Who is going to purchase Cakewalk Sonar Membership?

[Piing]

Limited Time Offer

If you use my referral link, you get 58% discount on your annual subscription or 20% on your monthly subscription. I get $5 reward on my monthly payment or $15 on my annual payment.

BandLab - Make Music Online

The cloud platform where musicians and fans create music, collaborate, and engage with each other across the globe

www.bandlab.com

BTW. When I subscribed there were no offers or referral programs. I've paid the full annual subscription without any discount

 

[Alex Kenivel]

annual subscription

 

[gearJunkie]

F##k no!

Gibson screwed me over on my lifetime Sonar update subscription. No way am I ever going back.

 

[AlbertA]

I'm Reaper all the way here so

 

[HomespunEffects]

 

[Piing]

F##k no!

Gibson screwed me over on my lifetime Sonar update subscription. No way am I ever going back.

That nasty move by Gibson didn't screw me because for many years I was using a "try before you buy" version

 

[JasonE]

I thought Cakewalk was completely free. I have a version of it on one of my laptops. I downloaded and installed it to compare it to a few other DAWs. I ended up buying Cuebase and Reaper. I then proceeded to buy Logic and that is where I stayed.

 

[Piing]

I thought Cakewalk was completely free. I have a version of it on one of my laptops. I downloaded and installed it to compare it to a few other DAWs. I ended up buying Cuebase and Reaper. I then proceeded to buy Logic and that is where I stayed.

Cakewalk by Bandlab is still free. Still great, but no further development except for essential updates.
Cakewalk Sonar is a paid version that is being upgraded with enhanced features and functions.

https://help.cakewalk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002369593-What-s-the-difference-between-Cakewalk-Sonar-and-Cakewalk-by-BandLab

I have been continuously using Cakewalk since 1988, when it was just a MIDI sequencer for MS-DOS that came in a single floppy disk (synchronizing it with the audio by recording a sync signal to an audio track on the 4-track tape recorder). I've tried other DAWs, but I've never felt as comfortable as with Cakewalk.

 

[JasonE]

I went to the website for Cakewalk. They are about to learn a lesson. They are going down the subscription route that ProTools went down. That is what got me to switch to Logic. When they pushed that price to $200 per year I was done with them. I do this as a hobby and am not making a dime with it so putting that much out every year doesn't work for me. They are letting you sign up for the first year for $79 but it will renew at $179 next year. I am betting most people will not stick with that. I bought Logic once and that is it, no more cost. I contacted ProTools about the cost and told them I do this as a hobby and asked if there was any other options for licensing and they couldn't care less about me. I told them that they had priced me out of their market. I think Cakewalk Sonar will experience the same problem. There are too many other options out there these days.

I don't know if they have added more plugins for Reaper since I bought it. I haven't used it in several years. Reaper would be a lot cheaper even if you had to purchase a plugin pack for it.

I just ordered a new Mac so I will be able to upgrade to the new version of Logic once it gets here. I am looking forward to that.

 

[HotRats]

I went to the website for Cakewalk. They are about to learn a lesson. They are going down the subscription route that ProTools went down. That is what got me to switch to Logic. When they pushed that price to $200 per year I was done with them. I do this as a hobby and am not making a dime with it so putting that much out every year doesn't work for me. They are letting you sign up for the first year for $79 but it will renew at $179 next year. I am betting most people will not stick with that. I bought Logic once and that is it, no more cost. I contacted ProTools about the cost and told them I do this as a hobby and asked if there was any other options for licensing and they couldn't care less about me. I told them that they had priced me out of their market. I think Cakewalk Sonar will experience the same problem. There are too many other options out there these days.

I don't know if they have added more plugins for Reaper since I bought it. I haven't used it in several years. Reaper would be a lot cheaper even if you had to purchase a plugin pack for it.

I just ordered a new Mac so I will be able to upgrade to the new version of Logic once it gets here. I am looking forward to that.

Avid reintroduced pro tools perpetual so now you can choose between buying a perpetual licence and pay for updates whenever you feel like to or subscribing to a plan. They had to do it.

When they introduced the subscription plans and cancelled the reinstatement method, tons of users simply didn't switch to subscription.

Especially longtime users like me don't want to surrender their perpetual licences and switch to a subscription plan.
And don't want to update multiple times or even once a year either. Updating is a pain in the ass and potential cause of issues that professional users don't want to deal with too often.

I own a studio and an ultime licence and you have to kill me to get my licences back.

 

[AlbertA]

I have been continuously using Cakewalk since 1988, when it was just a MIDI sequencer for MS-DOS that came in a single floppy disk (synchronizing it with the audio by recording a sync signal to an audio track on the 4-track tape recorder). I've tried other DAWs, but I've never felt as comfortable as with Cakewalk.

