MOTM

Hi

I think the new Forum is a great idea. Im on a lot of Forums like this
and its great if you´re away for a while you can easy find the topics
of your interest. 
So my full support to Paul.

hi

Gregory





--- In motm@yahoogroups.com, "Paul Schreiber" <synth1@...> wrote:
>
> A bit of ground to cover in this one :)
> 
> UPDATE
> =======
> 
> Will be shipping kits/modules Mon-Wed of this week, then taking off
until 
> Mon Dec 1 for Thanksgiving. While wife is out scouring the malls for 
> bargains, I usually have a massive office cleaning. I also need to
gather up 
> the remaining MOTM-730 SMT parts, program the PICs, and send over to
board 
> stuffing on the 1st. I will not be able to ship all the MOTM-730s on
order 
> this year but probably 60% of them. I'll still work on them the week
after 
> Christmas during 'video game madness' (I did my gaming computer upgrade 
> yesterday, I didn't blow up the motherboard so I'm OK).
> 
> This week I am ordering the last of the sheet metal: MOTM-380 and
MOTM-700 
> panels. I am also ordering more rack rails to keep up with demand.
MOTM-940 
> panels ship to me on Tuesday.
> 
> SALE
> ====
> 
> Dec 15 to Dec 31 I am running a 15% off sale for assembled modules. The 
> shopping cart will automatically reflect the new prices during that
time. I 
> expect the lead time on these modules to be 6-8 weeks dropping to
4-6 weeks 
> by April. The main issue will be ordering more Spectrol and Bourns
pots and 
> when they show up. Both are quoting 12 weeks now. With 600pc *minimum* 
> orders.
> 
> WEB SITE RELAUNCH
> =================
> 
> I'm going to overhaul the website, essentially starting over from
'ground 
> zero' (the shopping cart will be about the same). The current source
code is 
> so thrown together that it is difficult to edit/add/delete content.
I'll 
> have 'test pages' put up after Christmas, so everyone can verify
they work 
> with browsers I don't use (like FireFox, Eudora, etc). I hope to add
new 
> features, more content, better organization, etc.
> 
> NEW FORUM
> ===========
> 
> I'm going to move away from the current yahoo group to a 'self
contained' 
> forum on the site, using phpBB3 (www.phpbb.com). This is the
software that 
> www.modularsynth.com uses. If you go to the phpBB site, you can look
at the 
> different styles offered ('skins'). I personally like the PS3 and the 
> fisubice2 ones. The reasons I'm changing are:
> 
> a) I'm NOT the moderator of the Yahoo Group
> b) I like the fact the php-based forum has categories, and it's much
easier 
> to find stuff
> c) I'm going to allow anyone to join/post, but trust me I'm going to
boot 
> folks off if they misbehave
> d) the Yahoo group is 'hidden' and no other synth forum is. I've had
several 
> people tell me that joining a forum *before* buying was very useful
> 
> I have not decide if I'm going to do this before of at the time of
the new 
> site roll-out.
> 
> I consider 2009 to be the 'official' MOTM 2.0 start-up. It will be
11 years 
> and ~ 8,500 modules with 650 MOTM customers after starting. I know what 
> people expect now versus 10 years ago. I understand the marketplace
better, 
> the expectations and the 'hot buttons'. And, I am reacting
accordingly. I 
> just hope the economy improves so that there continues to be a
market for 
> the new modules coming out. I still have LOTS of modules, in various 
> formats, that I want to do. I also hope that my suppliers continue
to offer 
> the parts I need without jacking the price up 15%/year 
> (cough....Tyco....cough) to the point a 100K pot costs more that a
500,000 
> gate FPGA or a 32-bit, 75MIPS ARM processor.
> 
> Paul S.
>