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BandLab Technologies reveals new brand vision for Cakewalk


Larry Shelby

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Cakewalk Sonar again .. Im one of those with the orig Lifetime Updates plan  ...

First thought on the pricing thing .. It HAS TO BE a subscription. Why?  Well, its now the go to pricing structure across most software I imagine. This for the same reasons as was back in heady days of Sonar with gibson - the model of selling upgrade once every few years is well broken. A monthly sub makes sense as its a far better guaranteed REGULAR revenue flow into a biz so it can continue. And as was promised then, the trade off is you get a very regular Sonar update with bug fixes and new features.

It makes sense to charge for what is a very good piece of creative software. Still think they should look at making it cross platform to Mac even Linux

Edited by aidan o driscoll
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45 minutes ago, Lamia6 said:

Thinking its still in the works because there is no way that can be correct. New 3D fighting games don't even require that much processing power.

But 3D games offload to the GPU. It's a bit apples vs. oranges as CPU instructions are different from GPU instructions, but here are the specs of NVidia's GeForce 40x series cards. (from https://www.nvidia.com/en-gb/geforce/graphics-cards/40-series/)

image.thumb.png.85dae97603f7c972a39dd866d6992cdc.png

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3 hours ago, Anxiousmofo said:

I paid for lifetime SONAR access. Not lifetime access to Gibson's self-tuning wallet robber.

 

3 hours ago, Anxiousmofo said:

Not seeing another penny from me unless they make good on basic Platinum lifetime access first. It's the right thing to do if they want to keep good-will. I don't recall what I paid for being in any way contingent on Gibson existing as parent.

When you buy a lifetime subscription, consider that it's more about the lifetime of that business, not your lifetime. Lifetime software deals are well known to be risky. You don't see too many smooth sailing software companies offering lifetime deals, so it can serve as a kind of red flag that a company is in desperate need of money. But there are no guarantees that any software company -- or any other company -- is going to be around for the next x many years. So if you do a ten year update deal or a lifetime deal, that is the risk any reasonable person needs to keep in mind. 

The company that you paid that money to is not Bandlab and Bandlab has no obligation -- legally or ethically -- to give you free product. I think most of us know what it's like to see a company fold that we've bought from. I've bought products with warranties shortly before companies have gone out of business. I've had customers go out of business before paying their bills. It happens. I wouldn't hold it against Bandlab; they had nothing to do with it. It's not reasonable to blame them and it's also pointless. If you're bitter, and you've already expressed that you are, do yourself a favor and vent over it and move on. If seeing the word "Sonar" triggers bad memories, just use something else and be done with it.  I'm not saying that to be dismissive. I think it's clearly going to be a healthier choice for you. 

Edited by PavlovsCat
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9 minutes ago, bitflipper said:

So do some of your audio plugins, whether they advertise it or not. That's partly why your Melda and FabFilter stuff is so CPU-efficient.

Didn't know that - I thought they only used it for the UI.

Well, I learn something new every day - thanks.

Edited by antler
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7 minutes ago, PavlovsCat said:

 

When you buy a lifetime subscription, you're actually paying for the lifetime of that business, not your lifetime. Lifetime software deals are pretty well known to be pretty risky. You don't see too many smooth sailing software companies offering lifetime deals, so it can serve as a kind of red flag that a company is in desperate need of money. But there are no guarantees that any software company -- or any other company -- is going to be around for the next x many years. So if you do a ten year update deal or a lifetime deal, that is the risk any reasonable person needs to keep in mind. 

The company that you paid that money to is not Bandlab and Bandlab has no obligation -- legally or ethically -- to give you free product. I think most of us know what it's like to see a company fold that we've bought from. I've bought products with warranties shortly before companies have gone out of business. I've had customers go out of business before paying their bills. It happens. I wouldn't hold it against Bandlab; they had nothing to do with it. It's not reasonable to blame them and it's also pointless. If you're bitter, and you've already expressed that you are, do yourself a favor and vent over it and move on. If seeing the word "Sonar" triggers bad memories, just use something else and be done with it.  I'm not saying that to be dismissive. I think it's clearly going to be a healthier choice for you. 

My statements are not about attempting enforcement of the agreement or some such thing; just about the right thing to do.  I'm a legal professional and have a handle on the contractual bit, even if my bravado/snarkiness may obscure that.

I have long since moved on from Cakewalk since the whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth, but  a bit of good-will and client-relations reparations could go a long way to changing my mind.

As you were.

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3 hours ago, Starship Krupa said:

Quote from Meng from 5 years ago:

"our steadfast goal is that former SONAR owners (of all versions) will not need to spend any money to cross-over/cross-grade to the future flagship product"

 

3 hours ago, Starship Krupa said:

... for anyone concerned about having to pay for Cakewalk Sonar, you might cite this if BandLab decide to charge you for the upgrade.

It'd just be a goal they failed to reach, not a promise they made and failed keep. They wouldn't word it that way, but. 

But I don't care about nunna that.. this new orange shade is bu11$#!t

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On 6/6/2023 at 6:20 PM, Christian Jones said:

But I don't care about nunna that.. this new orange shade is bu11$#!t

The struggle is real. #BringBackTheOldOrange 

 

*FTR, I'm just kidding. I don't really care about the shade of orange.

Edited by PavlovsCat
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3 hours ago, Bapu said:

For some tasks I find it VS Code helpful, but I've been using Epsilon (emacs based) editor since the early 90s. Back then it was the only Editor I could find that was Unix/Windows cross platform, as I worked in both. Muscle memory persists to this day.

Thumbs up from this GNU Emacs user.  I remember using Epsilon on Windows (or was it MSDOS?).  Also used mg (back when memory and disk space was more precious).

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I paid for Lifetime Updates. I don't feel like BandLab owes me on that, but they did make the Software (and updates) free for 5 some odd years. You could say they made good on Gibson's final Cakewalk grift for 5 years anyway when they didn't have to. I never got what I paid for from Gibson, but got it free from BandLab for 5 years. Maybe it evens out. No I don't think so. I'm still mad - for Gibson doing me like this and for this new shade of orange.  But Cakewalk has always been my only daw since Pro Audio 8. I'll maybe pay for it if they don't change it up into a whole new daw,  but I'm gonna be real mad if it's like $400-500

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9 minutes ago, ALC said:

Thumbs up from this GNU Emacs user.  I remember using Epsilon on Windows (or was it MSDOS?).  Also used mg (back when memory and disk space was more precious).

yeah...

 

My first computer programming was on mainframes before they even had monitors. just punch cards and printouts. I even did some early "computer music" that way in 1969!

My first DAW ran a dual 5 1/4" floppy system. Hard drives were not yet available. Somewhere around 1985 They finally appeared with 5 and 10 Megabyte capacity!

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7 minutes ago, craigb said:

I keep wondering if I was the only one seeing the prices on their website...

 

[Ok, it wasn't on their website, but on KVR's...

https://www.kvraudio.com/news/bandlab-technologies-reveals-new-brand-vision-for-cakewalk-57991

]

Yeah that's old Gibson version prices. Lol there's actually a couple places where you can still buy it in the box 

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1 hour ago, craigb said:

Also $499 for SONAR Platinum (or $14.99 / month) and $499 for SONAR X3 Producer...

Sonar Platinum to the lifetime upgrade was $199 in 2016, $99 credit if had upgraded to Platinum in the previous 12 months. 

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