dubdisciple
Living Room Rocker
On the inclusion of third party plugs... So, it seems a bit pointless to be included... I would much prefer if the Baker rolled their own home grown plugs like SD3 instead of throwing in these attention grabbing third party stuff. Then maybe these (CW) plugs would get more attention in R&D.
I'm mixed on this. I think the Bakers (or the powers that be) have taken the combo approach. There seems to be at least one in-house plugin in every release. This one includes the Tape emulator. Not as flashy as a drum program but useful and not as likely to be nitpicked apart by endless third party comparisons. I think it's easier for the bakers to put effort into console plugins alongside of developing a DAW than to try and outXLN XLN and other more specialized plugin developers. One of XLN's strengths is the meticulous sampling methods that would be hard for a broader scoped company like Cakewalk to duplicate. Maybe if they snatch up a specialized developer like Renee again they can create new useful instruments in-house.
Well, let's talk SD3 for example. Sure, CW
can't invest in high quality sample themselves, but can partner with the likes of Steven Slate and/or Platinum Samples for quality sounds. Yet, they can do the development in improving SD3. So, in the same line, CW can expand it's R&D to build better plugs. [*read more below before reacting to that idea] Even better, spend that time and energy in perfecting, for instance, SONAR so that it meets more customer expectations or needs, not to mention perfecting existing features and such (which I would prefer).
Let's say, CW forgoes the instruments and plugs and instead focuses on SONAR as it is. They put a good part of revenue, R & D and testing to bring their feature set to a higher standard (instead of "good enough to release" and work out the bugs as we go on) as to stand toe to toe with its competitors (or above for that matter). For instance, X3's new comping is awesome. However, PT and others did it this way for quite some time. So nothing new there just finally we can do it too. Maybe then we have a "solid" product. *In doing so, I believe CW can grow its customer base and revenue just by making SONAR work better. Also, CW can then add those flashy features and plugs, but keep it as something they can control... That is, not left to a third party that may or may not continue to develop the plugs alongside SONAR (let's see where SoftTube goes).
Thinking back, the partnership between rgc:audio and CW was actually a sad result. CW is now less capable of developing their own instruments, as you mentioned, and there is no more rgc:audio to make great instruments. So, we as customers lost a little there or maybe more than a little.
I acknowledge that you are mixed on the approach by CW, but don't we all want a solid DAW and that DAW to be the one we've been using and investing in all these year after year?
Anyhow, forgive me for the rambling. I enjoy a good conversation on "important" issues, so thanks for humoring me.
Kind regards,
Living Room Rocker