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

[HOOK]

You guys got me freaked out.  I'm frantically searching my attic for this in case everything  goes to sh*t.  I know it's here somewhere....

Edited September 13, 2023 by HOOK

[user 905133]

8 hours ago, Lord Tim said:

. . . 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. [emphasis added]

  Could you clarify this ^^^^?  It used to be that we purchased licenses for new versions of SONAR if we wanted or we could use the last version we paid for.  For example, I paid for SONAR 3, SONAR 5, SONAR 6, SONAR 8.5, SONAR X1 (producer, expanded IIRC) and SONAR X3 (two versions, one for me and the Studio version for my kids' computer).

IIRC under the Gibson "Lifetime Update" Promotion, that could be paid off over time, but was that available before?

8 hours ago, Lord Tim said:

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.  [emphasis added]

And let us all say, Amen!!!!

[Jonathan Sasor]

1 hour ago, User 905133 said:

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.

Respectfully, I don't think we need this here either. People have expressed their thoughts on prices from the moment the new version was announced. We've been around the block a time or two before, so we're pretty familiar with how people feel. We can't comment publicly on price points right now, but we have one in mind that I think most people here will find more than fair, as Noel has mentioned elsewhere. Details will be forthcoming when things are finalized, and nothing is going to change overnight. We just ask that people have a little patience while we do what we need to do on our end. Thanks!

[Alan Tubbs]

Cakewalk has had several different plans for payment.  
 

Mostly you just bought a lease of the software (you don’t own the software and can’t use the code itself ).  You can, tho continue to use the software until MS breaks something.  This usually came with a years worth of updates.

cakewalk has sold versions of their DAW with effects and softsynths included, or just plain.  Those cost more but continue to work to MS breaks something.  Updates incl for the year.

and the most problematic was rent to own.  You sent in a monthly payment for 12 months and then you owned the last version of cakewalk you paid for.   It didn’t die and leave you stranded.  Why this is so hard to grasp is beyond me.  Maybe if cake called it layaway.

 

[Jonathan Sasor]

43 minutes ago, User 905133 said:

  Could you clarify this ^^^^?  It used to be that we purchased licenses for new versions of SONAR if we wanted or we could use the last version we paid for.  For example, I paid for SONAR 3, SONAR 5, SONAR 6, SONAR 8.5, SONAR X1 (producer, expanded IIRC) and SONAR X3 (two versions, one for me and the Studio version for my kids' computer).

IIRC under the Gibson "Lifetime Update" Promotion, that could be paid off over time, but was that available before?

SONAR Platinum launched with a "Membership" program where you could either pay monthly (where 12 months of membership would get you a perpetual license up to that 12 month point), or you could pay for that 12 months up front which was essentially just as you would with buying an upgrade from X2 to X3. 

[Lord Tim]

At the risk of this turning into the fiasco that the new product announcement thread was, I think that was a solid model.

You could buy a year outright and you get to keep that version, just like how buying a new version of any other software outright is, but you also had the option of paying that off over 12 months too, so for people who didn't have $X to spend on software outright, it became a more affordable monthly thing - rent to own, basically. And unlike subscriptions that basically stops the moment you stopped paying (like pretty much all of them), after you've grabbed that 12 months it keeps working...

There's not a lot of downsides to that model!

Dunno what you guys have planned for the new model yet (clearly you can't talk about it yet) but if it's similar to that, it works for me.

[user 905133]

21 minutes ago, Jonathan Sasor said:

Respectfully, I don't think we need this here either. People have expressed their thoughts on prices from the moment the new version was announced. We've been around the block a time or two before, so we're pretty familiar with how people feel. We can't comment publicly on price points right now, but we have one in mind that I think most people here will find more than fair, as Noel has mentioned elsewhere. Details will be forthcoming when things are finalized, and nothing is going to change overnight. We just ask that people have a little patience while we do what we need to do on our end. Thanks!

I agree that a poll is not needed. But as long as anxiety-ridden worry warts are using all sorts of manipulative tactics to try to get what they want, having a poll could be a fun, participatory thing that will get all the whiners to stop being so selfish in advocating for what they want.

If you have seen some of my other posts, I previously articulated positions that reflects much of what you said (wait and see what happens before jumping to conclusions, trust the team that has previously shown respect and loyalty to SONAR/Cakewalk users, etc.  Some forum member have agreed. However, some people that don't have the level of trust I have are being overly vocal IMO.  A poll as I described would level the playing field by enabling everyone to voice their opinion and to do so without all the anxiety, negativity, etc.

Who knows, maybe your reply will achieve the same end.  If so, I'm cool with that!!!

Clarification: I never intended for the poll to be used to make decisions--just to allow more people to voice their preferences and "to get it out of their systems."  

[Lord Tim]

Jon kind of gave a fairly definitive answer there to some stuff though:

26 minutes ago, Jonathan Sasor said:

We can't comment publicly on price points right now, but we have one in mind that I think most people here will find more than fair, as Noel has mentioned elsewhere. Details will be forthcoming when things are finalized, and nothing is going to change overnight. We just ask that people have a little patience while we do what we need to do on our end.

So yeah, as I mentioned earlier, we just have to sit tight for now and wait for the announcements.  

