Gibson axes Cakewalk /Sonar

[digitalboytn]

Sadly Cakewalk has always had a reputation for being an amateur, looper, cut and paste, non-musician program.

Sadly,your opinion is not entirely correct...

Sonar is a great DAW and even though I stopped supporting it at X3e - purely because Gibson and Henry da Vandal took over the reins - I have never had a issue with Sonar or any of the other Cakewalk products...

And I was using it professionally as my main DAW for many years...

Most people who upgraded to the newer versions of Sonar and have been getting the regular updates,have been very satisfied with the progress...

Well...up until Henry da Vandal pulled the plug...

Unfortunately,in this industry,many people are listening with their eyes and there is so much BS propagated out there,which the amateurs - who make up the bulk of the buying public - believe without question....

Most of them don't have any real depth of knowledge to make their own decisions, so like good little sheep,they just go with the flow and use places like KVR to hold hands and feel good about their collective choices...

Just because Sonar and other Cakewalk products weren't as popular as many of the other choices out there,this shouldn't be a reflection on the quality of the products...

You only need to look at MacDonald's to understand that some of the most popular products out there are absolute crap

[jacqueslacouth]

So I guess that Mac version of Sonar isn’t happening?

I heard from a guy in a bar who knows a guy, that Apple have actually purchased Cakewalk from Gibson just to get hold of the developments for the Mac version to incorporate into the next version of Logic. But it is all very hush hush and nobody is allowed to say anything.

[jacqueslacouth]

You only need to look at MacDonald's to understand that some of the most popular products out there are absolute crap

Sacrilege!!! Burn the Witch!

[pekbro]

Some companies do actually honor the lifetime thing, I just upgraded my Lifetime DaemonTools Pro lic to Ultra for $10. They've honored it for almost 17 yrs or something.

Just sayin...

FL Studio as well of course, think I'm going on 14 yrs with that...

[Constructed Identity]

All we are is dust in the wind

[tonedef71]

Hmm... I wonder how much borrowed time Cakewalk software would have if it got bought up by inMusic Brands. I don't believe inMusic currently has a DAW in its portfolio of products; however, their products tend to be more oriented toward EDM, and I'm not sure how well Sonar is received by the EDM crowd.

I'm also wondering where Craig Anderton will ultimately end up. I seem to recall that he was the person who convinced Gibson Brands to purchase Cakewalk; perhaps he will convince his next employer to do the same.

[cryophonik]

So I guess that Mac version of Sonar isn’t happening?

I heard from a guy in a bar who knows a guy, that Apple have actually purchased Cakewalk from Gibson just to get hold of the developments for the Mac version to incorporate into the next version of Logic. But it is all very hush hush and nobody is allowed to say anything.

Naw, Apple actually purchased Gibson so they could start their own line of guitars. I've already pre-ordered an iPiphone X.

[bungle]

Some companies do actually honor the lifetime thing, I just upgraded my Lifetime DaemonTools Pro lic to Ultra for $10. They've honored it for almost 17 yrs or something.

Just sayin...

FL Studio as well of course, think I'm going on 14 yrs with that...

I think i am 15 or so years in with FlashFXP and WinRAR Pro, and neither of those even promised lifetime uodates upon purchase !!!

[tunafish88]

Sadly Cakewalk has always had a reputation for being an amateur, looper, cut and paste, non-musician program.

Sadly,your opinion is not entirely correct...

Sonar is a great DAW and even though I stopped supporting it at X3e - purely because Gibson and Henry da Vandal took over the reins - I have never had a issue with Sonar or any of the other Cakewalk products...

And I was using it professionally as my main DAW for many years...

Most people who upgraded to the newer versions of Sonar and have been getting the regular updates,have been very satisfied with the progress...

Well...up until Henry da Vandal pulled the plug...

Unfortunately,in this industry,many people are listening with their eyes and there is so much BS propagated out there,which the amateurs - who make up the bulk of the buying public - believe without question....

Most of them don't have any real depth of knowledge to make their own decisions, so like good little sheep,they just go with the flow and use places like KVR to hold hands and feel good about their collective choices...

