End of Cakewalk Sonar (owned by Gibson)

[Jack Stoner]

The announcement was made on the Cakewalk Sonar Forum today.
Here is the announcement:

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

[Jack Stoner]

Along with Sonar, Music electronics and recording GURU Craig Anderton was axed by Gibson. I also saw that Gibson was selling a warehouse in Nashville and also an article that the Gibson Memphis operation was closing. Regardless of what Gibson says, things do not look good in Gibsonland.

With Sonar shutting down and although it does all that I currently need, at some point it is likely that a Windows update will cause it to not work/work properly. I've got Studio One 3 (got it with a Presonus purchase), but have never really used it, but I'll be actively learning it and will migrate at some point. I don't want to have a project in Sonar and can't complete it.

[Rick Schacter]

Jack,
I’ve used Sonar since version 2, and I use Studio One.
Both are very good DAW’s to work with.

I think you’ll find that Studio One is extremely easy to learn.
The Artist version has limited features, but the Professional version is extremely full featured.

Sorry to hear about the bad news from Gibson.

Rick

[Rick Schacter]

Also, you might give Reaper a try too.
It might not be the most user friendly DAW, but that’s probably because it’s at least one of the most customizable DAW’s available.

You can set it up pretty much the way you like it.

The 60 day trial is free.
The trial version is a full featured DAW. Not a limited version.
If you decide that you like it, the license is only $60.

If you don’t buy it, the software will still work (you’re on the honor system).

Although Studio One has become my main DAW, I really do like Reaper too and I did wind up buying the $60 license from them.

Rick

**One more thing about Reaper**

Reaper will run on a computer that is still using Windows XP!

[Michael Maddex]

Based on what has been said here, the least that Gibson could do is release the Cakewalk Source Code under the GNU Public License or similar. That way, those with Coding Experience and the Inclination could keep it alive and up-to-date with future Windoze releases. They would also probably port it to GNU/Linux and Apple/Mac/OSX thereby making it available to wider group of Users. Unfortunately, Gibson has not built a name for themselves for Doing The Right Thing in the past decades. For Those In The Know, please keep the rest of us posted here with any more news on Cakewalk.

[Jack Stoner]

Studio One 3 is what I'm going to shoot for. As noted, I'm OK with Sonar now but at some point it will be "over". I tried Reaper and didn't like it. I also have Ableton Lite 9 that I got when I bought a Focusrite ISA One preamp but haven't done anything with it.

Same way with Pro Tools, I had MP9 version but didn't find it really "user friendly" (plus their high price keeps me away). I even bought a recommended Pro Tools learning book and looked at several instructional videos and still hated it.

Sonar had a project started last year to try and port it to MAC, through a company that has software to convert to MAC OS but it never worked right and they didn't want to write new code for MAC so it was cancelled.

[Rick Schacter]

Studio One is a good choice, IMO.
It’s very user friendly.

It’s the DAW that I wind up using the most.



Rick

[Rick Campbell]

I read that Presonus has Studio One and upgrades on sale at 50% off until November 27.

RC

[b0b]

Some history here: http://cdm.link/2017/11/gibson-just-kil ... k-philips/

[ajm]

What's interesting is that Tascam just this year in January 2017 introduced their "Track Factory".

It is a complete computer based recording set up (minus the monitor), all loaded up with a DAW.

Guess what DAW they used? Yep. Cakewalk Sonar Professional.
So now THAT is obsolete as well.

Rick Campbell, Presonus at half off: This could very well be true.
Last year during the holidays they did it. I didn't buy, but I know someone who did.

[Jack Stoner]

Tascam is owned by Gibson, reason they included Sonar.

Presonus is "half off" at Sweetwater. I'm seriously considering upgrading the freebie version I have to Pro while the "sale" is on.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/search ... studio+one

[Godfrey Arthur]

AlRegardless of what Gibson says, things do not look good in Gibsonland.

With Sonar shutting down and although it does all that I currently need, at some point it is likely that a Windows update will cause it to not work/work properly.

This is disheartening news. I was just watching a year old clip last week of Mitch (Sweetwater) and Craig talking about Cakewalk lauding Craig for being with Gibson.

I was also thinking of adding Sonar to my rig systems.

But yup Windows will mess with anything you put on your computer that isn't Windows.

If you plan on basing a DAW on Windows, (and these days any computer) I would seriously consider not ever connecting that cpu to the internet.

