Hey cake! Are you going to post any video demonstrations of any of the staff putting X3 through it's paces?
I used to love watching the trade show demos from the past. It was what caused me to go Sonar in the first place.
If you would like to see some video's too, add comments to this post, and maybe we can shame them into it. LOL

Sorry to say, there wasn't very much action at the Cakewalk booth, since there was no Cakewalk booth per se -- just a Sonar X3-equipped computer setup in a little corner of the Tascam booth. Gone are the days of the big Cakewalk product demos in front of a crowd of people. Whenever I passed by the booth, the computer was either unmanned, or there was a rep just answering basic questions.

elsongs
Sorry to say, there wasn't very much action at the Cakewalk booth, since there was no Cakewalk booth per se -- just a Sonar X3-equipped computer setup in a little corner of the Tascam booth. Gone are the days of the big Cakewalk product demos in front of a crowd of people. Whenever I passed by the booth, the computer was either unmanned, or there was a rep just answering basic questions.

Well that is a bummer. Well, maybe they will put up something on Cake TV. It's been awhile since anything of real depth on how to do things with the program has been put up. Fingers crossed!

I would love to post some in depth and exciting product demos and seminars but that would have required Cakewalk to have actually presented some. I don't mean to imply that there were too few to choose from, I mean there was no presentations of any kind.

There was no seating, no group area set aside for demos, no attempt to engage the attendees about Sonar in any way other than the fact that it happened to be running on a few of their systems in the booth. I'm sure that this was due, in part, to the resent takeover and preparing any kind of NAMM presentation takes preparation. That being said, it was pretty disappointing to see a company with the resources of Gibson effectively sweep X3 under the rug so completely.

I really expected Gibson to have enlisted the very capable help of Craig Anderton to put together some engaging product demos and tips and tricks. Sadly, no. From the viewpoint of many of my fellow buyers looking to expand their retail DAW presence ( several made this very comment ) even Mixcraft and Audition made far better and more engaging pitches and conveyed a much better sense of community. I realize this does not reflect the overall picture of a product but not not everyone in the music biz is an integral part of these wonderful forums.

There were similar complaints from Cubase users about Yamaha and their representation of their flagship DAW as well but I found their representation of Cubase to be quite good and the minute I showed interest in the software end of things, there were several techs on hand to dive right in. The product integration was deep and powerful but, to fair, Yamaha has had far more time to prepare and those deep pockets have been put to good use. I can only hope the same is in store for us Cakewalk users as well.

You can say what you will about Avid but their inclusion of such huge audio community events like airing live episodes of Pensado's Place and Universal Audio's in depth interviews with current producers and engineers are powerful tools and the resulting, non stop crowds and buzz was impossible to ignore, regardless of your musical background, and give always don't hurt either.

I am optimistic that some of Gibson's massive resources will trickle down to the hard working and talented people at Cakewalk but for this years NAMM show, there was no evidence of it yet.

Well it's going to probably going to take a little while to assimilate integrate Cake into Gibson, seems to me Namm was short notice with little resources. Next time I'm sure things will improve.

+1, I want my cake tv!! 
 
I would really enjoy seeing X3 put through its paces!  In the past, I would always pickup little tips watching those videos.  It also gets you motivated to try new things!!

Unfortunately we did not have a big demo stage this year as the acquisition only happened a few weeks prior to the actual show itself. I wouldn't count us out, the timing was just a bit unfortunate for trying to put a footprint in a new partner's booth before the ink even dried on the paper.
 
That doesn't mean were weren't around and engaging with people however because we definitely were. Given the case, we focused on a lot of one-on-one demos this year. Myself and Dan Gonzalez were present at the booth pretty much every moment of the show giving demonstrations with quite a lot of people. In fact, I was at the booth so much I didn't even wander the show floor this year, which was a bit unfortunate for me in terms of my own personal adventure.
 
Anyhow, I'm sorry some of us missed each other and that the presence was a bit small this year. We're still in the middle of a pretty major transition which of course takes time. Overall I'd say our presence at the NAMM convention was extremely positive and worthwhile, but a lot of those successes were more behind the scenes which should make future products and shows more appealing to everyone else.
 
I'll share the feedback.

Featherlight
I would love to post some in depth and exciting product demos and seminars but that would have required Cakewalk to have actually presented some. I don't mean to imply that there were too few to choose from, I mean there was no presentations of any kind.

There was no seating, no group area set aside for demos, no attempt to engage the attendees about Sonar in any way other than the fact that it happened to be running on a few of their systems in the booth. I'm sure that this was due, in part, to the resent takeover and preparing any kind of NAMM presentation takes preparation. That being said, it was pretty disappointing to see a company with the resources of Gibson effectively sweep X3 under the rug so completely.

I really expected Gibson to have enlisted the very capable help of Craig Anderton to put together some engaging product demos and tips and tricks. Sadly, no. From the viewpoint of many of my fellow buyers looking to expand their retail DAW presence ( several made this very comment ) even Mixcraft and Audition made far better and more engaging pitches and conveyed a much better sense of community. I realize this does not reflect the overall picture of a product but not not everyone in the music biz is an integral part of these wonderful forums.

There were similar complaints from Cubase users about Yamaha and their representation of their flagship DAW as well but I found their representation of Cubase to be quite good and the minute I showed interest in the software end of things, there were several techs on hand to dive right in. The product integration was deep and powerful but, to fair, Yamaha has had far more time to prepare and those deep pockets have been put to good use. I can only hope the same is in store for us Cakewalk users as well.

You can say what you will about Avid but their inclusion of such huge audio community events like airing live episodes of Pensado's Place and Universal Audio's in depth interviews with current producers and engineers are powerful tools and the resulting, non stop crowds and buzz was impossible to ignore, regardless of your musical background, and give always don't hurt either.

I am optimistic that some of Gibson's massive resources will trickle down to the hard working and talented people at Cakewalk but for this years NAMM show, there was no evidence of it yet.

This was our first show with Gibson Brands. We actually had a very productive show and enjoyed being part of the TASCAM booth. We had two areas at the TASCAM booth. And we had 2 presentations a day. Perhaps you missed them. You are correct, there was no big stage like in the past for demos but we got to meet a lot of end users and dealers and have 1-on-1 demos, which is sometimes more useful.
 
Each show is a little different. At CES, we did have stage and had a demo with the Intel Superstars winner. At Messe, we will likely have presentations at a main stage. At NAMM, we also had a suite at the Hilton where we met with artists and press to show off new products. So your observation about the show and our presence there is made by a moment in time that you happened to be there. You are entitled to your opinion but I can say it was a massively successful show for us and there was a lot of business to do there after the Gibson acquisition.

Andrew,

Sorry to have missed the one on ones and the suite at the Hilton as well.
Cakewalk's NAMM presence has always been so informative and helpful in the debut of new products, updates, and features that it was simply and sadly missed is all. As I said, I'm certain the recent takeover made NAMM preparations a scheduling nightmare at best.

You guys produce a great product and we use it exclusively and look forward to checking in to see what you have up your sleeve every year.