The Secret History of the P5 T-Shirt

The P5 T-Shirt has an interesting and long history.

By AgincourtDB (David Blackstone)

There came into the world a light blue box whose destiny was Cakewalk's will. It's wife was SONAR Producer. They sequenced together across the midi sea, And when they were camped near the source of the audio river, In sight of Mount VST, Their son was born, named Project5 Version 2. Paraphrased by AgincourtDB from the Yuan Ch'ao Pi Shih

The Problem

P5 users (aficionados & loyalists, even) are a special bunch. That is to say, not 'short bus' special, mind you, but rather 'extraordinary'. We are numerous, and deeply committed to our app.

We sing it's praises at every opportunity. We hold up its open architecture as our standard, we laud it's bundled synths, we drench it's bundled effects in superlatives, and we describe it's midi editing capability in glowing, even awestruck language.

It all boils down to this: we wanted a t-shirt.

A pro audio geek can get his or her hands on a plethora of branded attire: Reason shirts, Fender Hats, Moog hoodies (One might not be surprised to find Digidesign boxers, but they'd be three times as expensive as normal boxers, and you'd need special hardware to wear them.)

Yet, when exploring Cake's online shop, ably hosted by yahoo, only one t-shirt could be found: the black tee of the company logo.

A t-shirt was offered on the Project5.com website as the prize for a song competition. Whether or not this shirt was actually awarded is a matter of some debate, as the evidence is sketchy.

Clearly, what was needed was a grass-roots campaign. And that's just what happened.

The Timeline

It began slowly, 6/23/2004, with an appeal to Cakewalk's financial acumen. http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=155807. I take great pride in having fired the first shot.

Three Eyed Otter soon took up the cause, with Brock's help 1/3/05. http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=330299

and again on 1/5/2005 http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=332358

Grandpa Mojo and Wrench consider the possibility of snagging one at NAMM. 1/19/05 http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=347133 and by the next day, Wrench had admitted to the existence of a 'cadre of P5 t-shirt zealots'

Then, in short order, Grandpa Mojo gave us a glimpse of the almost mythical prototype. http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=349489

1/24/2005, Painted Blue, worried about Mikey, suggests the worst: http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=352464

1/26/2005 Jardim do Mar is tired of the whole tshirt 'thing', but still wants one http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=355026

on 1/27/2005, Whitefalcon jokes that the upgrade to v.2 will be free to shirt owners--the joke being that there are none. http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=355320

Three Eyed Otter once again rises to the occasion on 2/9/2005 by pointing out that Reason's popularity can only be rationally explained by the availability of a t-shirt. http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=367034

on 2/13/05, Digital Aura thinks there should be more t-shirt giveaways http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=371661 and he's getting impatient.

Brock wants a free one for reaching 500 posts. http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=378566 but alas the thread is interrupted by some bad netiquette.

It's 2/22/05, and the illustrious Grandpa Mojo starts a thread about possible improvements to p5.com, and has a very good idea about tshirts http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=380884

2/24/2005, PaintedBlue teases us with some Photoshop magic. http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=381306

also on 2/24/05, Digital Aura wants Triscuit to grab him a t-shirt when he goes to Boston, http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=382730 and reminds him about it on 3/11 http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=399078

2/28/05 Wrench blames a T-shirt printing-induced power outage for Cake's servers being down. http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=387056

on 3/13/05, T-shirt lust results in craven betrayal yet again. http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=400089

Brock seems to be losing hope in this post from 3/18/05 http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=405882 but then bucks up on the 31st. http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=418963

That same day, Grandpa Mojo does a forum search and finds '178 threads' mentioning T-shirts. http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=419113 , but I'm sure he means posts.

Then, on 4/3/05, Brock and then Mikey give us a rather disturbing set of mental pictures. http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=422608

And on the same day, the truth comes out about Mikey's absence, on page three of this thread. http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=42046

On 4/11/05, Brock gives notice that he expects to come away from the p5 tour with a shirt. http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=430970

4/13/05, woodamand suggests a t-shirt with the manual printed on it, http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=431632 . Strategically this action should be considered a feint.

4/15/05, Zun plans a raid on Cakewalk headquarters using satellite imagery. http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=435569

on 4/18/2005, René from RGC drops a big hint http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=438589

The Incompetent Alta Vista Babel Fish translation of Spanish exchange from above (Sponsored by Wheaties):
Jesse: 'René gives me of these please...
René: "Friend, when you want!"

and not sensing the impending victory, I post an informal poll http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=438635

4/21/05 Zun is distracted from his mission to raid headquarters for a shirt by, well. You just have to see it to believe it. http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=441581

And then, shortly thereafter, victory, in the person of Jesse Jost [Cakewalk], who at 4/21/2005 at 11:17:50 AM said pssst... http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=441600