I agree with just about everything our mysterious anonymous guest writes,
what puzzles me is this anonymity biz, but thats he's thing. For my own part
I do feel a bit embarrassed to been conned into buying the Regelwerk, but
not much enough to make me hide my name ;)

After reading the sales line "and also functions as a simple step sequencer
usiong the 8 cv outs..." I thought "ok, an 8 track step sequencer is just
what i need and even though expensive it is worth it". I should have read
the by that date only in german manual first and discovered the fixed notes
lenght and no pattern chaining. Then of course I would have bought something
else or perhaps just a big midi-cv converter.

I stayed clear of the shaltwerk simply cause I thought it was way overpriced
when I did get a demo of it.

Also a thanx to our mystery guest for the tip to Future Retro, the mobius
seems just like what i should have bought in the first place. But does it
only have one cv out Single track seems a little limited to me.

What midi-cv or cv-seqencing solutions do you guys you by the way A poll
perhaps

/Andreas Lindholm

----- Original Message -----
From: "ringmod45" < ringmod45@... >
To: < Doepfer_a100@yahoogroups.com >
Sent: Saturday, February 23, 2002 5:31 PM
Subject: 1 Re: Schaltwerk


> --- In Doepfer_a100@y..., Florian Anwander <Florian.Anwander@c...>
> wrote:
> > Hi RM
> >
> > first of all: please sign with a real name. This is a requirement
> in the
> > usenet and should be good taste in a forum like this too. (Btw: If
> I would
> > be D. Döpfer, I would not care for a post of someone, who does not
> stand
> > for his name. But I don't speak for Doepfer).
>
>
> hi florian, i do not mean or want to disrespect you or the members of
> this group. i wish to keep my identity private and personal. if mr.
> Doepfer wishes to contact personally, i would be glad to do so. the
> reason mr. Doepfer should take me very seriously is the simple fact
> that i have well over $10,000 USD invested in his equipment.
>
> 24U of A100 modules (2 portables including a full spec. vocoder and 2
> 6U rack units), MAQ 16/3, Regelwerk, Schaltwerk and a Drehbabank.
>
> i would say that me puts me in the top tier of users out there.
> Second, this also means i am firm supporter the Doepfer company, not
> a newbie who just purchased his first synth and midi sequencer with
> cv and gates.
>
> i have been evangelizing Doepfer products since i first discovered
> them. i have helped bring at least $7000 USD of business to his
> company, simply by letting other people having a go with my gear.
>
> to give you an example, 10 days ago a few friends of mine got
> together to socialize at my place( i.e. have a few beers and listen
> to music). one of them had never seen my studio before. we are all
> people who make music using both hardware and software. when he
> walked in, the first thing he noticed was the MAQ. he said he
> previously owned one, but was disappointed with the unit. my friend
> has a sick modular that makes mine look like an SH_101 in comparison.
> he asked how i liked it. i said great. i turned on the MAQ. i pressed
> play and he noticed the PA4 in the event field. he said i have never
> seen or used it in that mode. why the manual is not clear, plus the
> fact that you can't access it when the MAQ is in run mode and if you
> turn the dial to go to the PA and PR fields in the MAQ ,from NA1
> let's say. once you start turning the dial in run mode to GO to the
> PA and PR fields, when you reach the T32 field it throws the sync of
> the channel right off then it speeds up and slows down for a few
> notes. IS THIS A FLAW OR BUG i don't know, you tell me. sure seems
> like a bug. the only way to access the PA and PR fields is when the
> MAQ is in stop mode, then you turn the dial all the way to the end to
> get the PA and PR fields. the golden question is why are the PA and
> PR fields at the back of the event field shouldn't they be right
> after the NA and NR fields,so you don't throw the sync between the 3
> channels out. Everybody i talked to has never used the MAQ this way.
> my assumption from the few people i have met that have used the MAQ,
> is that the majority of MAQ owners would only be using the MAQ in the
> NA and NR modes and constantly triggering 16th notes.
>
> it would be nice, Bakkis for you to create a poll to see how many
> members have an MAQ 16/3 and use the MAQ in the NA and NR fields only
> or use the NA,NR and PA,PR fields. and also to see if other members
> have the flaw or bug i reported above.
>
> then my friend complained about sync and timing. i showed him how
> tight the MAQ is. i slaved the MAQ to the TR-909 and used the MAQ to
> trigger my Kawai XD-5 and vice versa. the result was he couldn't
> find any difference, it was smack on. i have never tried to measure
> them in logic.
>
> to conclude this segment. my friend is thinking of purchasing the MAQ
> again. DID I SHOW HIM MY SCHALTWERK THE ANSWER IS NO. i am too
> embarrassed to say i even own one.
>
>
> >
> > So now to the topic: I am one of the first Schaltwerk users and
> Betatester
> > (mine is that old, that is has no CV interface). Chris Assall (the
> software
> > engineer at Doepfer) received a four pages of bugreport for the
> Schaltwerk.
> > We talked a five hours about it. The result was: the processor is
> on the
> > end of his power. So this is the truth as you stated.
> >
> >
> >
> > The following is MY PERSONAL OPINION - nothing I know from Doepfer.
> >
> > The Schaltwerk was assumingly an economic disaster: Originally
> developped
> > as an addition to the MAQ for Kraftwerk (and with a lot less
> features),
> > they decided to make a complete product out of it. Then there were
> a lot of
> > unnexpected problems (hardware and software).
>
