Hi all ,
 
In view of the recent events here on our forum concerning SONAR I have sort of stepped back and started thinking about my time here as a member / SONAR user ..
In a nutshell , for a number of years it seemed that I was concerned about trying to stay in my own lane  ...
A good deal of what I was most interested in involved staying with SONAR & learning the workflow .
 
A while back , during that course of time I had bumped shoulders and heads in some of my interactions with other members that were very passionate about non SONAR DAW's and software .
I bring this up because some members of long standing were so enthusiastic about their passions & their choices regarding other non Cakewalk DAW's , they were willing to go full out Evangelistic , put the gloves on and eventually get banned ...
The thing is  that is not what I want to talk about ... I want to talk about some of the members that have stayed here the whole time that may have went on to greener pastures in some cases , Yet they stuck around and made the case of other non Cakewalk DAWs on the down low ...while still being very helpful and supportive .
 
One may ask , why is this important to me ? My simplest answer that I could give is this .
In many cases I have asked about specific workflows that I was working on where I had hit a brick wall using what I had and some kind souls have offered me answers of how to do what I was looking to do using another brand DAW..
 
During the course of time , a funny thing happened ...
I started feeling as if I was beating my head up against the wall by only using and wearing the "Home Teams product and colors " .
 
The past three years I have loosened up and decided to go out and buy a bunch of the competitors DAW's and learn my way around the various workflows ..
It soon became very clear to me that there is an easy way to do things , and there is also a very hard way to do things ...
 
One of the first things I noticed was when I finally got to the place where I tried the workflows I had been trying to do in SONAR in another brand DAW , I was shocked in some cases how easy to do what I was looking to do ...
I started thinking about some of the people here that were trying to help me that I was close minded about .
In some cases I was able to accomplish what there were trying to tell me years ago ...the light bulb was lit ...
I hold a fondness for some of these people , yet I 'm still here for as long as here "will still be here for "
 
Standing here in the present moment I can say there are a few members here that have willing offered support , assistance , guidance and plenty of recommendations on other things besides Cake ....
Folks its a big world out there that happens to be getting smaller every day
It's full of other things besides Cake .We got  doughnuts , muffins, biscuits , wholegrain breads , cookies brownies ,...ectect ...excuse the metaphor / joke    ..
 
Where do you stand folks ?
Do you trust the recommendations you have gotten here on the forum regarding your software and alternative non Cake DAW's purchases ?  
 
The motive behind this thread is simple ...I don't know how much longer I will be able to hang out with you guys and gals ...
This forums assets , resources , and helpful people may change in the blink of an eye ...
I want to milk it and enjoy this forum while it s still here ...
 
all the best,
 
Kenny
 

I wouldn't have succeeded with the transition to in the box recording without the forum.

They have spurred me on. Taught me so many things. Kept me interested in learning new things. Helped me do it.

I take a very measured approach.  There are members here I have a ton of respect for and read their recommendations word for word and still remember that they could be telling the 100% truth yet the product could still be wrong for me. I have great things to say about a number of products, yet know they may be totally wrong for the audience.  I posted a sale in deals that was one of the best products of its kind.....for hip-hop creators. I didn't expect any responses, but you never know.  By the same token, I know that there are products that from a purely technical perspective are amazing, but fall short for certain kinds of workflows. At the end of the day I take recommends as a great starting point.  Reading Bitflipper's review of Melda Autodynamiceq was enough of a prompt to convince me to give it a try. I still demoed for myself, but his review got me past the marketing spiel you will typically get from vendors.

gswitz
I wouldn't have succeeded with the transition to in the box recording without the forum.

They have spurred me on. Taught me so many things. Kept me interested in learning new things. Helped me do it.

Hi gswitz,
 
When I showed up here around my join date I was coming from a Boss HD recorder . A BR 1180CD .
I didn't know anything about computers and how to use them for recording ...
I had to ask and learn everything  I mean everything  it has been a nice ride ...
Yeah , it was the people here who took the time and patience to hold my hand as I learned each and every little thing it took just to get started ...whether people know it or not I still listen pretty hard to what they have to say .   
Hey thanks for taking the time .
 

dubdisciple
I take a very measured approach.  There are members here I have a ton of respect for and read their recommendations word for word and still remember that they could be telling the 100% truth yet the product could still be wrong for me. I have great things to say about a number of products, yet know they may be totally wrong for the audience.  I posted a sale in deals that was one of the best products of its kind.....for hip-hop creators. I didn't expect any responses, but you never know.  By the same token, I know that there are products that from a purely technical perspective are amazing, but fall short for certain kinds of workflows. At the end of the day I take recommends as a great starting point.  Reading Bitflipper's review of Melda Autodynamiceq was enough of a prompt to convince me to give it a try. I still demoed for myself, but his review got me past the marketing spiel you will typically get from vendors.

