Tis the Season!!! 
Since it is the giving season and apparently Cakewalk has no buyers for Sonar, how about Cakewalk/Gibson offering the Sonar product openly to any (somewhat qualified) company or buyer (Greg Hendershott or Craig Anderton are you listening ???) for FREE!!! This would get it off Gibson's books with maybe even a write-off and give THOUSANDS of Sonar users HOPE. Maybe even some of the old Sonar bakers would band together to take it on as a venture. I'd love to see them profit from their many years of hard work. 
 
C'mon Cakewalk/Gibson. Time to think out of the box! This would be an unprecedented act of kindness and good will. DO IT!

daveny5
Tis the Season!!! 
Since it is the giving season and apparently Cakewalk has no buyers for Sonar, how about Cakewalk/Gibson offering the Sonar product openly to any (somewhat qualified) company or buyer (Greg Hendershott or Craig Anderton are you listening ???) for FREE!!! This would get it off Gibson's books with maybe even a write-off and give THOUSANDS of Sonar users HOPE. Maybe even some of the old Sonar bakers would band together to take it on as a venture. I'd love to see them profit from their many years of hard work. 
 
C'mon Cakewalk/Gibson. Time to think out of the box! This would be an unprecedented act of kindness and good will. DO IT!

To the list of goodwill + cash I would add Chuck Surack of Sweetwater Sound.
 
You listening, Chuck?

Long and McQuade may sell Sonar but they recommend Cubase at the non-pro level and ProTools for a pro DAW

It's to bad for us and too bad for the employees but the handwriting was on the wall. The consolidation of the industry around ProTools was the big one. There is only 1 winner in software, the 800 lb gorilla. It was written in the IT bible "Crossing the Chasm" decades ago. Desktops - Windows, Mobile - Apple, free mobile Android, Photoshop, and on and on.
 
The 800-lb gorilla has market saturation and the revenue to upgrade code cycle after cycle and the revenue to out market competition. Companies like a standard for training and support costs. You can find a ProTools expert in minutes.
 
There are small fish who compete, usually nimble new companies or the walking dead old timers who won't quit the battlefield. A good example is Google for search and browser beating everyone - Yahoo, Bing, IE.
 
The beginning of the end was X1. Sonar stumbled badly with X1 which was released in beta. Companies who needed DAW production software didn't wait for the fixes. They moved on as quickly as possible. We stayed because we're stubborn and for other reasons.
 
It's easier and costs less to be an upstart software developer than to be a veteran with 20 years of code to support.  The cost of keeping Sonar alive has to be huge. Cubase is in the same boat but they are backed by a committed owner.
 
If Sonar was break even, maybe someone like Steinberg/Pioneer will keep it going. As others have said, Gibson's Moody's credit rating is near default. When companies are in trouble, they do desperate things. Any business unit that doesn't create positive cash flow is cut, which is probably why Sonar is closing.
 
It will be interesting to see if the code lasts. I hope so.

sdpate67
 
...
 
The 800-lb gorilla has market saturation and the revenue to upgrade code cycle after cycle and the revenue to out market competition. Companies like a standard for training and support costs. You can find a ProTools expert in minutes.
 
...
 
The beginning of the end was X1. Sonar stumbled badly with X1 which was released in beta. Companies who needed DAW production software didn't wait for the fixes. They moved on as quickly as possible. We stayed because we're stubborn and for other reasons.
 
...

Education is a trick that Cakewalk seemed to have missed. The Cubase equivalent of "Sonar Power" is based on a UK A Level Music Tech resource. Logic is also a common choice in this sector. If you watch many of the Cubase videos on YouTube a theme emerges with the younger users, "I used Cubase in College...".
 
There is no doubt that X1 was part of the problem BUT it was also part of the solution. When it was released I stuck with 8.0 but my son preferred X1 and eventually persuaded me make the switch too. It was one of those painful transitions that every software user hates and tends to define/split the user base.
 
There seems to be a lot of 8.5 users here and technically their issue is not running unsupported software, as they have been doing that for years, its that a compatible upgrade is no longer available if their version fail. This may be semantics but the reality is for some users there is a new risk while for others this is about a change to the way they manage risk.
 
What has happened to Cakewalk is a real shame especially for the employees.
 
 

Like most of the Cakewalk users......I am extremely disappointed in the move to abandon us. I've been using Cakewalk since the original "Cakewalk". I really never had an interest in any other DAW. Cakewalk served my needs! 
When the offer for "Lifetime" upgrades came...I was very suspicious. Like some of you I tried not to give in to the yearly (usually around dec) upgrade offers.
I decided to give in to the "Lifetime" offer early last year. I am not disappointed about the purchase..yet. 
However...I do align with Cactus Music about continued use.
 
