rmfegley
Also, other hardware and software makers are going to keep advancing and innovating

That's one of the biggest caveats for me (and the main reason I forked over $200 for the lifetime offer)....hoping that future updates would include new, powerful and wonderful aids for songwriting via MIDI enhancements, new breakthrus in artificial analysis of your tune to automatically add a rhythym track or demo suggested MIDI or audio parts based on that analyis, as well as as of yet unknown fascinating and wonderful enhancements to the recording process itself within the DAW and well, the sky WAS the limit.....obviously all off the table with a functioning, but static DAW...

JohanSebatianGremlin

Mystic38
I am at kinda a loss as to why folk are running off so quick.. 

Here's a perspective on that. Every project I create in Sonar from this day forward is a project that I will either have to port to something else and hope that works, recreate from scratch or lose forever. It is as simple as that.
 
The platform is dead. I don't like that its dead anymore than anyone else, but its dead and its not coming back. Sooner or later I'm going to have to switch to something else. The longer I put it off, the more work I create for myself.

Ionian
My copy did not break because Sonar's been broken for a long time.  

The bottom line is that with the end of Sonar, there's a fact that many things are never going to be fixed.  A lot of us stayed with Sonar in the hopes that each new release would either fix a long standing bug or return functionality that the bakers in their endless talent at bad decisions, took out in their attempt to redirect Sonar from being used in a Professional environment to a home one. 

So now there's a period at the end of the sentence.  The long standing bugs that you're forced to work around?  Never gonna be fixed.  The program being crippled by removing features?  The bakers are never gonna smarten up and put them back.  

I'm not leaving because I'm afraid it's gonna break.  I'm leaving because it's broken and I know now it will never be fixed.  

To that end though I've been using Studio One for a few days and I'm blown away at how snappy it runs and how well the features work.  I can't believe I put up with the amount of crap that Sonar dished out for as long as I did.  It really is true - you have no idea how bad your abusive relationship is until you get away from it!  I should have abandoned this sinking ship as soon as I realized it hit the iceberg like much smarter people before me did.  I'm just happy there was a lifeboat when I finally wised up and got off the ship just before it went under.

These two comments pretty much sum up the whole situation for me. Day 4 on Studio One and my heart grows ever fonder:) Starting to realise how many niggly problems (anb freakin' huge ones!) we have endured for a very long time.

 

6 tracks for a 50 minute take is practically nothing.  I can do that with a cheap Zoom recorder without fail, and far longer takes than that.  




Nothing? Live in the club?with plugs open and 800 guys that are listening?
Yes, for me this is "stable and reliable"

Mystic38
Fine, no more Sonar development.
 
Did your copy break?.. nope.

You know I keep hearing this argument, and it is kind of unfair. Did my copy break? Yes it did. It was always broken. While I am not worried about windows updates like some other folks were (there's ways around that), there are many serious bugs, and hundreds of other minor issues,  some that cause a lot of hard crashes and loss of work and time. I really enjoyed the monthly update program because it led me to believe that others cared about this software and were going to make it better, and I did my part to contribute bug fixes, crash dumps, and feature requests. Now that development has stopped, it will be broken forever!
 
Now there are plenty of folks who have stable installs, and with a config freeze they could keep using their copy for a very long time. I'm very excited for them, but that strategy doesn't work for me because I am an early adopter. I like new features, and adapt to them right away, usually relishing how certain things get easier, and the new things I can do! 
 
In particular, Cakewalk was embarking on a multi-phase project to introduce non-linear, non-destructive editing to Sonar. Comping improvements, Synth and PRV improvements, multi-track ARA, and region effect comping -- all wonderful things, and all immediately indispensable to my workflow. I love this stuff, it's how I think, it's part of my songwriting process, and things take a lot longer when I don't have access to these tools. 
 
Take Melodyne. It is the source of probably 80%+ of my crashes. And why? Because I don't bounce the region effects, I keep them open forever. And I have 30+ instances in some projects. And if we had one more Sonar monthly release in our hands, I would probably be splitting, comping, cloning, and shifting active region effects all over the place. Why? Because that's how I write music. I might mess with harmonies and vocal doubles for months, and use one part as a reference behind a newer part, so I never render them. But the advice I get on this forum continually is keep melodyne instances to a minimum, and always render them. But I don't want to do that from a work flow perspective, and also, it is destructive editing. Melodyne introduces a lot of phase error, and other transients, and adding and rendering multiple melodyne edits is like saving a mp3 dozens of times -- stuff gets muddy fast. After all, what's the point of having non-destructive editing capability if you're not going to use it? It's powerful, and unlike some other folks here, I prefer - perhaps need - to use it.
 
So in the end, I'm stuck with a DAW that's broken. I have many projects to complete in Sonar, and will keep using it. Probably for a very long time. But I need to get faster at my music, and I need my tools to keep up with me, so I am adding another DAW to my arsenal in place of starting new projects in Sonar.
 
Also, while we're at it, don't discount the really unfair effects of putting people in terrible position to risk losing money by buying or not buying a product at a reduced price on Black Friday  - my feeling is that probably half the fever people experienced was due to the timing and the dilemma of choice placed upon them. That doesn't bring out the best in people. 
 

Ionian


I'm not leaving because I'm afraid it's gonna break.  I'm leaving because it's broken and I know now it will never be fixed.  

Thanks, you beat me to it. I agree with your sentiments. I have 200+ projects in Sonar/Pro Audio, so I'm going to need to keep the program around, but I'm not starting new projects in it for a while, at least not till I feel nostalgic. 

Ionian
My copy did not break because Sonar's been broken for a long time.  

 
I'm curious - which parts are broke? I apparently am not using those parts. With the exception of a frail Staff View, it's been solid on what I use it for (MIDI recording, sequencing and playback with some VST use).

Try use a melodyne region effect and the metronome at the same time. Heck, try use a region effect and jump to a new position on the timeline while playback is happening. I could write a list but what's the point really.

Sonar is still an awesome piece of software though and I'm still far more productive in it than any other DAW. 
 
So immediate projects will be done in Sonar because I need to churn them out quickly. 
 
But in the long term I need to learn something new, but it can be a good thing to be learning.
 
 

So in summary, there are so many valid reasons to migrate to a new DAW either now or in the near future. However, no one is forcing anyone else to do that and anyone who has a license for Sonar is free to go on using it as long as they like. Is there any reason to carry on this discussion?

cboshuizen
Try use a melodyne region effect and the metronome at the same time. Heck, try use a region effect and jump to a new position on the timeline while playback is happening. I could write a list but what's the point really.

I've never had issues using region FX/Melodyne with the metronome. I have experienced the playback issue your referring to though. But that surely doesn't mean sonar is "broken".
I can respect your arguments. But some of us don't mind stopping the transport while Melodyne is open.
I don't think Sonar ever touted " You don't even have to stop playback". Its just one of those quirks that irritate people. Similar to inserting FX while play back is rolling.
Its not a show stopper. It takes 1/10 of a second to hit the space bar. 
 
For what its worth, I wrote up a problem report on that issue as I was able to reproduce it too.
So I know exactly what you mean.
As I said, I can respect your complaints but these don't make sonar "broken".
 
Some of us will continue to use Sonar for a long time, Some of us will move on to a new DAW.
Good luck to you in what ever you do.