Doepfer

I've been avoiding the new module polls, because I've strongly felt 
the Doepfer should stop developing new modules at the expense of 
supporting and upgrading their current products. I said so over on the 
EZBoard forum, and I'm saying the same thing here.

The only quibble I have with the upgrade polls is the focus on "bugs". 
This is missing the point somewhat, and leads to the defensive posture 
of "the product conforms to its prospectus" or whatever similar 
defensive words Dieter was using. Just because a product conforms to 
its spec doesn't mean that it meets its customer's needs. I'm in the 
IT business, and over a few decades I've seen numerous cases where 
this overly-legalistic adherence to the "spec" has caused programs to 
go down in flames. Balance between short-term and long-term 
objectives, judgement, and sensitivity to customer needs are called 
for.

Here's a prime example: the A120 should have been redesigned long ago. 
A ladder filter should be the heart and soul of a retro-modular system 
like the A100, that's why it was the standard VCF that Doepfer 
produced in the first place.

The problem with the A120 isn't that it has bugs. The problem with the 
A120 is that it's incredibly mediocre. Most of us recognize this fact, 
and it affects the general impression that everyone has of the A100. 
My view is that a killer, redesigned VCF1 would boost overall sales of 
the A100 system, and also generate revenue on its own. After all, I 
spent good money on external filtering to overcome the weakness of the 
A100 filtering. Even if I had to toss my current A120 in the trash, a 
redesigned VCF1 would have probably cost me less, and my money would 
have gone to Doepfer instead of to someone else.

Instead, we get Wasp filters and multi-slope filters and whatever the 
next "filter of the month club" selection will be. As far as I know, 
the only A100 modules that have ever been redesigned (A111 and 
A130/131) were because of production problems, not to improve them.

I'll back off my position that Doepfer should stop new product 
development, but I think the practice of "orphaning" every product as 
soon as it goes into production isn't good business.

I wish the A100 and the Regelwerk were better, but I continue to use 
them and enjoy them.

Joe