Hi
I think the new Forum is a great idea. Im on a lot of Forums like this
and its great if you´re away for a while you can easy find the topics
of your interest.
So my full support to Paul.
hi
Gregory
--- In motm@yahoogroups.com, "Paul Schreiber" <synth1@...> wrote:
>
> A bit of ground to cover in this one :)
>
> UPDATE
> =======
>
> Will be shipping kits/modules Mon-Wed of this week, then taking off
until
> Mon Dec 1 for Thanksgiving. While wife is out scouring the malls for
> bargains, I usually have a massive office cleaning. I also need to
gather up
> the remaining MOTM-730 SMT parts, program the PICs, and send over to
board
> stuffing on the 1st. I will not be able to ship all the MOTM-730s on
order
> this year but probably 60% of them. I'll still work on them the week
after
> Christmas during 'video game madness' (I did my gaming computer upgrade
> yesterday, I didn't blow up the motherboard so I'm OK).
>
> This week I am ordering the last of the sheet metal: MOTM-380 and
MOTM-700
> panels. I am also ordering more rack rails to keep up with demand.
MOTM-940
> panels ship to me on Tuesday.
>
> SALE
> ====
>
> Dec 15 to Dec 31 I am running a 15% off sale for assembled modules. The
> shopping cart will automatically reflect the new prices during that
time. I
> expect the lead time on these modules to be 6-8 weeks dropping to
4-6 weeks
> by April. The main issue will be ordering more Spectrol and Bourns
pots and
> when they show up. Both are quoting 12 weeks now. With 600pc ∗minimum∗
> orders.
>
> WEB SITE RELAUNCH
> =================
>
> I'm going to overhaul the website, essentially starting over from
'ground
> zero' (the shopping cart will be about the same). The current source
code is
> so thrown together that it is difficult to edit/add/delete content.
I'll
> have 'test pages' put up after Christmas, so everyone can verify
they work
> with browsers I don't use (like FireFox, Eudora, etc). I hope to add
new
> features, more content, better organization, etc.
>
> NEW FORUM
> ===========
>
> I'm going to move away from the current yahoo group to a 'self
contained'
> forum on the site, using phpBB3 (www.phpbb.com). This is the
software that
> www.modularsynth.com uses. If you go to the phpBB site, you can look
at the
> different styles offered ('skins'). I personally like the PS3 and the
> fisubice2 ones. The reasons I'm changing are:
>
> a) I'm NOT the moderator of the Yahoo Group
> b) I like the fact the php-based forum has categories, and it's much
easier
> to find stuff
> c) I'm going to allow anyone to join/post, but trust me I'm going to
boot
> folks off if they misbehave
> d) the Yahoo group is 'hidden' and no other synth forum is. I've had
several
> people tell me that joining a forum ∗before∗ buying was very useful
>
> I have not decide if I'm going to do this before of at the time of
the new
> site roll-out.
>
> I consider 2009 to be the 'official' MOTM 2.0 start-up. It will be
11 years
> and ~ 8,500 modules with 650 MOTM customers after starting. I know what
> people expect now versus 10 years ago. I understand the marketplace
better,
> the expectations and the 'hot buttons'. And, I am reacting
accordingly. I
> just hope the economy improves so that there continues to be a
market for
> the new modules coming out. I still have LOTS of modules, in various
> formats, that I want to do. I also hope that my suppliers continue
to offer
> the parts I need without jacking the price up 15%/year
> (cough....Tyco....cough) to the point a 100K pot costs more that a
500,000
> gate FPGA or a 32-bit, 75MIPS ARM processor.
>
> Paul S.
>