Introducing the new SONAR: New lineup, new features, plus membership

[xphen0m]

I still upgrade regularly and am waiting for them to fix the bugs...been waiting for years now. Meanwhile, I'm finding Cubase much more powerful and rewarding, yet a steeper learning curve. At least I am once again creating a saving all my new sounds as I work in my DAW

I have Sonar X3 and Cubase 8. I absolutely love Cubase for it's MIDI workflow (a lot more than I like Sonar for MIDI), it's easily the best DAW I've used for MIDI (I've also used Reaper and Studio One). However, there's one big bug that's pissing me off, and it's got me using Sonar at the moment: the click bug. The click goes inaudible at random times, and when you start recording at a non-exact bar time. There's threads about this on the Steinberg forum. It really pissed me off when this wasn't fixed in the latest update, 8.0.5. One of the Steiny guys posted that it wouldn't be fixed in the first update, though, it's still pretty crappy that this bug is present.

That said, I'm still a relatively new Sonar customer; I only started using it in October. I recently came back to it to try working on a track extensively......and I like it a lot, but still the MIDI workflow needs a lot of work. The new Sonar says it has MIDI workflow enhancements, but I wonder if they'll be useful for my personal workflow like Cubase's is.

[Andrew Rossa [Cakewalk]]

And wonder if all physical shipments of the core version of the DAW itself are now extinct.

I believe they said they would provide DVDs for a nominal fee, but primary medium would be download.

That's good to know. The last two versions did not work properly when I downloaded them. Only the disks did what they were suppose to.

This is one area we really wanted to improve for users. Depending on your ISP or download manager, results could be mixed. The new Command Center really simplifies the download process for users and it installs relatively fast. In addition, if you are upgrading, you can download on the new components you need which makes it even faster. I believe the core program installs in under 3 minutes with a fast connection. And with Command Center, you can also easily download updates as they become available, on your schedule. And if you need to roll back to a previous build, you can do that as well. So we think the Command Center experience is much better for both new and existing customers.

[Andrew Rossa [Cakewalk]]

first of all, they do away with major releases completely. there are no more X3, X4, X5, whatever versions - it's just Sonar, continually developed. there are no "annual releases" as such.

It would be kind of hard for Cakewalk to optimize the cycle from a feature release point as every customer will have their own cycle depending on when they purchased or started membership. Granted probably late January will be most users start/stop for a few years as it was the release date for the model.

Yeah, down the road, everyone will be at different points in their membership so it won't matter. We will just continually be updating and trying to provide max value for all customers. And people can jump back in when they feel their are enough features to justify the renewal price. You sort of get to pick when you want to upgrade and not have to worry about versions or outdated software.

[Andrew Rossa [Cakewalk]]

Here's the part that concerns me. Say I pay outright for a year now, just like I always did. Instead of holding new features back for the next big release, I'll get them throughout the year. Then, one year from now, I'll be expected to pay another $149. But for what? There won't be a big new release, because they won't have been holding back features. Maybe they'll announce one or two new things to coincide with the anniversary, but there just won't be the same incentive to pay for another year. Pay another $149 in hopes that they trickle out some features later on, not knowing what those features might be?

And don't forget that members can quit or join at any time, so it really isn't like everyone will be in sync with their one year memberships/annual upgrades. That destroys the incentive for CW to plan major releases or hold back features.

No, this only makes sense for this first year's initial launch. After that the whole scheme falls apart from a customer motivation perspective.

Perhaps. That's for every user to decide for themselves. But if you are part of the membership program, and you are getting value every month, $20 a month or less (if you pay upfront) is a good value to be getting new stuff every month. $20 wouldn't even get you an hour of recording time in most studios, just to put it in perspective

[Jace-BeOS]

Who wants to disrupt their production environment every month? Once a year is too often.

[flugel45]

Who wants to disrupt their production environment every month? Once a year is too often.

The updates are voluntary (You control when to apply them), and it seems likely that those who paid will want these updates as they'll contain new features.

As far as any disruption, I imagine it'll be just like what many Windows users do with their OS updates - choose when it's convenient to DL and install.

[JoseC.]

Who wants to disrupt their production environment every month? Once a year is too often.

If you are that serious about your production environment you surely have a testing environment, and AFAIK Cakewalk license lets you install on both.

[Andrew Rossa [Cakewalk]]

Who wants to disrupt their production environment every month? Once a year is too often.

You can choose when you want to update. Totally voluntary. And you also have a rollback option.

[do_androids_dream]

I have a question for the Cakewalk folks (as I see this is live now) - I see that Vista 32 bit is not listed in the requirements. Will it install and run ok in Vista?

Thanks

[Gonga]

I have Sonar X3 and Cubase 8. I absolutely love Cubase for it's MIDI workflow (a lot more than I like Sonar for MIDI), it's easily the best DAW I've used for MIDI (I've also used Reaper and Studio One). However, there's one big bug that's pissing me off, and it's got me using Sonar at the moment: the click bug. The click goes inaudible at random times, and when you start recording at a non-exact bar time. There's threads about this on the Steinberg forum. It really pissed me off when this wasn't fixed in the latest update, 8.0.5. One of the Steiny guys posted that it wouldn't be fixed in the first update, though, it's still pretty crappy that this bug is present.

That said, I'm still a relatively new Sonar customer; I only started using it in October. I recently came back to it to try working on a track extensively......and I like it a lot, but still the MIDI workflow needs a lot of work. The new Sonar says it has MIDI workflow enhancements, but I wonder if they'll be useful for my personal workflow like Cubase's is.

Yeah, I admit that C8 bug's a pain. The click never works right for me with v8. But I can work around it for now.

[EnGee]

never mind

[Andrew Rossa [Cakewalk]]

I have a question for the Cakewalk folks (as I see this is live now) - I see that Vista 32 bit is not listed in the requirements. Will it install and run ok in Vista?

Thanks

We dropped support for Vista. It only works on Win 7 and 8.

[Andrew Rossa [Cakewalk]]

Also, it's now available for people who want to further inspect all the pricing options:

http://www.cakewalk.com/Products/SONAR/Buy-Now

[riley4reason]

I have Sonar X3 Producer and it works great, I have upgraded to the full versions of Melodyne and Addictive Drums 2.

To pay for bugs introduced with "fixes" does not make sense.

It just doesn't.
Vocalalign? Pft! Useless!

[GeorgeZ]

This was asked on the first page by someone else (and I checked up to page 4 for a reply, none, so... ). I have X3 Prod, which includes some of the plugins that are now in Platinum only. If I "upgrade" to Professional, not Platinum, do I loose those plugins?

EDIT: checking the CW forums now as well, maybe it's in a FAQ there?