AB99

I understand your comment. However, we have not been burned more than once with Bandlab. Instead, it has kept important staff, provided updates, and made it free for a number of years, while the predecessors were charging. And any guarantees by a company are only worth the lifetime of the company. So, the question is what is sustainable for Bandlab and the Sonar/Cakewalk users? I do not think I can say it better than Craig Anderton, but Bandlab gave us a chance, and maybe it is reasonable to give Bandlab a chance to respond here. It is not like Bandlab has said that a perpetual license option is foreclosed. And it would be reasonable if there was a perpetual license, that there be a charge for updates to help pay the continual costs of staff, etc. And perhaps all these comments about concerns for a perpetual license will reach Bandlab. I suspect one of the pieces of the puzzle missing here is whether posts on this forum make it to the decision makers at Bandlab? If they do, great. If they do not, then it would be great to know how and where to convey these concerns.

Here is a killer feature: It does not crash for me with my i9-14900ks and MSI Godlike Max Z790 with latest bios update and opens swiftly. But wait! There's more! ----- It has kept a lot of familiarity with past renditions, so the learning curve is very minor. And it has all the features I need (and a lot more than I need.) And it looks better and better, the more I use it; even before they provide the "themes update" that they said they are working on. I do not have any problem finding what I need to do fairly quickly. And it has great technical staff (the bakers) that respond on this great board. I am sure there are a lot of people that are really happy with Sonar that are not posting. I am confident that the product will get better and better. I am not discounting the concerns of others. They are entitled to those concerns. But I should also be allowed to post that I am quite happy with it and having made that choice, it works better for my life.

What about mp3 at 320kbps. Seems to go up to 20khz.

I believe there is a post by a staff member indicating that they are working on a theme color option for Sonar. That will be great.

Good list. I would add: 1. Financial stability for the product, instead of bouncing from company to company with all its deterimental impacts. 2. Pay for those that work hard on updates, answering questions here, etc.

Nothing is forever. A lifetime warranty is generally for the lifetime of the company. No matter what bandlab says right now, it can change. If bandlab believes that a subscription model keeps Sonar going in a financially sustainable way, so be it. Nothing stops them from changing that later. So I just choose to be grateful that bandlab picked up cakewalk, that it was free for years, that Sonar exists even with a subscription, that the subscription rate is reasonable, that Cakewalk staff and this forum is fabulous, and that people like Craig Anderton are will to add so much free expertise to any of us. Imho, this is way better than having the product bounce around to different companies.

Thank you sjoens. What through me off is that I right click on the other tools and see the properties, so I thought that was the same for the smart tool. So - double click on the smart tool. Still would be nice to have a right click option on the smart tool for consistency.

Thank you, David. Perhaps the "Sonar" people can work on this in an update.

I would love it if when I am using the Smart Tool to change note length and more, if it was possible to create a "right click option" where I could edit the note parameters, Instead, if I right click on it on a particular note, the note is erased. Perhaps the Smart Tool is configurable in a way that I do not know about.

They might be saying "at this time" because they do not want to be locked into the idea that it will never happen. I find that very understandable. Meanwhile, it is a great product for a fair price.

Well, the sale price for annual membership is a fair price and it comes with Sonar and the membership extras (which I do not care about). $105 for a year - with this discount that expires April 6 - two days from now. Will the price several months from now be less? No one knows. I really appreciate Noel's recent response. He is a class act. And frankly between him and other Bakers, the real extra perk is the fantastic customer support on issues and the like. I know I have made requests privately and they have gone out of their way to help me. I imagine there are many other great things they do that do not get publicized.

Perhaps this may be a way to make requests of Bandlab regarding issues raised on this forum: https://help.bandlab.com/hc/en-us

Lots of good questions here. I think the question about the usability of he software after a subscription expires is a really good one. What about now? If someone pays for the bandlab membership today, gets Sonar, and then cancels the bandlab membership, does Sonar still allow saving, etc? I know with Adobe Pro, if I stop paying my monthly rate, I can no longer use it. But somehow I do not think a DAW with projects that go on for years for various reasons, can be considered akin to Adobe pro. At some reasonable point of payment(s), the product needs to be able to be fully usable without paying more money. Otherwise, people are going to start exporting their projects in a way that other DAWS can read them, etc., and then start using the other DAW that does not require "renewals" to operate. There is no sense saving it solely in a format that may not be available later. This can lead to a lose-lose. If someone knows the best way to address these concerns where someone at Bandlab is open to hearing them, I hope a link gets posted for that.

Nice post. It can be a win-win. Bandlab can get credibility with a professional DAW in its ranks. And hopefully, revenues from Sonar, whether through the subscription and/or other means, goes to Sonar staff and Sonar R&D to make it sustainable and a continued evolving product. Some may go to overhead, but that is ok too, as long as it does not drain the money reasonably needed for Sonar staff and Sonar R&D.

I think so - I said it was " only like a demo at this point, if the monthly (or annual) subsciption is not purchased. But apparently, you are indicating that one can save and exprrt during the three day trial. If that is true, then my post above is inaccurate and I appreciate your correction. Either way, I believe we are both saying the same thing for the subsciption - one gets full access and can save, export, etc. And as I stated above, the subscription can be canceled for whatever reason, including any better option down the road.