LEGO for guitarists

[emil]

Guys, it is hard for me to support many information channels. Those of you who want to stay updated you can sign up on www.theSnapDrive.com

[R.G.]

What is IDK?

I Don't Know

[Quackzed]

I Do.
...But i'm not tellin'!!!

[Ice-9]

What is IDK?

I Don't Know

I thought it was Apples new approach to open source, Idevelopment kit

[Tony Forestiere]

I thought it was Apples new approach to open source, Idevelopment kit

Isn't referring to "Apple" and "Open Source" in the same sentence an oxymoron?

[Ice-9]

I thought it was Apples new approach to open source, Idevelopment kit

Isn't referring to "Apple" and "Open Source" in the same sentence an oxymoron?

Yeah that was my point

[Tony Forestiere]

I thought it was Apples new approach to open source, Idevelopment kit

Isn't referring to "Apple" and "Open Source" in the same sentence an oxymoron?

Yeah that was my point

I thought as much. I work for a major "Office Solutions Provider". As a part of my Help Desk duties, I perform remote print driver installation and configuration across multiple manufacturer's MFD devices. We have always had issues with drivers after new Apple OS upgrades. "Mavericks" took close to a year for Apple to release enough of the source code for Xerox, Canon, Kyocera, Dell, Ricoh, ETC. to implement the full capabilities of the driver. Now "Yosemite" is having the same growing pains.  

*edit* I apologize to emil for the derail. Sorry. 

[emil]

Do not appologise!

KEEP CALM
AND
SUBSCRIBE YOU FRIENDS

www.theSnapDrive.com

I thought it was Apples new approach to open source, Idevelopment kit

Isn't referring to "Apple" and "Open Source" in the same sentence an oxymoron?

Yeah that was my point

I thought as much. I work for a major "Office Solutions Provider". As a part of my Help Desk duties, I perform remote print driver installation and configuration across multiple manufacturer's MFD devices. We have always had issues with drivers after new Apple OS upgrades. "Mavericks" took close to a year for Apple to release enough of the source code for Xerox, Canon, Kyocera, Dell, Ricoh, ETC. to implement the full capabilities of the driver. Now "Yosemite" is having the same growing pains.  

*edit* I apologize to emil for the derail. Sorry.  

[emil]

Guys I think to start a crowdfunding campaign BUT

to do it in 2 phases since I dont have enough money for prototype.

I - to sell t-shirts and guitar pics with logo to get money for the prototype
II - to prepare for production - presell the device

What do you think?

[Resynthesis]

I thought it was Apples new approach to open source, Idevelopment kit

Isn't referring to "Apple" and "Open Source" in the same sentence an oxymoron?

Not really, OS X is actually built around an open source kernel (the confusingly named Mach from CMU)

[vigilante397]

Guys I think to start a crowdfunding campaign BUT

to do it in 2 phases since I dont have enough money for prototype.

I - to sell t-shirts and guitar pics with logo to get money for the prototype
II - to prepare for production - presell the device

What do you think?

Back on topic

I think it's a great idea. Hopefully you will get more backing than the now infamous banana jack amps. I can't promise I can pre-buy a device (poor college student) but I'm sure I could be talked into a t-shirt and some picks

[emil]

Back on topic

I think it's a great idea. Hopefully you will get more backing than the now infamous banana jack amps. I can't promise I can pre-buy a device (poor college student) but I'm sure I could be talked into a t-shirt and some picks

If understood corectly you cannot afford the gear but will support the idea with several bucks?

[vigilante397]

Back on topic

I think it's a great idea. Hopefully you will get more backing than the now infamous banana jack amps. I can't promise I can pre-buy a device (poor college student) but I'm sure I could be talked into a t-shirt and some picks

If understood corectly you cannot afford the gear but will support the idea with several bucks?

Exactly. Hopefully this just means I can't afford the gear right now but I will support the idea and hopefully buy the gear later when it is finished and commercially available.

[emil]

Exactly. Hopefully this just means I can't afford the gear right now but I will support the idea and hopefully buy the gear later when it is finished and commercially available.

Nice. This is valuable feedback.

[GGBB]

Crowdfunding is a good idea - it will give you a strong indication of how much interest there is.

Snapdrive should be a development environment for distortion and overdrive effects and amp input stages as well. And it is very correct to see it as a breadboard. We will provide +/-15V, 9V, 5V, advanced switching with true bypass, pre-build circuits and circuits that can be manually modified. In addition to this, we will add a module with a tube and a high voltage power supply. At the moment we are thinking of the concept but it should be a chain of modules which can be connected in series and can be assigned in one of 3 channels.

As others have already said, I think this has very limited appeal. You are essentially offering a guitar effects breadboard that has a lot less flexibility than an actual breadboard. That might appeal to a DIYer that is interested in learning more about how effects work or in experimenting with the basic elements, but does not appear to allow knowledge to increase beyond a basic level so it would not hold their interest for very long. For those that want to go beyond the basics of module types and order to experimenting with different types of electronic components and values, this tool would actually be slower to use than a breadboard and possibly cost more. So users will either move on to a real breadboard or lose interest. Someone starting out in pedal DIY might find it useful as a learning tool for a while, but the usefulness and appeal of this would not last long. If every hobbyist pedal builder were to start out using your system, you might have a successful small business, but I don't think investors would be interested.

