Wiardgroup

Well, I have been very entertained for the last week.  Thank you guys.  This discussion brought on by John ( I think 
that is his name ) seems to have made everyone ( including myself ) re-examine  our feelings about aesthetics, art, 
music, synthesizers, Wendy Carlos, face plates, etc...  That is a good thing.  I think Grants statements were especially 
well spoken.  I am a Wiard owner.  I have 7 modules + 1 on order ( a Wogglebug ), a custom birch case, and a 2 
joystick controller.  My system is also a blacklight system enabling its writing to be visible on a darkened stage.  Yes I 
use it live.  I played with the prototypes before Grant decided whether or not to bother starting the Wiard company and 
encouraged him to do it. 

My 2 cents:    The Wiard is a handmade instrument that took several years to develope and refine.  To keep costs 
down (you complain about the price) certain things, like using a universal faceplate, had to be done.  Would you be 
willing to pay twice the price or more for a module to have a unique faceplate for each module for aesthetic reasons?  
Obviously John you have no idea what it takes in tooling, etching, anodizing, soldering, assembling, designing, 
debugging, etc cost wise in both time and money to manufacture a product line of 8+ different electronic intruments.  
Each module is unique.  Grant has one person that helps him consistantly to accomplish this.  The circuitry alone for the 
first 6 modules took two years to R&D.  If the hours it took to do what Grant has done were divided buy the profit from 
sales up to today, He would not be making minimum wage by Mexico's standards!   I think the discussion you started 
was healthy for the reasons I stated earlier.  It kills me that someone as intelligent as you seem to be could make some 
of the statements regarding the functionallity of an instrument that you have never even used.  Especially one that has 
so much work put into.  The extent of your exposure to this instument is watching ( and hearing ) someone else use one 
once.  The only way you will ever have a clue as to how far beyond an everyday synth (like a Moog) a Wiard can take 
you is by buying one and spending hours with it.  It sounds like that will never happen.  Maybe you'll play someone 
elses for an hour or two ( a drop in the bucket ) and you will start to see for yourself what I am refering to.  If you like the 
layout and look of a MOOG, buy a MOOG.  My synth is portable and does way more ( and sounds great too)!  The last 
time I talked with Bach he agreed with me.  I have to go now,  I'm finishing up my next painting, "motor oil on canvas"!
						Rick