Re: Considering building an ultimate looper...

[Jeffrey Larson <jeff@zonemobius.com>]

 > If I feel in my research that I can't provide that then
 > I'll back off the project of course.  BUT THIS IS HOW GREAT THINGS
 > COME TO BE...so please.  I'm just inquiring.  No harm in that.

None whatsoever. welcome.  I think you'll find this list is one
of the most valuable sources of information for this research.

 > Anyway I dont' find anything friendly about your post.

Well, I'm sorry about that.  I'm just one of those people that sets
the bar pretty high when I hear the term "ultimate looper".  And as
the author of a relatively popular software looper, I think I have a
pretty good idea of how hard it is to build one.

Believe me, no one would like to make a living building loopers more
than I would.  But I just don't see the market.  At the high end you
tend to have a high profit margin, but relatively few people want to
buy the product.  At the low end you can't compete with the volume
manufacturing processes of Roland.  There's more room in the middle,
say the $500 range, but the margins are lower so you're going to have
to sell a *lot* of them to make a living.   In the mid range, you're  
going to
need some unique features to stand out, and that means a *lot* of
software development.  Writing and testing looping software is extremely
difficult, this is way beyond typical PIC programming.

I don't want my comments to sound unfriendly.  But they certainly
are pessimistic.  Reality isn't always friendly.

I do wish you luck though, anything that serves to improve mass  
awareness
of looping is perfectly fine with me.

 > PLEASE...try emailing me instead of making a public spectacle like
 > this before you are sure of what you are talking about with me.

FINALLY!  After over two years on this list I've made my first
public spectacle.  Gosh, I wish I'd known it was that easy :-)

Seriously, there's a lot of public debate on this list, I hardly think
this was crossing the line.  In fact, the opinions of the other list
members on this topic should be extremely valuable to you.  I for one
was surprised by the comments on volume pedal resolution.  That's
great to know.   Progress was made.  Can we all hug now?

Your Friend,
Jeff
www.zonemobius.com