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Looper's Delight
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James Musser (03:44 PM 09.14.2000) wrote: >We need a new company... GODBOX, that has everything you ever wanted and >more (because they listen to end users). Has all the freedom, flexibility, >sonic quality, I/O freedom... midi control that works... and software to >easily program these things... realtime and preset control, and interfaces >flawlessly with everything else you have, and doesn't screw up! ... and of >course lets you save everything to disk on computer somehow... > >Is it really that difficult? Not to launch into a business course here, but... What are you willing to pay for your dream box? And do you think that someone else will pay for it as well? Will 1,000 people pay for it? Will 30,000 people pay for it? You can't please everyone in features *and* please them in price *and* make a return on the investment from a business perspective. For example... Probably the single most expensive piece of gear in a large format pro studio is the console. Even though, *anyone* can sit in front of a Euphonix System 5, (or SSL Axiom or or or) and find _something_ that they would have different. Given the price point at that end of the scale and the amount of time that reps will spend with a client that's about to drop $1mil on a bunch of sliders and blinky lights, the client STILL will not get what they _want_ and someone will be talked into making a concession. At the other end of the mixing desk scale are the low end of the lines from folks like Mackie, Soundcraft, Behringer, etc. These guys ares used to environments where there is no pre-sales support, no pre-sales feedback, and often times the consumer doesn't even look at the board before they buy it. But, the end result is the same... The consumer will no doubt find themselves in a point where they have to make a concession about something regarding that board. My point is here that it's not a function of cash that will change the feature set of a product. You mention beta testing. I beta test a lot as well... Music gear, operating systems, protocol stacks, compilers, computer equipment, various things. As a _beta_ tester, you are rarely in a position that you can shape the final product _dramatically_. I was in a test for a piece of hardware that I would LOVED to have been in the original design meetings TWO YEARS prior - because I thought that the product had a much steeper learning curve than necessary just to deal with the physical UI. But, there's no way that anything I said during the beta could of changed the fact that the cosmetics, silkscreen, manuals, manufacturing line, etc. were all tooled and ready to run. As a beta tester, I'm was looking for bugs in the OS and, I did have a voice in giving feedback about how the software side of the UI was running and offer-up ideas for change. But even those wouldn't of seen the light of day until the second major rev of the code. Beta testing is just too late... If you're lucky enough to hit on an _alpha_ test and working on a simulator (i.e., before the hardware tooling is complete) then you're in a better spot to shape the world. For the most part, in this day and age, the timeline from beta test to production was decided on paper a year ago. It was also long ago decided that the physical product out for test wouldn't be changed. Another part is trolling during the "I got an idea" stage.. For a company to _actively_ poll a user base for ideas can be horrendous. Once a company comes out with the questions, "the jig is up" and the company is basically showing it's cards to the world on what it's thinking. The market in the music world is cut throat. The time to turn-around a design is very short in the grand scheme of things, and the time is even shorter for the *competition* to turn a design. Say someone comes here and says "what do you want in a MIDI pedal board", they will undoubtedly get a slew of answers. If that person is John Smith (i.e., not affiliated with a company) then _someone_ might take note, but for the most part folks will think that he's an independent with a dream and wish him luck. But, if a named company comes public with questions about a new idea, you can bet that people figure that something is up, and they will take a bit more notice. In fact, "they" may be another manufacturer listening in on the ensuing conversation. And... They may take enough notice of the conversation to start down a similar development path themselves. In fact, they may BEAT the first company to market. That's competition, and all the companies deal with it all the time. But, that's a _form_ of competition also breeds methods of combating against it. For example, you camp out on a mailing list and watch the comments of folks about various topics; you drop in as a private user and ask questions; you look to the outside world, tap a working musician on the shoulder and say "hey, can I talk to you for a minute?". But _rarely_ do you come out in public showing your cards. Most companies these days keep their ideas and thinking process under tighter control than their schematics or source code. The money is in tomorrow's idea, but they have to sell yesterday's in order to pay for it. If you have an unlimited bankroll, then in this case you can certainly get what you want. You can always have something custom built. But in the meantime, there's the rest of us out that generally have to look at the market and decide which of someone else's ideas best suits our needs. :) Yikes... I soapboxed. Sorry... Thanks for reading. :) Mark