MOTM

>Cancelled products that seemed to have been 'pre-bought' by people.  
Changing shipping dates.  Logistical
>problems, communication problems, some raw bad luck.

Sounds like many pro audio, software synth, hardware synth, etc. 
companies!  Does anyone remember the Mackie d8b?  Two years of promises 
to ship?  And then software updates on and off.  Not picking on Mackie 
(I used to work for them) but the product was discontinued before some 
of the "features" that were promised were ever realised.  MOTM is not 
alone in the camp that is described above.

>A comment was made to me that "a lot of MOTM users are old-school 
synth guys
>in their 50's, they are fine to wait and play with their huge studio".

Hey, I take offense to that remark!  I'm an old-school synth guy in my 
40's.

;-)

>I firmly believe that Paul designs the most professional, highest
>quality, awe-inspiring modules.  He's a brilliant designer, and I 
don't want
>to hurt his feelings or sap his motivation!  I just think his designer
>skills FAR outshine his business management and PR skills, and it 
would be
>great to see MOTM taken over by someone with the skill and time to 
focus on
>turning it into a stellar business, and free Paul to focus on doing 
what he
>does best - designing killer modules.

Let me put this as politely as possible.  No "businessperson" in their 
right mind would have even started MOTM.  And no businessperson would 
take it over right now.  There isn't any real money to be made in this 
business.  Just ask Mr. Blacet, Doepfer, Macbeth, Wiard, etc.  It is a 
cool small business but that's it.  Frankly, I would love to do a 
similar thing when/if I retire.

The only reason MOTM exists is because Paul wanted it to.  I remember 
when MOTM just came out, and I thought "oh no, another fly-by-night" 
synth.  There are SCORES of them (I won't bother naming names) that I 
used to lust after, only to find out that they were vapourware.  But I 
saw other ordering modules and I did a little research and started 
buying a few modules at a time.  Now I'm not a huge customer (I think I 
just bought modules 13 and 14) but nonetheless I am a customer.  And 
why did I buy MOTM?  Because I firmly believe it is the highest quality 
modular synthesizer on the market.  Of course I ended up buying kits 
and then it took me forever to build them and/or have someone assemble 
a few for me (you know who you are).  So moving towards all-assembled 
kits is just fine with me (I snatched up one of the assembled 510's 
during the sale... couldn't resist).

Funny enough, there are a few MOTM that I'm waiting for such as the 
bi-phase and the Oberheim filter, but that's about it.  After that I'll 
be Frac-Rac-ing.  I've had a few Blacet modules for years and will buy 
a few more, and then will work on expanding with Paul's Frac products.  
This Frac system will become my "take out and play" system while the 
MOTM will sit gracefully in my studio where it doesn't have to endure 
the abuse of the road.

Anyway, MOTM is fantastic, and the new Frac modules are cool for less 
money but same sound.  I've never bought a Doepfer, Analogue Systems, 
Analogue Solutions, synthesizers.com, or any other modules.  Maybe a 
Modcan module or two, and a couple of Buchla modules are in my future 
if I have a LOT of extra cash at some point.  But for now I'm a happy 
customer.

So, no whining from me, just thanks to Paul and others here for making 
these modules a reality.  Probably because I've been in the pro audio 
manufacturing industry for the past 20 years I've got a lot more 
sympathy for where Paul is coming from.  And frankly I'm impressed that 
he's made it this far.  Any sane businessman would have given up on it 
a long time ago.  As Paul has mentioned before, he's not exactly 
getting rich from MOTM.  Which would explain why he hasn't quit his day 
job.  But the coolest products in the industry do tend to be a labor of 
love, and luckily that is the case with MOTM.

Ivan


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