Yeah it’s taking a long time! What started as a hobby and an already busy life has turned into full product development ... and a busy life :-)
The hardware is a simple design and is straight from the data sheet. But you’re right this is not open source yet. This has become quite a passion and something I’d like to work on full time. I’m not looking to get rich but I’d sure like to be able to make a living doing this. So there is a hardware cost for now.
If you consider the complexity and feature set of the usb audio and midi support, the completeness of hand optimized DSP, the text and examples and html interface support, and a carefully vetted design to enable end user algorithm development then I really believe that there’s a ton of value here.
With high enough volume these boards are sub $50 (maybe $40?) and full aluminum pedals are sub $250 (approaching $200?). Look at the USB and MIDI features, size, flexibility, cost, finishing, and performance figures and compare to OWL, ToneCore, Spin, Teensy. Check those other platforms for audio quality and effects support - effects with studio quality digital signal paths. FlexFX are high quality and free and are implemented with attention to DSP design rigor.
The last couple of months has been mostly kick starter campaign building and flexfx bug fixing. They’ve both come a long way. Today is the final push to wrap up kick starter media and to submit it for review by kick starter staff. Many prototypes for hardware, boards, and effects have been made to prove out the flexfx concept and design. Contract manufacturers are in place for all aspects of production. So close!
Thanks to all who have supported this by reading my posts, asking questions, and making suggestions. And thanks for being patient :-)