From bruce@ashbysolutions.com Thu Aug 07 05:29:26 2003
Subject:Re: Electro 2 reviews

Hi Chris,

>> It was a HUGE improvement in all areas, from V1.
>> Imagine what it will be like by V5.
>
>OK, but how much can you do with the same hardware? I remember KAT (Alternate
>Mode) and T.C. Electronic's Finalizer. They took the unit's back, changed the
>Motherboards, drilled the chassis and added the new hardware.
> Where did people like that go? That is madness. Once Roland replaced the
>Motherboard on my JV-1080 (6 yrs old) for free. They also gave me a brand new CD
>burner AFTER my warranty expired on that too. PLEASE CLAVIA, do likewise. I
>will be an Alternate Mode, TC Electronic and Roland buyer for the rest of my
>life because they won my allegiance. I also received hands on help from Steve
>Hayes of Speakeasy, Bill Brown of BB Organ, Al Goff of Goff Professional and
>Tony LaBrasca of BT Productions. I owe them for their time, dedication, education
>and highly experienced opinions. These folks are caring, period. It is
>amazing that Roland could fall into that catagory. Try getting help from K#*G or
>Y#$%^*ha!

I can completely understand your sentiments. I, too, have been victim of buying broken hardware that stayed broken. However, there are some "mitigating factors" in the race for the Electro V5:

1. I noticed that Clavia offered a free V2 upgrade to V1 users. I also noticed that they did *not* offer a free front panel upgrade to add the new lettering and the MIDI activity LED. Asking for free software, when the software already exists, is one thing; asking for free hardware is quite another. The implied rationale is, "Hey, you already made enough money off me last time. This time, it should be free." Is that really the way business works? If someone called you up and said, "You played at our engagement party. How about playing a 'free upgrade' at our wedding?" what would you say?

2. Many times, the cost of collecting, repairing, and re-distributing the gear costs many times more than the actual changes. Posting a software upgrade on a website is almost "free." Recalling and upgrading products already in the field, OTOH, is very expensive. I'm not all that familiar with the KAT and Finalizer. You mentioned fairly extensive hardware modifications (motherboard replacements, holes drilled, hardware added); were the changes performed for free? If so, it was probably because the original product was flawed, and the manufacturers felt compelled to correct the problems for their customers. This is the sign of a good company who respects their customers. If that's not the case, though, and the manufacturers were actually adding new hardware features for free, then they may have impressed you, but they're not very good businessmen. The object of business is to STAY in business, and giving away free product is not a valid long-term solution. I was actually
under the impression that the people who made the KAT had gone out of business.

3. Software development also costs money -- sometimes, a LOT of money. The biggest cost is in what is known as "regression testing." This is where someone has to go back and make sure that the *new* features don't break any of the *old* features, and if there are problems, fix them. It's a time-consuming, difficult, expensive process. While most Electro owners would like to have additional bells and whistles on their keyboard, very few of them are contemplating actually *paying* for this. This means that the updating costs have to be somehow factored into the sales projections and SRP for the next generation of products. At some point, the answer will be, "We can't afford to keep doing this." Maybe that point is already at V2?

Oh, and by the way, I actually have received help from both Korg and Yamaha, for free: replacement parts, ROM updates, and technical support. Maybe I'm just lucky.

Regards,

-BW
--
Bruce Wahler
Ashby Solutions™ http://music.ashbysolutions.com
978.386.7389 voice/fax
bruce@ashbysolutions.com