DISCLAIMER: I am often wrong, especially about sales and marketing :)
I am also ranty sometimes and apparently incapable of using a smiley
correctly.
>>>>> Paul Schreiber <synth1@...> writes:
> So, knowing all of this, the next 2 modules (not the CG, '102 or MT)
> I should make are ......????????
If you want new buyers:
MOTM "Mercury", available as a turn-key system, all modules
assembled, calibrated, tested, and signed off by the Paul
4 weeks to delivery at an absolute absolute absolute maximum
this is the main thing that will get you new buyers
right now people go "hey maybe MOTM.. wait 2.0 what? ... maybe dotcom then"
problem of course is then you have to build a pile and hope people buy them
at that point you may as well hunt down a business person and make a go of this as a day job
10U EWI Tourcase, two pairs Rails, mounting h/w, extras
patch cables
950 that mounts in the back somehow, power distro w/ all three kinds of headers power cables
One Moog Voyager's worth of modules
must include a 650 and a 440
SMT versions of everything are 100% okay
especially if they cut lead time
It only must continue to sound awesome and impress any analog fetishist
leave room for 2U or so to fill in later
Better manuals with assembly instructions moved to the back,
more patch examples
calibration instructions
DVD of celebrities explaining/playing MOTM
Include flyers from Oakley, Blacet, Modcan, Bridechamber, Metasonix, Hordijk,
and every other legitimate 5U format vendor
by 5U I mean I can put it on MOTM rails, get it powered from a 950 modulo a special cable, and put/get reasonable signals in/out
by legitimate I mean that the stuff actually works and can be bought assembled
(okay so Blacet and Metasonix don't do 5U any more, maybe not them then)
Also offer a much larger "Saturn", made to order, explicit long lead time.
Keyboard "magazine" and other Glen Becks of the music technology
"industry" will reivew the Mercury (because in point of fact nothing
interesting enough to sell more magazines has happened in their world
in a decade or more), you'll probably get 10 or so new users from
that. You'd need a person who has actually studied business and
operations research to predict how many of these you need to have in
the pipe before you announce it. Delivery time is probably the
dominant factor for all this.
For those of us who have 50+ modules and consider soldering a
therapeutic activity, I'd say see the lists of modules produced by
long-time MOTM fans that have been put on this Yahoo group. Maybe if
you think Oakley, Modcan, or whoever has done a quality job of making
something from such a list, you can strike that, but yeah.
Maybe see if you can get sales figures from Bridechamber, Modcan, Todd
Fletcher, Oakley, KRISP-ONE, etc., and see if you can all derive some
mutual benefit from attempting to foment a 5U renaissance. There's a
whole nascent ecosystem of 5U suppliers out there. They probably have
a very clear picture of what your next two modules should be.
Want more die-hards? Get some of us to host 5Ucon here in lovely
Piscataway New Jersey, where all 5U people of the world will meet up,
make the world's largest patch, show off the world's most incredible
systems in a large common room (locked and guarded at night), see
performances in a separate room with a stage and seating,
buy/sell/swap modules, drink expensive beer with 5U using
semi-celebrities, and donate $100 to the Bob Moog foundation for each
swing they get to take at some old Doepfer gear with a sledge hammer.
There will also be soldering. And beer.