Gibson has decided to discontinue all development of Cakewalk products, which includes the very popular DAW(Digital Audio Workstation) SONAR, which has for 30 years been the flagship of the Cakewalk line. The apparent explanation is “they want to focus on consumer audio electronics”

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 is citing the purchase of WOOX Innovations from Phillps Electronics for $135 Million (Plus a branding fee) one year after the purchase of Cakewalk line of software. The purpose is to give Gibson the ability to move into the home audio, music accessories and video products.

I am not sure if a venture into the crowded home audio market that is already dominated by much larger corporations is a good move on the part of Gibson.

“This agreement is the most significant step yet in Gibson Brands’ journey to become the largest music and sound technology company in the world,” said Gibson Brands Chairman and CEO Henry Juszkiewicz. “By acquiring Philips’ audio and home entertainment business, our goal is to continue to provide the most exceptional consumer audio products and experiences in the world. I am thrilled to extend the reach of Gibson Brands around the world and to welcome this great team to the Gibson family.”

Gibson’s apparent need to dig themselves out of their current financial problems have reached a point where they have left a large base of pro audio users stunned and adrift. 

History

For those of you who are not familiar with Sonar, this has been a major contender in the digital audio market for 30 years. The high end Sonar Platinum edition is being used by many professional studios throughout the world and was considered one of the top DAW’s available for Windows.

Greg Hendershott founded the company in 1987 as Twelve Tone Systems, Inc., and was its CEO until 1 July 2012. The firm soon found that most customers referred to it by the name of its initial product, a MIDI music sequencer that Hendershott had named Cakewalk (in reference to a movement of Children’s Corner by Claude Debussy). In September 2008, the company officially changed the corporate name to Cakewalk, Inc. Previous to this, in January 2008, the logo on the company’s products (but not the company name itself) had changed to “Cakewalk by Roland” to reflect Roland Corporation’s purchase of a majority interest in the company.

Effective 1 July 2012, Greg Hendershott resigned as CEO, after 25 years with the company. Michael Hoover, previously Executive Vice President of Products, became President, effective 1 July 2012. On December 6th, 2013, Roland sold all their shares of Cakewalk to Gibson.

Gibson moved the Cakewalk software to a subscription based model while giving existing users the option to purchase “Lifetime” upgrades. Less than 2 years after that move Gibson has closed the doors on a huge user base of pro audio users.  I know I am one of those users, and to be honest I am pretty pissed at Gibson right now.

Now What?

Cakewalk has put out a statement that essentially says, that if you are a user of their subscription service your payments will be cancelled and your software will be unlocked from this point forward. They also state that their server will be up for the time being with a small support staff available to service the existing user base. This is a small consolation to those of us that have depended on Cakewalk Sonar as a working environment for recording and creation of music.

For now the existing software will work just as it has with no problems. But, as we all know as technology advances, we are going to need to move to another platform to stay current.

There is a Silver Lining 

Luckily, Presonus has made a very generous offer to all Cakewalk Sonar Users. If you take a screen shot of your Cakewalk account page that indicates you own Sonar and Email it to crossgrade@presonus.com and ask for the Special Sonar crossgrade coupon to move to Studio One 3 Pro, they will send you a coupon that will give you an additional $150 off their normal cross grade pricing of $299 (which is already $100 off their normal price). This brings the price of Studio One 3 Pro to $149 instead of $399! This offer will only be available till the end of the year, so if you are looking to make a move to a new DAW, this is a great way to ease your way into a new system without breaking the bank! This is a Smart move by Presonus, you have to respect that.

After some extensive research, I was already sold on making a move to Studio One 3 Pro this just added the icing to the cake (yea pun intended). I didn’t want to have to deal with ProTools, I just don’t like their business model of always soaking their users. I was never a big fan of Cubase, logic, etc. Presonus’s Studio One 3 Pro seemed to me to be to have the kind of power, and workflow I was use to with Sonar. They also seem to be very receptive to their user base, to me that is huge.

Many Protools users, who have gotten fed up with Avid, have switched to Studio one and have been happy, as well as those who have used Cubase and Logic.

So do your research, and due diligence and if Studio One 3 Pro looks right to you as well, don’t wait till this deal disappears!

EDITORS NOTE: If you purchase your crossgrade from JRRShop you get an additional discount which brings the total price down to $126.65 for Studio one 3 Pro!

Other Deals For Sonar Users

Overture 5  – on sale for $50 until 12/5 (possibly extended) use “sonar50” at checkout
https://sonicscores.com/product/overture-5/

Cubase Pro 9.5  crossgrade for $255 + $35 for eLicenser for “limited time” (end of year?)
Lot of places:  sweetwater, musiciansfriend, etc
https://www.steinberg.net/en/shop/crossgrades.html

• A copy of your purchase receipt for the original license or the most recent update/upgrade
• A screenshot of your product registration
• A photo of your package (either CD/DVD or printed manual), with the unique serial number included in the photo

Studio One $149 till end of year
https://blog.presonus.com/index.php/presonus-cakewalk-crossgrade-offer/

JRRShop gives an additional discount bring the price to $126.65

Harrison Mixbus  Mixbus Plus Essentials Bundle Just $49
https://harrisonconsoles.lpages.co/cakewalk-offer/

The Overloud offer.
https://overloud.com/news/overloud-welcomes-cakewalk-customers

Message about Mixcraft.
Between now and January 1, 2018, only $99 (45% off SRP of $179).
https://www.acoustica.com/sonar-crossgrade.php

Applied Acoustics Systems
To get your licence, simply visit the link below.
Session Bundle for Sonar users

TruePianos  30% discount
https://www.truepianos.com/cakewalk.php

Digital Performer 9
Special crossgrade pricing for SONAR users of $195 until December 21st.
Here is the link: https://motu.com/store_products/software/dp

Tracktion Corporation Waveform
https://www.tracktion.com/products/waveform
Enter the discount code ‘CAKEWALK’ during the checkout process to receive a 50% discount on all versions of Waveform