Another potential use for this which I don't know that you've thought about, is as a comparison tool during prototyping and testing of pedal designs by more advanced DIYers. Being able to A-B compare different tonestacks or gain sections or compare types of op-amps or FETs in a new distortion pedal for example. This actually could have much better longevity than as a DIY tool.  But that's an even smaller market.

I don't mean to be critical of you - you've actually done an excellent job of putting the idea together. Just my opinion about the concept - and I could very well be wrong.

[emil]

What do you think if we release a DIY block?

Crowdfunding is a good idea - it will give you a strong indication of how much interest there is.

Snapdrive should be a development environment for distortion and overdrive effects and amp input stages as well. And it is very correct to see it as a breadboard. We will provide +/-15V, 9V, 5V, advanced switching with true bypass, pre-build circuits and circuits that can be manually modified. In addition to this, we will add a module with a tube and a high voltage power supply. At the moment we are thinking of the concept but it should be a chain of modules which can be connected in series and can be assigned in one of 3 channels.

As others have already said, I think this has very limited appeal. You are essentially offering a guitar effects breadboard that has a lot less flexibility than an actual breadboard. That might appeal to a DIYer that is interested in learning more about how effects work or in experimenting with the basic elements, but does not appear to allow knowledge to increase beyond a basic level so it would not hold their interest for very long. For those that want to go beyond the basics of module types and order to experimenting with different types of electronic components and values, this tool would actually be slower to use than a breadboard and possibly cost more. So users will either move on to a real breadboard or lose interest. Someone starting out in pedal DIY might find it useful as a learning tool for a while, but the usefulness and appeal of this would not last long. If every hobbyist pedal builder were to start out using your system, you might have a successful small business, but I don't think investors would be interested.

Another potential use for this which I don't know that you've thought about, is as a comparison tool during prototyping and testing of pedal designs by more advanced DIYers. Being able to A-B compare different tonestacks or gain sections or compare types of op-amps or FETs in a new distortion pedal for example. This actually could have much better longevity than as a DIY tool.  But that's an even smaller market.

I don't mean to be critical of you - you've actually done an excellent job of putting the idea together. Just my opinion about the concept - and I could very well be wrong.

[vigilante397]

I still think there's a definite appeal to the DIY-er. For instance I built a circuit on the breadboard 6 months ago with a very excellent buffer. I built a similar circuit recently that I really wanted the same buffer for, but even with the same layout it didn't sound quite right. I would love to have some blocks to mix in with my regular breadboarding for parts of the circuit that don't need to be infinitely tweaked, i.e. buffer (in some cases), tone stack, clean boost, etc.

I also think it would be good for people starting to get into designing things to see what order they like things in. Should the tone stack be before or after the output buffer? Do I need a buffer before the gain stage? What if I put the tonestack before the gain stage, what would that do to my tone?

I still might be the only one, but I think this is a really cool idea that could be very useful for those (including myself) without a great deal of experience designing circuits.

[emil]

I still think there's a definite appeal to the DIY-er. For instance I built a circuit on the breadboard 6 months ago with a very excellent buffer. I built a similar circuit recently that I really wanted the same buffer for, but even with the same layout it didn't sound quite right. I would love to have some blocks to mix in with my regular breadboarding for parts of the circuit that don't need to be infinitely tweaked, i.e. buffer (in some cases), tone stack, clean boost, etc.

I also think it would be good for people starting to get into designing things to see what order they like things in. Should the tone stack be before or after the output buffer? Do I need a buffer before the gain stage? What if I put the tonestack before the gain stage, what would that do to my tone?

I still might be the only one, but I think this is a really cool idea that could be very useful for those (including myself) without a great deal of experience designing circuits.

The questions how many DIY-ers will buys such a thing. I don't think many will do

[GGBB]

What do you think if we release a DIY block?

That would certainly make it a lot more flexible. But it would be important to make sure the DIY block doesn't limit the user in what they can do. Maybe an "insert block" would be a better way to conceive it - allow the user to insert a breadboarded section into the chain by providing power, ground and signal connections through a cable that connects the insert block module to the user's breadboard.

[vigilante397]

That would certainly make it a lot more flexible. But it would be important to make sure the DIY block doesn't limit the user in what they can do. Maybe an "insert block" would be a better way to conceive it - allow the user to insert a breadboarded section into the chain by providing power, ground and signal connections through a cable that connects the insert block module to the user's breadboard.

But if the blocks are designed with breadboard-designed pins (which they seem to be, at least at this point) then why could we just plug them into a regular breadboard and jumper them into a DIY circuit? We just need to know which pins of which block plug in where, run a couple wires and we're set. Maybe I'm oversimplifying, but I really feel like this could be kind of a DIY/average player hybrid appeal. It's only as simple as you make it. Do you want to build a tubescreamer that you can tweak a little bit without having to learn how to solder? Great, this kit can do it. Do you want to experiment with different stages to create something completely original that no one has ever heard before? Fantastic, between this kit and the breadboard you already have you're 100% covered.

std::cout << "Sorry, I'm done now" << std::endl;
endMindlessRanting();