bapu
What's striking to me is why Cakewalk didn't/can't hire Craig now.

To be brutally honest, I'm too expensive. I offered to give them what I had so far on the eZine and the 30 FX Chains, but haven't heard back yet. The ever-wonderful Soundwise has offered to QC the FX Chains if I don't have time to get to them, so they'll be available one way or another, even if not officially through Cakewalk.

MandolinPicker

Anderton
I don't know if anyone at Cakewalk uses SONAR as extensively in real-world projects as I do...

This is where Cakewalk and SONAR development might take the biggest hit. As Craig was a power user of SONAR, he could interact with the developers during the development of SONAR and provide a voice from the user end. Too many times software (any type - not just DAWs) is written by folks who never have to use it. As a result, they tend to write it in ways that make sense to the programmer, but not the user. The loss of Craig at Cakewalk may result in future updates that make sense from a programmers point of view, but not from a user's point of view. I love SONAR, and hope this doesn't happen, but time will ultimately tell....

I have to admit that I was a bit shocked to read Anderton's portion of this statement. We've been told over and over that the people working on the program are musicians too, and that they have an insight to what makes a good recording application. Maybe those people have already left Sonar for greener pastures? 
 
I could easily name 20 ideas that would greatly increase the functionality of the program because I used it on a daily basis along with previous incarnations of Cake products since '95.

bapu

Larry Jones
PS: What's "IBTL?"

In before the lock.

Yikes. I didn't think I was saying anything that incendiary. Well, at least it wasn't locked, even it it was sent to the basement.

MandolinPicker

Anderton
I don't know if anyone at Cakewalk uses SONAR as extensively in real-world projects as I do...

This is where Cakewalk and SONAR development might take the biggest hit. As Craig was a power user of SONAR, he could interact with the developers during the development of SONAR and provide a voice from the user end. Too many times software (any type - not just DAWs) is written by folks who never have to use it. As a result, they tend to write it in ways that make sense to the programmer, but not the user. The loss of Craig at Cakewalk may result in future updates that make sense from a programmers point of view, but not from a user's point of view. I love SONAR, and hope this doesn't happen, but time will ultimately tell....

Yes. In addition to your points, for better or for worse, Craig Anderton is strongly associated with SONAR now. I have no way to prove it, but I'd bet there is a not insignificant cross section of users who either started using SONAR, kept using SONAR (instead of switching), or just have an improved opinion of SONAR because of his involvement. For this reason, I think this is a SONAR issue, not merely a topic for chatting in the Coffee House.
 
PS: I have no illusions that anything we say here will make any difference. When corporations make decisions without telling you in advance, it means your opinion on that decision is not important to them.

Soundwise
As for drama - just stay away from trolls and forum monkeys and you'll be fine.

Ouch, that hurts .......and HERE I thought our music was intended to be less dramatic. 

Larry Jones

bapu

Larry Jones
PS: What's "IBTL?"

In before the lock.

Yikes. I didn't think I was saying anything that incendiary. Well, at least it wasn't locked, even it it was sent to the basement.

In my day, the basement was "where it's at". You know, away from the "adults".
 
And no, I don't think you said anything incendiary. It's just that in the end it was not really SONAR related and so it was just as likely to be locked as moved here to the Fun House.

IMHO, and only IMHO, and I really *hate* to say or think this, but...
Craig's departure is one of the death by a thousand cuts that Cakewalk seems to be going through recently.
It's been going on for awhile, at least since Greg Hendershott sold out.  There's been costly mistake after mistake being made, and I think it's been taking it's toll.  
 
The DAW marketplace is crowded as ever, and I've always thought there's just too many out there to have them all continue at the level they are now.  I was hoping for the best with the Gibson purchase, but given their financial issues, I don't think it looks good.  DAW development looks to be expensive, and you either need sheer marketplace dominance (ProTools, Ableton, FL Studio), Big hardware companies (Logic Pro, Studio One, Cubase) or rich-pocketed developers (Reaper) to be successful.   To be fair, I think Reason and Bitwig Studio are also in a similar situation as well.
I think the next year or two are critical.  I don't see the marketplace being kind to music instrument/software/hardware companies in that time-frame, I think the economy will be slowing down, and music hardware/software are always discretionary purchases.  Even if whatever new products Alex has in the pipeline are successful, and Cakewalk is profitable, then that makes them a candidate for being sold.  If Cakewalk is not profitable, then it's still a good possibility that it gets sold, either thought a restructuring or to raise cash.  Then, the bigger question is who would buy it?  Native Instruments?  Microsoft?  Magix? Possibly even Izotope?  Who else? Lots of cons and a few pro's there for those possible players.
 
That's how I see it.  I'm not trying to be negative, just realistic.  However, for now, I'll just keep doing what I'm doing, making music with it.

bapu
I met Craig at NAMM. He is/was the same person on this forum as IRL.

Did you enjoy the rest of the show?

paulo

bapu
I met Craig at NAMM. He is/was the same person on this forum as IRL.

Did you enjoy the rest of the show?

Why yes I did, thankee. That was first year I met Jan (Old55) at person for the show. I believe that was year X1 came out.

Please don't worry about user focus with the developers at Cakewalk.  We are very much user focused as we use the software ourselves.  The CTO (Noel) and I both use it extensively as well as many other folks at the bakery.  I've been a UI champion ever since I joined Cakewalk back in 2002.  
 
As far as tips go, I'm sure we'll find a way to get useful information out to you all.  We're not the master wordsmiths like Craig (I think he writes in his sleep!
I really think he's solved time travel or something since time just seems endless for him. ) 
But, we have a lot of passion, drive and innovation.  So we'll be doing our best to contribute.
 
Unofficially I posted a tip today because I didn't want this Friday to go by without something.
 
As far as the e-zine we're talking about how best to communicate additional info about the SONAR updates. Don't know yet what form that will take.  It will probably change into something we can make within our constraints. 
 
I'm sure we'll be providing more info in coming days.
 
Keith