It's official: CbB will not continue for long.

[John Maar]

On 9/9/2023 at 6:38 PM, bitflipper said:

You can add 1973 to that table. The difference is that in 1973 I bought my first house out of gig earnings. Today it buys a tank of gas.

btw, last week my band went into a studio to record a going-away gift for our departing guitarist. The software in use there was Sonar 6. I am now mixing it in the current Sonar beta. I have worked on several projects that were started in CbB and seamlessly transferred to Sonar.  No one should have any qualms about losing projects going forward.

1967. 4 piece H.S. cover band. $125/gig. $25 to each of the 4 members, and $25 to common gear like mics and stands and cables and PA. I bought a used late '64 black face Fender Bassman, a used '63 Fender Jazz and a used Farfisa Mini with my gig money, gas station and Burger Chef jobs. The wonderful life of a wanna be musician. That $25 wouldn't buy doodly squat now. Now, it's all about EXPOSURE!

[Byron Dickens]

1 hour ago, Conteloto said:

Big error from bandlab, CbB is a great free software, but there are several app out there that can do the same work and they will be free. Half a hour and you have them to start working.

Is that so? How about naming them?

[OutrageProductions]

13 minutes ago, Byron Dickens said:

Is that so? How about naming them?

Well... how about GarbageBand? LOL.

[Craig Anderton]

1 hour ago, Conteloto said:

Big error from bandlab, CbB is a great free software, but there are several app out there that can do the same work and they will be free. Half a hour and you have them to start working.

If you're thinking of the free, "lite" versions of software, no. They can't do the same work.

[Larioso]

But how many actually need all the features, nice and all, but really need them?

 

This guy doing the "thread syncronization bug" here swapped to StudioOne Artist which is entry level and just cost $99 as I recall.

And he claimed he did work for film industry, and projects were huge and plugins and all.

 

I run good old Sonar Arist 2015, 7 year old code,  and can very well live with quirks that are there if so.

 

I hope Cakewalk really look at how things have worked in the past?

- there were enthusiasm over lifetime free updates on Platinum would make everybody get Platinum?

- now a bit of the same, people will pay suddenly for something that was free for so long?

 

And a bit worried over Noels comment on last CbB EA how they stuffed one year of updates into that so that difference between new paid Sonar will be as little as possible?

- is this a good policy?

- it's much to kind bunch of people to be healthy business almost.

 

And having a paid versions that still needs timely reactivations is not so good in my world, since I had issues with CbB doing that 3 years ago. So went back to Sonar, I don't want anything just stop working suddenly.

 

I really believe an entry level product that most people get by with, as I have my old Sonar Artist, is needed.

- then a version with everything on it, as they say in hamburger bars

- one size does not fit all

[Byron Dickens]

Nobody needs all the features.

Nobody needs all the features.

Your statement here is a Reductio ad Absurdum.  That and you're trying to move the goalposts.

We also never hear back from these people who get frustrated and jump ship. Never get to hear about the issues they run into over in those allegedly greener pastures. 

I'm sure my experience is not unique but the list of features I don't use is much longer than the list of ones I do. However, there are features not available in entry level products that really make life easier. For me, the value of all that extra money is in those features I do use that are not to be found outside the full product as well as in not hitting that wall where suddenly you can't accomplish what you want to do because of a missing feature.

Like my other expensive hobby. Nobody needs a full featured camera; you can take perfectly good pictures with your phone. But when you can choose lenses with different focal lengths it opens a whole new world to you. When you can focus on what you want instead of what the camera decides, it opens a whole new world to you. When you can choose the aperture and/ or shutter speed you want to get the specific effect you want, it opens a whole new world to you.

 

Just getting by is suboptimal.

Edited September 12, 2023 by Byron Dickens

[Larioso]

1 hour ago, Byron Dickens said:

Like my other expensive hobby. Nobody needs a full featured camera; you can take perfectly good pictures with your phone. But when you can choose lenses with different focal lengths it opens a whole new world to you. When you can focus on what you want instead of what the camera decides, it opens a whole new world to you. When you can choose the aperture and/ or shutter speed you want to get the specific effect you want, it opens a whole new world to you.