[user 905133]

28 minutes ago, Lord Tim said:

Jon kind of gave a fairly definitive answer there to some stuff though:

So yeah, as I mentioned earlier, we just have to sit tight for now and wait for the announcements.  

Yup.  This is what some of us have been saying all along.  Maybe this time . . . .

 

[John Vere]

18 hours ago, T Boog said:

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"?

I know as much as anybody else.  

The problem is information is scattered amongst a dozen threads. But Yes one of the developers mentioned that there will be different version. And why not? 

My educated purely speculative guess is we are about to return to how things were with Sonar Platinum series. 

My video explains some of this. https://youtu.be/dJBT3cs8ILw

But since I made the video I have learned a few new little tidbits.

 

Totally not official but mentioned by staff:

Free starter version, ( possibly like Pro Tools Intro? )  

Projects from Cakewalk will be transferable to Next. At this point it is not clear if this will be direct. As in a  CWP will open in Next or that if the project needs to be uploaded to Bandlab and then brought back to Next. 

What this implies is absolutely nobody needs to change DAW's based on financial situations. 

This is the Old Sonar Pricing anyone want to speculate on how close this will be to the new one!  If you go to that page   https://taylor.cakewalk.com/Products/SONAR/Versions#start   and scroll down you will also see how all the features and add-ons were only found in Splat. Someone straitened me out when I said we had been using a $500  DAW but  they were correct and it has actually been Sonar Professional because of the missing add-ons. So CbB is only a $200 DAW. 

But here's the catch. Nobody else has mentioned this so not sure if it crossed your mind. All of use long time users that owned Splat got the goodies already. We paid for them back then. So unless they sweeten the pot with something we don't have, we might only have to purchase Sonar Artist or Professional.  Of course only using old names as an example. 

 

 

Edited September 13, 2023 by JohnnyV

[Lord Tim]

But just to be clear, this was a product from a different time so we shouldn't infer that this is what the product line or actual prices will be either. John is just using that as an example.

[John Vere]

Good point, Yes folks please don't look at that and think this is real. Just an example of what is possible if we do have versions. It also gives you examples of how adding more goodies is really what you are paying the extra for. 

 

Edited September 13, 2023 by JohnnyV

[Magic Russ]

On 9/7/2023 at 4:13 PM, Jonathan Sasor said:

SONAR went from SONAR 1-8 to SONAR X1-3 to SONAR Platinum, all being new versions of the application with new features. This is no different in that regard. There's a lot of additional work that is currently going into Sonar that is not currently in Cakewalk by BandLab which absolutely constitutes it as a new version of the app. 

Can we talk about what is going into Sonar?

[OutrageProductions]

51 minutes ago, Magic Russ said:

Can we talk about what is going into Sonar?

Could anyone please tell me what Santa Clause will put under the tree for me?

I know that it's only September, but I really don't want to be surprised or impressed.

Or grateful. ?

[Byron Dickens]

6 hours ago, User 905133 said:

I agree that a poll is not needed. But as long as anxiety-ridden worry warts are using all sorts of manipulative tactics to try to get what they want, having a poll could be a fun, participatory thing that will get all the whiners to stop being so selfish in advocating for what they want.

That's their own damn fault. Who told them to get all wound around the axle about things they have no control over and that haven't even been decided yet?

[Byron Dickens]

I hope it does list at $499.

Might weed out some of the crowd who are shocked and upset to hear that recording takes an actual expenditure of time, money and effort.

Won't do anything about the crybabies with an entitlement mentality who are still sniveling about what they are "owed." They'd still bitch and moan if it was $1.

[Will.]

Im just gonna be the whistle blower here and dont care. The price will be $5 people - 5 Monopoly dollars in currency to be exact. ?

Just came from the ATM. Make it rain.??

[user 905133]

 

7 hours ago, User 905133 said:

7 hours ago, Lord Tim said:

Jon kind of gave a fairly definitive answer there to some stuff though:

So yeah, as I mentioned earlier, we just have to sit tight for now and wait for the announcements.  

Yup.  This is what some of us have been saying all along.  Maybe this time . . . .

Seven hours later . . .

29 minutes ago, Byron Dickens said:

I hope it does list at $499.

1 minute ago, Will. said:

Im just gonna be the whistle blower here and dont care. The price will be $5 people - 5 Monopoly dollars in currency to be exact. ?

Just came from the ATM. Make it rain.??

See how much fun it is when everyone gets to chime in? Thanks for proving my point, guys. ? 

 

[Mark Morgon-Shaw]

7 hours ago, JohnnyV said:

I Someone straitened me out when I said we had been using a $500  DAW but  they were correct and it has actually been Sonar Professional because of the missing add-ons. So CbB is only a $200 DAW. 

 

Yeah it's the old marketing tactic of having a really expsensive top tier that you sell realtively few of so the $200 option looks like a bargain in comparison and was likely the most popular. 

[Jonathan Sasor]

7 hours ago, JohnnyV said:

Projects from Cakewalk will be transferable to Next. At this point it is not clear if this will be direct. As in a  CWP will open in Next or that if the project needs to be uploaded to Bandlab and then brought back to Next. 

The apps have a shared intermediary format. It can't do everything as there isn't 1:1 feature parity between Sonar and Next, but it does handle quite a few things, much more than uploading to bandlab.