[b0b]

In the 80s, it was said that a new version of MS-DOS wasn't deemed ready to ship until it broke Lotus 1-2-3.

[Dale Rottacker]

I read that Presonus has Studio One and upgrades on sale at 50% off until November 27.

RC

Rick is correct... $$199.00 for a 399.00$$ Extremely feature packed DAW... If I didn’t already have this I’d be having it on this sale... Plus with Studio One 3 Professional, you can put it on up to 5, count em, 5 computers... This is an incredible deal.

[Bill Terry]

In the 80s, it was said that a new version of MS-DOS wasn't deemed ready to ship until it broke Lotus 1-2-3. Oh Well

LOL... Good one b0b, I hadn't heard that one in a while. I was a DOS based Lotus Symphony user, remember that one?

The demise of Sonar reminds me of the Ensoniq Paris system, which included not only SW but Hardware. It lingered for a LONG time after officially being discontinued, mainly on the sheer will power of heavily invested users, and because it sounded GREAT!

[John Macy]

I do miss PARIS...best sounding digital rig ever...

[Bill Terry]

I do miss PARIS...best sounding digital rig ever...

Me too John.. I'll never forget the thrill of finding a plug that worked with Paris.

[John Gould]

Maybe Greg Hendershot will bring it back again.
He's done it a couple of times before .
Gibson has crush other pieces of software in their day

[Godfrey Arthur]

Not to change topics, but I heard from another forum that Fender is buying Gibson and that the original Gibby head stocks will be a custom order.





We still in Kansas, Jed?

[Rick Schacter]

Oh my!
That guitar is fugly.

[Kenny Burford]

Well, I don't know Jack Stoner on a personal level, but I have read several of his post here on TSGF and consider to have a much better understanding of recording programs than myself. Also, Jack has been good about keeping patrons of the Forum updated on new programs for recording, so I believe I will look into purchasing the Studio One 3 Professional recording program. As for the Gibson Company, I am doubtful that there will be any R&D money from the current owners.

[Jack Stoner]

Presonus currently has a $149 crossgrade for Sonar owners. Even better than the $199 I paid on the Black Friday half price sale at Sweetwater. From comments on the Sonar forum many are switching to Studio One 3.

But, I chose Studio One 3 over other DAW's as I had a free version and had an idea of what it was. I had tried ProTools a couple of years ago, even bought an expensive book to try and learn it, and wasn't too thrilled with it (and its price).

[Rick Campbell]

I think you can get a full function (30 days) demo of Studio One Professional at Presonus's website. I've got a lot of Presonus hardware, and software, in my studio and they have been excellent to work with.

RC

[Jack Stoner]

Although I'm moving to Presonus' Studio One 3 Pro DAW I can't say I like their hardware. Several years ago when I was upgrading my recording interface I bought a Presonus 8 channel firewire interface unit. It was defective "DOA" and I returned it for replacement. The replacement had one channel (out of that would not work. I sent it back and got a refund. I tried another from a different site and it too had a problem. Years later (last year) I bought a new Studio 192 and first day it worked OK, although the latency during the auto setup was terrible (35ms round trip). I was able to manually get it down to 6ms for record but that still isn't great compared to other units in that price range. However, the second day I had it, I powered it on to do some testing but when I was done it would not power off either the power switch or internal logic went bad. I sent it back and replaced it with my current MOTU 896Mk3 Hybrid which works great and the total round trip Latency is 6.3ms! (3+ms for record and 3+for playback).

I had a Presonus dual Bluetube preamp. It has a 12AX7 tube but as it turned out it was the typical "starved plate" design and the tube really did nothing for vocal mic's. I sold it at a loss to get rid of it.

[Rick Campbell]

Sounds like you did have a run of bad luck, or maybe I've just had good luck. I use the 192 and no problems. Before that, I had the 1818VSL, again no problems. I've heard good things about the MOTU and that would be my choice if I changed. I stick with Presonus because I know it will be compatible with Studio One to the fullest. The 192 has on board DSP and Studio One will allow almost zero latency with a new process. Do a search for Studio One low latency and you'll find an article explaining this. It will work with most interfaces.

I think the tube preamp that you mentioned is like many of the cheap preamps and is mainly used to boost signal level, as is often necessary with ribbon mics, etc... I've owned three preamps in the $1500 range, but my favorite thus far is the $300 Presonus Studio Channel.

I'd like to have a Neve and at U87, but I doubt it would change my final product significantly.

RC [/url]