Just checked my account and today my Sonar Platinum Membership is now listed not December 25, 2037...but !
 

Good day to all.
Lots of posts, lots of things to think about. I already own pro, and most of the things accumulated through the years. Was gonna upgrade once. Best offer was 149. Don't see the need for plat. Now the only offer is with plat. Why not a lifetime for pro, or even artist. Just at different levels since we already own the "Flagship" software. Or are we lacking something in pro that will only be available in the new plat. Now the price for me is 199. I still have 6 months left until I have to make a decision. To me there is no difference between splat and pro except for some extras. Will probably have to wait and see what the Bakers resolve in current software.
Best,
MJ 

coolbass
I admit to getting a bit confused here.
I thought membership was about providing companies a steady stream of income so they can deliver a better updated product and have more ready cash to finance development.
Now they offer lifetime-membership. If enough people choose this, somewhere in the future there is going to be a cash-deficit????

Only if Cakewalk's entire customer base consists solely of existing users, which is not the case. The more attractive SONAR becomes, the more new users will buy it. Artist proved that. There are also plans afoot for later this year which I think/hope will bring in yet another wave of new users. But here's the outline:
 
New SONAR users = more resources = improvements to flagship program to make existing customers happy = trickle-down technology from flagship product allows creating other new products that draw in more users = these users get hooked on Cakewalk and eventually become new SONAR users = more resources = improvements to flagship program to make existing customers happy = trickle-down technology from flagship product allows creating other new products that draw in more users = these users get hooked on Cakewalk and eventually become new SONAR users = more resources [rinse, lather, repeat].

coolbass
I admit to getting a bit confused here.
I thought membership was about providing companies a steady stream of income so they can deliver a better updated product and have more ready cash to finance development.
Now they offer lifetime-membership. If enough people choose this, somewhere in the future there is going to be a cash-deficit????

Another of my wild guesses....
 
Cake found that more money is to be made with plugins effects/synths/samplers/loops than daws.
I hope it's fair to say that Platinum is more of a plugin bundle than so much more daw than Professional(maybe Artist too) version.
So let's create a core daw lifetime subscription - and sell extras to that with good margins.
Basically what ImageLine do with FL Studio.
 
Ten years ago I bought Dimension Pro for €250, being about $300 then as I recall. And I still consider this a bargain. That's one sell, and the same money as 3 major updates of Sonar.
 
Sadly I wonder about further maintenance on Sonar, and new features as well.
 
Saw that Reaper 5 is officially supported by Waves now, and my favourite pitchcorrector Waves Tune as well.
Cakewalk never bothered to make Waves Tune working in the 4 years listed as supported by Waves.
I know Melodyne and ARA etc, good - but still Tune is what I like to use that have very good audio to midi conversion as well with pitchwheel events etc. So that was one point towards Cubase making the leap. So to have a backup for Cubase, Reaper is runner up, I think, rather than Sonar.
 
But may be far off on this....I hope I am. And all info in june 1st may proove that..

James Sing
Compare the picture in the announcement with this:
http://www.image-line.com/documents/news.php?entry_id=1431645710&title=gibson-acquires-deckadance
 
 

Since some people have not read this frankenpost from page 1, you might have missed the link posted from James Sing.   Gibson has bought Stanton and Deckadance, which means Gibson Brands now owns FL Studio.

RD9
What a bizarre turn of events.  Cakewalk's marketing efforts are painful to watch and have been for a while but this latest effort does not do the hard working programmers and customers justice.  Let's get back to the situation where Cakewalk offers a product for a price, not this grab bag approach.

 
It mystifies me that anyone would object to a company offering its customers more choices in tailoring a program for their individual needs and financial situation. "One size fits all" is no longer relevant. DAWs have evolved way beyond being MIDI sequencers that could also record audio.
 
 

FCCfirstclass

James Sing
Compare the picture in the announcement with this:
http://www.image-line.com/documents/news.php?entry_id=1431645710&title=gibson-acquires-deckadance
 
 

Since some people have not read this frankenpost from page 1, you might have missed the link posted from James Sing.   Gibson has bought Stanton and Deckadance, which means Gibson Brands now owns FL Studio.

Before this rumor gets out of hand...Gibson purchased Deckadance only. Image-Line continues to produce FL Studio. Gibson does not own FL Studio. Stanton was acquired along with KRK and Cerwin-Vega in late 2011. 

Craig, thanks for the clarification.   The press release is written kinda weird.  Or I was not paying attention.
 
I for one am glad that Stanton will be a Gibson Co.  I have used their phono carts for years.

lfm
Sadly I wonder about further maintenance on Sonar, and new features as well.
 
But may be far off on this....I hope I am.

You'll be happy to know you are 
 
Think about it...SONAR is the company's flagship program, and its ongoing development has built up a portfolio of technologies over the years (and will continue to do so). Those technologies can be applied to creating new products that serve needs not served specifically by DAWs, and which will bring in new users.

Sidebar re Stanton...FWIW...cartridge production has been on hiatus for a while due to difficulty in obtaining certain materials required for their manufacture. However, I've heard rumors that this is being resolved. Stanton's current bread-and-butter is turntables.