Cubase Crossgrade for Cakewalk Sonar Users / 50% off

[Zombie Queen]

Yeah, so I go for the crossgrade and the next thing I know Yamaha is getting a new CEO, who decides they need to concentrate on motorcycles... and there goes Steinberg.

[SLiC]

Demo/trial for 9.5 Pro is not available yet?

I don't remember them ever having a demo for Cubase? Is there one for the previous version?

There was a full 30 day trail with save for V9 (you need an e-licence to run it) but they have taken it down now as 9.5 is out, but they haven't put up 9.5 (they normally do that after the initial wave of bug fixes from user feedback, normally quite fast, so expect a 9.5.1 demo....)

[Romantique Tp]

Yeah, so I go for the crossgrade and the next thing I know Yamaha is getting a new CEO, who decides they need to concentrate on motorcycles... and there goes Steinberg.

The Yamaha that makes musical instruments and equipment is not the same company as Yamaha Motors...

Cubase is huge in Japan, where Yamaha is their distributor. The relationship between both companies has benefited each other greatly, and both are growing. Steinberg even moved to a bigger office just a few months ago!

So yeah, that's not going to happen.

Sonar users need to keep in mind that the DAW market isn't collapsing or anything, their DAW was just not selling. No other DAW developer is showing any hints of possibly being shut down, unlike Cakewalk.

[SLiC]

If the Gearslutz poll is representative then Sonar was definitely struggling given that it started out as a main rival for Cubase (at one point 'Cakewalk' was as big as Cubase.

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/electro ... 017-a.html

You can live with 5% of the market if you are a small company (FL, Bitwig etc) but not if you are a major corporation, they are just looking for the numbers.

[ATN69]

Yeah, so I go for the crossgrade and the next thing I know Yamaha is getting a new CEO, who decides they need to concentrate on motorcycles... and there goes Steinberg.

The Yamaha that makes musical instruments and equipment is not the same company as Yamaha Motors...

Cubase is huge in Japan, where Yamaha is their distributor. The relationship between both companies has benefited each other greatly, and both are growing. Steinberg even moved to a bigger office just a few months ago!

So yeah, that's not going to happen.

Sonar users need to keep in mind that the DAW market isn't collapsing or anything, their DAW was just not selling. No other DAW developer is showing any hints of possibly being shut down, unlike Cakewalk.

Nothing seems certain in this business but I would say that Cubase is probably going to be around for a long time to come. At least they are developing their existing stuff, upgrading, etc. There are a number of companies out there that doesn't move. Some are standing in the same spot with no or very little development. Makes me wonder.

[bungle]

Yeah, so I go for the crossgrade and the next thing I know Yamaha is getting a new CEO, who decides they need to concentrate on motorcycles... and there goes Steinberg.

The Yamaha that makes musical instruments and equipment is not the same company as Yamaha Motors...

Cubase is huge in Japan, where Yamaha is their distributor. The relationship between both companies has benefited each other greatly, and both are growing. Steinberg even moved to a bigger office just a few months ago!

So yeah, that's not going to happen.

Sonar users need to keep in mind that the DAW market isn't collapsing or anything, their DAW was just not selling. No other DAW developer is showing any hints of possibly being shut down, unlike Cakewalk.

The DAW market has been collapsing for years, do you even know how many there once was ?
That has no influence at all anyway on the viability of Steinberg as a DAW developer.
Just because a particular market is collapsing or indeed has collapsed, does not mean that market leaders are no longer viable, it just means that the slices of the pie are shared between fewer players.

No market ever truly collapses, look at Vinyl or Cassette, no longer being manufactured, market collapsed etc, actually both still going strong with a few major companies involved, just a lot less smaller companies involved.

The DAW market, the whole audio software market collapsed a good few years back, the bubble burst and some players couldn't find a new existence in a much smaller arena.

[Romantique Tp]

snip

The DAW market has been primarily about a few major DAWs for like 20 years. These smaller DAWs you mentioned were for the most part somewhat redundant products funded mainly by their availability, not their features. A lot of people were stuck with was available locally or what they saw on an ad.

