In an EXTREMELY disappointing press release, Gibson, Inc. has announced that it is killing development on all Cakewalk branded products. This, of course, includes the popular DAW SONAR.
In the press release, it is revealed that the decision has been made so that Gibson can focus on developing and growing their consumer audio business under the Philips brand:
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.
This news has come as a shock and major let-down to Sonar users everywhere.
Gibson purchased Cakewalk in 2013, but Cakewalk has been around for 30 years.Twelve Tone Systems, Inc. released Cakewalk version 1.0 in 1987 as a DOS based MIDI sequencer. Digital audio recording was added with the release of Cakewalk Pro Audio, and ultimately the company created SONAR, the powerful Windows-based DAW that has, until now, outlasted many of its early competitors.
This isn't the first time that Gibson has killed an acquisition. In 1998, Gibson acquired Opcode. By 1999, development of all Opcode products (including their Vision DAW) had ceased.
So, it looks like the many SONAR users will need to start considering a migration. The only good news in this is that at least they have many options of full-featured Windows-based DAWs.
Stay tuned for new developments…
