Cakewalk acquires rgc: audio

Hope this link works. I was looking at KVR main page , went away for 1 minute and on return, at the top of the news page was this:

http://www.kvraudio.com/news/2893.html

The first fruits of this deal will be a "revolutionary" software instrument for the upcoming version 2 of Project5, available in April, 2005.

That's enough time to save up.

Boy, and the natives at the rgc:audio forum are restless. Let's just say there's "mixed opinions" about the acquisition. Some pointed slams on Cakewalk (thanks to wrench and Jamminfool for coming to the defense). The whole thread there has an uneasy feel to it, albeit with many congratulations to Rene. It's already at 3 pages and counting ...

[Read it here.]

as homo sapiens we are all taught to whine about things out of our control. can't think of a better company to set out to please everyone, eventually. congratulations Rene. look forward to the innovations your added expertise will bring to the cake family of products.

most of the kvr concern is cake controlling rene's output

as cake stake holders we don't have quite the same concern

rene is among a handful of very hard working, creative, responsive synth designers who have a proven record of success. i think some people are concerned about having to go through Cakewalk and worst case Cakewalk hosts to get to rene's new creations.

it's really a sales and marketing decision. it would seems to be more sales for Cake and rene are better for everyone and it's hard to see how restrictions would propmote more sales. i expect there will be rollouts that will promote Cakewalk hosts like P5 with embedded rene creations, but eventually there'll be similar or identical rene creations available outside Cake hosts. But I could be wrong.

you don't hear many people crying about not being able to get P-Syn outside P5, but something more full featured and innovative may draw some outcry

understood. i don't see it the way they do because cake's history does not reflect that type of behavior. and nobody knows what will be hence the whining reference. if people don't like this kind of behavior of large companies acquiring small companies maybe they should become active in demanding that a capitalistic system be held accountable. believe me they have a lot more worries than cake making it difficult to acquire rene's work. the air it is thick with poison the water it taste bad and makes me sick. with all the things corporations do to kill homo sapiens on my list of things to whine about the acquiring of a brilliant software developer ranks way down on the list. stuff happens and we all operate on a 9 year old mentality so i understand their whining as much as i do my own. only the gifted of our kind continued to develope up to and beyond age 12. my hope is to meet such a person before i die. :-)

I just think we should remember that we're talking about Cakewalk here, not Phillip Morris or Hugeco-Enormous Oil, inc. ;-)

Anyway, I hope this means we registered Cakewalk users can get a deal on z3ta and Pentagon at some point. I'd been eyeing that bundle deal for some time, but it was still a little expensive when you translated to dollars. Love both the demos.

i think it's very revealing that the thread goes on and on at kvr on the rgc audio support forum, and we have this little thread here and there's not a word on the Sonar forum.

Sonar remains Cakewalk's flagship product AND the vast majority of its users do their music primarily through audio recording. It's not too much to assume that Sonar is known to the rest of the world as primarily a host for audio recording.
And based on the response the acquisition of a brilliant soft synth designer doesn't mean as much to users of Sonar as it does the users of rene's creations -- and we P5'ers while we're very happy -- we don't command armies of followers of either size (at this time).

ORIGINAL: wrench45us

-- and we P5'ers while we're very happy -- we don't command armies of followers of either size (at this time).

Speak for yourself, Wrench ol' buddy, I've got about 10,00 pikemen marshalled on the heath right now.

such is life if you admire someone or their work then you follow them where they may go. i understand people being upset but if you read the press release doesn't seem to be any reason to be upset. so people are upset over that which they have no control. seems to be very reasonable acquirement to me. are the sonitus people still pissed. yeah Rene will make a dxi that you can only purchase if you buy p5. i believe he has already done that and not a peep that i'm aware of from the rgc people. and all the other synths well they are still available from rgc as well as support. Rene's company is private therefore Rene made the decision. if it's good for him it's good for me. i'll follow Rene where ever he may choose to go. except thru the hell of some software protection scheme that's only downside is me using it.

yeah Rene will make a dxi that you can only purchase if you buy p5. i believe he has already done that and not a peep that i'm aware of from the rgc people.

