5/12/2008

Changes and more!

I know – I’m horrible about updates. I promise to try to post more often!

Current news: Things are going through a bit of a shakeup of late, so we are re-organizing. “What, pray tell, could possibly be occurring?” did you say? It is an interesting tale which I will gladly tell to you now!

While working on the I.N.M., the goal was to produce an end product that was as professional as possible in its appearance as it was in its design. After we finished the prototype, work began on sourcing the components, hardware and enclosure. After a few rude awakenings to the state of craftsmanship and creativity available in the US today (not to mention the economy), the decision was made to pare things back a bit – no custom enclosure, just a modified off-the-shelf case with pre-punched holes and basic graphics. The costs were still astronomical! We then trimmed the requirements to the barest minimum to get a lowball cost/pricing idea: Our cost – with NO special graphics, paint color, hand-drilling all holes, with the cheapest parts available, and not counting labor, wire, solder, etc… – was over $200! No wonder everything is made in China nowadays!

This just floored me. It also brought to mind something else that has always
reatly saddened me – all the wonderful yet out-dated equipment that is just thrown away. My favorite idle pastime is rummaging through the shelves at one of the electronics salvage places, there are so many fascinating devices there! Incredible cases covered in knobs and dials, cryptic boxes with hundreds of switches, and so many other cool objects. Most of this just ends up in a landfill. Why not repurpose them instead?

So that is our direction now. Our devices will continue to be designed to the highest possible standards in engineering, and the enclosures and hardware will be recycled materials chosen with the equally high standards in design and artistic flair! Wheee! Plus, I get to finally reduce my hoard of scrounged goodies before my Lady kicks me out! Again with the wheee! w00tz all around… The coming product lines will, of course, be limited to only a few individual units. If we come across a treasure pile that allows bigger runs, we will!

This does not mean that, once the X available units are sold, that is the end of the circuit however, just that physical styling. Later versions will be done if another style of enclosure or hardware is found that will work well. To satisfy my obsessive need to have some consistent theme or appearance to a product line, each line – regardless of housing – will be adorned with a “critter” that as (in my mind at least) directly related to the name of that line.

In case you were wondering, ALL recycled components will be carefully inspected and, if necessary, restored. WE WILL ONLY USE COMPONENTS THAT PERFORM RELIABLY AND HAVE THE SAME LIFESAN OF NEW COMPONENTS. Therefore, all flight of harmony products will carry a lifetime guarantee against defects in workmanship or component failure that is due to the age of that component. In these cases, we will even cover shipping costs if necessary.

And so, to bring this lengthy post to a close, we would like to announce the device that we have been working on in the interim: the Plague Bearer quad voltage-controlled resonant bandpass filter! I have had these wonderful enclosures sitting in my packrat hoard for some time now, mercilessly taunting me to do something with them so, here it is. This is the first of the shipping units, ready to go:

And a peek inside as well:

Here is the aforementioned critter who will serve as the Plague Bearer totem:

Ain’t he cute? Rather fitting, I feel. Version 1 is limited to three units. I hope to acquire more of these delightful enclosures but, we shall see what the Fates decide. We are preparing the Plague Bearer page and hope to have it up tonight or tomorrow, with plenty of sound samples.

What’s next? Two more devices are in the works: A single-channel miniature version of the Plague Bearer, and a handy “function generator” (read: control-voltage source).

posted by flight at 3:20 PM