Sonar Demo User Question

  • Thread starter Thread starter Quasar
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Q

Quasar

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Hi All

I've been trying the Sonar demo, and I like it very much, but don't quite have the $ to purchase right now. I've noticed September deals for PE3 at $499 with a free upgrade to ver 4 if I buy this month. My question, for those wise in the ways of software pricing, is this:

What happens to all of the presumably thousands of retail boxes of PE3 once 4 becomes available? Will the price likely come down? Or will they be recalled and disappear?

I'm not cheap, just working poor, and want to know if I should- by hook or crook- try to borrow some money and get 3 by Sept. 30. Is this a real price deadline, with the clock ticking?

Also, I'm not at all concerned with whether I end up with PE3 or PE4. I just need the best affordable price for 3, and can always update later if I choose to.

Thanks to anyone who has ideas on this. I'm very new to the whole DAW thing.

Michael
 
Quasar said:
What happens to all of the presumably thousands of retail boxes of PE3 once 4 becomes available? Will the price likely come down? Or will they be recalled and disappear?
Click to expand...
It's the last choice...
 
Quasar said:
Is this a real price deadline, with the clock ticking?
Click to expand...

Typically a vendor will tell a distributor three months out about the release for a new product. The distributor will tell the dealers about six weeks out.

The idea is that both the disti and the dealer network will sell thru all of their existing stock. A distributor will probably accept some stock swap outs, old version for new, for the first month after the new release and then package it all up for return to the vendor, donation to charity or destruction.

Either way, you will have hard trouble finding a copy of Sonar v3 after the release of v4. This effect is exacerbated due to the fact Sonar is not a mass market product.

So yes. This is a real deadline and the clock is ticking....

The only other idea I would throw at you relates to bundled software. Do you have a decent sound card? A MIDI controller or little keyboard? Often times you will find this sort of stuff bundled with older versions of Cakewalk software. My Aardvark Direct Pro 24/96 sound card came with a copy of Cakewalk Pro Audio v9. I upgraded this version directly from Cakewalk, up to the then current full release of Sonar v2. The price difference was HUGE compared to buying it retail.

Yes, your initial outlay might be a little more, but the value proposition represents the greatest savings. Time to fire up Excel and crunch some numbers....

:) Q.
 
Appreciate the info Q, cheers!

Yeah, I didn't think that CW would simply put their old 3 versions into Salvation Army drop-boxes or anything like that.

I went ahead and bought the SE, with the promised free upgrade to 4. Since I already have the Kontakt sampler, Garritan's Personal Orchestra, M-Audio Omni, Adobe Audition for wav editing, as well as 2 Yamaha kbs that will work as basic midi controllers (PSR540 and P120), I figure I can live without the extra features of the PE, at least for now.

I just need Sonar to integrate the sound libraries, and Studio should fill that need, get me up and running.

Does CW offer options to upgrade SE to PE, or are the two apps parallel lines that never intersect? I've seen upgrade offers from apps like Sonar XL or Pro Studio 9, but those are before my time, and I don't really know how their product lines integrate.

Peace,
Michael
 
Hi Michael!

Well, I've been a Cakewalk user for ages and all I can say is that the files have always been upward compatible. The files you use with v3 will open in v4 (or they should). Cakewalk's upgrade policy is that if you have bought or registered ANY Cakewalk product in the past (including bundled "free" software), you can get the upgrade pricing on any of their products. It's the BEST way to get Cakewalk at a great price while being legal all the way around. The key word here is "registered". They had my registration info on file for Cakewalk Home Studio (the original one) when I went to upgrade to Sonar a couple years ago.

Marcel
 
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