> why bother to develop and release a product if major problems arise.
> most companies do R & D on future products. if they can't make a
> vaible product or find a suitable market and price point, they simply
> don't release them. you do not see a company release a poor product
> to try and recoup their R&D because they failed to execute it
> properly.
>
>
> >The developement time
> > exceeded any reasonable amount. So they had to make it quite
> expensive.
> > This caused, that sales did not run.
>
> the sales did not run because they were trying to sell apples in a
> golden basket. look at the Future Retro Mobius. There are 256
> recordable patterns available. Each recording note duration, pitch,
> accent , glide, loop point, and time signature. Pattern editing
> features include copy/paste, pattern shifting, pattern transposing,
> multiple pattern cueing, and LED chase. Pattern editing and recording
> can be done while the sequencer is running, and it will automatically
> save all your edits so you don't have to stop creating!
>
> people this unit sells for $325 usd. if they can manufacture the
> entire unit for that price, you mean to tell me that Doepfer can not
> produce a new cpu, memory and software upgrade to include some of the
> above functions and all the ones mentioned in the Doepfer EZ board
> forum for $150 to $200 usd. i don't buy it for a moment. they have
> admitted defeat and shafted all the schaltwerk owners out there, my
> self included. i am sure that all the schaltwerk owners would gladly
> pay that sum to salvage their machines instead selling them for less
> than half of what they originally paid for them and actually start
> using them for creative uses, intead of sending only 16th notes.
>
>
>
> > They tried to get some value return, by creating the Regelwerk
> (which we
> > can describe as the original idea: combination of Schaltwerk and
> MAQ).
>
> tell me why the regelwerk is short on memory, CPU power and
> functions.this is were they should have picked up the pieces and run
> with it.no siree. they could have built a new cpu logic PCB with more
> memory and a better OS . they could have built one board to do both
> the schaltwerk and the regelwerk and have written code for each
> machine separately to accomadate their respective hardware surfaces
> and functions. again no, they chose to limit them.
>
>
> > It sold better and did not cost that much, since half of the
> development
> > was done already for the Schaltwerk. So it had a little better, but
> not
> > very good cash return.
> >
> > So they had to invest energy, time and money into products, which
> give
> > better sales.
>
> right, we failed and you bite the bullet. we will ignore you in the
> meantime,then dangle the software revision carrot to pacify you.but
> hey you can buy the new and improved version with BLUE LEDS.the
> bullshit has to STOP. fix it and watch people buy them and be happy
> they purchased one in the first place.
>
>
> And they had to do this immediately, since the sales from
> > other products (Keyboards, MS404, basic A100) had reached their max
> count
> > of possible sales. So they developped lowbudget versions of a
> faderbox.
> > This took all their manpower.
>
> manpower that was misspent in my mind. there are 4 versions of the
> product, plus one with blue leds. what's so hard about having a
> version 2 of the schaltwerk. there is a version 3 of the MAQ 16/3
> which users of version 1 had to pay for a board replacement for the
> upgrade to version 3. when i saw Kraftwerk live in '97, they were not
> using black face version 1 MAQ's on stage. i would bet the bank they
> would love to have their schaltwerk upgraded to a version 2 that can
> tie and slide notes. remember they tied and slid notes with Roland
> MC4B's before Doepfer made any products.
>
> >
> > For such a small enterprise like Doepfer an unsuccessful product
> like the
> > Schaltwerk can be a killer problem.
>
> they can remedy the situation and the problem will go away.the
> benefit will be a happy customer base that evanglize their products
> which will then generate more sales. more sales means they recuop
> thew losses from their inherit miscaculation from the start.
>
>
> This would cause nine people becoming
> > unemployed.
>
> Future Retro are basically two people who run the show. they do
> upgrade their products,when needed. i don't see any notices of them
> going unemployed.
>
> >So I can accept that they invest in better selling products
> > instead of bugfixing of older products, which do not return any
> buck.
>
> they did it with the MAQ 16/3, why not with the schaltwerk. i don't
> see a notice of Doepfer discontinuing the MAQ 16/3 any time soon.
> seems it served Doepfer well to uprade the MAQ 16/3
>
>
>
> >
> > So far these are my private theories.
>
> Florian, i respect what have you written. the above replies and
> opinions, are how strong i feel toward the Schaltwerk. i feel sad
> that the machine has not reached its full potential, which it truly
> deserves. something should been done immediately. plus ,why do all of
> their sequencers trigger only 16th notes i did not spend two hours
> of my life writing this post top slag Doepfer. i wrote it to some how
> inspire them to fulfill the schaltwerk's due course.
>
> Regards,
> RM
>
>
> >
> >
> > In fact I know that the bugfixes are still on the to do list at
> Doepfer.
> > Chris Assall called me last year, whether I had further complaints.
> So I
> > know it is deferred, but not kicked out.
> >
> >
> > Florian
> >
> > --
> > Florian Anwander |ConSol* HP-Support
> > Tel. +49.89.45841-133 |Consulting&Solutions Software
> GmbH
> > Fax +49.89.45841-139 |Franziskanerstr. 38, D-81669
> München
> > email: florian.anwander@c... | http://www.consol.de
>
>
>
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