I'm sorry if you see this twice. I have no verification it went out the first time.
> Now that the ice has melted, and all of our cars are caked with salt and sand, I can drive to
the
> post office and actually ∗ship∗ stuff next week. And trust me, I know ∗exactly∗ how far behind
I
> am. I just spent 1 hour updating the backlog and planning the building/kitting/parts ordering
> schedule for the next 10 WEEKS.
>
> Assembled backlog (not counting 500/600 series)
>
> Has reached an all time high! Which is great because Feb. is the traditional slow month here
> (folks paying off the last of the Christmas debts and waiting for tax refunds). I shipped 61
> assembled modules in Dec/Jan/Feb with NAMM sucking up 6 weeks of that period. Most of the
backlog
> is from ∗new∗ customers, one all the way from Russia! The majority of the backlog is '190s,
'300s
> and '800s. I'll be soldering the entire week of March 10th. Right now I'm working on a batch of
> 440s.
>
> Kit backlog (not counting 500/600 series)
>
> I have stocked completely the '190, '490, '310 and '830. Starting Monday on 48 kits of the '800
> followed by 36 kits of the '300. Looking over the current backlog, I should be able to ship
over
> 125 kits out next week! I also made up some '940s, so some of you waiting on those will see
them.
> I am out of '910s, and it will take until around March 21st to get more back in stock (built by
> outside shop). I do now have ∗plenty∗ of '960s and '990s. I have all of the parts in for the
'950
> ∗except∗ the new wire set, which gets ordered on Monday.
>
> 500/600 series
>
> The current guesstimate on these things shipping are as follows:
>
> WaveWarper - mid April. I need to implement the last pcb tweak and get the rotary switches
made.
> The good news is that the Spectrol 100 ohm pots (for the 'Warp Factor' control) arrived Friday.
> I'm not the only slow company around: these were ordered Oct. 11th :)
>
> Fixed Filter bank - early May. The design is done, I'm going to order the front panels in about
2
> weeks. The pcb design needs to be completed (going from 1 large pcb to two small ones) with the
> expansion connector added. Several beta testers have played with it, all give it a huge thumbs
> up.
>
> Cloud Generator - June. This is all my fault, I have to get off my butt and do the prototype
pcb
> so the firmware can get going. The week of March 24th is Cloud Off My Butt Week.
>
> uSeq - late April/early May. Needs 1 pcb revision, but the hardware is solid. Front panels in
> stock. I'm ordering parts for 50 units next week. Right now, about 38 are on order. If you want
> to get in the first run, now the time to order. I can't keep much inventory due to the high $$$
> cost and the fact the parts cannot be used by other modules (like say TL072 op amps can be).
>
> MIDI/CV - May. Atmel (the uP vendor) shafted us in late Dec. and we now have to add a small PIC
> uP to assist in the SPI I/O hardware. Nothing much we can do here as about 2 months prior HW/SW
> went bye-bye.
>
> Also: the MOTM-480 will ∗finally∗ see the light of day in late May as well. I can't schedule
time
> to do the pcb layout until April. I do have 95% of the parts for it, including front panels.
>
> Well, that's the 'bad' news. MOTM is still growing despite war gloom and a down economy.
Without
> MOTM, I'd be in a ∗serious∗ panic myself, as the EE job market is ZERO where I live, with no
> signs of any recovery of any sort until 2004. At least the current backlog will keep me busy
> until June/July. After that, I guess JH, Crow and I will have to cook up some new stuff for the
> remainder of the year. SEM filter, anybody? :)
>
> Paul S.
>