MOTM

As the owner of a number of businesses past and present I can tell 
you that businesses must do two things in order to survive long 
term.  They must provide what the customer wants.  And they must 
also introduce new products, (unless they sell consumables) because 
eventually the market becomes saturated otherwise.  Paul is only 
going to sell a certain number of VCOs.  I'm sure Paul would tell 
you that when a new module is announced there is an initial large 
surge of interest and hopefully orders.  After that the volume 
trickles down to a handful every so often.  There are new customers, 
but the development cost on a new module must be recovered from the 
initial surge, otherwise as the volume of a given module declines, 
the cost would have to go up.  
Having said that, one customer may really want a Pulse Divider, 
another may really want a Rhythm Wheel, but there may be 10 that 
want a uSeq.  If I were in Paul's shoes I'd bring out the uSeq 
first.  
There are other factors involved in selling a product beyond the 
design phase, so although a pulse divider may be relatively simple 
as far as the code, if the anticipated sales are lower than a uSeq, 
the cost may have to be higher and the development less urgent for 
the pulse divider.
I can also agree with Paul's reasoning in spreading out the release 
of new modules.  It takes a lot of work to gather together parts, 
bag them up and assemble them into kits.  There is also a lot of 
work in writing the manuals and of course in assembling finished 
modules for those that want them.  Have you ever done PCB design?  
Especially for surface mount?  Can you imagine how much legwork it 
takes to even find the lowest cost vendor for quality parts?  Try 
multiplying that times 100 or more.  If all the new stuff came out 
in January, Paul would have to hire 25 people for one month and then 
lay them all off for the other 11 months.
Although Paul may announce a bunch of new products in December and 
accept orders, so far as I know he doesn't charge anyone until 
shipment.  I certainly haven't been charged for the two 480s I 
ordered last January.  He is not using your money to fund his 
development costs.
Paul is one of the hardest working guys I know of and we are the 
ones that benefit from his hard work.  He could quite possibly 
charge more for his modules, look at the new Buchla stuff expected 
to come out.
Although I will certainly order the Pulse Divider when it comes out, 
in fact I'll take two of them, I am quite content with the stream of 
modules coming from SynthTech.  I may needle Paul privately from 
time to time, but I am quite satisfied.
If I really want a pulse divider by February 1st I'll build my own.
If anybody thinks what Paul does is fun and games I'd suggest they 
try it themselves.  I'm sure Stooge Larry would concur.
EOR (End of Rant)