In my opinion You are safer (for now) to stick with Win 7. I always download my upgrades and fixes from my laptop. I test them on the laptop (a cheap refurbished Dell D630) to see what happens. If all is well I copy the upgrade and run it on my main computer (Dell T7400 Workstation) by the way...I do not tie this unit to the internet). I do realize that Win 7 will go away and support with it. Unless I am lacking education in the area....as long as I stay away from the internet and any upgrades from Win 7 and what ever comes across the dark web...I should be good for awhile. (Please correct me if I am wrong)!!!!!
This forum is great for all Cakewalk users...especially those of us determined to stay the course until something more viable and 100% compatible comes along! Of course you'll probably need to mortgage your home and not eat to afford it!!!!!!!

I can't remember where I saw the post but someone was interested in purchasing Platinum online. I saw this today...
 

Sorry the link did not show up in my original post

I think you will see the product resurrected, but my guess is they needed "Cakewalk the company" to die first. No one would buy a company that had free lifetime updates committed to people - that's an obligation in place of a revenue stream.
 
My prediction is they kill the company and it's obligations/baggage, then sell the product in an asset sale to someone else.
 
I run a decent-sized software company - I always had this little fantasy of running Cakewalk once I sold mine; I thought that would be fun! :)
 
My best to the devs...

I have been reading this forum for a considerable time and like some of you I was also surprised by the news. I was a 2.0 version user when very few of the computer media understood MIDI and sequencers (or what they were for) and gradually I went to Bars and Pipes (for me, the best MIDI-only sequencer that has ever existed.) Came back to Cakewalk when he released his version 6 of Sonar and I have stayed there until now.
It does not make sense to delve into the reasons for a decision that is clearly lapidary for both Cakewalk and Gibson. Lately, Gibson was known more for his involvement with Cakewalk than for anything else.
What we must do is accept that reality and ask Cakewalk and / or Gibson to at least have the decency and consideration (they owe it to us) to clarify several points that are listed below in order of importance:

• How we do to download all our products (either by Command Center or directly from the site) and activate them offline.
• How long will the servers be working online to perform the previous operation (taking into account that the demand will be huge and the time span must be broad enough for us to download all the software.
• How can we continue to use the plugins of other companies (Overloud, XLN, Melodyne, TruePianos, etc.) within Sonar.
• What will happen with the partial payments and under what conditions the refunds operate?
• Optionally, what is the future of Cakewalk, because for Gibson's I see it very clearly ...

And for us, users, only have to take one of two paths

• If the time you have invested in mastering the tool has been such that your productivity is second to none. If you have come to realize you need another 2 DAWs to do what you do with Sonar. If your workflow is very attached to Sonar and you know every trick and skill of the program and all or most of its keyboard shortcuts, then by all means you must build for yourself a Sonar-Hardware DAW. Have a computer (preferably desktop) with the latest hardware, install all Cakewalk packages (32 and 64 bits) that you bought (whether you think you need it or not) of the version you will use, update the drivers to the latest possible functional version, install all the plugins you work with most of the time and the additional utilities you use to complete your workstation and test the system. If it supports all the tests without a glimse of error, if you feel is running smoothly and the latency is good enough, it is time to disconnect it from the Internet and forget about the windows updates for life. Also, if you want, you can uninstall the antivurus completely.
  Think on this machine as if it were your venerable Moog or your Korg M1 or your Motif or your DX7 but on steroids. Of course, with time it will show its age but it will be a machine that will not give you any problems for many years and will be as reliable as a solid rock where you can realize your most ambitious projects.
  I speak from experience. I have a computer with XP service pack 3. Is it already old?, yes. Is part of the software accusing its age?, you bet. Is still working as it did 12 years ago, of course. Is reliable as a rock, without a doubt.
• If on the contrary, you are at the crossroads of deciding whether to change DAW or continue with Sonar, I suggest you change. Forget what Sonar was for you and use your time you will be mourning the Sonar's fate, learning a new program or programs and using the plugins with the hardware you have. I think the combination Ableton Live and Studio One 3 or Ableton Live and Samplitude X3 suite can be the best options when replacing Sonar.

It will undoubtedly be a difficult decision and I am sorry for all the developers who dedicated their lives and time to making this application one, if not the best, of its kind. The specialization that is required to make the software talk to the hardware through an operating system that is constantly evolving, is not easy task and yet I believe that the Cakewalk team managed to tame a beast as fickle as Windows is.
 
My 2 cents.

smallstonefan
I think you will see the product resurrected, but my guess is they needed "Cakewalk the company" to die first. No one would buy a company that had free lifetime updates committed to people - that's an obligation in place of a revenue stream.
 
My prediction is they kill the company and it's obligations/baggage, then sell the product in an asset sale to someone else.
 
I run a decent-sized software company - I always had this little fantasy of running Cakewalk once I sold mine; I thought that would be fun! :)
 
My best to the devs...

If this is the case, which I hope will be, what do you think the timeline would be that the new company would take it over?  And I ask this next question only because it's not my area of expertise, but since you mentioned you run a software company, do you think the core of how we use Sonar now would exist or do you think it would be torn down and rebuilt into something different with a new interface?