The way I see it, by taking advantage of a very generous opportunity to get a lifetime of upgrades that leaves me with a bit more money to buy the other CW products I want.

RD9
This is not the first time CW marketing tactics have created chaos with incomplete or unclear announcements and I am beginning to think they like watching the customers squirm.  From what I can see, though, you are doing your best to combat this and have always been an advocate for the customers so please accept my thanks.

I know what you're saying, but note the way this was rolled out...a specific offer to a specific group of people, who were asked not to post it on the forum. It was probably naive to think it wouldn't get posted, but it was, and unleashed a flurry of speculation (most of which is spectacularly wrong, but...it sure gives a great idea of what people have as their prioritized "wish lists," as opposed to just feature requests!).
 
My sense is that Cakewalk has been totally taken aback by the response. I think they intended a quiet sort of "thanks loyal users" by giving them an option before the main announcement on June 1, but like a wildfire, it spread rapidly. 
 
When I've consulted to businesses, most of them had backup plans if things failed or didn't work out as expected. I would always counsel to have backup plans if something turned out to be wildly successful - being too successful can also sink a company. I remember talking with the president of Alesis before ADAT was released, when he said it was going to be a big hit, and he expected to sell 5,000 in the first year. I was aghast. I said "You'll sell 5,000 a month!" As it turned out, my figure turned out to be the correct one, and they really had to scramble to compensate for not taking success into account. 
 
 
 
 
 

Keni
So many possibilities...

They are not simply giving it away... The lifetime memberships have to be earned by purchasing a number of updates/upgrades over time.

It seems they are giving back to the people who have bought into the new scheme and giving even more to those who have supported them longer...

...and it is for a limited time! Don't forget that! So people will still need to buy updates if the don't take advantage of this gift during the allotted time...

I think this is yet another show of Cakewalk doing good things for its supporters!

Sometimes the most obvious explanation is indeed the correct one 

Rant alert...  it's been a few months but OY!!!
 
So many idiots....funny to see a complaint that cakewalk isn't treating us as intelligent... from an idiot! so much wasted rude and nasty blather.... 
 
I love this announcement.  I will await more info but it seems to addresses points made by many, some really whiny about it, since forever: "I don't wanna pay for x,y or z... blah blah blah...." or "I want a, b, or c.... waaaaaaaaa!"  Valid points in this day of ala carte, but pleasing everyone???  This is a brilliant move.
 
Personally I'll buy into a core upgrade program.  Already have well over 1200 vsts, the entire FF, IK, and Izotope bundles and a zillion others...dozens of everything!!!  Most mixing/mastering/effects/instrument plugs are irrelevant to me.  Same for synths/sample libraries and other tools... 6 TB of hard drive space nearly full. I'm sure many long time serious users/those of us who are members of GASaholics are in a similar boat.  I love ALL the core upgrades Cakewalk has introduced so far... patchpoints, mix control, etc... awesome stuff and am looking forward to arranging, console folders, etc... 
 
Love the idea of selectively acquiring, like with adding PC modules.  The new mastering tools could have also fallen into that category... I don't need them.  But others do so making them available ala carte makes total sense (YES, I KNOW they are included in the last update... I'm just sayin' in the future, this stuff ala carte makes way more sense...) Also, with more revenue coming from this, maybe more such goodies will be forthcoming for those desiring them.  And for many, I assume the yearly subscription model offers many of these as they are rolled out.  PERFECT for new users desiring add ons.
 
Money will still be coming in from the yearly subscribers...Do I fully understand the pathways being explored by the bakers?  No... I'm patient and look forward to information as it is rolled out.  Serenity...
 
I've said it before and it is NEVER appreciated by the ridiculous whiners that take offense... But as I've had to suffer through 25 pages of many idiotic comments and blather about stuff they don't have a clue about I'll exercise my right to say it again... our culture, our species is a MESS and a lot of the absurd bull crap littering these threads is illustrative and sad. Then again, Trump is actually a choice so wtf...this is just a slice of a ridiculous nightmare.
 
Mostly I love the forum... I really appreciate the active involvement and willingness to try different things by the humans who give us amazing tools, as well as all the awesome help offered here.  However, I wince at rude and mostly ignorant Ahole comments; lack of gratitude, respect and a total overdose of "me me me" and trollism. 
 
I treasure the miracle of what we can do today... unimaginable  a few decades ago.  Meanwhile, it hit 125 degrees with high humidity in India today... never before seen in human experience and people are dropping like flys, as in "dead" ...this is REAL and ramping fast.  We continue poking the bear and she is already giving millions a lot of real stuff to whine about. 
 
Spewing for nothing out of ignorance...about an offer, a new opportunity, one that is just being rolled out, which can be ignored if you want and which is available for months...seems a bit trite when one considers what's really going on that really will effect EVERY ONE OF US...
 
Thank you, Cakewalk... You have showered us with gifts and are boldly going forward in uniquely new directions... may you reap the rewards you deserve. 
 
Feel better now... I'll await the official announcement... nothing to see here.
 
 
 
 

I have not received an email.
I have signed up several times.
I have never received an email from cakewalk unless it's been from Sonar support in response to a question.
I wonder if someone could look into this?

I haven't received an email either.  I resubscribed late last year through JRR, so maybe those are being handled differently?  Anyway, if someone could tell me who I need to talk to in order to get the email sent to me, I'd appreciate it.
 

SilverBlueMedallion

Notecrusher

kson
The teaser said that they've been listening to US. Perhaps that means more actual songwriting tools e.g. Chord track, arranger tools

That's what I am strongly hoping for. 

hmmm... i doubt they would make SUCH a huge deal over those features....   we have had very big improvements already in the past 18 months without a warning like this.   I reckon it is something bigger...

I reckon it's something DIFFERENT. That is, I don't think it's going to be a big feature announcement. They've got their m.o. for announcing new features pretty down. This smells more like a bundling/partnering kinda thing to me.

Andrew Rossa [Cakewalk]

rivers88
Is the newsletter signup working now?
 
Been a Cakewalk user since it was on floppies, signed up for the newsletter on numerous occasions - 
But still don't receive them... 

Yes please try it and let me know if you still don't get emails. 

Same here. The box is checked but never receive any.

Jim Kalinowski
Free lifetime membership for everyone?  That would be big.
 
The code-posted-on-git-hub is an interesting thought.   If you think there are some bugs in SONAR now, wait until the masses get their hands on it.

so you want to keep sonar from other people?thats strange.
i don't get how more users creates more bugs

Anderton

jpetersen
Once the funds from the initial life-model applicants dry up, where will the money come from to continue fixing the bugs?
 
Aren't we in danger of a kind of Ponzi scheme effect? More "investors" must be found to pay for those no longer contributing?

 
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].
 
 

This seems to be the reason that at making native mac version of sonar makes sense,more users,more business,more resources.