the ‘analog� madness’? you mean the prices� on working vintage
analogs? yes, it is the same kind of thing. There are a limited number of them,
there were only X number made, and the supply that is available is what we
have.
�
a better parable, if you prefer, is that an E-MU Emulator II is going UP in
price. For the same reasons: electronics fail, and the cheaper the components
used in them, the more likely they are to fail. Unlike the 80s E-Mu samplers,
the Command Stations and Proteus 2000 series weren't made in the U.S. from
Japanese components- they were made in Singapore from Chinese and Singapore(an?)
components,� and then those sub-assemblies were shipped to the US and
assembled here. voilà! Made in the USA. (Several other ‘made in the USA’
electronic instrument manufacturers do the same kind of thing, as well as at
least one of the ‘made in EU ones)
�
You want inexpensive items? you end up with cheap components. And you cross
your fingers and hope that the vendor doing your sub-assemblies didn’t cheap out
on your encoders to make a better profit.
�
�
�;
�
Just my two cents:
�
2015-03-30 3:16 GMT+02:00 D F Tweedie bienpegaito@... [xl7] <xl7@yahoogroups.com>:
Not crazy ... just supply and demand. And it goes to show the timeless value of good hardware technology.
�
The supply is quite scarce here, and mostly due to the fact, that when
those ROMs (and the instruments they were built into) showed up, they were
rather overpriced - just look at their prices after few years, or even now. Thus
market didn't respond well, and the development of a good hardware technology
got thwarted. The truth is, that Phatt & Xtreme ROMs are cheap not because
of their samples' quality, but because of their popularity.
Crazy prices kept quoted may result in people not willing to sell their
not-used anymore ROMs for less than certain unrealistic price. One day I managed
to score a PK-6 with the new Composer, both Orchestrals and Vintage for 200 EUR.
I would not pay more than 150EUR for a ROM, even for Vintage or Holy Grail,
because it's the same craziness, which fuels the analog madness.
However, I'm thinking of a small database (shared document?), where people
could quote the prices they paid and they would be willing to pay for particular
ROMs. The results could be surprising...
�
How much are Stradavari going for these days?
�
Who cares? They are not compatible with E-mu ROMs anyway ;-)
Seriously though - while I appreciate your parable, you can't compare
those. You could have easily scaled up the production line of ROMs: once you're
done with designing a platform & the ROM, you only have to make one-per-ROM
effort to collect the samples and make the presets (and some of users can
confirm, that some samples and the presets are duplicated in different ROMs),
and then you can really go and multiply. You can't do the same with hand-made
violins, since the time & effort are linear here.
Having said this, I admit it might have been that E-mu never actually
reached the level of assumed profitability, so scaling up could not
happen.
But there's also another difference: most Stradivari were 300 years old,
when E-mu started to produce P2K. They will keep playing for years, if well
maintained. Our E-mu boxes won't, they already suffer from jumping dials, broken
PSUs and so on. On the other hand, violin is a just a wooden box with a stick
and four strings; E-mu instruments are complex mixtures of hardware and
software. Most of us, apart from using them in the creative process of making
music, treat them like the works of art, and - even though they are deemed to be
ephemeral - they certainly deserve it, but let's not get too far ;-)
�
Bruno