The Cyndustries List

Hey folks,

Well, here's a thought in defense of the increase we cannot change but have to learn to deal with. And before I get into it I must state that I agree that it is nice for a manufacturer to give notice of a prices increase. But, when you run a business you get to do what you want really. That's the #1 freedom to running your own enterprise. Of course, the fall-out you deal with becomes all your own as well and you can't blame "the man" or "They" when you are both of those entities.

It seems most people who are writing about "It's not fair", although very excited about this module in the newsgroup, have not placed their orders yet. Maybe Cynthia had to boost the price since when no orders come in it seems like the demand is smaller than anticipated? I know from other lists I have been on for those other manufacturers that sometimes the hype and excitement in the newsgroup fails miserably in translating to orders. It is one thing to voice concerns about pricing if you have an order in, but if you haven't placed an order you have no room to gripe really. What we are all afforded is the decision to make a decision on buying or not. I don't think it is fair to hammer Cynthia even if we don't like the increase. Sure I would have liked a bit of notice like Paul Schreiber or Roger at .com gives, but the leaves didn't fall off the tree that way I guess.

It doesn't matter if you order or not, Cynthia made the decision she did and most likely to cover the large investment necessary when undertaking such a bold launch of a module like the ZO. No other manufacturer has ever said or done what she has by saying "Here you go" to the whole modular community. She undertook producing and releasing a module in virtually every format out there. Think about it, that's a damn ballsy thing to do. Imagine the investment in panels and parts and labor to do this. Parts go up in price all the time, and availability sometimes comes in to play with components. The profit margin on this thing has got to be slim after the custom circuit boards and the ordering of the many different formats of parts to support a multi-format launch. I say "Go on Cynthia, do your thing!" Of course, I am not ordering a ZO as the original price was too steep for me. I just don't have a need for the ZO at this time in my rig. Do I hope Cynthia continues to release modules in Multi-format and/or continue selling populated PCB's... of course. If anything, this whole experience will be a learning experience for both sides.

Cynthia's side: Inform your potential or current customers of a potential price increase with advance notice so we can scrape together money and give you a boost of orders before the increase (or not, after all it is her business, not ours)

Our side: If you want a module like the ZO, scrape the money together immediately, sell something to get something. One way or the other, place the order so the manufacturer knows there is "paying" interest out there. Everybody loves a piece of fine artwork like a Van Gogh or Picasso or the ZO, and it sure would be nice to have one. But you've got to put your money where your mouth is or just like the Van Gogh and Picasso, the thing you want may be limited to only one or a few in the world.

Let's hope that the large investment Cynthia made to do the launch doesn't sink her as one of the few Analog Modular Manufacturers out there. I didn't like loosing Oakley and I sure wouldn't want Cynthia to go away... nor dot.com, nor Synthtech, nor Blacet etc. Keep it coming folks, and I hope to keep farming your stock of designs for the things I can afford and need to make music.

Thomas