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Where is the new Cakewalk Sonar?


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I do hope the company gets on with the official release soon. This process isn't stopping me from working on music, but I do like to be able to make plans for what tools I'll be working with, and would prefer my learning time to be in the context of something I'm confident I will continue to use.

I really like the new Sonar. I feel ready to get on with it and start using it in earnest. I don't do subscriptions for software, so I'm waiting for a full release before spending money on it. I'm hoping the company lands on some kind of hybrid pricing model where people who want to subscribe can do so, but people who want a perpetual license can do that, even if major updates later are paid as well. In that case, I would hope for a modest price for the license.

The main reason I started using CbB is that I can't do the $3/4/500+ pricing of the other major DAWs, especially now as I'm entering a time of surging family expenses. I think for a DAW newly entering the paid marketplace, the relevant competition is not so much Pro Tools as it is Reaper.

Cheers to the fine development folks on these forums who have to watch us all gab about the marketing side of things.

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it took some hours before deciding to get the $104 membership on BL. but i waited a month before downloading the latest versions of Sonar and Next because of all the reports of major issues. then installed updated versions a few days ago. and now some reason the Softube FET compressor Pro Channel is now working... LOL. otherwise the Sonar has been rock solid even running projects i was getting a bit twitchy response on in CbB (a rare thing). we'll see how it progresses before i decide the stay or not, but for $104 for 8 months to try it out - not a big deal at the moment...

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7 minutes ago, Glenn Stanton said:

but for $104 for 8 months to try it out - not a big deal at the moment...

I would likely do same if it was clearly announced that non-sub licenses are coming 2025. That way I would show my support and patiently wait for the promised license availability. As of now, Bandlab is doing something very murky. I have not seen anything like this with other companies.

Started to dig into Studio One.  Not a DAW of my choice, but the closest to Cakewalk workflow. Will wait till demo lasts before buying it. Perhaps Bandlab will squeeze some kind of answer before then.

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1 hour ago, Red Four said:

I do hope the company gets on with the official release soon.....

Didn't we just get the "OFFICIAL RELEASE"?   Are people misinterpreting the lack of a dedicated, splashy  announcement webpage? 

I honestly assumed the new Sonar page WAS the announcement.  The more confusion I see here the less I'm sure...

I suppose I can wait until someone starts a "New Sonar Release" topic at the KVR forums for confirmation.

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On 6/10/2024 at 7:30 AM, Glenn Stanton said:

i think we should remember - Bandlab bought the SONAR product intellectual property from Gibson ... 

so, it seems odd that people have an expectation that besides the IP bought, that the committment made by another entity (Gibson et al) was also "purchased"...

That is a tidy likely story, except it seems that Bandlab also acquired the customer base, and that  is a stretch on "intellectual property."   I have no insight into that.  However, I notice these things.

  • The Cakewalk Command Center correctly operates (though now tied to legacy.cakewalk.com) and ties to my original Cakewalk registration.
  • The web page that I reach by clicking on my Cakewalk User ID takes me to a page of information about my Cakewalk (Not Bandlad) account.
  • All of my Cakewalk registrations and license information are preserved there.
  • "About" of my latest install of SONAR Platinum tells me about my perpetual license.
  • The "legal" button tells me about 3rd party licenses that apply to that product.  (I notice there is no mention of Roland components though.)

I am not disputing whether or not Bandlab has any obligations to me.  I just suggest that the situation does seem a bit murkier around the idea of obtaining only intellectual property in a sell-off by Gibson.

SONAR-2024-06-13-1109-CommandCenterUser.png

SONAR-2024-06-13-1110--CreativeAccountUser.png

SONAR-2024-06-13-1113-CreativeRegistrations.png

SONAR-2024-06-13-1114-SONAR-About.png

SONAR-2024-06-13-1115-SONAR-3rd-Party.png

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Additionally, Bandlab obviously purchased the rights  to the Cakewalk brand, and hired a number of the employees, so I agree that saying they just bought the Sonar product intellectual property is not entirely accurate.

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13 hours ago, ptheisen said:

Additionally, Bandlab obviously purchased the rights  to the Cakewalk brand, and hired a number of the employees, so I agree that saying they just bought the Sonar product intellectual property is not entirely accurate.

I would say Bandlab hiring a number of the Ex-employees is more accurate

Edited by Bristol_Jonesey
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2 hours ago, orcmid said:

That is a tidy likely story, except it seems that Bandlab also acquired the customer base, and that  is a stretch on "intellectual property."   I have no insight into that.  However, I notice these things.

  • The Cakewalk Command Center correctly operates (though now tied to legacy.cakewalk.com) and ties to my original Cakewalk registration.
  • The web page that I reach by clicking on my Cakewalk User ID takes me to a page of information about my Cakewalk (Not Bandlad) account.
  • All of my Cakewalk registrations and license information are preserved there.
  • "About" of my latest install of SONAR Platinum tells me about my perpetual license.
  • The "legal" button tells me about 3rd party licenses that apply to that product.  (I notice there is no mention of Roland components though.)

I am not disputing whether or not Bandlab has any obligations to me.  I just suggest that the situation does seem a bit murkier around the idea of obtaining only intellectual property in a sell-off by Gibson.

