For folks who have limited time to work at a DAW each month, I think most prefer to use the DAW than to read/research changes that have occurred. It seems like that overhead on the user is taken for granted. I have often wondered how many get a 2-hour window to use a DAW each weekend but come away with less achieved than intended.

There is zero requirement to update every month/release.  If you don't want to be arsed with dealing with them, then choose an interval that works for you.

That's what I thought. As one who only gets a few hours now and then to use Sonar I choose not to update every time. Problem is, I find and report a hiccup or annoyance in "my" version that's already obsolete by a month or two only to get told to update before complaining about it. Monthly updates are fine but there is no win-win between productive use time and problem solving.

I've been saying this for a long time and in many various posts here.  Some people are just getting too spoiled by these monthly updates and have come to expect great big shiny new features every single month, without even giving much thought to the amount of work that goes into producing an update EVERY single month, for years at a time.

I'd be happy with updates every 6 months.  But it's not like they are putting out monthly updates just for the sake of doing it.  Each update has something valuable, like a fix or minor tweaks.  Not every update is going to be "an early Christmas" for everyone.   All I have to say is thank you Bakers, your hard work is most appreciated, by at least some of us.

soens
That's what I thought. As one who only gets a few hours now and then to use Sonar I choose not to update every time. Problem is, I find and report a hiccup or annoyance in "my" version that's already obsolete by a month or two only to get told to update before complaining about it. Monthly updates are fine but there is no win-win between productive use time and problem solving.

 
Consider that if there's a new feature, you don't have to use it. If there's a bug that's fixed in a subsequent update, then download the update for the bug fix and ignore the rest. You don't have to use Smart Swipe, Ripple Editing, etc. You can do things the way you've always done them.
 
Granted, there are times when something changes - e.g., the keyboard shortcut used for stretching - but those are described in the eZine. The eZine may be 60 pages but all you need to read is the section about the updates, which takes only a few minutes.
 
Another thing to consider is that several of the new features do save time, for example ripple editing if you know how to use it. If you have limited time, spending 20 minutes learning which features are of use to you could end up saving you hours and hours over the course of a year.
 
There are still people on 8.5.3 and they believe it's the best SONAR ever because it does what they want. They don't realize what they're missing in Platinum or even X3 ("Melodyne? What's that?"), but it doesn't matter if they can do what they want to do.
 
I think some people take the whole update thing way too seriously. You have a choice now, you didn't before: either you were stuck with the program you had, bugs and all, forever or you had to endure a big yearly update with the subsequent fixes dribbling in over months. Given the way software, operating systems, and computers work, I think the current model is a major improvement. (Those who want a predictable, capable environment that never changes should seriously consider some of the all-in-one studios - e.g., TASCAM, Zoom, etc. Computer-based recording is not necessarily a solution for everyone.)

Some great points eloquently put, thanks.
 
Retrospective record, yes I miss this from Cubase...it worked for Midi too and I seem to remember it wasn't just for a few seconds before hitting record either?, it was basically always in record mode, very useful.
 

My 2 cents ,
 
I live in a society full of mediocrity .
Mediocrity is about as high as many people and organizations are willing to raise the top rung of the attainment bar of aspiration too.
As folks used to say the thing about misery, let me rephrase the words to " Mediocrity Loves Company "
 
Now Cakewalk comes along after many years of operating under a set of company standards that they have kept very close to the vest . FWIW, I admire people that can keep a tight lip...same goes for a company .
Cakewalk then decides to break away from a traditional yearly upgrade cycle .
Not only did the company break away from a traditional yearly upgrade cycle . 
In the process of instituting change , Cakewalk not only reinvented itself , Cakewalk  decided to change the way the game is played and how they do business .
Cakewalk offered subscription pricing where you get to keep the software well before other companies .
They Created more Cakewalk brand top quality plugs . Cakewalk added much hipper 3 rd party content , + a number of other things that could fill out this incomplete partial  list ...
 
For now ,  I want to keep this post to the monthly SONAR program updates  ...
 