 

Just getting by is suboptimal.

I get what you are saying.

 

When I started doing time lapses it was single shot pics

- enter cropping to 16:9 on 6000 pics in a program

- then processing cropping pics took 24 hours in computer

- then downsizing pics to 1080 lines with some algo in another program

. then shove into video editor as a collection making a video

- puhhh, that was one days work

 

Then I got a camera that did time lapse directly to a video in camera.

- that is some boost in productivity

I could focus earlier on making music to it.

 

So there are "needs" but most things in daws remain headroom for most of us IMO.

- and think success for commercial Cakewalk may be to have alternative for those not absolutely wanting that headroom that CbB offer now

- maybe options to buy content at discounted price which has been before, I remember Vsampler as one, rather than just offering one Sonar version.

 

My opinion and who cares?

[John Vere]

1 hour ago, Larioso said:

nd think success for commercial Cakewalk may be to have alternative for those not absolutely wanting that headroom that CbB offer now

Have you not been following what is said? There will be versions at different levels and price points just like with Sonar Platinum series. Including a Free version. There is absolutely zero reasons for ANYONE to be at all upset about what is going to happen. 

[T Boog]

1 hour ago, JohnnyV said:

There will be versions at different levels and price points

Do u mean they'll be more than two levels John? I'm only aware of "Sonar" & "Next". Are u saying they'll be diff versions of Sonar aside from "Next"?

[Larioso]

4 hours ago, JohnnyV said:

Have you not been following what is said? There will be versions at different levels and price points just like with Sonar Platinum series. Including a Free version. 

Thanks, but where is this stated by Cakewalk or Staff on forum or elsewhere?

A mystery why this was not stated already at announcement in june. That if anything would make everybody at ease.

[User 905133]

On 9/8/2023 at 11:00 AM, Alan Tubbs said:

 Hopefully the vanilla version of Cakewalk with come in from  a hundred dollars to 2 hundred and keeps the flow of newbies from Bandlab entering their paid world.  

If you get your wish, I am so out of here. There is no way I can afford that.  That sucks out loud.

[Lord Tim]

56 minutes ago, Larioso said:

Thanks, but where is this stated by Cakewalk or Staff on forum or elsewhere?

A mystery why this was not stated already at announcement in june. That if anything would make everybody at ease.

Noel mentioned this in a different thread.

I would say the reason a lot of this stuff wasn't mentioned is because the details were/are being locked in at HQ and there's only so much the Bakers are able to say at this point.

But from what we've seen posted by staff on the forum, there will be different bundles of products at different price points, a free option of something, and it was suggested in an early post that we would be able to pay off Sonar in a Rent-to-own thing over 12 months, like the old paid SONAR was.

I'm not staff and not privy to any inside information here, just as a disclaimer, but this is what I'm gathering from forum posts. I'd also strongly suggest that any or all of what I'm saying here is subject to change, so until we hear an official announcement, we should sit tight and not buy into any of the FUD.

[AB7]

As long as it is a reasonable fee, does not lose current features, and as long as it helps the sustainable of Cakewalk for a long, long time, I am very happy.

[marcL]

12 hours ago, Larioso said:

And having a paid versions that still needs timely reactivations is not so good in my world, since I had issues with CbB doing that 3 years ago. So went back to Sonar, I don't want anything just stop working suddenly.

^^^Absolutely agree! That's why I still have Sonar Platinum available on all of my systems! ... just in the worst case!

[Sidney Earl Goodroe]

Lord Tim mentioned a "rent to own" option for the upcoming Sonar release. Is not that the same as subscription?

If you opted to rent Sonar, would it continue to work if you paid it off? 

I was always happy to just pay upfront and still have my older versions of Cakewalk products all the way back to 1990s!! Platinum is still on my working computers. 

I wish they would at least give us a ballpark figure of the price so those of us who are strapped for cash can make some sort of decision as to staying with Sonar or doing as I am doing. 

I am currently porting my projects in to my other DAWs so if the bottom falls out, once again with Sonar, I will be prepared!

I am preparing for the worst while keeping the faith that Meng and Noel will watch our backs!!