SONAR-2024-06-13-1109-CommandCenterUser.png

SONAR-2024-06-13-1110--CreativeAccountUser.png

SONAR-2024-06-13-1113-CreativeRegistrations.png

SONAR-2024-06-13-1114-SONAR-About.png

SONAR-2024-06-13-1115-SONAR-3rd-Party.png

That sounds like a TSA (Transitional Services Agreement) which is not uncommon if a company acquires another's IP.  I work with these all the time and the Gibson/Bandlab one seems exceedingly good compared with others I've encountered.  A TSA does not come with obligaions for the purchasing company though.

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and i would note wrt the "customers" - Bandlab didn't seem obligated to keep the older SONAR site and etc up and running - but did at their expense and presumably because yes, they were looking to keep the customer base as intact as possible  - makes really good business sense. does anyone think Gibson would have kept the product site and forums going after they took the money and ran?

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I’m hoping they will eventually offer that we can transfer all our legacy products over to the new Cakewalk Product Manager. 
I got a reply back in the fall where a staff member said I wasn’t too far off base in that regard. 
Then they can kill the old server. 
 

You must admit they have been very good about all the old Gibson accounts and they even spent time and money on the CCC last fall and updated it.
I have a feeling that this is purely the Cakewalk development team looking after the long time loyal supporters and nothing to do with Bandlab. 
It’s been said over and over to not to bother and come here and complain about the Membership deal. I doubt if our wonderful dedicated developers would have chosen that. 
I bet they do care to loose even just one of us, but they have little or no power over the money part of this. 

Edited by John Vere
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16 hours ago, John Vere said:

I’m hoping they will eventually offer that we can transfer all our legacy products over to the new Cakewalk Product Manager. 
I got a reply back in the fall where a staff member said I wasn’t too far off base in that regard. 
Then they can kill the old server. 
 

You must admit they have been very good about all the old Gibson accounts and they even spent time and money on the CCC last fall and updated it.
I have a feeling that this is purely the Cakewalk development team looking after the long time loyal supporters and nothing to do with Bandlab. 
It’s been said over and over to not to bother and come here and complain about the Membership deal. I doubt if our wonderful dedicated developers would have chosen that. 
I bet they do care to loose even just one of us, but they have little or no power over the money part of this. 

Hello John

I have an old copy of Sonar 7 on disk, do you think I will be able to activate it once again?

when I bought a new music computer (win xp installed) I was unable to access the activation servers.

I have recently started going back to 32 bit daws and using j bridge.

Would be interesting to see if I could get it running on win 10.

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3 hours ago, Mr No Name said:

Hello John

I have an old copy of Sonar 7 on disk, do you think I will be able to activate it once again?

when I bought a new music computer (win xp installed) I was unable to access the activation servers.

I have recently started going back to 32 bit daws and using j bridge.

Would be interesting to see if I could get it running on win 10.

With the existing SONAR 7 serial and reg code, the app will authorize, but that's a pretty dated version at this point. Older versions do not require an auth server, but i would expect some issues with an app from... 17 years ago, well before we officially supported win 10.

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As Jonathan has said that would be way more trouble than it would be worth. Sonar X3 was considered the first of the X series to be stable. I wouldn’t even want to go back to Splat.  
And why worry? We are now informed that there’s no plan to end Cakewalk. 
 

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I don't know why some people are still so concerned about this.  They laid out the plan yesterday and it seems to be good news.  Relax people!

?John B

Edited by Johnbee58
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50 minutes ago, John Vere said:

As Jonathan has said that would be way more trouble than it would be worth. Sonar X3 was considered the first of the X series to be stable. I wouldn’t even want to go back to Splat.  
And why worry? We are now informed that there’s no plan to end Cakewalk. 
 

Because it has to be re-authorized now after 25 days only! That's enough reason to be worried!

I tested my X3 on W10 and there are no issues so far! Platinum is even better, but for sure there are some things I am missing from CbB, luckily no show stoppers!

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2 hours ago, CSistine said:

Because it has to be re-authorized now after 25 days only! That's enough reason to be worried!

I tested my X3 on W10 and there are no issues so far! Platinum is even better, but for sure there are some things I am missing from CbB, luckily no show stoppers!

I just read in another thread we are informed that the nag screen will be removed soon. This implies full access to Cakewalk forever But we will see. 

Edited by John Vere
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3 hours ago, Johnbee58 said:

I don't know why some people are still so concerned about this.  They laid out the plan yesterday and it seems to be good news.  Relax people!

?John B

What plan?  I've been trying to keep up with the various relevant threads, but I must have missed the apparent "good news".  Can someone provide a link please?

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12 minutes ago, JonD said:

What plan?  I've been trying to keep up with the various relevant threads, but I must have missed the apparent "good news".  Can someone provide a link please?

would be so cool if it was simple pay to own with serial number authentication. that era seems to have passed at cakewalk sadly X3 was the last to do so. Reaper still does it.

even cloud based authentication seems iffy longterm nowadays when daw market is so saturated and companies under massive pressure. I see magix who make samplitude are in financial trouble now eg

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