I happen to fall into the camp of SONAR users that Loves getting the new monthly SONAR program upgrades .
For the record I have no problem admitting to some of the program upgrades that have been out for a while are some of the new features and workflow in SONAR that I am learning ...
What may be new to me in SONAR  may be old news to you ....SO WHAT
We are talking about movement , the movement of energy combined with the knowledge to harness that energy and put it to constructive use .
This energy can be harnessed to overcome inertia and personal creative stagnation .
I honestly think that what Cakewalk has done with new monthly SONAR program upgrades was to raise the bar so high that it would almost be impossible for a dedicated "casual home " SONAR  user like me to fully comprehend the amount of hard work and sweat that went into each monthly SONAR upgrade cycle behind the scenes ...
You know what cracks me up and also gives me a case of the giggles ?
Cakewalk has actually out upgraded and out updated Reaper in the past 5 or 6 months .... who would have thought that one could ever happen or could even be possible ?
 
OK I respect the monthly upgrade cycle . I will tell you why ...
A number of months back I was talking with a SONAR user that has successfully placed their music with some television programs and films .  A few of the key points this person had shared with me were " to never give up" . Always keep working at the music because people quit all the time way to early when they could have just rode it out and gotten someplace if they just kept working at it .
That one I have been able to use at least w my guitar playing ...
Where he really got me was , he felt that it was very important to be able to work within a deadline ..
He insisted that working within a deadline and meeting it was the mark of a true professional in the music bizz .  
I'm pretty sure there happens to be a few members here that have that ability and know exactly what it means to be a pro on that level and meet all sorts of deadlines ... as a guitarist / sideman . I have been there when I was younger ...to date , not yet as a SONAR user  I'm not giving up though ...
 
Whats my point ?
Look at how wonderful this all is once a person removes the whole personal "what's in it for me attitude" .
Cakewalk has stepped out with their "Game Time Play"  in the past couple of years in leaps and bounds ...
As a SONAR user ,  I can feel the power of The growth and evolution of SONAR that has been very exciting and consistent .
I'm in Awe that Cakewalk can meet these type of deadlines  ....
 
I tip my hat to Cakewalk in respect ,
 
Kenny
 
 
 

A Lean and yet Complex program would be nice where Lock-Ups, Freeze don't exist maybe in a perfect world, for me Sonar has been extremely stable and most of the time I don't use "All Updates". 
 
Rock Solid Performance so far.

pwalpwal

trtzbass
Vectorial sizable GUI,

don't hold your breath - if that was ever going to happen, skylight was the opportunity

You might just be surprised then. There is an ongoing project to modernize and improve the UI which will happen in phases. There are always multi-month background tasks in addition to what you see in the monthly releases.
This year there have been several ongoing parallel projects that you will see the effects of in the coming months.
 
Regarding the monthly updates policy - they allow us to be more responsive but its not all we do. There is longer term development that happens on an independent branch of the code. As and when long term features get ready they are released as an update so its not like they are being rushed to meet an arbitrary monthly schedule. 

To the OP,
 
I don't think you understand how software development works. You seem to be under the impression that the bakers are scrabbling around all month trying to come up with that month's update. That isn't the case. They use a versioning system such as git, which uses branches. One of those branches is the production branch which is what you end up using, but there is also a master branch and lots of development branches coming off that. What gets released in the production branch at the end of the month is a culmination of stuff that's been in development and testing for months. Behind the scenes, developers will be working on all sorts of stuff, trying out new ideas many of which may never see the light of day, fixing bugs etc.
 
Something else that modern software companies use is an agile development method e.g. scrum. That's too complicated to go into here, but in essence, it involves splitting everything into manageable chunks, assigning each chunk to a developer and assigning a time span to that. Then holding regular meetings to assess the progress of each thing. This all breaks down to make everything manageable and highly productive. And here's the big thing. A monthly release fits into the agile method perfectly! So monthly releases are so much more efficient all round and result in much higher quality.
 
Monthly releases are also more efficient for us users for similar reasons. It means that we don't have to cope with getting our heads around a major new release that suddenly changes the whole landscape and has to be re-learned all in one go. Instead, we get bite size changes each month which are far easier to understand and integrate into our workflows. If a release introduces a new bug, that bug can be fixed and rolled out much quicker without having to wait a year for the next major release or fiddling about with messy patches.
 
There are users who dislike the monthly release model, but perhaps if they understood a little about software development they would understand that it is a much better system all round. It's worth remembering that much of the Sonar you will be using in June 2018 exists in a branch now that bakers have access to and that makes our current version of Sonar look dated! They are constantly working in the future so that we can be up to date today and monthly releases mean that we are even more up to date - by about 11 months!