RIP Cakewalk

[plexuss]

Cakewalk Announcement
Noel Borthwick [Cakewalk]

After 30 years of Cakewalk's long and illustrious history, I am saddened to announce that we ceased new product development and reduced overall operations this past Friday. You can read the formal announcement from Gibson here, which states that this decision was made in order to align with the company’s acquisition strategy, focused on growth in the global consumer electronics audio business.

Working at Cakewalk has been an incredibly positive experience for all of us who worked here. This can largely be attributed to the incredible people who worked here, past and present. I've been at Cakewalk 19 years and I've never come across a more dedicated and talented group of people. Our greatest motivation was the joy in producing software for an astonishingly passionate base of artists, musicians and producers who used our software to create music on a daily basis.

So what does this mean for you, our loyal customers who've been with us all these years? Cakewalk's servers will continue to operate, you will still have access to all of your online assets, and your software will continue to work normally. A dedicated team has been established during this transition period to continue to serve the Cakewalk community. Monthly updates to SONAR from Cakewalk will however cease during this time. We will continue to post notifications to keep you informed with any relevant developments. A sincere thank you to everyone in the Cakewalk community.

Sincerely,
Noel Borthwick,
CTO, Cakewalk

http://www.cakewalk.com/announcement

http://forum.cakewalk.com/m/tm.aspx?m=3687511

http://www.cakewalk.com/Gibson-Announcement

[Daags]

Sucks for SONAR users in particular ...

[ATS]

wow and they just sold lifetime updates sonar lol

[Examigan]

"Cakewalk's servers will continue to operate, you will still have access to all of your online assets, and your software will continue to work normally."

Yes but for how long...6 months? ...12 months? How long will they keep up the servers needed to re-download if needed, or authenticate a re-installation? Can't last forever. They must have known this was happening for a while now, but then went ahead recently and had a sale.

[Daags]

"Cakewalk's servers will continue to operate, you will still have access to all of your online assets, and your software will continue to work normally."

Yes but for how long...6 months? ...12 months? How long will they keep up the servers needed to re-download if needed, or authenticate a re-installation? Can't last forever. They must have known this was happening for a while now, but then went ahead recently and had a sale.

So long as any C/R protected software is given a final update with serial-only protection, I don't mind the servers shutting down. You know how cheap a 1tb is these days ?

[deastman]

I always wondered how long my lifetime updates would last. Now I know.

This is Opcode all over again, which they swore up and down it wouldn’t be.

Now where to go? Cubase?

[progtronic]

Yeah, I totally fell for that "lifetime" updates thing...

[hardwired]

Sad to see Cakewalk go...they've done some good things (Project 5) Sucks to see anyone potentially lose their job

Excuse my ignorance as I've jumped off the Sonar train @ X2 but isn't the authorization (for the full product) non-machine dependent?? Meaning it wont matter if you reinstall on a different machine. Seem to recall it being that way. If not, hope they release a version that anyone who owns it can use it on any of their machines (until it's broken by the OS of course)

[ATS]

Yeah! I still use a couple of their synths. I hope they make it where I can authorize them in the future. I reinstalled windows about once a year.

[ATS]

OH MY GOD. Their store is still taking orders! And not only that, taking orders for the "Annual" cakewalk product.

Also still hiring apparantly

"Careers
Cakewalk is growing: we're expanding our existing product line, and working on bold, new technologies for the future. If you bring a passion for art and technology, prefer innovation to stagnation, and have a desire to provide customers with a premium music creation experience, you'll fit right in. Cakewalk believes in a flat organization, meaning everyone gets a say in our future and all ideas are welcome. We love people who can think quickly, have a thirst for learning new stuff, and can roll up their sleeves and get a job done."

And the hot potatoes starting

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Cakewalk-Sonar ... SwdnZaFLkN

[Teksonik]

Their Lifetime not yours...........

I jumped off the Sonar train at X3 but I feel sorry for those who played along.

Let's see how they treat their customers on the way out the door.

[glokraw]

Hey Gibson, sell the code to someone who will use it, or open-source the code,
no need for it to die, for some beancounter's 'just because'.
It would be at least a small show of respect for those who spent
hard-earned money, and many hundreds man-hours learning
and using your products. I for one love Dimension Pro, Rapture, and z3ta+,
no need to leave the code in a dumpster somewhere.

[Bhan]

My lifetime update may only last until my DAW dies. But or AND- it's still the best DAW overall.

[lotus2035]

Hey Gibson, sell the code to someone who will use it, or open-source the code,
no need for it to die, for some beancounter's 'just because'.
It would be at least a small show of respect for those who spent
hard-earned money, and many hundreds man-hours learning
and using your products. I for one love Dimension Pro, Rapture, and z3ta+,
no need to leave the code in a dumpster somewhere.

They should sell their code to Magix who could integrate them into the upcoming ACID Pro versions.

[ATN69]

Amazing news. I got the impression that Cakewalk was one of the big and successful in this business. That was obviously not the case.