People lost interest on vinyl and cassettes for a long time. The mainstream market for them did collapse at one point. What happened to smaller DAWs is that they rarely offered anything special and it became much easier to buy one of the big boys. Very different situation.

[Jim Roseberry]

Thanks to Steinberg for the generous offer!
I have no doubt this will ease the transition for many Sonar users.

[Nielzie]

But that offer is good enough for me. I have projects to finish. Can't wait longer.

Do you mean Sonar doesn't work anymore?

[TMaudio]

But that offer is good enough for me. I have projects to finish. Can't wait longer.

Do you mean Sonar doesn't work anymore?

It's less about "Sonar is still working" and more about "you don't know when it will stop working or whatever else go wrong." This is important for those running businesses and dealing with clients, it's just too much of a gamble.

[LawrenceF]

Re: Cubendo ...

You can't really compare Yammy/Cubendo to Gibson/Sonar (so don't freak out, Steiny isn't going anywhere )

Steinberg is a relative pimple on Yammy's butt. Look at the chart below where the Musical Instruments segment accounts for 65% of their sales (old report, 2015)...



... but Steinberg is just a tiny part of the 27% of that 65%, "Music Schools, etc." segment (unless my math is wrong that entire segment is only 16% of total sales) and probably can't even move the stock. It's just a "brand". If you look at their annual report you can't find mention of Cubendo anywhere and Steinberg is only mentioned in passing, news of the acquisition long ago, which speaks to it's relative importance to stockholders.

All of that is to say, even if Steinberg wasn't profitable it could easily be subsidized by a corporation that made 340 million in net profit last quarter this year, numbers that dwarf Gibson who did an average of 60 million gross anually.

[Romantique Tp]

None of the categories in these annual reports quite fit Steinberg. Either their data isn't included or they're counted as part of Yamaha's audio equipment segment, which regularly accounts for almost 30% of their sales.

[deastman]

But that offer is good enough for me. I have projects to finish. Can't wait longer.

Do you mean Sonar doesn't work anymore?

It's less about "Sonar is still working" and more about "you don't know when it will stop working or whatever else go wrong." This is important for those running businesses and dealing with clients, it's just too much of a gamble.

There are a lot of users urging people not to panic, that Sonar still works and will for a long time to come. Yeah, well, I’m sure there are still a few Studio Vision users out there too. Look at how long Vince Clarke cling to his BBC Micro before realizing that the world had moved on. If you stick with Sonar, take your computer offline, make an image of your system drive, etc., you are drawing a line in the sand and declaring that you will go no further with music technology.

I, for one, know when it is time to accept defeat and move on. There is always another option, another DAW to choose. Thanks to this generous offer from Steinberg, I’ve gone ahead and placed my order. Life goes on.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

I ended up jumping on the deal from Sweetwater. This is the lowest price I've ever seen Cubase Pro available for, including secondhand. As a Studio One user, I'd been looking at Cubase's more robust MIDI functionality longingly. When I was looking at Cubase earlier in the year there wasn't even a crossgrade available at the time, so this was a nice opportunity.

[sl1200mk2]

I ended up jumping on the deal from Sweetwater. This is the lowest price I've ever seen Cubase Pro available for, including secondhand. As a Studio One user, I'd been looking at Cubase's more robust MIDI functionality longingly. When I was looking at Cubase earlier in the year there wasn't even a crossgrade available at the time, so this was a nice opportunity.

Very similar for me. Couldn't pass up the $255 offer + the price of the plus dongle ($34 at GC). Surprised so far, nothing in terms of having to supply proof or validation to Steinberg? Not an issue and maybe I'll get a request in a couple days, but I got the license within minutes and I'm installing now.

I haven't used Cubase since the SX v1 or v2 days (can't remember which) in 2001/2002, so I've been wanting to try it again. I primarily use S1 for tracking and mixing.

Edit for clarification: dongle was $34 from Guitar Center