Can someone please explain how a bug report gets a "contact tech support" status? Is it because more information is needed, or because CW couldn't reproduce the bug? Either way, it is unreasonable to assume a paying customer would spend time contacting tech support to help Cakewalk chase down a bug, if he can at all work around it.

Really?  You wouldn't want to help them track down and fix a bug?  I can understand that if the only way to contact tech support was via an expensive toll call, but otherwise I would be happy to try to help.  
 
Maybe they think they can help you if you contact them, but they need you to walk through some troubleshooting steps first.  
 
Of course it's your choice, but I don't think it's unreasonable for them to ask.
 
John

Having been a beta tester for three years, I would submit that the accusation of "not wanting to hep them track down and fix a bug" doesn't quite apply :) However, the effort that is expected of paying customers is, ironically, much greater than that which is expected of beta testers. The bug submission form, which requires you to fill a separate box for every step and makes editing difficult, is unnecessarily painful. If, on top of that, Cakewalk wants me to spend time and money on phone calls so that they can fix their software - I hope I can be forgiven for finding that a bit excessive.
 
I get it, Cakewalk is tragically understaffed and needs all the help it can get. But I bought their software out of self-interest, not altruism. It's bad enough that so much is broken after two patches. It's worse that paying customers are expected to go out of their way to help fix things.

Well you look pretty happy in that picture with X3!
What happened, the honeymoon over?

I got one of those responses too. My impression was they know there are bugs in audiosnap, and they are recommending using support to help me around my particular issue. I was a little annoyed because I spelled out a very reproducible scenario and they did not directly acknowledge it as a bug. But I take it as a sincere offer to help me work around it. Since I don't need help working around it, I might not call them. But that leaves me up in the air about whether they know it's one of the bugs that is actually targeted for whatever improvements they have in mind for audiosnap.

Well, that is on the assumption you actually found a legitimate bug. If tech support went chasing down 25% of what I've read on the forums as being "bugs", they'd be chasing their tails, because what most people post as bugs on this forum are mostly configuration issues and not knowing how things work. Just because someone says BUG, does not mean there is one.
 
I'm not saying yours is legit or not. That's where this helpful forum comes in to play. 
 
You have the CTO helping someone in another thread who has his settings so out of whack, that is what a wonder X3 worked at all.

They only want you to give them more information, so they can solve the problem and/or fix the bug. I do not see anything wrong with the request. But that is me. You obviously do.
 
So do what you want and hope they fix your issue. If it was me, i would take an extra step to make sure Cakewalk has all the info they need.
 
Cj

CJaysMusic
They only want you to give them more information, so they can solve the problem and/or fix the bug. I do not see anything wrong with the request. But that is me. You obviously do.
 
So do what you want and hope they fix your issue. If it was me, i would take an extra step to make sure Cakewalk has all the info they need.
 
Cj

If they just want some more info, the email address of the submitter is right there in the ticket. They can always reply and ask whatever it is they'd like to know, and I'll always be happy to answer. That's not quite the same thing as having to call support.

Hmmm..you will take time to post here but not contact tech support? Is it possible your problem is not a bug?  You are assuming that they are going to put you through a lot but that is not necessarily so.  I recently thought I had a bug and ended up having to contact them.  I spent 10 minutes on the phone and then was given a case number.  In a few days I got a solution to my problem that ended up being odd but not a bug. I know all cases don't go that way, but worth a try.

It's always possible the problem is not a bug (though in this case, I'm pretty sure it is). And hence my original post - if it's determined not to be a bug, resolve the ticket as "not a bug". If more information is needed, ask for the information. But "contact tech support" is not a resolution - it's a time-consuming extra step, that makes working around the problem much easier than pursuing it with CW.
 

dubdisciple
 In a few days I got a solution to my problem that ended up being odd but not a bug. I know all cases don't go that way, but worth a try.

If a program does not work in the way a reasonable user would expect, to every vendor except Cakewalk, that is a bug. Well-designed software should not have "odd" behaviors, and Sonar's full of them.