Just because Sonar and other Cakewalk products weren't as popular as many of the other choices out there,this shouldn't be a reflection on the quality of the products...

You only need to look at MacDonald's to understand that some of the most popular products out there are absolute crap

I do agree with most of what you are saying. FWIW I've been using Cake off and on since it was a DOS based MIDI sequencer program. I feel bad for the employees and the users who are invested in the Cake platform. Time moves on though.

[Jim Roseberry]

You have to remember, cakewalk was willfully shut down by the owner, it didn’t go bankrupt. It’s not like there is no target for a class action suit.

Gibson, no doubt will try to skirt liability by keeping Sonar working as long as it’s conceivably possible.

It was shut down, but it was a subsidiary company. Are they still liable? We live in a world that's only concerned with the bottom line. It's the corporate mentality. They shut it down because it was a loser. It's time to let go and move on. C'est la vie.............

Context is everything...
That 520 Million (with the piper about to call) is what triggered the sell of the Memphis Factory, selling a Gibson Warehouse, letting Craig Anderton go, and halting development on Cakewalk.
If Gibson were not half a billion in debt, we most likely wouldn't be having this discussion.

[chk071]

You only need to look at MacDonald's to understand that some of the most popular products out there are absolute crap

Sacrilege!!! Burn the Witch!

[Jim Roseberry]

Sadly Cakewalk has always had a reputation for being an amateur, looper, cut and paste, non-musician program.

Sadly,your opinion is not entirely correct...

Sonar is a great DAW and even though I stopped supporting it at X3e - purely because Gibson and Henry da Vandal took over the reins - I have never had a issue with Sonar or any of the other Cakewalk products...

And I was using it professionally as my main DAW for many years...

Most people who upgraded to the newer versions of Sonar and have been getting the regular updates,have been very satisfied with the progress...

Back in the day, I used to constantly complain about Cakewalk trying to appeal to the amateur musician... rather than the professional. Used to drive me bonkers... (both direction and lack of certain features)
Over time... I talked to several marketing folks (from various software companies)... and the bottom line is that there aren't enough PROS to keep a growing company in business. A substantial part of surviving and growing is appealing to the much larger base of amateur music creators.

ProTools would not have survived had Avid not distilled it down to the much larger amateur user base.

It's a very delicate balance...

[tunafish88]

Sadly Cakewalk has always had a reputation for being an amateur, looper, cut and paste, non-musician program.

Sadly,your opinion is not entirely correct...

Sonar is a great DAW and even though I stopped supporting it at X3e - purely because Gibson and Henry da Vandal took over the reins - I have never had a issue with Sonar or any of the other Cakewalk products...

And I was using it professionally as my main DAW for many years...

Most people who upgraded to the newer versions of Sonar and have been getting the regular updates,have been very satisfied with the progress...

Back in the day, I used to constantly complain about Cakewalk trying to appeal to the amateur musician... rather than the professional. Used to drive me bonkers... (both direction and lack of certain features)
Over time... I talked to several marketing folks (from various software companies)... and the bottom line is that there aren't enough PROS to keep a growing company in business. A substantial part of surviving and growing is appealing to the much larger base of amateur music creators.

ProTools would not have survived had Avid not distilled it down to the much larger amateur user base.

It's a very delicate balance...

Yep.
You, I, Pete Leoni, Catena and so forth used to bat that one around a lot. The professional market just isn't large enough to sustain profitability. Couple that with the advances in "music creation" which has evolved from musicians who needed to know how to actually play an instrument, to the present where anyone can create a song without knowing anything about music.
That in itself is a huge market. Look at Garageband.

Like it or not, the writing was on the wall for all the DAW companies. Broaden your market base or fail. I think the latest expansion is in the area of tablets and portable devices for music creation.
The times they are a changing.

[GreyLion]

Huh. Cakewalk website is down for me. Anyone else have the same experience?

If so, I'd assume they've taken it offline to massively redo everything to reflect recent events.

Either that, or they're cutting off its head and burying it at the crossroads after putting a stake through its heart.

[ATN69]

Command Center is not working either now.