[sdiy] Discrete OTA

Wed Apr 2 19:03:39 CEST 2014

> I disagree with your points. I believe being able to do what you love does
> not necessarily require doing it as a job.

There are reasons why it would be worth doing it as a job. You might
want to spend more time on it. You might need to invest on equipment,
software or custom parts that are necessary to achieve your vision.
You might realize that you can make your project better by using a
more expensive process, and then try to absorb this cost by making 5,
10, 100 copies of it. Or, as it was the case for me, you might find
out that there is a public immediately wanting to use/build/play what
you have designed - and this could be an incentive for you to try to
release your project.

People have different preferences regarding this: once you have a
synth voice working on a veroboard, are you happy with the result and
do you want to move to something else? Or do you feel the compulsive
need to build a user interface for it, an enclosure, plod through a
complete MIDI implementation, presets, editors, documentation? Do you
like building hacks, projects, or products? Do you build stuff just to
prove that you can make it work, or to use it... for yourself, you and
your friends, or the musicians you admire? Depending on where you are
on this spectrum, it'll be a good or a bad thing to turn your passion
for synths into a job.

It's way easier to have another source of income while you get started
and still don't know if there's a market for what you are doing. But
it would be quite sad to lock yourself into believing that turning
what you do into a business is a silly idea. Don't artificially set a
limit to the amount of success or impact your designs could have.

> I also disagree that there is little chance element to this business. Many
> industry giants from the 70s and 80s I talk to speak about their past with
> regret. Recently I've read that Ian Fritz wanted to quit. Many others are
> struggling. I would say the fact you can say you are happy with your
> business means you have been lucky, and your statement is loaded with
> survivor bias. In specific, that you are doing well does not mean most
> people will do well, or even some, or that the OP will do well.

The chance factor is still less important than in very crowded markets
with low barrier to entry like apps or plugins.

The synth & module markets are not "winner take all" markets. The
choice to use such or such brand of instrument is not just a matter of
price or performance - there are aesthetics and image aspects ("I want
to be seen playing this brand"). Music is diverse and constantly
changing. There are so many niches waiting to be filled...

> I think this needs to be coupled with the fact that he is running away from
> stress. A new synth business means running into even more stress.

Any intellectually challenging job with responsibilities will cause stress.

Olivier

On Wed, Apr 2, 2014 at 3:00 PM, cheater00 . <cheater00 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Oliver,
>
> I disagree with your points. I believe being able to do what you love does
> not necessarily require doing it as a job. To use your analogy you can have
> a fruitful relationship with someone without moving together, getting
> married, or starting a family. However here your analogy breaks down because
> in a relationship those are optional whereas at work you HAVE to make money
> or you die in a ditch.
>
> I also disagree that there is little chance element to this business. Many
> industry giants from the 70s and 80s I talk to speak about their past with
> regret. Recently I've read that Ian Fritz wanted to quit. Many others are
> struggling. I would say the fact you can say you are happy with your
> business means you have been lucky, and your statement is loaded with
> survivor bias. In specific, that you are doing well does not mean most
> people will do well, or even some, or that the OP will do well.
>
> I think this needs to be coupled with the fact that he is running away from
> stress. A new synth business means running into even more stress.
>
> D.
>
> On 2 Apr 2014 14:37, "Olivier Gillet" <ol.gillet at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> > If you get into making synths for a living you'll start hating it.
>>
>> As someone who has been making synths & kits for a living for a few
>> years, I can say that this is not true.
>>
>> There are things that I am much less enthusiastic about as the
>> business grew - mostly, providing step by step assistance to DIY
>> builders who became less and less experienced as the user base grew ;
>> and designing in the "DIY kit" format - but I am still super excited
>> about it. I actually started new hobbies because I needed a break from
>> my "work" activities, but it doesn't mean that I am getting tired of
>> synths.
>>
>> The negative aspects cheater00 highlighted are not specific to the
>> synth business - you'll experience them (or not) whatever business
>> you'll run. This is a warning against entrepreneurship and doing the
>> things you love in life - this has nothing to do with synths. The
>> overall argument actually sounds quite silly to me, it's like the
>> people saying "don't marry this girl you love, don't let the hardships
>> of marital life ruin this wonderful love". Sometimes you just have to
>> make shit happen.
>>
>> There are a couple of things peculiar to the synth business, though:
>> * It doesn't have the growth potential of a software startup
>> (http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html). This won't make you a
>> Zuckerberg. On the plus side, the chance factor is much less important
>> than if you were trying to launch an iPhone app (or if you were
>> entering any crowded mass-market); and you won't have to scratch your
>> head about a business model.
>> * It is very unlikely you'll be able to do that as an employee. The
>> job market is just a handful of open positions a year. You'll have to
>> design under your name, or be visible enough to do consulting for
>> bigger companies - entrepreneurship is the way to go. This is not for
>> everyone - but an academic background surely helps (setting your own
>> goals, managing your time & budget, steering projects over 2-3 year
>> long cycles, accepting setbacks that can last for quarters or
>> semesters, sometimes being accountable to the people whose money
>> you're "wasting"...).
>> * It will not pay as much as a job in which the same skills (embedded
>> systems, electronics design, signal processing...) would be put to use
>> for other industrial and commercial applications. The reward will be
>> in the happiness you get from doing your job and/or from not doing
>> another job in which your skills would be put to uses incompatible
>> with your values.
>>
>> Regarding switching to this (or to any other) career:
>> http://sivers.org/tarzan
>>
>> Best,
>> Olivier
>>
>> On Wed, Apr 2, 2014 at 11:30 AM, cheater00 . <cheater00 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > If you get into making synths for a living you'll start hating it.
>> > It's simple as that. Your fear of being copied/ripped off is a fairly
>> > strong sign of things to come if you go down this route for any sort
>> > of financial support, even if not primary. Simply don't do it for
>> > money and all will be well. You will have fun and you will be able to
>> > do when you want, at the pace you want. If you start depending on it
>> > for money, very negative aspects come into play: anxiety, fear,
>> > disappointment, hatred, envy, ...
>> >
>> > Do you really want to turn something you love doing into something you
>> > will ultimately hate? It will only make you a worse person. There
>> > isn't a lot of money to be made in synthesizers. Find a mass market to
>> > make money on. Nothing related to making music is a mass market.
>> >
>> > D.
>> >
>> > On Wed, Apr 2, 2014 at 10:51 AM, Neil Johnson <neil.johnson71 at gmail.com>
>> > wrote:
>> >> Roman Sowa wrote:
>> >>> no way of protecting anything. Neil has already spelled out the
>> >>> options.
>> >>
>> >> Some more thoughts from Paul S on MW:
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> http://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1192107&highlight=#1192107
>> >>
>> >> http://www.muffwiggler.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=662394&highlight=#662394
>> >>
>> >> Neil
>> >> --
>> >> http://www.njohnson.co.uk
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