Jump to content

Craig....is this true?


nat whilk II

Recommended Posts

  • Members

November 17, 2017 [h=2]GIBSON BRANDS ANNOUCEMENT REGARDING CAKEWALK, INC.[/h] Gibson Brands announced today that it is ceasing active development and production of Cakewalk branded products. The decision was made to better align with the company’s acquisition strategy that is heavily focused on growth in the global consumer electronics audio business under the Philips brand.

Cakewalk has been an industry leader in music software for over 25 years by fusing cutting-edge technology with creative approaches to tools that create, edit, mix, and publish music for professional and amateur musicians. Gibson Brands acquired Cakewalk in 2013.

Gibson Brands, a growing company in the music and sound industries, was founded in 1894 and is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. Gibson Brands is a global leader in musical instruments, consumer electronics, and professional audio, and is dedicated to bringing the finest experiences to consumers by offering exceptional products with world- recognized brands.

 

nat

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 57
  • Created
  • Last Reply
  • Members

Hi Nat,

 

We have seen the announcement and heard from Noel (CTO at Cakewalk) and it is true. What is most concerning (as a longtime Cakewalk/Sonar user) is that this appears to be the end of the line for the product. There doesn't seem to be a buyer (AKA White Knight) in the wings scoping it up and continuing on.

 

The Cakewalk forums are all lit up to say the least. Many folks are concerned about what will happen to the great folks who developed SONAR. Getting laid off is hard anytime, but this time of year - with the holidays right around the corner - it makes it that much harder. Although I have to think that these folks will land on their feet and perhaps it will be the best thing to happen to them when looking long term.

 

Other folks are worried about how much longer the software will work, and with this goes talk of what new DAW they might move to. I think that right now it is a very stable product that should run for a long time. I have mine running under Windows 8 (downgraded from 10) and it works like a champ. I am downloading everything I purchased and storing it on a backup drive just in case I have a crash of some type down the road.

 

Lastly, folks on the forums are wondering how much longer the forums themselves will stay up. Some talked about coming to HC. Then it was remembered that HC is also owned by Gibson and the fate of HC may be similar to Cakewalk. Who knows at this point (except the executives at Gibson) but I hope HC manages to survive and continue to thrive.

 

Hope that helps,

Bob

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

If Cakewalk/Sonar has finally come to it's end, no use railing against fate and fortune.

 

Where will the huge user base go we wonders? Reaper? FL? Ableton? Studio One? Which one presents the smoothest path for long-time Sonar addicts?

 

I can keep my current version of Sonar going for some years I'm thinking, while I start trying out other DAWs. But I'll go back to running Sonar on a Win 7 machine since the unavoidable updates to Win 10 will probably create problems eventually for Sonar.

 

Bidness is bidness. Change can be ok.

 

nat

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

That is true, although he has still posted on occasion to the cakewalk forums. If you go to his personal web site (http://www.craiganderton.com/) you will see where he has starting posting his weekly tips section that used to be on the cakewalk forums. While I am sure that everyone associated with Cakewalk will do ok in the longterm, the timing of shutdown right before the holidays always stinks. Yet it always seems to be when corporations do this kind of stuff.

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
November 17' date=' 2017[/size'] [h=2]GIBSON BRANDS ANNOUCEMENT REGARDING CAKEWALK, INC.[/h] Gibson Brands announced today that it is ceasing active development and production of Cakewalk branded products. The decision was made to better align with the company’s acquisition strategy that is heavily focused on growth in the global consumer electronics audio business under the Philips brand.

Cakewalk has been an industry leader in music software for over 25 years by fusing cutting-edge technology with creative approaches to tools that create, edit, mix, and publish music for professional and amateur musicians. Gibson Brands acquired Cakewalk in 2013.

Gibson Brands, a growing company in the music and sound industries, was founded in 1894 and is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. Gibson Brands is a global leader in musical instruments, consumer electronics, and professional audio, and is dedicated to bringing the finest experiences to consumers by offering exceptional products with world- recognized brands.

 

nat

 

 

 

This comes as no surprise to me.

 

Gibson has a very negative reputation when it comes to acquisition. Just look at this forum, the look and feel is like 1990.

 

I may have written about this a few days ago, Gibson failed to show any investments and movement for Sonar and I had the feeling there was no confidence in the brand.

 

This is like Hollywood marriages. "We loved each other very very vry much but we parted due to irreconcilable differences."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Ahem, I made a modest proposal on these very pages some time back. DAW companies need to pay musicians to use their product - rather than the reverse.

 

Until they do -- this sort of end game is inevitable for many companies. It is time for DAW makers develop a new compensation model. And I will help them do that--for CASH.

 

Gibson Inc., has already paid me to take one of their Les Paul Specials off its hands. So now it's time for DAW makers to face the music -- and pay the musicians - starting with ME.

 

I'm shopping for a DAW. And I am opening the floor for bids.

 

Do I hear fifty dollars?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • CMS Author

Gibson does have some history here. Opcode, maker of Vision, was started in 1985, purchased by Gibson in 1998 and dumped a year later in 1999, never to live again.

 

I was an early user of Cakewalk in the DOS days. I remember the time at the NAMM show when Gerg Hendershott (the developer and president of the company, Twelve Tone Systems at the time) asked me if I thought it would be OK if he came out with a version of Cakewalk that required an 80286 processor (the PC-AT). I said, sure, as long as he kept the 8088 version alive for a while. That's what he did. The last Cakewalk I used was Cakewalk Pro Audio in 2000 or so.

