Terry Kelley

Stop BS'ing us Glenn. That's Waldo. I can tell.

And we begin year two.

Hi Misha, I think my response is accurate based on your observation of the change on the website albeit rather generic. But based on your comment, the question would be best directed to Bandlab directly and not through the developers here. But hey, maybe one will respond. As for an opinion, I seriously doubt they will let CbB live on forever but I guess they could just "forget" to shut it off and let us continue to use it. Who knows which then loops back to my reply to you.

Nobody has a single clue what is happening and what will happen. Nada. Squat. Zero. The speculation here is based on dreams and wishful thinking. When Bandlab has something to tell us, they will.

I am still betting against it.

What kind of cruel game could he be playing?

I don’t get it. The new Sonar is here and people are using it. Are some people thinking there is something different coming? It’s already released. I guess they could have a bunch of features turned off that they will turn on with some celebrated release. The new Sonar is here! It already is.

Too early for snark. I need more coffee.

As long as I can tell what the control is I don’t care what it looks like. No doubt the new Sonar look is more industrial in my opinion.

I’ve run into this with SoundCloud and others. So I too have a bank account/ card that is only loaded with enough money to pay the current bill and when something auto-renews it fails and I get notified. I can decide from there. A buddy and I only used SoundCloud for having a place to upload the music and listen but have zero illusions that it will get our music out there. Bandlab, Landr, Jango, etc. are no different. At some point we might drop back to the basic free SoundCloud.

I hope you get super powers. Anybody can get better, but super powers …!

78. He had a way with chords. Loved their first four albums. RIP Iron Butterfly.

I don’t recall anyone thinking “free” would last forever. We knew it wouldn’t and when Sonar was announced, many like me said, “well ok, so how much will it cost?” We both know and don’t know now. Bandlab gave us the monthly and yearly subscription pricing but some like me sit here dreaming of a single purchase price that is unlikely to happen … and a year later.

This is where I normally go outside of my mind. Normally.

Oh, I’m almost getting chills.

I keep the developers and Bandlab management separate. While some of them might have some pull with the team responsible for marketing and pricing Sonar, I still believe the developers would give us everything we all want if they could. They could not be more engaged and accommodating to us users. But that pricing decision isn’t theirs and we need to challenge Bandlab directly, not through the developers.

I don’t believe us old timers are the market Bandlab is aiming for. I too am a user from Cakewalk’s beginnings. Hell, my guess is a large number of us that started with Cakewalk aren’t around anymore. But today’s market will accept subscriptions and that’s where Bandlab is focused IMO. I do think the original June 2023 announcement was a bit over enthusiastic but things do get delayed as the actual workload became clearer.

Right now we can pay Bandlab to let us test Sonar. Since I have no doubt it will work fine with minimal glitches once it’s formally “released” (whatever that means) I’ll hang on to my money for now and wait for the final pricing offers. I still don’t expect a one time purchase offer.

Hopefully the offers are worth it.

No harm sending them in. They might find something.

There really isn't a fixed thread per se. It's pretty much scattered here. I guess someone could start one.

Do you have some inside information we don’t?

It has become a paid product. That’s already happened. I feel Sonar’s biggest contribution is the new UI that supports high resolution displays. While I prefer the CbB look, I’m sure I’d appreciate the new UI when I move above a pair of 2k monitors. Yes there are bug fixes and some new features but the UI is the big change for me.

Hang on, let me pull up a chair.

Noel never confirmed or suggested there will be a way to "buy" Cakewalk outside of a subscription. Only 'they are thinking of things.' We can speculate all day what that might be but we know nothing at this point. Maybe BL will - maybe BL won't. Hope is great but so far we have nothing to base it on. My "fading base" comment was in reference to the newer and far more used methods of creating music. It's different that even 20 years ago. These are the people that will bring revenue to BL in the long run. Those of use that grew up with tape machines and non-automated boards are slowly disappearing. The user base will continue to shift from us long-timer musicians to the newer "loop and sample with AI and prerecorded snips" people. It's just life. No doubt us long time users will continue to create music and be some level of revenue to BL but what we may want isn't on the BL radar unless it aligns with the younger user base. No we ain't dead but the world is changing and hoping BL will give us something special is unlikely. Maybe a good price and subscription for hanging in there. I personally just want to know what that is but the waiting causing my attention to drift. But again, I won't be a loss to BL.