You bring up some real good points about trust and respect Yes I do get what you are saying when you mention 100 % truth for them still may not be just the right fit  for you ...very good point .
 
As you have mentioned  I have a couple of software products that are truly amazing that I had to put on the shelf .
Very intense learning curves , flexibility up the Kazoo and more features than I can learn in this life time ...
IMHO . there is a small pay off in pride that comes with having taken that step to find out first hand  and then choosing to be happy that I do own the product even as I pursue finding what fits for me best elsewhere ... 
It's sort of like the guy that loved fishing w his buddy's , he has a boat and he always took it out a few times a week.
Once he started a family and stepped up to his responsibility's he may still have his boat ...but he may only get to take it out once or twice a month if he is lucky 
 
Yeah Bit ..all the time I've been here I thought he hated my guts ...then the forum software munched every other post of mine and I started PM ing him to get my posts restored ..it was a good thing , he helped me out and a lot and someday I hope to meet him
 
As far as the marketing goes , I can't go there because I will write War and Peace ..in a nut shell ,
My whole thing musically has always been focused on maintaining my talents as a player .
Like some ,I have paid  a lot of dues and felt there were many more dues to pay to get totally fluent on my AXE ...
When I got into this whole DAW thing it felt like the rug got pulled out from under me ...
I went from being really good at one thing and totally sucking at something else which I'm OK with .
I started resenting how much time I had to put in away from my guitar and musical growth just to learn the digital audio thing ..the more I work on the DAW the more my guitar sits . Then what eventually happens for me is I have to put the brakes on everything and simply go back to what I enjoy the most ...playing ...
Its a constant tug of war and I know it doesn't have to be that way ...
 
sorry about the mini rant  ...it must have needed to have been out out there ...
 
all the best to you
 
Kenny

What i like about people like bit ,scook, mettelus, Jeff Evans, you and several others is they will give you facts regardless of their opinion. Bitflipper is hardly a fan of rap, but he will chip in with sound advice on a rap related production question.

Along the lines of this conversation, if you are looking for an in production DAW, also check out their forums and communities. This forum is superb. (I knew it was good, but I think I under estimated it) Others may not be as functional.

I have gained a huge amount of software from reading these threads for sure and for the better might I add. The Software and Deals threads have been unique and often not on other forums.  A lot of great knowledge and ideas have been spread though these forums and some lively discussion too! The software threads here are great areas for learning about new and other other products.  The replacing of a different DAW over time is the lesser compared to the forum group not being in one place anymore.  They say the forum here will be open, but for how long.
 
The Presonus forum is pretty cool with some very nice and knowledgable people over there.  Its a good place to get to know the program but also plenty of technical tips to and some good discussion.  Maybe some of the Sonar people by coming over there will broaden the people base.  Studio One Expert is also a great site.  With some excellent educators over there too. 

kennywtelejazz
 
The motive behind this thread is simple ...I don't know how much longer I will be able to hang out with you guys and gals ...
This forums assets , resources , and helpful people may change in the blink of an eye ...
I want to milk it and enjoy this forum while it s still here ...
 
all the best,
 
Kenny

One last request Kenny ... if you do decide to abandon this forum, please leave a forwarding address!!! 

This forum is by far the best for any DAW. I have learned so much.

Just for the record I have been lurking here for 20 years.  Learned a lot here from others, but have only had the time in recent years to participate.  From the beginning I frequently turned to these forums for helpful tips.  I still learn something new every time I read about the current problems others are having, or new tips and techniques!  I joined again with my current user name when I purchased X3.  I didn't remember what my old forum ID was, and needed a new account for the new Cakewalk store.
 
I started out with Cakewalk Professional 6, that I picked up off the shelf at CompUSA, after I had a meltdown with Voyetra Digital Orchestrator.  Had spent almost an entire weekend recording a buddy's guitar tracks, then "POOF", all was lost in an instant.  Stayed with Cake, upgraded to Cakewalk Pro Audio 9, then the Sonars ... and never looked back.  But like Kenny, I have looked around.  I have used Live and Acid Pro, but Project 5 was more fun.
 
I originally set up a Cakewalk MIDI studio with external synth instruments (keyboards, racks), mixer, etc.  Then as computers got more advanced, I became fascinated with soft synths.  I think Project 5 really fed that addiction! 
 
Needed more computer power...  Done!!!
 
Today I have downsized to all soft synths.   Still have my hardware, but it is stored away.  It's mostly ROMpler stuff, never actually had the time or money for the cool analog gear.  But it's crazy what you can do with virtual analog now!
 
Anyway, if these forums ever go away, it will be a tremendous loss of years of accumulated knowledge about music software, gear, and techniques...