[User 905133]

20 minutes ago, Sidney Earl Goodroe said:

Lord Tim mentioned a "rent to own" option for the upcoming Sonar release. Is not that the same as subscription?

If you opted to rent Sonar, would it continue to work if you paid it off? 

I was always happy to just pay upfront and still have my older versions of Cakewalk products all the way back to 1990s!! Platinum is still on my working computers. 

I wish they would at least give us a ballpark figure of the price so those of us who are strapped for cash can make some sort of decision as to staying with Sonar or doing as I am doing. 

I am currently porting my projects in to my other DAWs so if the bottom falls out, once again with Sonar, I will be prepared!

I am preparing for the worst while keeping the faith that Meng and Noel will watch our backs!!

Glad to see there's a modicum of optimism there.

I think it can be a good strategy to cope with anxieties and doubts by preparing for the worst.    I haven't checked my XP SP3 PC in a few years, but the last time I did, SONAR X1 still worked.  Also on my agenda with all the comments from worry warts is to see if X1 and X3 will work under Windows 10 Pro.  However, I gave up on using Cakewalk for MS-DOS and Cakewalk for Windows decades ago. 

[Light Grenade]

The Cakewalk team have been outstanding since the inception of CbB. It simply cannot be overstated just how much better Cakewalk is now since the days of X2. 

I am not joking when I say I used to have one desktop and two laptops running X2 because project files became corrupt every day, and I needed two backup systems to access mixes. It was honestly a nightmare and essentially unusable for heavy, time crititcal projects. X2 forced me learn Reaper. CbB could be better yes, but it's simply a joy to use in comparison to the X series. 

I'm happy about it going paid, as honestly I didn't feel confident in the longevity of a truly free product and I didn't feel 100% comfortable reporting bugs and suggesting feedback for a free product. Like, what more can I expect for something that is free, and does 90% of what I need, when a lot of the competition is upwards of £300 annually? 

On the flipside, once it goes paid, there's an added impetus to make things better and get things fixed. I'll feel more comfortable pushing longstanding issues to the team knowing that I'm paying for it, and I mean this in a productive way, not a threatening way. 

If something goes majorly wrong, which I hope it doesn't, I'll just flip to Reaper full time. In general, it's not a bad idea getting a handle on more than 1 DAW. 

[msmcleod]

49 minutes ago, Sidney Earl Goodroe said:

Lord Tim mentioned a "rent to own" option for the upcoming Sonar release. Is not that the same as subscription?

If you opted to rent Sonar, would it continue to work if you paid it off? 

I was always happy to just pay upfront and still have my older versions of Cakewalk products all the way back to 1990s!! Platinum is still on my working computers. 

I wish they would at least give us a ballpark figure of the price so those of us who are strapped for cash can make some sort of decision as to staying with Sonar or doing as I am doing. 

I am currently porting my projects in to my other DAWs so if the bottom falls out, once again with Sonar, I will be prepared!

I am preparing for the worst while keeping the faith that Meng and Noel will watch our backs!!

SONAR Platinum was rent-to-own.

If you paid 12 consecutive monthly payments, you'd own the version of the product at the point of your 12th payment.  If you paid 12 months up front, you'd own the version of the product exactly a year after your payment.

Once you owned the product, that version would continue to work regardless of whether you continued to pay or not.

This is different from a subscription, which disables the product (either partially or fully) when you stop paying.
 

[Light Grenade]

2 hours ago, Sidney Earl Goodroe said:

Lord Tim mentioned a "rent to own" option for the upcoming Sonar release. Is not that the same as subscription?

'Rent to own' is time limited and ends once you pay off the full cost of the software - essentially like interest free finance. Splice do this with a handful of DAW's and plugins.

Traditional subscriptions are eternal. 

Edited September 13, 2023 by Light Grenade

[User 905133]

Could someone please create a poll that allows forum members to rank order up to 5 preferences each for future Cakewalk products and purchase options with the maximum, minimum, and ideal price they would pay?

Let's give everyone a voice, not just those who want to get a head start on their "I'm-naming-my-own-preferred-plan-and / or-price-publicly" posts.

Thanks.