Dave Smith Instruments SYNTHESIZERS

This topic has gotten extremely old. 

For one, not all on this list are "complacent" regarding DSI and their business practices. I know many over the course of years have asked for PEK bug fixes and an internal voice expansion to no avail, myself included.

Two, DSI is no different from any other company. Personally, I think the only thing they do well is customer support regarding hardware issues. They haven't raised the bar to any new heights, they're merely holding on to it like most others. They put a product out for as cheap as possible for their price range. Please don't think for a second that there are any real fancy bells and whistles in the evolver. You could argue that the curtis chips are, but quite frankly they are a (cost saving) gimmick more than anything else.

Three, there is absolutely nothing wrong with asking a company for specific products & features for new products or requesting upgrades, bug fixes, etc for existing products. Assuming that that is off limits puts you into the senseless consumer category. It's funny because I just got flamed on the Metric Halo list for asking for an optional upgrade for their 2882, one which would entail minimal development costs and which would help bring in money from previous customers who might not purchase their new products. I've gotten the same response there as some are here, "You're a moron, how dare you ask this highly lauded, untouchable, infallible company for added features!!!! You should be lucky for what you have, no one else could have done as good of a job as they did. Crawl back in your cave to rot with your outdated audio interface and come back out when you are ready to shell out $4000 for their replacement product, never mind the fact that it costs
 100% more than the product it is replacing and has features you don't want. You should be happy your 2882 still powers up for you!!"

Four, what makes anyone think that DSI is listening to their customers regarding the products they offer - ok, they made a poly version of the evolver and re-introduced the PER, so what? It made business sense for them to do it, they didn't do it as a favor, they knew it could be done cheaply and that there was a demand for it. Personally, looking back at the old sequential circuits catalog, they are following the same formula they used in the past. Polysynth, Monosynth, repeat. They USED to sell novel products, when computer controlled surfaces, patch storage, vector synthesis, onboard sequencing, and cheap polyphony was unheard of. However, really the only thing they are doing 'different' now is the form factor - i.e. tabletop and rack units. The only thing 'novel' they have made is the plain old evolver. However, that really isn't all that new in that it borrowed from other SCI designs. The PEK was just a simple, "let's make a poly version of the
 evolver for as cheap as possible. And while we are at it, let's throw in some 'features' which will make customers want to purchase more voices - how about by only having them feature the minimum amount of voices to 'satisfy' the poly requirement but not enough to be really useful".

-Jim





________________________________
From: em <musiclists@...>
To: DSI_Evolver@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sun, March 28, 2010 9:00:41 PM
Subject: Re: [DSI Synths] DSI -  "no to  4 voice PEK  upgrade"

  
haha! i am going to try hard not to call you names in the spirit of the "nice internet" but really... ok well are those your expectations of other synth manufacturers? do you think that its reasonable to demand Roland or Yamaha to change some aspect of an existing product to meet your individual needs? what about other manufacturers such as cars, appliances, etc? if you do, then you clearly have an exaggerated sense of entitlement and thats great for you! just please keep it off this list.

DSI has been VERY responsive to its user-base, much more so than most manufacturers, especially those in the synth world. its not ideal for some people (like me) to have to have an external box for extra voices, but at least a product exists for us to do it. and when that product was discontinued, DSI listened and re-issued it. do you have any idea how much it costs and the risks involved in releasing a product? i guess you don't. thats why most manufacturers dont even bother going beyond the initial release and saving features for a new distinct product.

so in my opinion DSI has raised the bar dramatically in terms of responding to its customers, quickly and with focus. take your whining elsewhere wasteking - your nick truly exemplifies the kind of waste you've been in your critique of this fine company.

--- In DSI_Evolver@ yahoogroups. com, "wasteking1" <wasteking1@ ...> wrote:
>
> ADDING VOICES TO THE PEK IS NOT  THAT HARD---its already set up to do it through the polychain connection-- - all they need to do is link another 4-voice board  up in line with the existing one INTERNALLY-- rather than having you buy a whole new external rack unit. (and provide a more powerful power cord/adapter cause it would need more amps.)  this idea is NOT a 'new invention', its the same stuff DSI has already, just set up as a factory internal 'splice' , I dont see the big deal , 
>      I also dont understand all the APOLOGIES  on this forum for DSI's  design limitations,  rather than suport for an easy improvement that requires  actually very little  R+D. (the pot-mod  wasnt much R+D either). Im suprised this crowd here is so complacent. Why not ask for something better. Something fairly easy , that would make this unit more useable OUT OF THE STUDIO--where carrying extra stuff is a drag.I assume the more peole demand it, the more they might respond.  Thanks for the negative energy on this one. [And if cost was a problem, Look at MOOG ---as if that MONOsynth is a 'good deal'--- its 50% more than a PEK and they sell .]
> 
> --- In DSI_Evolver@ yahoogroups. com, "meatballfulton" <hubcapbrian@ > wrote:
> >
> > --- In DSI_Evolver@ yahoogroups. com, "wasteking1" <wasteking1@ > wrote:
> > >i suppose every corporation  appreciates its YES-men followers.
> > 
> > I'm not a yes man, I'm just realistic about what products DSI (or any mfr) can choose to offer. 
> > 
> > They have responded to so many customer request already: PEK and MEK, Mopho, pots instead of encoders, Tetra, PER reissue, etc. It's not like they don't listen!
> >
>