5 Ways SONAR's Rolling Updates Are Working For You

With the introduction of the new SONAR last January, we also introduced a new delivery model we call Rolling Updates. Essentially, when you purchase an upgrade to SONAR Artist/Professional/Platinum, you receive 12 months of SONAR updates free. Each month, you receive an update (or sometimes more) which can include anything from fixes to new features and tools, add-ons, additional content, tutorials, and more. Once the initial 12 month period is up, you can renew for an additional 12 months and continue to receive updates, or keep everything you own up to this point. Lots of folks were skeptical at first about these Rolling Updates, but since their introduction, they’ve proven their worth. Here’s how:

5) Faster Learning Curves

When we were releasing a version every year or so, you’d receive a whole boatload of new features all at once – which was pretty cool, except you suddenly had tons of totally new features you had to learn to use. These game-changing new features were often designed to speed up your workflow and make your life a little easier, but investing the time to learn how all the new things worked could be overwhelming.

With Rolling Updates, you can now ease into all these new features. Instead of piling on 10-20 new tools, we’re introducing them in bite-sized pieces so you can take them in one or two at a time. This allows you to get a real feel for how they work before diving into something new, and has less impact on your workflow.

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A Letter From Cakewalk's President On SONAR "Everett"

Last week we launched the SONAR “Everett,” Release which includes our new Drum Replacer tool. Everyone at Cakewalk is still buzzing about how it can transform a simple loop, or drum tracks recorded in less ideal conditions, into amazing sounding drums. Additionally, we have improved the overall SONAR experience with 40 fixes, the new Sizzle Bus FX Chain for mixing and mastering, and have included some awesome drum content to complement Drum Replacer. And to help everyone get the most of this powerful new tool, we have posted four free Drum Replacer video tutorials.

This release also has a deeper meaning to me. It’s now June, five months after we launched the New SONAR. Drum Replacer is not a minor update.  Third party equivalent plug-ins cost hundreds of dollars, but SONAR Platinum customers receive it at no additional cost. In the annual upgrade model (SONAR X3 or earlier), people wouldn’t have seen this feature until next January. But since we have introduced “membership,” we can bring this to you today, almost 8 months sooner.

There’s been a lot of fuss and confusion about SONAR’s new membership program, and why we created it. It’s NOT a subscription scheme, because you can still own (not rent) SONAR, and never need to make a monthly payment if you don’t want to. SONAR “Everett” is what SONAR membership is really all about. Our ability to develop, test, refine, and release exciting SONAR features to users throughout the year. It’s about continuous innovation. It’s about helping you make better music every day.

Enjoy!
Michael

Video from Winter NAMM 2015

NAMM

Highlights from Winter NAMM 2015
NAMM was our first opportunity to show off the new SONAR line to the public, and the reception was nothing short of spectacular. To handle the crowds, products were demoed at three locations—the Gibson, TASCAM, and Hal Leonard booths. We met artists, press, and of course many, many customers—and we were equally happy to thrill long-time Cakewalk supporters as well as bring new users into the fold.

Cakewalk NAMM 2015

We wish everyone could experience the excitement of NAMM, but to give you a taste just click the links below to see demos and interviews from the show floor. And—there’s also a sneak peek of the new David Bendeth Signature Series Compressor.

Dan Gonzalez demos the new features in SONAR

Audiofanzine gets a demo of the new SONAR

Keyboard magazine interviews Craig Anderton on Membership

Engineer/Producer, John Paterno shows off Overloud REmatrix

Sneak peek at new David Bendeth Signature Series Compressor