Aurora

[Paul Maddox]

Thanks for the input, I'll try and respond to some of the questions, if I
miss one, just ask again :)

1) Why are the voice boards expensive? well basically there's a lot on each
one, each is complete monosynth. and it's not just the cost of the parts
that needs factoring in, there's the PCB and also assembly costs. When I
last looked at getting boards made and assembled the quote I had was around
$120 US dollars, minimum order of 1000. That was over 5 years ago.. Now I'm
sure I could get less made, but that'll mean the PCB cost will rise. Plus
prices for parts have risen in general across the globe.

2) Expandable, start with one or two voices and expand. This is something
I've been giving serious thought to. In theory, yes this could be done, it
would require a bit of forethought but it ought to be possible. I'll let it
sit in my mind whilst I work on the board. Hopefully by the time I come to
doing the voice control part I'll have worked through any issues.

3) Perspex cases, actually they're not that cheap. Each GorF/Tron/Zira case
costs £30, 6mm perspex just isn't cheap and 3mm is a bit on the thin side..
plus I'm not sure I want to build a gleeman pentaphonic.. It might be fine
for small fun products, but I'd prefer something a bit more sturdy for a
professional grade instrument.
At this stage I honestly don't think there will be a keyboard version, from
memory fatar will ship orders with an MOQ of 1000.

4) Kit options, not something I really want to do long term, counting
resistors and diodes and putting them in little bags is very soul
destroying.

5) Funding, thanks for offering guys but i'm currently thinking something
along these lines;
a crowdfunding project (probably kickstarter as I believe they now accept
UK projects),
with lots of break points, starting from a few quid getting a VacoLoco mug
through a single voice unit for say £800, a dual voice unit, an 8 voice
unit, 16 voices and so on. Perhaps a "uber" prize of getting the original
prototype and a mention on the website.

The idea of crowd funding appeals for two reasons;
1) I'll find out if people actually want it, if not enough people pitch in,
then I know the idea is a non-starter and it saves me investing huge chunks
of my money and life.
2) by using different options (desktop monosynth, rack 2 voice, etc) I will
get a feel for price points and what people are looking for.

One thing I will be looking for, is beta testers and also peoples opinions
of the feature set. what would be nice is to come to europe, meet up with
you guys for a weekend somewhere and let you all have a play with it, see
what you think and if you feel there's something missing.
I can do the same in the UK with the SynthDIY meet (though I doubt it'll be
ready by July next year).

Thanks again for your support and input, you guys are just awesome :)

Paul
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