From bruce@ashbysolutions.com Thu Nov 10 14:40:04 2005
Subject:Re: keystation pro88 destruction

Hi Josh,

That's the problem: to make keybeds economically -- 2005 economics, not 1965 or 1975 -- one must make them in high volume. That requires tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars investment in design, tooling, and machinery. And that means the sales volumes necessary to make it all worthwhile are large, too. So, it's not a "small business" opportunity at all, IMHO. (I ran the numbers myself.)

This should not discourage you from working on your own design. Making a single keyboard controller for personal use is a different proposition. If I spend even 100 hours working out the details, figuring out where to get parts, etc. I get some personal satisfaction, which is hard to put a price tag on. Going the next step, though -- producing them for general consumption -- is a different matter entirely. If I can't make them for less than I paid for the parts, including some sort of fair rate for my labors, why bother?

Regards,

-BW

--
Bruce Wahler
Design Consultant
Ashby Solutions™ http://consult.ashbysolutions.com
978.386.7389 voice/fax
bruce@ashbysolutions.com

At 03:58 PM 11/10/2005 -0600, you wrote:
>Bruce,
>
>Seems to me that the real small business opportunity here is not in making
>keyboard controllers, but keybeds!
>
>Thanks for your time (and others that responded to me). I'll let everyone
>know how my trials end up.
>
>Josh
>