>Cancelled products that seemed to have been 'pre-bought' by people.
Changing shipping dates. Logistical
>problems, communication problems, some raw bad luck.
Sounds like many pro audio, software synth, hardware synth, etc.
companies! Does anyone remember the Mackie d8b? Two years of promises
to ship? And then software updates on and off. Not picking on Mackie
(I used to work for them) but the product was discontinued before some
of the "features" that were promised were ever realised. MOTM is not
alone in the camp that is described above.
>A comment was made to me that "a lot of MOTM users are old-school
synth guys
>in their 50's, they are fine to wait and play with their huge studio".
Hey, I take offense to that remark! I'm an old-school synth guy in my
40's.
;-)
>I firmly believe that Paul designs the most professional, highest
>quality, awe-inspiring modules. He's a brilliant designer, and I
don't want
>to hurt his feelings or sap his motivation! I just think his designer
>skills FAR outshine his business management and PR skills, and it
would be
>great to see MOTM taken over by someone with the skill and time to
focus on
>turning it into a stellar business, and free Paul to focus on doing
what he
>does best - designing killer modules.
Let me put this as politely as possible. No "businessperson" in their
right mind would have even started MOTM. And no businessperson would
take it over right now. There isn't any real money to be made in this
business. Just ask Mr. Blacet, Doepfer, Macbeth, Wiard, etc. It is a
cool small business but that's it. Frankly, I would love to do a
similar thing when/if I retire.
The only reason MOTM exists is because Paul wanted it to. I remember
when MOTM just came out, and I thought "oh no, another fly-by-night"
synth. There are SCORES of them (I won't bother naming names) that I
used to lust after, only to find out that they were vapourware. But I
saw other ordering modules and I did a little research and started
buying a few modules at a time. Now I'm not a huge customer (I think I
just bought modules 13 and 14) but nonetheless I am a customer. And
why did I buy MOTM? Because I firmly believe it is the highest quality
modular synthesizer on the market. Of course I ended up buying kits
and then it took me forever to build them and/or have someone assemble
a few for me (you know who you are). So moving towards all-assembled
kits is just fine with me (I snatched up one of the assembled 510's
during the sale... couldn't resist).
Funny enough, there are a few MOTM that I'm waiting for such as the
bi-phase and the Oberheim filter, but that's about it. After that I'll
be Frac-Rac-ing. I've had a few Blacet modules for years and will buy
a few more, and then will work on expanding with Paul's Frac products.
This Frac system will become my "take out and play" system while the
MOTM will sit gracefully in my studio where it doesn't have to endure
the abuse of the road.
Anyway, MOTM is fantastic, and the new Frac modules are cool for less
money but same sound. I've never bought a Doepfer, Analogue Systems,
Analogue Solutions, synthesizers.com, or any other modules. Maybe a
Modcan module or two, and a couple of Buchla modules are in my future
if I have a LOT of extra cash at some point. But for now I'm a happy
customer.
So, no whining from me, just thanks to Paul and others here for making
these modules a reality. Probably because I've been in the pro audio
manufacturing industry for the past 20 years I've got a lot more
sympathy for where Paul is coming from. And frankly I'm impressed that
he's made it this far. Any sane businessman would have given up on it
a long time ago. As Paul has mentioned before, he's not exactly
getting rich from MOTM. Which would explain why he hasn't quit his day
job. But the coolest products in the industry do tend to be a labor of
love, and luckily that is the case with MOTM.
Ivan
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