 

[JasonE]

Avid reintroduced pro tools perpetual so now you can choose between buying a perpetual licence and pay for updates whenever you feel like to or subscribing to a plan. They had to do it.

When they introduced the subscription plans and cancelled the reinstatement method, tons of users simply didn't switch to subscription.

Especially longtime users like me don't want to surrender their perpetual licences and switch to a subscription plan.
And don't want to update multiple times or even once a year either. Updating is a pain in the ass and potential cause of issues that professional users don't want to deal with too often.

I own a studio and an ultime licence and you have to kill me to get my licences back.

I am fully aware that they reintroduced the perpetual license again. They have been sending me emails for a good while now trying to get me back. I told them this was going to happen when I talked to them back when they raised the price on the subscription. They didn't care at that time. This essentially gave the middle finger to all of their customers that are not making money with their application. When I moved on I spent money on a different DAW and this one doesn't make me pay for it every year or the upgrades. I won't go back to them at this point. It has been too long.

I am betting that Cakewalk / Sonar are going to learn the same lesson. Everyone is trying to turn everything into a subscription so they have monthly income without doing anything additional to get it. People are tired of it. Good luck getting the customers back once they move on to something else.

 

[HomespunEffects]

I am fully aware that they reintroduced the perpetual license again. They have been sending me emails for a good while now trying to get me back. I told them this was going to happen when I talked to them back when they raised the price on the subscription. They didn't care at that time. This essentially gave the middle finger to all of their customers that are not making money with their application. When I moved on I spent money on a different DAW and this one doesn't make me pay for it every year or the upgrades. I won't go back to them at this point. It has been too long.

I am betting that Cakewalk / Sonar are going to learn the same lesson. Everyone is trying to turn everything into a subscription so they have monthly income without doing anything additional to get it. People are tired of it. Good luck getting the customers back once they move on to something else.

I dropped Adobe Photoshop for the same reason. I got a Serif Affinity universal license instead. $165 one time fee.

Creative Software For Professionals | We Are Affinity

Subscription-free photo editing, page layout, graphic design and illustration apps for professionals. Try for free or buy for one low payment.

affinity.serif.com

 

[laxu]

I am fully aware that they reintroduced the perpetual license again. They have been sending me emails for a good while now trying to get me back. I told them this was going to happen when I talked to them back when they raised the price on the subscription. They didn't care at that time. This essentially gave the middle finger to all of their customers that are not making money with their application. When I moved on I spent money on a different DAW and this one doesn't make me pay for it every year or the upgrades. I won't go back to them at this point. It has been too long.

I am betting that Cakewalk / Sonar are going to learn the same lesson. Everyone is trying to turn everything into a subscription so they have monthly income without doing anything additional to get it. People are tired of it. Good luck getting the customers back once they move on to something else.

Yeah I've seen other apps go this route and eventually they bring back e.g "1 year of updates but it will keep working if some OS change does not prevent it" type licenses.

 

[Piing]

WTF? WHOT THE FUCKING FUCK????
Cakewalk Sonar is now free!?
They call it "Cakewalk Sonar Free Tier", and it has all the core features of Cakewalk Sonar, except this shit that I still haven't used:

That was announced on 30 June

Cakewalk Sonar is now free to everyone as we transition from Cakewalk by BandLab.

Greetings, everyone! Over the past few years, we have been working hard to enhance Cakewalk Sonar and make it a more powerful and modern digital audio workstation. Now, we are excited to introduce a new free tier that makes Sonar's capabilities available to everyone. This free version is designed...

discuss.cakewalk.com

Great news for the world, but I would rather not have paid

 

[AlbertA]

WTF? WHOT THE FUCKING FUCK????
Cakewalk Sonar is now free!?
They call it "Cakewalk Sonar Free Tier", and it has all the core features of Cakewalk Sonar, except this shit that I still haven't used:
View attachment 48701
That was announced on 30 June

Cakewalk Sonar is now free to everyone as we transition from Cakewalk by BandLab.

Greetings, everyone! Over the past few years, we have been working hard to enhance Cakewalk Sonar and make it a more powerful and modern digital audio workstation. Now, we are excited to introduce a new free tier that makes Sonar's capabilities available to everyone. This free version is designed...

discuss.cakewalk.com

Great news for the world, but I would rather not have paid

The world thanks you for your sacrifice

 

[Chocol8]

Software death spiral. Charge more until user base finds an alternative. Make it free in a desperate bid to bring users back. Watch user base continue to decline, now with less revenue.