monthly customer at any time. Bit me in the ass in a hurry too ...
Maybe there is hope of someone buying what's left of the product and continuing development. Someone who understands how awesome this tool it. It's far too magnificent of a product to just be thrown out with the evening's trash. Sonar was in a class of it's own. The way everything is integrated ... it is truly one-stop DAW shopping ... I've never seen anything like it. I will miss Sonar.
This community for sure needs to remain ... there are many places our nice little forum can be relocated to. I remain hopeful the community will weather the storm.
But geez ...
I hope they remember to release the limitation on versions of Sonar we're allowed to install. If this product is now mine outright, then I should be able to install on as many laptops as I need to. My owned plugins as well.
In profits and bottom line we trust.