A CW insider did confirm on another forum that the lifetime subscription was their idea and not imposed on them by Gibson. They were probably trying to stave off increasing pressure to financially perform, which is not an unusual situation in a Parent/Subsidiary relationship.  (I've been there in my working life).  Maybe Gibson should be blamed for (a) not thoroughly challenging financial projections from Roland and Cakewalk before buying, and, crucially, CW's marketing plans which always seemed to me to be not their forte, (b) thinking a 'hands off' management style would be best.  All this might have been compounded by Gibson's management style which according to the internet is a one-man one where perhaps sage advice is not heeded or unavailable.

Skyline_UK
A CW insider did confirm on another forum that the lifetime subscription was their idea and not imposed on them by Gibson. They were probably trying to stave off increasing pressure to financially perform, which is not an unusual situation in a Parent/Subsidiary relationship.

Fair enough, but I think you can be reasonably confident that Gibson saw it as an exit strategy, if it was handed to them then all the better. It does make it a more sympathetic one though. I've no doubt it was on the table as "take this funding boost, and sink or swim". But I reckon Gibson had a pretty good idea where it was going.

But then in the midst of this they come out with Momentum and brought back Home Studio for some reason. Also to gain quick funding? Or in hopes it would help salvage the cause?

daveny5
Tried Mixbus4.... not even close to Sonar. I couldn't get it to work at all. Not at all intuitive in my opinion. 
 
I have Studio One, but never really used it. Will give it another try, I guess. My next choice will be Reaper. Great, I have to buy and learn a new tool. I definitely won't sink anymore big bucks into it, that's for sure.
 
PS: I'd like to add that I am pissed that Gibson made this decision. This may have been jobs to you, but it was a big part of my life. I spent a lot of money and time to use your top of the line product and you pull the plug on it. You can't sell it to another company? It had no intrinsic market value? Really sucks guys. Glad I never bought one of your overpriced guitars. Guess no one else wants to pay those prices either. Soon they'll be made in China or India. 
 
Sorry, but I had to vent. 
 

 A fanboy to the bitter end, eh Dave?
 
I wonder, do you attach even the slightest culpability in all this to Cakewalk?
 
Maybe their software designers for not coming up with a better and ultimately more commercially viable product?
 
Or if the software was that good, why not level the blame at the Cakewalk marketing department for not shifting enough units?
 
Judging by some of the recent revelations concerning the demise, it would seem that a lot of the problems stem from the upper management level at Cakewalk, not from Gibson.
 
For all we know, the plug might have been pulled in 2013 (when Roland jumped ship) had Gibson not stepped in and pumped money into a failing Cakewalk - thereby propping it up and keeping it open for business for the last four years.
 
Don't get me wrong, none of this means that Gibson shouldn't be implicated in this. It just seems absurd to me that the parent company is wholly at fault for Cakewalk's failing.

Any chance that those of us that 'bought' the 'lifetime subscription' have the makings of a class action suit against Gibson?  
 

Gibson had to fire all the idlers. And make a new development course for Cakewalk.
And cakewalk didnt want add a new functional for their DAW. In last version Sonar seems like more modern DAW. But they could made more if glanced at Reaper or S1.
I love Sonar. And it's very terrible fact if the will not develement the DAW

SteveStrummerUK
 
I wonder, do you attach even the slightest culpability in all this to Cakewalk?
 
Maybe their software designers for not coming up with a better and ultimately more commercially viable product?
 
Or if the software was that good, why not level the blame at the Cakewalk marketing department for not shifting enough units?

I believe that is a fair question and yes, I definitely put some of this on Cakewalk.
However, we have been hearing some bizarre stories, like the CEO of Overture (notation software) Offering Cakewalk a deal that would include it in Sonar as an integration. But Gibson declined. So the CEO came back with an almost practically free integration offer (with hopes of users buying full versions) and Gibson denied that as well. This wasn't rumored, The CEO said it himself on this forum about 2 weeks ago.
http://forum.cakewalk.com/FindPost/3698875
 
So while I do blame Cakewalk, I have to wonder about Gibson's motives.
Cakewalks Momentum was out less than 10 days before Gibson shut it down. Hardly enough time to see if it could reap the benefits on this new software. IMO, Gibson saw more money in a "business bust write off" than they wanted to invest in a company probably breaking even (but had potential).
 

chuckebaby

SteveStrummerUK
 
I wonder, do you attach even the slightest culpability in all this to Cakewalk?
 
