New FREE version/tier of the venerable Cakewalk Sonar

[Doug Steinschneider]

14 hours ago, Noel Borthwick said:

Completely incorrect information here. There is no way the program will switch from an activated state to a non active state mid session. The OP ignored the warning on opening the app and continued to work and saved much later.

Wow, good catch, I didn't think of that. This particular user has done things like that right in front of me. That is probably what happened.

EDIT - I went back over the whole thread and have to credit @Amberwolf for making that call immediately after I posted!

Edited Saturday at 02:10 PM by Doug Steinschneider

[Mr No Name]

isn't it a ballache to have to keep activating a software ?

[CSistine]

3 hours ago, Mr No Name said:

isn't it a ballache to have to keep activating a software ?

This is exactly the point that many don't understand! Especially re-activation is a PITA! I've had a lot of software turning suddenly to non-authorized, even if I did not install any new hardware!

I am a fan of the old authorization way (like Sonar X3) as some probably have understood. 😆 IMHO it's the only fair way to the customer.

But nowadays there are many companies that try to enslave their users using some kind of obscure, murky online authorization and installation to manipulate them, to snatch their money and to force them updates. This is even true for so called "free" software. Just look how many don't clarify on their sites how authorization is managed, nor what is going on behind the scene! This is also the reason why I prefer iLok over online authorization, it is definitely more transparent and clearly only used for authorization!

[Amberwolf]

22 hours ago, Jacques Boileau said:

He didn't like your post, he gave it a thumb down. If you click on the icon it will reveal who gave the likes and who gave the thumb down.

Ah, thanks for pointing that out.  I had the icons themselves hidden by the browser (so I can enlarge all the text to be able to read it without making all the graphics gigantic too), so I didn't see them; just the numbers of reactions).   Sorry about that.

[Jeremy Oakes]

On 7/19/2025 at 8:50 PM, CSistine said:

This is exactly the point that many don't understand! Especially re-activation is a PITA! I've had a lot of software turning suddenly to non-authorized, even if I did not install any new hardware!

I am a fan of the old authorization way (like Sonar X3) as some probably have understood. 😆 IMHO it's the only fair way to the customer.

But nowadays there are many companies that try to enslave their users using some kind of obscure, murky online authorization and installation to manipulate them, to snatch their money and to force them updates. This is even true for so called "free" software. Just look how many don't clarify on their sites how authorization is managed, nor what is going on behind the scene! This is also the reason why I prefer iLok over online authorization, it is definitely more transparent and clearly only used for authorization!

Oooh  the theories - I’ll get my tin hat then…….

FYI once Sonar, be it free or sub, is installed, it will phone home and be authorised in the back ground. (Note those two words). 99 times out of 100 you will have no need to intervene. And It cannot suddenly « de-authorise » itself. 

BTW iLoks can get damaged and lost, not for me.

Fair to the customer, hmmm, there are two sides to that coin. The side i don’t think you’ve grasped is that subs help pay the Devs for future updates, fixes etc - whether we like them or not, subs are a way to invest in a company and are here to stay. YMMV of course.