Hmm ... a thought just occured to me. Is it not totally appropriate now to do tutorials here at the forum on z3ta+, Triangle II, and the other rgc:audio offerings? I mean, now that it's under the Cakewalk umbrella; why not?

IMO Rene seems to be the type of person who will continue his high level of support for the rgc:audio line, despite what is undoubtedly an intensified workload now. It's all starting to make sense now: His few posts, yet increased presence at this forum; his surprising knowledge of the PSYN-tology tutorials; the time that he cleared it with Cakewalk before answering a particularly sticky question from me about PSYN; his mention of something "big" in the works for February ...

I think that it's great having him join forces with Cakewalk. I believe that his independent spirit and dedication to quality will shine through any corporate entanglements. And I hope that he's rewarded with financial security, so that he can concentrate on letting out all of that creative flow. I'm looking at it as not unlike a Renaissance artist with a wealthy sponsor: You might have to paint a few portraits, but the rest of the time you are free to follow your muse ...

conceivably it might free him from a lot of support and sales issues and business, or maybe not

i posted to get a reaction on the Sonar forum and they seem to think z3ta will be bundled with Sonar 5 Producer's Edition, since there's little incentive with 4 to bump up from Studio to Producer, unless you realy need surround and a few other very advanced narrpw features.

it's a pretty good argument -- and as we've come to learn Cakewalk pays attention to the brilliant ideas that show up on these forums

who knows, Cake may eventually come knocking on b-rock's door.

who knows, Cake may eventually come knocking on b-rock's door.

Only if they own a corporate airboat, and befriend the local population. By and large, 'gators tend to favor Steinberg products ...

This is Rene's response at the KVR thread. I though it should be posted here, too.

Dear friends,

Thanks a lot for your words, really appreciated. Some of your comments made me blush

As you well said, the acquisition is an important move for me. A big one, and the one I feel it was needed to face the next years offering powerful and competitive products.

But if we, me and all Cakewalk friends, do things well, it will be an exciting move for all of you, not dramatic at all. We valuate what we have here, a great and loyal user installed base and a friendly and open minded community. We actually want it to grow.

Cakewalk and rgc:audio have had in the few last years a segment of common ground just too big to remain separated, or even competing. I've been a Cakewalk customer since 1990, and when I started rgc:audio I 'borrowed' many business mangement ideas from them. Anyone who's a Cakewalk customer will surely see the similarities in many fields.

I'll briefly comment on a couple of practical aspects, expanded news will come soom. I'm in Anaheim, in my first NAMM show (as a visitor this time), and I'll spend the next week in Boston working at the Cakewalk Headquarters, so I'll be a little bit sneaky in the few next days.

As you might have seen in the press release, the current product line is available at the rgc:audio store as always, at the same prices. I was surprised to read some comments regarding prices and how they'll be affected with the new scenario. Just as an example, the new Project 5II will street-sell for about what I would have set for the new synthesizer alone. I doubt anyone could think of a better deal.

We'll continue supporting all the current product line. I won't abandon my beloved bunch of sound-greedy-souls.
Moreover, Cakewalk friends will join the community, with which means more extended, deep user-company interaction.

The 'How and When' for new products and technologies policy will most likely remain unchanged: you will never hear from me what I'm doing, nor when we're releasing it

I'm pretty sure you have more questions like 'Will there be an upgrade path from Triangle II to Sonar Producer' or 'Will you make a surround sfz'. Many of those do have an answer, many of those don't. I'll be commenting more when opportune.

You can count on my best effords to make everything flow smoothly and well during this transition. I see there're many Cakewalk users here, who can share their experience with the company.

So for now, sit back and relax. Great stuff will come.

-René

I like to speculate on business motives. I think part of the motive here is to compete with Logic (and other hosts, too). To some, Sonar is the Windows alternative to Logic. Logic comes with a bunch of wonderful synths and effects. I don't think Cakewalk has the in-house expertise to develop world class soft-synths, but with Rene they do.

With Yamaha buying Steinberg, things are going to get interesting. As for me, I'm a loyal Cakwalk guy.

ORIGINAL: CapnSpanky
...I don't think Cakewalk has the in-house expertise to develop world class soft-synths, but with Rene they do.....

i agree it is a good fit for both cake and Rene