Maybe their software designers for not coming up with a better and ultimately more commercially viable product?
 
Or if the software was that good, why not level the blame at the Cakewalk marketing department for not shifting enough units?

I believe that is a fair question and yes, I definitely put some of this on Cakewalk.
However, we have been hearing some bizarre stories, like the CEO of Overture (notation software) Offering Cakewalk a deal that would include it in Sonar as an integration. But Gibson declined. So the CEO came back with an almost practically free integration offer (with hopes of users buying full versions) and Gibson denied that as well. This wasn't rumored, The CEO said it himself on this forum about 2 weeks ago.
http://forum.cakewalk.com/FindPost/3698875
 
So while I do blame Cakewalk, I have to wonder about Gibson's motives.
Cakewalks Momentum was out less than 10 days before Gibson shut it down. Hardly enough time to see if it could reap the benefits on this new software. IMO, Gibson saw more money in a "business bust write off" than they wanted to invest in a company probably breaking even (but had potential).
 

^^^ This
 
Nice to see such a balanced view Charlie.
 
Gibson definitely wouldn't have taken on Cakewalk from Roland if they didn't see it making them some money at some stage in the future (shock/horror - business wants to make money).
 
The real crux of the matter is surely how they envisaged this was likely to happen.
 
I'd tentatively suggest that Gibson's two most likely means of recouping both the cost of buying Cakewalk and subsequently bankrolling it would be:

1. The obvious one - by guiding/overseeing the development of the business until it was no longer losing cash but producing income for both Cakewalk and Gibson
2. By steering the ship (maybe in similar fashion to 1. above) until Cakewalk was in a fit enough financial state to realise their investment by selling it on to a third party (or even to a Cakewalk management buy-out)

However, it seems that option three (in my humble opinion by far the worse option for every party concerned), i.e. cutting their losses and running (while facilitating as much of a cash-grab as possible?) has been the chosen path.
 
I doubt we'll ever know the real facts, and speculation will continue to be rife. But business is business, and profitable companies will always outlast failing ones.

Studio One sounds open to ideas from Sonar users.  Have any of the bakers gone to work for them?  or admit it?   Maybe tweak some Sonar enhancements slightly into Studio One to avoid copyright infringement?  Is their programming done in Baton Rouge? Culture shock Boston to BR, lol.

Today's rambling:
 
My ex-wife worked for Opcode.  I've heard a Henry story or two :)
 
I still went for the lifetime subscription knowing what was very likely to happen.  Given the pace of upgrades, new features and bug fixes I even started to hope that things would be OK.  Not shocked that they aren't.  You don't get half a billion dollars in debt with no clear path out if you have stellar management.
 
Still, I don't feel bad that I did my part to support the Bakers, they did a lot of good work and I feel like most of them put in a huge effort.  Personally I don't feel too bad about the lifetime thing.  I understand how others might feel cheated.
 
SONAR still has some annoying bugs, yesterday I found one working with Vocalign and ARA, and one with automation and Dim solo.  Could have to do with plugs or something else outside SONAR, but I'm moving as quickly as I can to Studio One AND Cubase. I don't want to spend time without official support to track down bugs that  have no chance of ever being fixed if they're really SONAR bugs.
 
So far I've spent the most time with Studio One and I'm finding it super-easy to work with and stable but lacking in some things I'm used to in SONAR. (Or at least I haven't found out how to do them in S1 yet.) 
 
For example I'm missing Dim Solo, especially during vocal comping (missing SONAR's vocal comping too!).  Maybe it's there, but I haven't figured out how to activate it yet.  It does have solo follows selection which is kind of nice.