Paying for Sonar subscription

[Fernando Costa]

I would like to know if by paying for a Sonar Year`s subscription,  and I stop payment after the subscription period, will I still have access to Sonar?. 
In other words, if I can no longer pay, will I be able to carry on using Sonar?

This is why I don`t like subscriptions. 

A few reputable  DWAs offer this option. You pay for the latest version. You decide when to upgrade. 

Edited March 26 by Fernando Costa

[Wookiee]

@Fernando Costa no, to put it simply, it is the nature of a subscription, whilst you pay you access the software, I believe Adobe is the same stop paying software stops working.

However you will still have access to CbB which will still open your Sonar projects, but with probably some reduced functionality. 

[Terry Kelley]

You are renting it, not buying it.

[Bass Guitar]

It's true that S1 and Mixcraft both have a rent to own option. You keep it forever after a year.

But right now Sonar is part of a larger package so that's totally a different animal. I see this is what a lot of people are objecting too. 

But then- Take note that at the sale price of $100 per year Bandlabs membership is by far a better deal than both S1 ( $262) and MIxcraft ( $180 )  Pro Tools Studio ( $311) and Ultimate ( $631) Even at full price Bandlabs membership is a better deal. 

And personally getting 2 Daws for the price of one is a bonus.  Next is a cool little Daw that I find myself using a lot. I just recorded my 45 minute live set none stop. Added a few effects and I'm done. I wish it had better meters. But I had Melda. 

My only real concern is Sonars future. Will it still be around in 5 years? Everybody has ether changed Daw's or is still using Cakewalk. 

[noynekker]

I'm stuck on monthly subscription, and it's simply costing way more per year than my other DAW, which I can keep using, if I don't decide to keep upgrading. Especially wearing thin, since I don't really use most of the salient new Sonar features. Sometimes I think I just continue to pay out of nostalgia, familiarity, support for the Cake bakers. The BandLab extras don't work for me. When the perpetual version comes, I'm there in a heartbeat, if it never comes . . . _ _ _

[Misha]

Wookiee mentions Adobe, but not the other.... 95% of similar software., where at least, as rightfully mentioned you are able to keep last version that you paid for. 

Adobe Audition is about 2% of global DAW users. Same goes for Cakewalk/Sonar. - about 2%.  That's what internets say. A median,  "optimistic"  guestimate, both combined -  5% of all DAW users. 

Some of us still have hope, that BL will hear users that refuse to rent.... 

[mettelus]

On 3/26/2025 at 8:23 PM, Bass Guitar said:

It's true that S1 and Mixcraft both have a rent to own option. You keep it forever after a year.

This was the same model that SONAR Platinum had. The downside to this is people can wait for the release of a feature they really want before buying a copy; not only do they get everything they skipped in the version they buy into, but also the next 12 months of updates (whether they care about them or not). In a market that has already matured, it is a liability to employ such a model. To put this into an extreme example... how many people get excited (or care) about new word processing features? I can do everything I ever needed in Word 2007 as easily as the "current" version and not miss a beat.

The demographics of the market also needs to be considered. The younger generation is very much "right now" focused, and the "AI" freight train is coming up fast... It won't be too long before one can hum/sing a melody into a cell phone and it can be snapped to key/tempo and build upon without any music theory knowledge whatsoever. The listening market is already saturated, but the future will have an even greater disparity between "live performers" and "software musicians."

[Will.]

59 minutes ago, mettelus said:

It won't be too long before one can hum/sing a melody into a cell phone and it can be snapped to key/tempo 

Meh! That two years old already. It came and went again. Theres alot of Tiktok videos out with various software. AI is losing grip amongst the teens when it comes to music in the last 12 months. Its the older generations thats stumbling upon this today trying to figure it out. 

I work regularly with teen producers and artist in the EDM and HipHop world, when I stumble across something I think its new - they laugh at me and say its old and im not even that old. 😂

I havent even fully tried this feature out, but apparently, Stem Separation is old now too  - so I've been told the past week. 🤔

Edited Friday at 05:44 AM by Will.

[msmcleod]

2 hours ago, mettelus said:

It won't be too long before one can hum/sing a melody into a cell phone and it can be snapped to key/tempo and build upon without any music theory knowledge whatsoever. 

IIRC - I'm pretty sure CWPA had mono audio to MIDI back in the 90's.  I remember being a miffed when it was removed, as sometimes you could "lose" a melody if you hit the wrong key on the keyboard when trying to replicate what was in your head... much easier to just hum it.

[Hill62]

On 3/26/2025 at 8:23 PM, Bass Guitar said:

It's true that S1 and Mixcraft both have a rent to own option. You keep it forever after a year.

But right now Sonar is part of a larger package so that's totally a different animal. I see this is what a lot of people are objecting too. 

But then- Take note that at the sale price of $100 per year Bandlabs membership is by far a better deal than both S1 ( $262) and MIxcraft ( $180 )  Pro Tools Studio ( $311) and Ultimate ( $631) Even at full price Bandlabs membership is a better deal. 

And personally getting 2 Daws for the price of one is a bonus.  Next is a cool little Daw that I find myself using a lot. I just recorded my 45 minute live set none stop. Added a few effects and I'm done. I wish it had better meters. But I had Melda. 

My only real concern is Sonars future. Will it still be around in 5 years? Everybody has ether changed Daw's or is still using Cakewalk. 

Excellent points about the costs of keeping other products current, and the value price point for the Sonar subscription. I always upgraded previous iterations of Sonar/Cakewalk and I think most loyal customers did. Subscription or not I was paying to stay current annually.  SPLAT was a great pricing model to own what you had paid for up to that point, but was easily gamed by the community and I understand it not being sustainable. I prefer subscription and regular updates as opposed to buying a new version each year,. and relevant updates only coming out annually. I do understand some wanting that option, but the product would suffer imo.

As far as the current iteration, I had to let my subscription expire to finally get the best value pricing. I hope it becomes easier to continue subscriptions at a value price without having to let it expire. That is the only thing that has struck me as a bit disconnected towards the loyal client base.

The revenue is what will keep Sonar's future relevant and supported.

I use all 3 products (CWBBL, Sonar and Next, as well as the add-ins) and it is an excellent package. Best value in the market by far imo with the value pricing.

[Misha]

10 hours ago, mettelus said:

The demographics of the market also needs to be considered.

Sure, that's why ~1/2 DAWs have subscription models aside from perpetual. But that (subscription) mainly has to do with number of plugins and content that is available to users. Cloud and all that bologna.  I sincerely doubt that good % of people are just renting core program. Recently Ashwin offered a straw of hope, mentioning that number of plugins are being worked on and maybe they will squeeze perpetual licenses when they have some new bells and whistles ready.   

Hopefully, instability of global markets will turn some gears in BL world to come up with licenses sooner than later, while people still have some money to spend. 

 

Hill62,  I am very interested how your tone would change if lets say price goes up to something that you are not comfortable with or something will change in  the program itself that will completely make it unacceptable to you, or company exchanges hands and shuts brand down.  What happens to your projects, time and money you had invested in renting?

Edited Friday at 02:50 PM by Misha

[pwalpwal]

i understand the sub strategy, but at the end of a sub i'd expect to be able to keep using the last version in that sub, a la studio one/mixcraft (free cbb won't last forever and doesn't support the newest sonar-only features)

/fwiw