 

I never got into Sonar except for the lite version that came along with something that I reviewed. I last used that just a couple of months ago when I picked up a TASCAM US-428 for nothing to see if any of the DAWs I had here would recognize its MIDI control surface. Sonar did (and so did Reaper, which was as far as I got with that experiment).

 

Greg had a good long run with Cakewalk. He let someone else be CEO about 5 years ago but I believe was still active in the company.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • CMS Author
If you missed this last month...

 

Totally missed it. Can't find it now either. Must have been either in a forum here that I don't follow or somewhere else. I can't say as I'm surprised, though. Settling into the corporate world is tough when you've worked on your own all your life.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

 

I will read your post with utmost interest.

 

Cheers,

 

Mats N

My post was about Craig having left Gibson. I knew that word had spread about it; but when I didn't see anything here, I thought I'd better delete my post and leave it up to him to post about it. I see now that he already has, albeit elsewhere.

 

Best,

 

Geoff

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
So does this mean Craig's not part of HC any longer either?

 

Cheers,

 

Mats N

Craig posted here just two days ago, and his announcement was over a month ago; so there's no indication that he's leaving HC at this point. That said, one can rarely know for certain what the future will bring.

 

Best,

 

Geoff

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

My post was about Craig having left Gibson. I knew that word had spread about it; but when I didn't see anything here, I thought I'd better delete my post and leave it up to him to post about it. I see now that he already has, albeit elsewhere.

 

Best,

 

Geoff

 

 

As a Sonar user and frequent participant at the Cakewalk forum, I knew what was happening over there but did not mentioned it here.

However, given the Cakewalk announcement, everything has fallen apart and in the mist of no information things can quickly spread like wild fire.

 

If you go to the Sonar forum, it looks like the world has ended, complete panic and total chaos.

 

It's a sad day over there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

It's completely understandable. I'm fortunate enough to have used a variety of DAWs over the years, so I'm comfortable in the knowledge that I can migrate to another one without too much difficultly if need be; but many Cakewalk users have loyally supported the platform for decades. For them, this must be something akin to a marriage ending.

 

Best,

 

Geoff

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
It's completely understandable. I'm fortunate enough to have used a variety of DAWs over the years, so I'm comfortable in the knowledge that I can migrate to another one without too much difficultly if need be; but many Cakewalk users have loyally supported the platform for decades. For them, this must be something akin to a marriage ending.

 

Best,

 

Geoff

 

 

While I am not panicking, it's sad because I started of using Sonar so there is a history there.

I am familiar with other software but unlike you, never took the time to master anything else.

 

I will continue old projects in Sonar but will not do new project in there.

 

I am looking at getting Cubase Pro. I have nothing but regret, not doing that over a decade ago.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

In 2003, Craig wrote a great article for Keyboard magazine about future proofing your DAW sessions. I highly recommend it for all users but especially now for Sonar users, while you still have a functioning copy of your DAW. The article has been in my sig for years; but I'll link to it here, just in case I remove it from my sig in the future:

 

"Ironclad Backup" by Craig Anderton—Keyboard, August 2003

 

Best,

 

Geoff

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

The economic model DAWs operated on doesn't work.

 

Today I downloaded a DAW, Presonus Studio One. It was free, as were the plugs and instrument patches. It was bundled in hardware-free - that I paid my money for.

 

DAWs got too complicated and too expensive. The economic model stopped working.

There weren't enough buyers to sustain it. Anybody should have seen this coming. I sure did 7 or 8 years ago when I stopped buying DAWs. And I posted about it here.

 

Presonus right now has a model that seems to work. Bundle the software with hardware you manufacture. We'll see how well that model works into the future.

 

But my modest proposal remains the same -- DAW-makers should pay musicians, not the reverse.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Why does it matter in practical terms? I've used older stable versions of DAW software for years. IMO we can see the end of product revision as a final stability and an end to the seemingly endless process of patches updates and fixes. Then you actually get to the business of making music rather than obsessing about recording tools of any kind.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
Why does it matter in practical terms? I've used older stable versions of DAW software for years. IMO we can see the end of product revision as a final stability and an end to the seemingly endless process of patches updates and fixes. Then you actually get to the business of making music rather than obsessing about recording tools of any kind.

 

And that's the problem:

 

Cakewalk started releasing Monthly updates with new features every month.

I personally thought it was ridiculous and made absolutely no sense because instead of fixing things that are broken, they were always piling on additional stuff, then new stuff breaks and new bugs are introduced. The Solution? Release more updates, then more fixes for those updates.

 

You stated this rightly, if Cakewalk was focused on getting a solid system with occasional patches, then this would not be an issue but I feel as if I bought a movie and it stopped playing some where in the middle, I never get to see the end.

 

Sonar still crashes and users are always blamed. I have seen people used the most advanced computer systems and Sonar still has issues, this may not be what everyone experience but it happens.

 

Again, I find it impossible to understand how a company can release new features every month. No other company does this, Adobe has a Subscription model and they do not release monthly guaranteed updates.

 

I currently own Adobe CS5 Suite and all of the software works perfectly, I have never upgraded, that because Adobe focused on getting it right, then move to a new Model.

 

I wont be installing any Cakewalk updates and will continue to use what I have until I am acclimated to Cubase. I have been in Studios in remote parts of the world and every time I see Cubase and I think it's time I join the band. :)

 

If you talk to a cakewalk enthusiast, I am an idiot and everything I wrote is rubbish, maybe that's true but the breakdown and panic about if the system will continue to work supports my argument.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...